Leaving your manager, pricing. Quarter

A real building, anonymised

The fee on the budget is not the fee.

About 80 lots in New South Wales. In September 2026 someone in the building asked Quarter to add up what it pays its strata manager, from the building's own statements and insurance invoices.

The management fee on the budget was about what Quarter charges a building that size for the whole year. By late September the manager had been paid more than twice that.

Extra-work charges were running at nearly four times their budget.
Disbursements had passed their full-year budget with three months to go.
The manager's commission was 20% of the base insurance premium, more than the broker's own fee.

Do this for your building

Management fee on the budget, for the year: just over $10,000
Fees, extra work, disbursements and admin, January to September: $16,700
Insurance commission to the manager: $5,700
Paid to the manager, January to September: over $22,000
Quarter for 80 lots, the whole year: $10,080

Where the rest of the bill hides.

In Victoria, commission and disbursements alone average $147 a lot a year. That is more than Quarter's whole price, per lot, at any size.

What a strata manager charges on top of the management fee, where each charge hides, and what Quarter does about it.
The line	Typically	Where it hides	With Quarter
Insurance commission	Typically: About 20% of the base premium. Victoria's average is $91 a lot a year.	Where it hides: Inside the premium. At best, a line in the disclosures at the AGM.	With Quarter: No commission, on anything.
Disbursements	Typically: Victoria averages $56 a lot a year. In Queensland they add 60 to 80% to the base fee.	Where it hides: Printing, postage, photocopying and "administration".	With Quarter: Notices, agendas and minutes go out digitally. There is nothing to post.
Software and portal fees	Typically: $2 to $8 a lot a month, recovered from the building.	Where it hides: "Management software", "owner portal", "technology fee".	With Quarter: Replaced outright. Community is free, with a login for every owner.
Extra meetings	Typically: $150 to $400 a meeting, and 25 to 100% more after hours.	Where it hides: The fee schedule. Schedule B, in New South Wales.	With Quarter: Hosted and minuted inside the plan, however many you hold.
Certificates on a sale	Typically: About $120 in New South Wales, $150 to $200 in Victoria, $86.95 in Queensland.	Where it hides: Charged to the selling owner, so the committee never sees it.	With Quarter: Victoria's and Western Australia's certificates are produced from Quarter's records, and New South Wales's and Queensland's information is assembled for their approved forms. Other states not yet.
Arrears notices	Typically: $60 to $120 a notice.	Where it hides: Recovered from the owner who is behind.	With Quarter: Levy reminders go out automatically, as part of Finance.
Insurance claims	Typically: $100 to $250 a claim.	Where it hides: The fee schedule.	With Quarter: Tracked on the compliance dashboard, nothing per claim.
Professional time	Typically: $180 to $350 an hour.	Where it hides: The fee schedule.	With Quarter: Not something software replaces. When you need a person, we quote it up front.

Sources, all 2026: the Macquarie Strata Industry Benchmarking Report as quoted by Inner OC, Compare Strata Managers, StrataClear, Tracsafe, two management firms' own fee guides, and the Queensland and New South Wales governments. Typical figures, not quotes. Your own agreement and your last year's accounts are the real numbers.

Now price your building.

How many lots, and where. If you know the management fee on your budget, put it in and we'll use yours, then add what a normal year puts on top of it.

25 lots, Australia

A strata manager would cost this building $7,500 to $16,500 a year, all in.

Management fee: $6,250 to $11,000
Extras, in a normal year: +$1,250 to $5,500
A strata manager, all in: $7,500 to $16,500

Quarter, self-managed

$3,600 a year ($300 a month)

25 lots at $12 a month, with Community included. No commission, no disbursements, nothing per meeting.

You keep $3,900 to $12,900 a year.

That is 52 to 78% less than paying a strata manager, every year the building runs itself.

Review your real fees Talk to us about your building Link to this estimate

The management fee is the range published for Australia in 2026, with the minimum a strata manager charges a small scheme and the lower rate they quote a big one. Extras are 20 to 50% of the fee in a normal year. A bad year costs more.

Review your management fees

Now do it with your building's own accounts.

The calculator is an estimate. The review is the real figure: every dollar your strata manager was paid last year, beside what Quarter would cost the same building, and the service you got for it.

1.

Find your building

Press “Review our management fees” on its page. Quarter already knows its size and its state, so the estimate is there before you type anything.
2.

Hand over the paperwork

Once you've joined: the last statements or budget, the management agreement and the insurance renewal invoice. Quarter reads them and adds up the fee, the extra work, the disbursements and any commission on the insurance.
3.

