grow: Issue 2

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The master of time

STRATA Master is not only the leading Strata and Body Corporate Management Solution on the market, it’s also the solution that saves you more time than any other.

With the STRATA Master solution, you can automate manual tasks, giving you back time to focus on your business.

STRATA Mobile allows you to access critical information while out of the vwVi >Ã Üi >Ã Ì i >L ÌÞ Ì Ãi ` an SMS from within the application.

Our Meeting Master Application lets you run your meetings from Þ ÕÀ `iÛ Vi > Ü } ÕÌi V « >Ì > ` ` ÃÌÀ LÕÌ

without ever having to use > Ìi«>` À «i ° 7 i "Ü iÀ > ` -ÌÀ>Ì> ÌÌii « ÀÌ> Ã i ÃÕÀi Ì i Ü iÀÃ > ` strata committee members have 24-hour access to all the v À >Ì Ì iÞ ii` Ì À Õ} their online login. / v ` ÕÌ Ài >L ÕÌ -/,Ƃ/Ƃ >ÃÌiÀ V> ÕÃ Ì `>Þ AU 1300 657 700 NZ 09 909 7093.

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04 | CONTENTS

Page 10

CONTENTS

REGULARS 07 WELCOME 08 SNIPPETS 50 ROCKEND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION UPDATE The latest from Rockend

TECHNOLOGY 10 AUGMENTED REALITY Pokemon Go meets property

14 SLACK The collaboration tool changing how we work

16 CONNECTED CARS What’s next for intelligent automobiles?

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Page 26

Page 46

BUSINESS

DESIGN

18 CANVA

36 PASSIVE DESIGN

How the innovative start-up engages

Clever architecture that could save

customers and nurtures culture

the world

22 FOR SALE Buying and selling property

41 MULTIGENERATIONAL LIVING The granny flat grows up

management businesses

42 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 24 MARKETING Six tools to make marketing a breeze in real estate

Five tips for taking photos that sell properties

INFLUENCERS

LIFESTYLE

26 JAMESONS

44 GADGETS

George Vumbaca on a 44-year career

The anatomy of a smart home

that’s not slowing down

46 GETAWAY 30 LEADING FROM THE FRONT

The best boutique resort in your state

The secrets of Cathie Crampton’s success

48 DINING 34 WESLEY ENOCH

The restaurant experience gets redesigned

Sydney Festival’s incoming artistic director

www.rockend.com.au

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SMART business is paperless ƂNG5/#46 KU C RCRGTNGUU FQEWOGPV management system that compliments REST Professional, STRATA Master and Console. An end-to-end business solution that automates mundane administration tasks into a press of a button – giving you time back, to grow your business.

Call us today on NZ

AU

1300 657 700

09 909 7093 VQ CEVKXCVG ƂNG5/#46

Solutions. Growth. Trust.

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Digital Marketing & Campaign Executive Charlotte Norman +61 2 9330 4830 email: charlotte.norman@rockend.com.au

Rockend PO Box 451 St Leonards NSW 1590 Tel: 1300 657 700 Int: + 61 2 9966 0900 www.rockend.com.au

WELCOME

For more information on Rockend’s products call us today: AUS 1300 657 700 NZ 09 909 7093

Publisher Paul Lidgerwood Commercial Director Joanne Davies Managing Editor Peter Roper Advertising Shaaron Martin Production Manager Jamuna Raj Design & Digital Prepress Monique Blair Niche Media Pty Ltd ABN 13 064 613 529 Chairman Nicholas Dower Managing Director Paul Lidgerwood Finance Controller Sonia Jurista

W

e hope you thoroughly enjoyed our first edition; I’m excited to share with you our second publication of grow magazine!

Over the last 20 years I have loved seeing how this industry, and the technology within it, has evolved and transformed.

This month’s edition covers numerous aspects of real estate technology, whether that be smart technology and gadgets in your house, technology that enables your home to become sustainable or the evolution of the granny flat trend in Australia.

This publication’s front cover features Jamesons Strata Management, a family orientated business that has continually grown and evolved over the past 44 years under the guidance of George Vumbaca.

We hope there is a range of topics in this quarter’s edition that will capture your interest and provide you with information on the latest trends in the technology, design and lifestyle spaces.

I hope you enjoy this edition and we’ll be back next quarter with another exciting issue.

Sarah Dawson Head of Real Estate Sales

Niche Media Suite 1418, Level 14, 1 Queens Road Melbourne Vic 3004 Tel +61 3 9948 4900 Fax +61 3 9948 4999 For inquiries about Niche Media’s custom publishing, please contact Paul Lidgerwood +61 3 9948 4902

Cover Photographer: Harold David Printing: Graphic Impressions

www.rockend.com.au

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08 | SNIPPETS

“BEING RESPONSIVE MEANS GETTING OFF YOUR BACKSIDE AND DELIVERING WHAT YOU’VE PROMISED.” GEORGE VUMBACA (PAGE 26)

“IF YOU CAN FACILITATE A HARMONIOUS MULTIGENERATIONAL EXISTENCE THROUGH GOOD DESIGN – AND YOU CAN – THEN THAT’S AN OUTCOME WORTH PURSUING.” HARMONIOUS MULTIGENERATIONAL HOMES (PAGE 41)

“You should be able to walk around in a properly passively designed house on a 40-degree day and it will be comfortable inside around 20 degrees, just by using the right materials.”

PAUL ZAIA (PAGE 36)

“In Australia, we are only beginning to imagine hospitality that reflects the desires for experience and authenticity.”

DESIGNING DINING (PAGE 48)

“THE BEAUTY OF AUGMENTED REALITY TECHNOLOGY IS IT PROVIDES ‘MAGIC’ BECAUSE YOU ARE TRANSPORTED SOMEWHERE ELSE, WHILE REMAINING EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE.” POKEMON GO MEETS PROPERTY (PAGE 10)

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“OUR RESEARCH DATA SHOWS THAT CUSTOMERS SEE A 49 PERCENT REDUCTION IN EMAIL, 25 PERCENT REDUCTION IN MEETINGS AND A 32 PERCENT INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY.” SLACK’S RISE (PAGE 14)

“Over a half a million people come to the Sydney Festival in January. What can I say, what can I do, what can I encourage them to think about?”

WESLEY ENOCH (PAGE 34)

“An eclectic nature is what makes our company strong. We need people thinking in different ways to handle all the different aspects required to be a successful company.”

MELANIE PERKINS, CANVA (PAGE 18)

“FROM AIRCONDITIONING AND LIGHTING TO COOKING, SLEEPING AND CATCHING BURGLARS, THE LIKES OF GOOGLE, AMAZON, SAMSUNG, NEST AND BELKIN ARE INVENTING HOMES OF THE FUTURE SO SMART REGULAR HOMES HIDE THEIR FASCIAS IN SHAME.” SMART HOMES (PAGE 44)

“I’m a visual person and I love to dream of how things should look and work out how to achieve that.”

GEORGE VUMBACA (PAGE 26)

“Bad photos on property listings can mean the right client may not even pick up the phone.”

PHOTOS THAT SELL (PAGE 42)

www.rockend.com.au

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10 | TECHNOLOGY

AUGMENTED REALTY The technology behind the phenomenon that is Pokemon Go is poised to transform our lives in a multitude of ways, including the real estate experience.

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THE ADVANTAGE OF AUGMENTED REALITY FOR HIGH-END SALES In the US, high-end real estate agents are already embracing augmented reality (AR) as a way to immerse potential buyers in the virtual worlds of their property offerings.

“AR’s key strength is its ability to blend the virtual with the real world to help buyers imagine places and spaces that don’t yet exist – or are in another city or country,” says Ralph Barnett, creative director of digital technology design company, SapientNitro.

He cites the example of an augmented reality ‘immersion room’ (pictured) created for a Miami development firm where properties range in price from $25 to $40 million apiece. “We’re seeing evolving technology enabling truly compelling sales experiences with hyperrealistic interactive simulations and seamless device-based AR experiences becoming an expectation,” Barnett says.

For a tech experience becoming the norm among high-end real estate agents, check out theimmersionroom.com.

H

ave you noticed how comfortable small children are with iPads and how many of them run their forefingers across magazine photographs as if they expect them to morph into something else?

Welcome to the future when – sooner than you think – all of us will be able to bring to life the images and text we view in our favourite newspapers, magazines and periodicals.

Imagine, for example, walking along a treelined neighbourhood en route to your favourite coffee shop when you spot a property for sale or rent. The hero photograph attracts you and you’d love to see more – but you notice the property viewing times clash with your personal commitments. Now what?

Simply open the augmented reality app on your smartphone and allow your mobile to hover over the signboard photograph. As if by magic, the photograph will pop out and hang in the air in front of you, then slowly roll through a carousel of additional photographs, including a property floor plan and a snapshot of relevant data for the neighbourhood, all to give you further visual cues about the property in which you’re interested.

You can then make a decision to pursue your interest… without attending a single property viewing, nor doing anything more onerous than lifting your arm to allow your app to ‘see’ the property image.

Sound far-fetched? It’s not, as the head of technology at realestate.com.au, Nigel Dalton, makes clear. Recently, realestate.com.au joined forces with News Limited and the Ray White Group to road test an REA app in development that will transform a twodimensional property advertisement into a three-dimensional-plus experience. www.rockend.com.au

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12 | TECHNOLOGY

FIVE APPS TO SAMPLE THE MAGIC OF AUGMENTED REALITY These five AR apps for smartphones range from the quirky to the downright useful: For linguists… Google Translate is a handy text and audio translation tool that gets even better with its visual translation features. Hold up your smartphone camera and focus on the text and the app will provide real-time translations of words and phrases from a variety of languages.

For tattoo-philes… Inkhunter allows you to preview what a tattoo may look like on your skin.

For keeping children amused… Crayola Color Alive creates interactive pages that bring your kids’ drawings to life with a variety of animations and special effects.

For travellers… Field Trip is a locationaware augmented reality app that functions like your own mobile tour guide, notifying you if you’re near a chosen location, complete with a pop-up card with information about the place.

For star-gazers… Star Walk is an app that presents you with an augmented view of the heavens. Point your device skyward, and Star Walk will point out the constellations, planets and even passing satellites tracked in real time.

The Raise More Hands initiative, which took place over two weeks in March this year, tested the efficacy of AR as a way to grow agents’ potential buyer numbers. The project involved a Ray White real estate supplement advertising 500 upcoming property auctions inserted into News Limited’s regional Sunday newspapers nationwide.

Readers of the insert were invited to view any one of the 500 properties by downloading and using realestate.com.au’s AR app, Property View, thereby giving people in Victoria the opportunity to seriously consider a property investment on, say, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, all without having to fly up to view the property.

The upshot was mildly encouraging, but REA’s Dalton is the first to admit that months of development work lie ahead. “We know that the public in general is reluctant to download new apps unless they have very good reason to do so. And we also know that real estate agents do not want to invest in any more real estate technology,” says Dalton.

Nevertheless, approximately 2000 technophiles downloaded the Property View app, keen to experience for themselves the sensation of property data emerging before their eyes as they lolled on couches reading the Sunday papers.

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“THE BEAUTY OF AUGMENTED REALITY TECHNOLOGY IS IT PROVIDES ‘MAGIC’ BECAUSE YOU ARE TRANSPORTED SOMEWHERE ELSE, WHILE REMAINING EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE.” – NIGEL DALTON, REALESTATE.COM.AU

Augmented reality technology is distinct from QR (quick response) codes, popular a couple of years ago for their ability to take punters from advertising billboards and posters to related and relevant websites on mobile phones.

Both virtual and augmented reality technology involve virtual worlds, but virtual reality involves virtual worlds exclusively, while AR users remain in touch with the real world while interacting with virtual objects, icons or text around them.

Ray White’s chief auctioneer, Haesley Cush, says realestate.com.au’s AR app provided the Raise More Hands auction with a significant point of difference – and numerous franchisees reporting a rise in the volume of interstate enquiries.

“It’s difficult to claim definitively that the app made a difference to our clearance rate, but our agents were pleased with the additional exposure,” says Cush, who personally called 60 auctions over each of the two weekends.

Cush praises realestate.com.au for investing millions in the research and development of the AR technology, while Dalton in turn praises the Ray White Group for having the courage to trial as-yet-unproven innovation.

For the purpose of the trial run, realestate. com.au shouldered most of the technological burden on behalf of the agents taking part.

Participation in the experiment cost franchisees

a trifling $200, but in the future, agencies will be expected to download their properties’ data to the AR app’s content management system themselves, in the same way they download property listings to other CRM (customer relationship management) platforms, and quite possibly at some expense.

“We have to make it easy for agents to understand, embrace and use the AR offering, all without it costing an arm and a leg,” says Dalton, phlegmatic about the innovative hurdles he and his team of six have ahead of them.

That’s because he remains passionately convinced of the app’s usefulness for creating the ultimate consumer engagement. “All our research shows that people are time-poor, so anything that saves them time is going to appeal. Also, people love walking the streets and sussing out a neighbourhood and this technology does that too. The beauty of augmented reality technology is it provides ‘magic’ because you are transported somewhere else, while remaining exactly where you are.”

Real estate agencies seeking the AR point of difference will have to wait. The Property View app has been taken off the market since the auction initiative, to be reintroduced around late 2017/early 2018 with improved capabilities for both agents and customers alike.

www.rockend.com.au

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14 | TECHNOLOGY

SLACK OFF! In just two years Slack has taken over the business world with a collaboration tool that drastically cuts the need for emails and meetings.

S

lack is the workplace collaboration tool that boasts of being the fastest growing business application in history. After launching publicly in 2014, it increased its user base tenfold in 2015 and now claims almost 2.5 million daily active users, about a quarter of which pay for the premium version.

Businesses around the world have credited Slack with changing the way they operate. To find out what makes it so special, grow catches up with Mike Clapson, sales manager, APAC, at Slack.

Clapson says the main reasons real estate agencies and other team-based businesses implement Slack is to increase efficiencies of communication.

“If you work on a remote team, are on the go regularly or arepart of a rapidly growing team, it’s likely that team communications are cluttered and hard to keep track of because of multiple mediums being used within one organisation,” he says. “Many teams use email, Skype, Google Chat or even text messaging for communication. This leads to information being scattered and disorganised.”

You’d be hard pressed to find a company of any size that doesn’t struggle with email overload. It’s incredibly difficult, for example, to find important information that was buried somewhere in last week’s email or a personal private chat.

“Having all work communications in one place helps teams be much more organised and transparent by making information accessible and searchable for everyone, at any time, from any location,” Clapson says.

“It becomes the only thing a team member needs to check,” Clapson says. “Slack replaces internal email, so teams that work closely together don’t need to read and respond to hundreds of small emails every day. Instead, it provides an open stream of conversation in real time through ‘channels’.”

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Channels can include files, messages and automated assistants that make sharing information easier. It allows teams to organise conversations that are taking place throughout the office, so team members can read, search and reference them in the future.

Slack’s other selling proposition is that it connects colleagues to the people and tools they work with every day through integrations with project management tools such as Trello and document collaboration tools such as Google Drive, as well as dozens of popular services such as Twitter, Dropbox, Asana, JIRA, MailChimp, Stripe, Zendesk and others to help consolidate and make sense of the ever-growing flows of data that confront modern teams.

“Integration with various third-party apps is one of

Slack’s most useful features, Clapson says.

“There are more than 600 apps that can plug directly into Slack. Most are those that help people with everyday activities like filling out expense reports or scheduling meetings – saving valuable time from switching around different applications to do everything you need to at work.”

To ensure successful implementation and ongoing effectiveness of a communications tool like Slack, Clapson recommends starting off with a ‘Slack day’, where everyone gives it a go together.

“A team’s commitment to give it a try, and stay out of email for a day, ensures that people don’t get stuck in old habits.”