Put it to the owners

A poll with the real figures on it, to send round. It binds nobody. When the numbers make the case, the motion to run the building yourselves comes next, and Quarter drafts that too.

Review your management fees Talk to us first

Your committee is already doing most of it.

The decisions were always yours, and in most buildings so is most of the work. What a strata manager adds is coordination: forwarding, chasing, sending and booking. That is the part Quarter does now, for a fraction of the fee.

Who does each job with a strata manager, and who does it with Quarter.
The job	With a strata manager	With Quarter
Deciding what gets done	With a strata manager: The committee	With Quarter: The committee
Answering owners	With a strata manager: The committee, mostly. The strata manager in office hours.	With Quarter: Quarter, at any hour, by email, WhatsApp or the web, with the clause it came from.
Chasing contractors and quotes	With a strata manager: The strata manager, once the committee has chased the strata manager.	With Quarter: Quarter emails them from the building's own address and puts their replies on the job.
Notices, agendas and minutes	With a strata manager: The strata manager	With Quarter: Quarter drafts them, and the chair signs them off.
Levies, arrears and the books	With a strata manager: The strata manager	With Quarter: Levy invoicing, reminders and trust accounting, in Finance.
The insurance renewal	With a strata manager: The strata manager, usually for a commission	With Quarter: The committee, with the policy and its dates on the compliance dashboard, and no commission.
The records	With a strata manager: The strata manager's system	With Quarter: The building's own, with a login for every owner.

Leaving is mostly dates and a properly called meeting.

Most buildings that want to run themselves think they are stuck until the next AGM. Most are not. Leaving a management agreement is mostly notice periods, dates and a properly called meeting, and Quarter will do the reading.

We'll get you out of the contract you're in: Send us the agreement and Quarter reads it: the notice it requires, who gives it, when, and what the building is still on the hook for. You get dates and the clauses they came from, not an opinion.
You probably don't have to wait for the AGM: A general meeting can usually be called for the purpose, and ending an agreement is generally a resolution owners can put themselves. What yours needs depends on your own by-laws and your Act. Quarter will tell you which, and quote the provision.
And if you genuinely can't move faster, Quarter is free until you can: Run Quarter alongside the arrangement you're leaving, at no charge, until the meeting that ends it. There is no contract at our end to leave later.

What leaving a manager actually takes differs by jurisdiction and by what your building's own documents say. Quarter reads both and shows you the clause; it isn't legal advice, and for a contested exit you should get some.

Talk to us about leaving your manager Read the guide

Need more than software? Ask.

Most years a building needs the software and nothing else. Some years it needs a return filed or somebody to chair a difficult meeting. You don't need a management contract for that. Tell us what you need and we'll quote it.

Building review: An independent look over the records, the finances, the maintenance plan, the insurance and what the law expects.
Tax filing: Returns prepared and filed from the records already in Quarter.
Legal document review: Your by-laws or a management agreement, read by somebody who does this for a living.
AGM hosting: Somebody independent to chair, hold the agenda and put the resolutions properly.
Major works proposals: Scoping, quotes and the funding case for a big job, put to owners as a vote.
Account management: A named person who knows your building, for when the committee needs somebody to hand things to.

Talk to us about what you need

Or ask the Manager in the app, it will put you in touch with the right person.

You might be wondering...

Is there a minimum number of lots?

No. Quarter works for Owners Corporations of any size, from a 3-lot townhouse to a 600-lot tower. The price per lot falls as the building grows: $12 per lot per month for the first 50 lots, $8 for the next 50, and $5 for every lot after that.

What's in the self-managed plan?

Everything a strata manager does. Governance: meetings, minutes, compliance and insurance. Finance: budgets, levies, trust accounting and the capital works fund. Community is included, and the first 30 days are free.

Can we start with Community and add the rest later?

Yes, and most buildings do. Community is free and every owner touches it, so it goes first. The self-managed plan is there when the committee is ready to run the building itself.

We still have a strata manager. Can we use Quarter?

Start on Community, which is free, while you give notice. Send us the management agreement and Quarter will tell you what ending it takes: the notice, the dates and the clauses they come from. If you can't leave before a meeting, the rest of Quarter is free until that meeting.

How do you know what strata managers charge?

From published 2026 figures: manager fee guides, comparison sites and the Macquarie 2026 Strata Industry Benchmarking Report as quoted by others. They are ranges, not quotes, and every estimate on this page shows the cheap end as well as the dear one. Your own budget is the real number, so put yours into the calculator.

Are there any lock-in contracts?

No. Month to month. Cancel any time and your records hand over at no charge, which is not true of every contract you'll compare this against.

Your manager costs more than the fee on your budget.