He also suggests managers should emphasise the ‘why’ of the move to the platform, for example because it improves team communication by making conversations more transparent and frees your time from email and meetings.

“It is especially helpful for new employees,” Clapson says. “Rather than starting with inbox zero, they

immediately have access to a rich history of information and conversations, all organised by topic or team and easily searchable.”

Clapson provides some revealing figures about the way Slack is changing workplaces.

“On average, people spend about 10 hours connected to Slack each workday, and over two hours actively working in Slack,” he says. “Our research data shows that customers see a 49 percent reduction in email, 25 percent reduction in meetings and a 32 percent increase in productivity.”

Less email and fewer meetings means teams that get more done. Staying consistently and openly in contact also creates a higher sense of belonging and a stronger team culture. There’s even room to express personality and join shared interest channels like #sailing or #foodies.

Along with work-based channels, of course.

www.rockend.com.au

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16 | TECHNOLOGY

LIFE IN THE 4G LANE The internet has dramatically changed the way we live, work and play, so why not also the way we drive? We ask BMW, Audi and Mercedes what the near future has in store.

T

here’s almost nothing as frustrating as being on the way to an important meeting when a traffic jam stops you in your tracks.

Do you sit quietly fuming, stress levels rising as you realise you’ll probably miss that vital presentation opportunity? Or, do you take a deep breath and vow that, next time, you’ll embrace the power of connected driving?

Internet-connected on-board computers are now available in many of Australia’s higher-end cars, allowing drivers to automatically monitor traffic levels and be recommended alternative routes to minimise travel times.

A SIM card enables an internet connection, which makes all this and more possible. After all, the demand for smartphone-like functionality in cars is strong, and car makers have an opportunity to not only satisfy this demand but also make it safer by reducing the urge to handle a phone while driving. It makes so much sense to bring smartphone functionality into cars that it’s a wonder people have had to fiddle with USB cables and Bluetooth just to make phone calls for this long.

Audi’s connected computer system is called Audi Connect and uses a mobile broadband connection to offer online services such as Google Earth and Google search. The car’s computer can also act as a Wi-Fi hotspot for everyone in the car.

“That makes it perfect for families to use their own tablets to download movies or play games,” says Shaun Cleary, product communications manager at Audi Australia. “And any connected SIM on the Australian mobile data network can be used, so the customer has the opportunity to use their own preferred carrier.”

BMW’s ConnectedDrive system allows web browsing on the centre screen when the vehicle is stationary and on the rear-set screens while driving.

Mercedes-Benz owners can call up websites, provide an in-car Wi-Fi hotspot and control phone, SMS, music and navigation.

Clearly, there’s an arms race occurring right now as car makers ramp up their efforts to develop software and technology. It’s not just the next big thing that will differentiate the car brands of today, but necessary to survive in the long term as companies like Tesla, Google and (maybe) Apple start to make waves in the automotive space.

And, as those brand names suggest, there’s a lot more potential to intelligent cars than bringing existing software into a car’s dashboard. Imagine being told exactly at what speed you should drive in order to reach the next intersection just as the lights change to green. This is just the sort of development

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being researched by Audi, according to Cleary.

Smoother acceleration and deceleration, over time, means significant reduction in fuel usage and mechanical wear and tear.

In Australia, Audi’s cars access traffic information via its online services in order to navigate around obstacles or traffic jams. In Europe, the online services extend to things like flight times, weather and parking availability.

“Work on this IT infrastructure is being developed in Australia so that we can offer it to our customers, too. In the future, there are countless possibilities with car-to-X connectivity.”

Product communications manager Matthew Pasiopoulos explains, “The options available include: automatic tailback avoidance by means of accurate and up-to-date ‘Live Traffic Information’, lane recommendation and following of predefined routes, The internet can be used without restrictions when the vehicle is stationary. Mercedes-Benz apps such as Weather, Google Local Search with Street View and Panoramio, destination/route download and Facebook can be used while on the move in conjunction with COMAND Online.

BMW’s ConnectedDrive for instance, ConnectedDrive goes beyond a warning light on the dashboard – it can automatically transmit

information about how the car’s systems are performing to the dealership so they already know what the problem is when they call you to book a service.

“This enables the dealership to prepare for any servicing works determined by the condition-based servicing system,” says Adam Davis, product communications manager at BMW Australia. “It means that the dealership is prompted to call you rather than you having to take time to arrange the service and explain what is required.”

In the event of a breakdown, the system can call roadside assistance and send all the relevant vehicle information at the press of a button.

Or if an accident occurs, ConnectedDrive automatically activates a telephone call for assistance and transfers vehicle accident information via a dedicated call centre.

Emergency services are informed and deployed via the call centre if required.

And even when you’re enjoying a blissful drive without roadworks, breakdowns and traffic jams, BMW’s Concierge Services can make sure that your arrival at your destination is just as stress-free. With the press of a button your own ‘personal assistant’ can organise almost anything: the nearest ATM, petrol station, a nice bed and breakfast or an on-duty pharmacist.

www.rockend.com.au

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18 | BUSINESS

JUST THE TYPE Engaging customers and nurturing culture to drive innovation have key ingredients in the story of how Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams grew design software company Canva to global success. We find out how.

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L-R. Cameron Adams, Cliff Obrecht and Melanie Perkins

www.rockend.com.au

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20 | BUSINESS

G

raphic design software company Canva is one of Australia’s fastest growing global start-ups, hitting four million users at around the same time it launched its business-focused product, Canva for Work. A year later and it’s already grown that to six million and a valuation of almost half a billion dollars.

Melanie Perkins, co-founder and CEO, had the idea for Canva while studying and teaching design at university. Seeing people struggling to learn the very basics of professional tools like Photoshop and InDesign, it became apparent that things could be done much more simply.

Perkins shares how Canva is disrupting the desktop publishing industry and how the team supports innovation within their business.

grow: How do you lead and maintain the two sides of innovation: ideas and execution?

Melanie Perkins: If I can use a visual metaphor, I think that the ideal vision is a long ladder. The ladder goes all the way to the moon, but you’ve got lots and lots of rungs in that ladder.

The moon is your idea and the ladder and its rungs are your path of execution to solve incremental problems.

In our business journey we have had many challenges along the way, and some challenges have taken a year to solve. Persistence is certainly a virtue in that regard to keep on going and not give up.

The other element is something I like to call just-in-time learning. That is where you only think about things just before you need to know

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them or sometimes just afterwards. For example, using the ladder idea again, you might only be figuring out the next rungs just as you get to them, but at least you have got the guiding path of where the ladder is leading you; it helps to guide what the rungs are.

How have you worked with customers to help develop new product features?

Initially we did a lot of user testing. We used UserTesting.com, which is a fantastic website where you can watch people use your tools for the first time. It is really interesting because you can understand the emotional journey of that user and we have spent a great deal of time perfecting the experience based on the testing.

In addition, we have had tens of thousands of emails from our users. They are a very vocal user base, who tweet about us a lot, and post about us on Facebook. People who use Canva are very vocal about the features that they need or they’d like to see. That also gives us a lot of insights into what people need.

We find a lot of people asking for the same thing, which is great because when people want the same thing then we can put that into the product and be very confident with new feature releases. That being said, it is important to be able to distil it back into what your vision is for the product and make sure that everything is in line with that.

How have you structured your teams to support innovation and growth within the business?

We recently moved to a model of small teams where each team sets out their own weekly goals. We have objectives and provide them with as much business context as possible.

Having people know why we are doing things and then having smart people in the building means they can make decisions based on all the information. We have some people that are across multiple teams.

We also hired very ambitious people and ensure they understand the company objectives, which we break down to quarterly objectives.

Then each of the teams breaks down these quarterly objectives to define their own goals and guidelines. As the teams deliver their goals, everyone is able to see everything going on across the business and our people feel a lot of ownership.

How would you describe the company’s culture and how have you supported it through the growth of the business?

If I were to use three words to describe our culture I’d say we are motivated, passionate and eclectic.

Diversity is important in all our people. Our marketing team is not only diverse in itself, but it is entirely different from our engineers, who are entirely different to the people in our customer happiness team.

An eclectic nature is what makes our company strong. We need people thinking in different ways to handle all the different aspects required to be a successful company.

One of the best things we have done since we first started as a company was to always have lunch together. It meant that people are having informal conversations and talking to people they are not necessarily working with directly. It’s a tradition that continues today. We now have an amazing chef who cooks lunch for us every day. Having lunch together is one of the least expensive, but most amazing ways for the team to bond.

What advice would you give to people looking to succeed in their own innovation programs?

My first piece of advice is going to be very lofty: you should take some time to just imagine what you want the future to be like, and think about that in detail. You could imagine what the future of ordering or bill payments will be like, and then think about the future of that industry really intimately and outline what you think the future will be like. I personally like to think that everything could be happier, healthier and smarter.

Another is to just get started. If you have a problem that you would like to solve in your local community or in your workplace, or a problem that you would like to start a company around, then just get started. You are going to learn so much along the way. If you don’t get started you will never learn the things that are actually essential.

The third one is that it takes so much determination and it takes such a long time to realise your vision into reality. You just have to stick with it when you have many ups and downs and challenges, but it’s all part of the process. www.rockend.com.au

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22 | BUSINESS

HOW TO SELL YOUR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT BUSINESS Seven key steps for owners of property management businesses who are thinking about selling part or all of their business.

S

elling a business is a monumental decision. Not only are you taking a leap into the unknown, you also need to safeguard your interests.

It can be overwhelming, which is why we have done the homework for you. Selling part of a business, such as all or part of a rent roll, needs no less consideration. This article unpacks seven key points you need to consider when selling a property management business.

1. Is selling the right decision?

The first hurdle you must jump is making the decision to sell. Ask yourself some important questions. Why are you selling? Are you selling for the right reasons? If selling the entire business, do you have employment options after the sale, noting that the sale contract will likely restrain you from working in the industry or immediate geographical area once the sale has been completed.

To help answer some of these questions, it may be worth consulting a specialist business advise in the property management space. (See, for example, our interview with Fiona Blayney in issue one of grow.)

2. What is the value of your business?

If you are going to sell, you need to put a price on the business. It is a great idea to enlist the help of your accountant or a consultant in the property management field to set a price.

Your accountant or consultant can: discuss the best valuation method to use, noting that the value of a rent roll varies depending on profit, size, geographic spread and the location and condition of the properties contained in the rent roll. Once these factors are determined, a multiplier of the yearly management fee (the rent roll multiplier, or RRM) will generally be applied to the rent roll, and consider the apportionment of fixed assets, goodwill and any other items for sale if the business is to be sold as a ‘going concern’.

It is crucial you address these issues at the early stages of your sale to guarantee you have effective tax planning in place.

3. Maximising your chances To maximise your sale prospects, consider appointing a business broker specialising in the sale of rent rolls to market the business for you and advise on sale strategies.

Also consider preparing a ‘buyer’s kit’, which is a type of prospectus and provides a summary of the business including an audit of the rent roll, the financials, the products and services offered (including photographs where applicable), details of any employees and scope for growth in the business.

A buyer’s kit and impeccable business records are invaluable in assisting a potential purchaser to conduct their due diligence and determine whether your business is an attractive

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prospect to purchase. For example, if a seller cannot provide details of the breakdown of each of the property’s rent roll (such as the length of a fixed lease, the rent and other expenses and the type of property), the purchaser may get cold feet and pull out of the transaction.

4. What is included in the sale?

On the face of things you may simply assume the business is being sold as one entity. However, it is important to break down a number of elements to consider exactly what is going to be sold with the business and what you will retain.

For example: Are you selling all or only part of the rent roll?

Is a sales business also included?

Will office equipment be transferred?

Is a premises lease to be transferred?

Is the business name to be transferred?

Will you transfer the phone number and internet domain name?

Will any intellectual property or trademarks be sold with the business?

The scope of the sale will dictate how you conduct it and the taxation impact, such as GST. 5. Professional advice is essential It is advisable to obtain professional advice and assistance throughout the entire sale process.

Ideally, assistance should be sought from a combination of business broker, accountant and lawyer. While it may seem like an expense at the outset, getting the right professional advice can save you money and time in the long run.

These professionals can assist you with important roles.

An accountant and/ or external property consultant will advise you as to the value of your business or rent roll, the best way to apportion fixed assets with goodwill (if appropriate)

and help your tax structuring with employee entitlements and sale proceeds.

A business broker or external property consultant can guide you on the best way to value the business and negotiate the purchase price and provide a go-between with the purchaser of the business.

A lawyer can prepare the Sale of Business contract and deal with the contractual considerations set out below, ensuring your interests are protected.

6. Contractual considerations The most important document relating to your business sale is the contract. It is important that the contract does five things: correctly identifies the parties lists the items to be transferred sets out the details of the sale includes schedules of assets and depreciation schedules, and covers issues such as the retention sum to be kept pending the transfer of the properties in the rent roll to the purchaser, warranties and restraints of trade, which may impede your ability to earn an income after the sale has completed.

7. Transfer of lease If you lease the premises from which the business is conducted you will also need to transfer the lease to the purchaser. This is generally done by obtaining the landlord’s consent and entering into a Deed of Consent to Assignment of Lease to assign your liability as lessee under the lease. In this regard, it is important to ensure that you walk away liability free from further obligations under the lease and are released from any continuing obligations as lessee and guarantor.

www.rockend.com.au

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24 | BUSINESS

SIX TIME-SAVING TOOLS TO MAKE MARKETING SIMPLER Time is the most valuable commodity in a property business and marketing can often fall by the wayside. Here are some tools that will speed up time-consuming tasks like writing, designing and working with others.

1. Quickly produce graphics with Canva After you’ve read our interview with Canva’s cofounder Melanie Perkins on page 18, you’ll want to try it out. It’s amazingly simple graphic design software, and can be used to quickly place text edit photos and place text to whip up graphics, flyers, posters or other local area marketing material for your agency brand or specific listings and then share them on social networks or print them out. The new Canva for Work helps teams work and stay on-brand.

2. Collaborate on designs with InVision Designing prototypes for a new company website can be a convoluted process. With InVision, clients and other stakeholders can give feedback directly on the designs. Designers can also add animations and clicks to turn a static

mock-up into an interactive prototype. InVision also has an in-built drag-and-drop project management tool, so that you can see where everything’s up to at a glance. If our feature on page 10 has inspired you, InVision can help you in the prototyping phase of your brand new augmented reality app.

3. Know everything about your online content with Moz This one-stop shop for digital marketers brings all the data about the content on your website into one place. Moz has grown into one of the go-to websites for digital and content marketers.

Moz Analytics shows your social media, search marketing and link data and it can also help with researching what competitor agencies are doing on their websites and social networks.

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4. Post to all your social networks at once with Buffer For posting content to your social networks Buffer is one of the simplest yet most powerful.

With the browser extension, two clicks is all it takes to post any web page to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus and Instagram accounts to a predetermined schedule. Post the latest article on your agency blog everywhere without leaving your own website. Buffer can even analyse your activity and suggest the optimal posting schedule to maximise the clicks on your content.

5. Seeing what people are searching for with Google Trends Keeping up with what people are talking about is no easy task, but Google’s Trend tool lets

anyone see what search terms have been most used over the past 24 hours. You can filter by category and geographic region. Trend data can be used, for example, to help you come up with blog ideas or social posts on trending topics.

6. Write squeaky clean copy with Grammarly Writing is the most fundamental skill for a marketer. When products are as high-value and high-consideration as property, readers will not appreciate sloppy writing. Grammarly makes checking and editing copy much easier. It’s like a spell-checker on steroids.

Developed with linguists, it scans your text for misspellings, punctuation mistakes, repetitive words, passive voice, sentence structure and more.

www.rockend.com.au

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26 | INFLUENCERS

BY GEORGE George Vumbaca reflects on lessons from a career that spans 44 years and shows no signs of stopping.

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G

eorge Vumbaca has one rule in business and it’s a simple one at that: “Do what you say you’re going to do,” he says. “This motto is so important to how Jamesons has always operated, as I believe that if you don’t follow through on your promises to the clients then you have breached their trust,” he explains.

“I tell my managers that if they’ve said they will, for example, drop something somewhere on their way home and they forget, then they need to go back and make sure they fulfil that promise. If, for whatever reason, they can’t do that, then they need to be truthful.”

George says that he’s always lived and worked by this mantra, which has helped his business thrive over the 44 years he’s worked in strata management. “I feel that this mantra has been so successful because it shows the client that you are trustworthy. When you’re working in strata management you’re predominantly working with people and the relationships you make are an integral part of the business’ success. Plus, when the client trusts you they listen to your advice,” he says.

“Jamesons also runs on the notion that if you make a mistake, then you must fall on your sword. You admit your mistake. People are generally very forgiving and honesty is the best policy. We expect honesty from our clients and vice versa.”

This 44-year career began after George graduated from the University of New South Wales, in 1973, with a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting). He had great plans to become an accountant and so set out to get some experience. After enquiring at what was then known as CN Jameson & Associates, he was employed as an accountant dealing predominantly with tax returns. Back then the company managed body corporates. “I had no idea what they were, I just knew that they did some form of accounting for them,” he says.

George has been there ever since. “You could say that I fell into it,” he says. “At the start it was just the owner, Charles Norman Jameson, his wife Monica, myself and two others. Within six months of working with them, we stopped dealing in tax returns and the business became the foundation for what Jamesons is today.”

He talks with great fondness about the founder, Charles. “He started the business when he was 60 and passed away at 97,” he says. “He

was a true English gent who, as he got older, lived in a nursing home on the NSW central coast. I learned so much from him and my only regret is that I didn’t have him as a mentor, or friend, for as long as I would have liked.”

The art of running Jamesons had to be learned on the job, so George found mentors wherever he could. “I learned from everyone I spoke to: architects, engineers, lawyers and anyone else who would, answer my questions,” he says. “At the time we had a great company lawyer and I would be always picking up the phone and asking him a tonne of questions. I would also ask people about the basics of running a business, managing staff and even which phone system was the best one to use!”

BACK THEN THE COMPANY MANAGED BODY CORPORATES. “I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THEY WERE, I JUST KNEW THEY DID SOME FORM OF ACCOUNTING,” HE SAYS. HE’S BEEN THERE EVER SINCE. George now mentors his sons, who also work in the business, as well as the other managers working alongside him. “I’ll hear my managers on the phone and if I can see that they’re struggling I’ll give them a hand. I’ve been through the mill and have lived through most situations they’re facing and so, for me, it’s about suggesting different ways of approaching their issues. A big example is when I hear them having to deal with difficult clients.

“It’s human nature to think that you need to have all the answers, but the reality is that a lot of the time it’s a lawyer or an engineer that the client really needs. I teach them that it’s OK to say that they’re not the right person to deal with the issue.”

www.rockend.com.au

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28 | INFLUENCERS

Michael (top) and Anthony Vumbaca.

Photography by Harold David.

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As well as honesty, being responsive is a huge part of how George and his sons, Michael and Anthony, run the business, so much so that they’ve won awards for it. When asked what being responsive means to him George is passionate with his answer.

“It means getting off your backside and delivering what you’ve promised,” he states. “We will always get back to clients that same day, we organise tradies and keep on top of them, so the client doesn’t have to. Over the years we’ve developed techniques to do things very quickly, which then frees up time to do the planning, attend meetings, type up minutes and, most importantly, action them. It’s all about clearing the decks as every day will bring a new issue.”

A constant influx of emails, demand for information and that modern day expectation of being available 24/7 are problems most businesses are facing and ones that are not going anywhere anytime soon.

“When I started out all letters and requests were sent by post and so things moved slower, you had a least a week to answer requests,” says George. “Now you’re lucky if you get a couple of hours and so, if you want to run a dynamic business, then you need to adapt to the changing landscape.”

This is where George thrives. “I love change as I believe that it only encourages us to think of ways to improve,” he says. “Any technological advances are fantastic, in my opinion, as it’s only going to help with the flow of information. When clients use platforms to help themselves to basic information it frees up time needed for staff to do these jobs. It reduces their workload and gives them more time to dedicate to other areas of the business.”

Technology and business is an area that fascinates George and one he intends to investigate further as he begins to (slightly) wind down his managing director’s role.

As he talks about starting the process of passing on Jamesons’ mantle to his two sons, Michael who is CEO and Anthony who is currently working as admin team leader, he reflects on how important his family have been in the continued success of the business.

“At some point most of my six kids have been in and out of the business, mostly helping with filing and admin in the holidays, but after Michael finished university he came in while he worked out what to do with his tourism management degree,” George says.

“I’M CONCENTRATING ON THE TECHNOLOGY SIDE OF THINGS AND LOOKING AT WHAT WE CAN DO IN THAT REGARD,” HE SAYS. “I’M A VISUAL PERSON AND I LOVE TO DREAM OF HOW THINGS SHOULD LOOK AND WORK OUT HOW TO ACHIEVE THAT.” “He started off in the mail room and doing odd jobs for a while and then through talking to other staff and clients he expressed an interest in learning about the business. He began as a junior strata manager, then we gave him a small portfolio and he’s built himself up to CEO from there. With Anthony I remember pointing out that I wasn’t getting any younger and so if he had any interest in the business now was the time to shout! Luckily he did and he’s doing a fantastic job. They both are. My other kids aren’t too interested at this stage. My twin daughters, Jess and Rebecca, are registered nurses; my other daughter Vanessa is a high school teacher and my youngest daughter Georgia, who’s 20, has just graduated from the Fashion Institute and wants to head to London and New York to learn more. It’s great as it’s what they want to do with their lives that’s important.”

While Michael and Anthony continue to thrive in the business, George is looking into how it can move forward. “I’m concentrating on the technology side of things and looking at what we can do in that regard,” he says. “I’m a visual person and I love to dream of how things should look and work out how to achieve that. I’m always going to be around, sitting back and thinking of ideas to bounce around with the boys. I have loved every minute of my career and feel so blessed and so very grateful to my wife Teresa for her support and to the universe for having given me Jamesons and for the great number of people I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”

www.rockend.com.au

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30 | INFLUENCERS

LEADING FROM THE FRONT She was a homeowner in her 20s and a successful property investor by her 30s, yet these days Cathie Crampton gets more joy out of sharing the secrets to her success with others.

C

athie Crampton has always been an overachiever.

She graduated top of class from her Bachelor of Education studies, graduated with distinction from her Diploma in Recruitment studies and is a regular on the real estate speaking circuit.

Crampton was barely out of her teens when she purchased her first property, just 23 when she purchased her second and by her mid-30s had an investment portfolio of nine properties.

The former owner of a real estate franchise in Queensland, she implemented a new business strategy that added $700,000 of value to the agency’s rent roll in less than three years and oversaw a restructure that resulted in a 12 percent improvement to the agency’s bottom line in just one year.

In her current role as the property management network head of Belle Property, her contribution to her place of work has led her employer to be named the REB Boutique Network of the year for each of the past three years.

While some may argue fate has worked in her favour, the 47-year-old insists her success is purely a result of sacrifice.

“I bought my first property, a unit at Coorparoo, because I wanted to move out of home and I didn’t want to pay rent.

I didn’t buy a car – I rode a pushbike. When I started my first full-time job, I also worked part-time in a second job teaching aerobics.

“I saved my money and at the end of my first year I bought my first apartment.”

Despite dabbling in other careers, first as a teacher and then as a human resources specialist, it was inevitable she would one day make her living from real estate.

“It’s always been an interest of mine. I think it’s a great tool for wealth creation and I’m interested in property and the gains it can make in buying well and doing the homework. That fuels my interest in property management

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32 | INFLUENCERS

too. I would suggest it’s not quite an obsession of mine, but definitely a passion.”

The devoted mother of 14-year-old daughter Lulu and the proud owner of a Burmese cat called Milly, Crampton’s first role in the sector was in 2006 when she sold her share in a recruitment company to buy into a local Professionals franchise.

After five years as a business development manager and running the rent roll, she sold the business and moved to Sydney where she took up a job as operations manager for McGrath Estate Agents, combining the skills fine-tuned in her earlier roles to be placed in charge of HR, marketing, IT and premises. She says it was a nice breather that allowed her to understand the business and take a break from property management, or so she thought.

“But I more or less made myself redundant because I automated all functions. Then the head of property management resigned. The property management space at the time was not travelling all that well, so I was asked if I would go in and have a look at it and fix it up – which seems to be a bit of a strength, fixing things. I took over that particular role and did that for four years.”

She headed to Belle in August last year, where her role now requires her to be responsible for the creative development and performance of the property management area. Charged with creating and implementing best practice solutions across the group, she has also been heavily involved in helping set up Belle’s new training academy – unique to the network – which sees Belle’s principals, sales and admin staff take advantage of up to 28 courses specific to property management delivered each year.

In addition, her background in troubleshooting means she is frequently called upon to undertake performance coaching where she spends up to 60 percent of her working week working alongside individuals or teams to accelerate their performance.

Spending around 60 hours away from her family each week, Crampton says her least favourite aspect of the job is complaint management.

“It’s not to be disrespectful, everyone is entitled to their position and that’s the truth. I do find a number of complaints can and should be dealt with at a franchise level.”

However, the time spent coaching, where she has witnessed her clients achieve anywhere

up to a 35 percent performance improvement growth, helps add a spring to her step.

“I get great joy out of seeing the improvement with the coaching because it’s so focused. But I enjoy connecting the dots so far as connecting the network with an external provider that we know can add value,” she says.

To this end, Belle’s most recent launch has been in the area of video technology for leasing – an addition that greatly excites her.

“THE MORE THAT WE CAN CREATE EFFICIENCIES

BY UTILISING TECHNOLOGY, THE MORE FISCALLY BENEFICIAL IT WILL BE FOR EVERYONE.” Having introduced cloud-based technology via Smartsheet and Dropbox to the network last year, Crampton believes technology adoption is at the forefront of the evolution of property management.

“What happens now is that one person can only do so much. We’ve had a people-based model [and] that’s the fundamental flaw.

The more that we can outsource or create efficiencies by utilising technology, the more fiscally beneficial it will be for everyone.”

Crampton says the increasing sophistication of the technology available within the sector has caused a fundamental shift in the way property management is viewed, ensuring that rather than being seen as an add-on to real estate sales, it now commands a stand-alone space.

However, she believes there is one thing still holding it back.

“What we need to see that we haven’t yet seen is a one-stop solution where there is one platform that can manage HR, your supply chain, your finance and so on. I think the capability already exists, but there’s not one provider yet that owns all the technology or has successfully brought them together in a collaborative fashion. That is the next stage and that is what I want to see.”

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34 | INFLUENCERS

WHEN THE CITY IS YOUR CANVAS The next Sydney Festival, in January 2017, will be the 41st annual event.

It’ll also be the first for incoming artistic director Wesley Enoch.

W

esley Enoch is only the eighth person to take on the role of director of the Sydney Festival, and the seventh since 1995, after inaugural director Stephen Hall stepped down. He follows the Belgian director Lieven Bertels, whose contract was extended to include the 40th anniversary in January 2016.

With one of the most extensive and highly regarded CVs in Australian theatre, Enoch’s experience ranges from being the associate artistic director of Belvoir and artistic director of Ilibijerri in Melbourne to his recent role as the artistic director of Queensland Theatre Company.

So what most excites this self-professed “good working class boy from Brisbane” about his new role? “The idea of thinking of the whole city as a cultural canvas,” he says.

“When suddenly you’re programming 120-odd events, across a whole city, you just realise that you can touch so many people’s lives and it’s extraordinary. Over a half a million people come to the Sydney Festival in January. What can I say, what can I do, what can I encourage them to think about?

While emphasising the power of collaboration (“Whenever you feel like you’re out of your depth, get someone who can lift you up to help you understand what’s going on. You don’t have to be good at everything.”), Enoch is confident of his own strengths: “Communicating with people, telling stories that are socially important.

This drive to make the world a better place for everyone to live in. That’s what drives my theatre.

So I’m going now to take people on a bit of a journey through their own fears and their own sense of nostalgia or their own comfort zones.”

And if he doesn’t succeed?

“I’ve had a number of massive failures in my life,” he says, almost gleefully. “And you learn so much more from the failures than you do from the successes half the time. If you find yourself only wanting to have successes, you become risk averse and that’s actually more dangerous.”

So what risks can we expect to see taken in Sydney next January? “One of the big things we’re doing is normally we have two Spiegeltents,” says Enoch. “We’re doing away with one Spiegeltent and committing one whole stage to free entertainment for anyone who comes to the Village. My thing is trying to remove the transactional relationship with an audience.

“It’s important that we engage with people in a free way as well, because we’re working in public spaces and I think it behoves us to make sure we’re offering things for people who can’t afford to buy a ticket or don’t want to buy a ticket, so that they can engage with part of the Sydney Festival just by enjoying their own public spaces. We just have to remember that these public spaces are ours and these assets are ours as citizens,” he adds.

But the practitioners still have to be paid, even for free events, and numerous philanthropists and sposnors have helped grow and shape the Festival over the years. Devoted Festival supporters like Tony and Suzanne Maple-Brown make such a huge difference, says Enoch. “The Sydney Festival is roughly a third, a third, a third,” he explains. “A third government support, a third ticket sales-ish and about a third private philanthropy and sponsorship.

Take the private philanthropy and the sponsorship out of that and suddenly you see the offering

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drop considerably and it becomes all about these transactional relationships.”

Such sponsorship also gives wonderful opportunities to a range of up and coming artists, but with his background Enoch is especially aware of the challenges faced by Indigenous practitioners. Is he looking forward to the opportunity to showcase such work in this prestigious environment? “Absolutely!” he says.

WESLEY ENOCH ON THE FOUR FACES OF SYDNEY FESTIVAL “I view the Sydney Festival as having four very distinct personalities – a heritage personality, this is what the Sydney Festival has been doing for 40 years.

There’s a summer festival, the idea of enjoying your own city in summer, going out to the parks, enjoying the natural beauty of the city. Then there’s the arts festival, which is the window into the best of the nation and the world, here in Sydney. The last one, the fourth personality, for me is as a disruptor and an enabler of change.”

“Also you’re encouraging other Indigenous artists to consider works of scale. You can say, ‘Here’s a festival that wants you to be ambitious, to think broadly and to imagine something. And we’ll go and find the resources for you’.”

And what about Enoch himself? With such an impressive CV already, what would he still like to do? He has his eyes set on a legacy, he says.

“When you’re directing you’re doing four or five shows a year and you’re on a treadmill. What I really want to do is one thing incredibly well. It might take two or three years. How do you make a masterpiece?

“It’s almost like the model in Australia is a churn model, you’ve just got to keep churning.

Some of our best, most interesting artists have to go overseas to get out of the churn. Suddenly they can do one show every two years and it’s a sell-out success and tours forever. We have to think a little bit more like that in this country, so we can build a masterpiece.” www.rockend.com.au

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36 | DESIGN

PASSIVE PROGRESSIVE grow talks to Aspect Z’s Paul Zaia, who reveals the secrets of passive design and how smart architectural decisions can make it simple to achieve power and water neutrality.

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“THE ‘HOME OF THE FUTURE’ HAS MORE IN COMMON WITH THE HOME OF THE PAST, CAVES, IN THEIR STABILITY OF TEMPERATURE, IF NOT THEIR AESTHETICS.”

I

magine a house that’s warm in winter, cool in summer and doesn’t have a heating or cooling system. With good design, it can be done.

Passive design is an approach to building design and construction that aims to minimise the reliance on external sources of energy and water.

Through a variety of principles and techniques, buildings can harness the natural warming and cooling of dwellings without the need for systems such as air-conditioning and gas fires.

An experienced and leading practitioner of passive design is building and architecture firm, Aspect Z, a small practice that specialises in residential buildings.

Managing director, Paul Zaia, says demand for dwellings designed to minimise the consumption of energy and water from the grid took off in the early 2000s. Now, nine out of 10 clients come to Aspect Z for a sustainable house.

“Our approach is not to have systems at all,” says Zaia. “Often that’s not possible depending on the site and the orientation, but we haven’t put air-conditioning in a building for 20 years.

“That’s just something you don’t need if designed properly.”

Zaia believes passive design is the core of the sustainability approach. Things like solar panels and solar hot water should all be supplementary, and that’s where some common misconceptions about sustainable housing lie.

“If you get the passive design right, the actual energy use of the house is so low that those other supplementary things are just a bonus.

Someone thinks because they’re putting a big solar system on the roof that all of a sudden it’s sustainable. It’s not. Not even close. That’s the last thing you should be putting [in place].” www.rockend.com.au

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38 | DESIGN

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“YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO WALK AROUND IN A PROPERLY PASSIVELY DESIGNED HOUSE ON A 40-DEGREE DAY AND IT WILL BE COMFORTABLE INSIDE AROUND 20 DEGREES, JUST BY USING THE RIGHT MATERIALS.” If you’re wondering why you haven’t been noticing ‘the home of the future’ appear on your street, it’s because you wouldn’t. “There’s no reason why a passively designed house should look any different to any other house,” Zaia says.

In fact, it could be argued that the ‘home of the future’ has more in common with the home of the past, caves, in their stability of temperature, if not their aesthetics.

“You don’t even see insulation, for example, but you do get subtle differences in appearance. Where a typical project home would have no shades in any of the windows, we would have a sunshade over all windows. And we use a lot of polished concrete inside, rather than carpet or tiles.”

There are several key principles to passive design and, when all are combined, they keep a home’s internal temperature stable.

First and foremost is that a house must be sited correctly. Elements such as the angle of the winter sun, where the breezes come from and so on must all be taken into consideration.

“How you sit your house on the block is number one,” Zaia says. “That’s the biggest difference in most houses out there on the market: they’re just not sited properly.”

Other key principles include using glazed windows, and shading them, and heavily insulating the external building envelope: the roof and walls.

Essentially, the aim of passive design is to store the sun. “You allow the sun to come in in winter and it is stored in what’s called ‘thermal mass’,” he says. “That’s concrete, blockwork or masonry. At night it releases really slowly, so that’s what warms your house up and what maintains a stable temperature.”

In summer, if windows are properly shaded, the sun’s steeper angle won’t get through so much and the thermal mass items hold the internal temperature stable. “You should be able to walk around in a properly passively designed house on a 40-degree day and it will be comfortable inside around 20 degrees, just by using the right materials,” Zaia says.

It’s easier said than done, but in situations where there’s less freedom with the orientation of a building on a block, for example, the architects really earn their money.

“We’ve had jobs that faced completely south, so you’ve got to find a way to get the sun in. You could bring it in through the roof. There are ways to do it. Once you get it, you’ve got to keep the sun in there.”

And there’s no reason why the upfront costs of a passively designed house should be any more, Zaia says. “A massive misconception out there is that sustainable houses and passive house design has to cost a lot more. They don’t if they’re designed properly from the start.”

A polished concrete slab, for example, can be put down for the same amount of money as tiles. Sunshades on windows will cost a bit more than not having sunshades. Higher insulation is marginally more expensive.

Even if upfront costs are significantly higher, it’s a totally different story in the long term.

“Most of the houses we’re involved in are pretty much water neutral and power neutral,” Zaia says. “They’re really not drawing anything from the systems on the grid or, if they are, it’s very small amounts.

“When it gets expensive is when you get into the systems, like if someone wants to go completely off the grid with a huge solar system on the roof.”

In essence, the aim of Aspect Z and passive design proponents is to gradually undo the cumulative effects of short-sighted planning in the past by making smart design choices.

When blackouts hit entire suburbs and cities in summer time – like Western Sydney a couple of years ago – it’s because hundreds of thousands of poorly designed houses are simultaneously burning energy on airconditioning and the grid gets overloaded.

“It’s ridiculous,” says Zaia. “They wouldn’t have created that level of demand if they were properly designed in the first place.

“It’s about getting those fundamentals right from the beginning.” www.rockend.com.au

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The benchmarking tool facilitates performance comparisons to industry and similar businesses. Our platform also provides a robust, regularly updated, secure data environment.

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To grow your business with realbenchmark call us today on AU 1300 657 700 NZ 09 909 7093.

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THE GRANNY FLAT GROWS UP With Australia’s Baby Boomer generation beginning to hit retirement age, approvals for secondary dwellings, such as granny flats, have increased more than 200 percent over the last six years, highlighting a major trend away from the typical practice of home extension toward a more harmonious multigenerational existence.

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he family home of the future may not be a single, monolithic structure at all, but a collection of interdependent units that together function as a modular whole.

This is already a common practice in Southeast Asia, where a collectivist culture means it is not unusual to subdivide property and construct a series of annexes to the primary family home – independent dwellings for offspring and extended family, as well as grandparents. The result is often a supple family compound that expands and contracts according to the shifting configurations within.

The Chinese call this a siheyuan and they are often of noble standing; the Balinese call it a karang and conceive it as a microcosm of the universe.

Architect Andrew Maynard’s 2015 Tower House project for an expanding family in Alphington, in Melbourne’s inner north-east, is a wonderful example of innovative adaptive reuse of a suburban dwelling. Rather than simply append an extra room or two to the primary volume (the standard practice of suburban architect/builders for over a century), Maynard has created a mini village of smaller volumes scattered across the property.

“Any situation where you have grandparents living with grandchildren is a positive one,” says Maynard. “If you can facilitate a harmonious multigenerational existence through good design – and you can – then that’s an outcome worth pursuing.”

“IF YOU CAN FACILITATE A HARMONIOUS MULTIGENERATIONAL EXISTENCE THROUGH GOOD DESIGN – AND YOU CAN – THEN THAT’S AN OUTCOME WORTH PURSUING.” While Maynard’s solution may be radical for some, there is a simpler – and very familiar – answer to expanding and contracting families: the granny flat. In the past, more often than not a humble, single-storey fibro sheet bungalow that ended up as storage or a band practice room, the genre has undergone something of a renaissance thanks in large part to the small house movement.

Upping the ante, Japanese homewares brand, Muji, recently unveiled three remakes of the traditional kyosho jutaku, or ‘lucky drops’ – micro homes conceived to fit on a standard city parking allotment. The three huts are called the hut of cork, the hut of aluminium and the hut of wood and, together, they illuminate a debate about small dwellings that are not only feasible but entirely credible. www.rockend.com.au

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42 | DESIGN

FIRST IMPRESSIONS Five tips for taking photos that sell property.

s photos may be the first chance to impress a potential buyer or renter, bad ones on property listings can mean the right client may not even pick up the phone. Paying for professional photography is not always feasible, so we’ve distilled the five essential photography tips that will help you take photographs that will maximise your success.

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Perspective Your photos should visually flow from room to room, making the property seem spacious. To do this, take photos from the right perspective (usually the corner of a room), avoid objects blocking the foreground of the photo and avoid angling the camera downward too much, lest the photo resemble a crime-scene snap.

Quality Start with the right equipment. A good DLSR camera with a variety of lenses (especially a wide angled lens to emphasise space and create a sense of depth), a flash and tripod (ensuring vertical lines remain vertical) are a must. That said, the most important steps to great photography have nothing to do with technology…

Use technology Don’t be afraid to use photo-editing tools such as Photoshop to enhance your photos. Adjust brightness and saturation and crop photos to get that perfect framing.

Then, of course, there are more advanced techniques such as virtual tours to make the listing really stand out with a great experience for the viewer.

Let there be light Real estate photography is notoriously difficult because the bright light from outside can make interior photos look dark and uninviting.

Fortunately, there are a few ways to get around this, such as ensuring there is as much natural light in the property as possible, using electric lights to light interiors and learning how to use the white balance and ISO settings on your camera to improve lighting.

Frame it Ensure that all photos are framed well. Reduce clutter such as counter top appliances, dirty dishes and rubbish bins to create clean lines and an illusion of space, and make the photo really pop with a striking wall print or bright cushions as a focal point.

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www.rockend.com.au

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44 | LIFESTYLE

THE ANATOMY OF A SMART HOME From air-conditioning and lighting to cooking, sleeping and catching burglars, the likes of Google, Amazon, Samsung, Nest and Belkin are inventing homes of the future so smart regular homes hide their fascias in shame.

BED SLEEP NUMBER C2 BED The bed that tracks your breathing, heart rate and movement and gives advice on how to get a better night’s rest.

SMOKE DETECTOR ROOST SMART BATTERY A cheap gadget that makes any smoke detector a smart one able to call your smartphone once the toast you forgot reaches ‘well done’.

REFRIGERATOR

COFFEE MAKER

COOKWARE

SAMSUNG FAMILY HUB

OXO COLD BREW COFFEE MAKER

BELKIN WEMO SMART SLOW COOKER

If you’ve ever dreamed of putting on a pot of coffee without getting out of bed, this is the appliance for you.

The gear for those who like to check in on and tweak their lamb shanks or ragu from the office, train or beach.

The fridge for those with cash to splash and need a photo of their fridge contents emailed to them, so as not to run out of milk.

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THERMOSTAT NEST LEARNING THERMOSTAT A thermostat that saves energy by learning when you like different temperatures and when you’ve left the house.

DOOR LOCK KWIKSET SMARTCODE 916 TOUCHSCREEN ELECTRONIC DEADBOLT A discreet smart lock with some clever features that still lets you go old school with keys if you want.

HUB SAMSUNG SMARTTHINGS For coordinating all your other smart devices.

VIDEO MONITOR NEST CAM Nest Cam is a security camera that can detect people and save footage to the cloud.

VACUUM CLEANER DYSON 360 EYE This robot vacuum cleaner that knows where it is, where it’s been and where it needs to go.

LIGHT BULB STACK ALBA SMART LED LIGHT BULBS Light bulbs that know when to change from hard white to soft yellow, or when you’ve left the room.

LAWN MOWER ROBOMOW RS612 Allergy sufferers, or anyone with better things to do than mow the lawn, can now get a robot to take care of it..

www.rockend.com.au

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46 | LIFESTYLE

THE ABSOLUTE BEST BOUTIQUE GETAWAY IN YOUR STATE Discerning travellers tired of typical hotels don’t have to gamble on Airbnb. These boutique accommodation options may not be the easiest to get to, but each offers its own unique take on luxury.

BELLS RESORT

LONGITUDE 131°

Killcare, New South Wales Situated on acres of green, luscious garden, Bells Resort is a haven tucked away on the Central Coast. There is a range of East Hamptonstyle cottages, each with views over the lake and gardens. The resort hosts a day spa, a multi award-winning restaurant and a pool – all the key elements for a perfect quiet getaway.

Yulara, Northern Territory Longitude 131° is located in the spirited heart of Australia, on a secluded sand dune close to the border of the dual World Heritage-listed UluruKata Tjuta National Park. This lavish desert camp features 15 tented suites and offers spectacular views of the outback and its wilderness. Though the resort activities may not be numerous – there’s a small pool and guided tours around the Rock – the main attraction is the tranquility, seclusion and the view – especially at dusk, when the colour of Uluru changes with the setting sun.

LIZARD ISLAND RESORT Cairns, Queensland Surrounded by tropical palms and deserted white sandy shores, Lizard Island Resort is probably the most exclusive accommodation in Queensland.

A national park covering 1013 hectares, with 24 sandy beaches and a lagoon, it is accessible only by private charter from Cairns Airport in northern Queensland. Enjoy secluded picnics, have an unforgettable five-star meal at the Salt Water restaurant and soak in the indulgent spa treatments in the Essentia Day Spa. All with the Great Barrier Reef right at your doorstep.

PUMPHOUSE POINT Lake St Clair, Tasmania Pumphouse Point offers a unique experience – exclusivity in location and luxury. A former industrial site, it was restored to offer boutique accommodation within Tasmania’s wilderness.

The accommodation is split into two. The Pumphouse Building itself sits 240 metres out on the lake and comprises 12 rooms in total.

The Shorehouse Building, a former substation, sits at the water’s edge and has six rooms. It’s the perfect place to bask in the Tasmanian air, reflect, rejuvenate and explore.

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Location. St Jerome’s – The Hotel

SKY HOUSE

THE BERKELEY RIVER LODGE

Kangaroo Island, South Australia This villa is located on the highest point of the property with sweeping views of the rugged coastline. Sky House has been voted the number one honeymoon destination in Australia by Australian Traveller magazine and it’s easy to see why. The slow-combustion fireplace, the complete solitude and the private courtyard will delight couples.

Berkeley River, Western Australia This completely secluded wilderness location is accessible only by air or boat. Its 20 luxury one-bedroom chalets have 180-degree views of the ocean or river, while a central main lodge features a restaurant, library and swimming pool. Relax in nature in the open-air en suite and freestanding bathtub. If you’re feeling more active, there are plenty of activities available including boat cruises and fishing trips.

ST JEROME’S – THE HOTEL Melbourne, Victoria Luxury camping, or glamping, has been taken to new heights at Melbourne’s St Jerome’s – The Hotel. Located on a roof in the heart of Melbourne CBD, 20 swanky canvas tents each have double- or queen-sized beds, pillows, throws and split system air-conditioning. There is even an Esky stocked with local craft beers and other drinks.

www.rockend.com.au

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48 | LIFESTYLE

THE DINING EXPERIENCE REDESIGNED Dining has been chosen as Australia’s poster child for international and domestic tourism, and for good reason. Here’s why.

‘integrity’ and ‘honesty’ to it and you have the holy trinity of hospitality design today: AIH. You can see it in the kind of spaces that are being revived, with great diligence and care.

Places like Sydney’s Old Clare Hotel in the former Carlton and United Breweries building, a funky reincarnation in the inner-west. Or there’s Perth’s Como The Treasury in the CBD, a perfect refurbishment of a stately Heritage building, and Canberra’s Hotel Hotel, an ingenious rabbit warren of individually decorated rooms inside Fender Katsalidis’ Nishi building.

2. The Noma effect The effect of a 10-week residency of Danish restaurant, Noma, on a Lendlease site at Barangaroo, will not simply stop when this tenant packs up its cutlery and heads back to Copenhagen.

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onde Nast Traveller, in a departure from naming a list of top destinations for 2016, named but one: Australia. For the second year running Tourism Australia’s hero campaign is ‘Restaurant Australia’ – promoting our food, wine and the unique destinations in which to consume and appreciate both.

Tourism, of course, isn’t just about who’s arriving from overseas. It’s about Australians travelling in Australia for whatever reason – estimated to make up between 65 and 70 percent of the total $102 billion tourism impact on the economy. Australians as well as overseas visitors stay in hotels, eat out in restaurants and create the demand for hospitality.

There is no shortage of demand growth forecast for hospitality, but there is evidence that Australia remains inconsistently supplied in hotel rooms, has some poor quality product and in certain localities is oversupplied in certain types of accommodation, particularly serviced apartments. And there will be no curtailing the demand for innovation and differentiation in hospitality venues to cater to visitors and the seemingly insatiable demand of Australians for good food, good coffee and good times.

Here are three key trends the savvy diner will spot happening around the country.

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The first effect has already begun to ripple through the food industry, with chef René Redzepi’s commitment to Indigenous ingredients influencing chefs and their menus across the nation.

3. Deciphering the disruption The nascent trend towards design-led hotels in mixed-use developments – integrated with communities and neighbourhoods that are unique and compelling, including food and beverage destinations – is closely aligned with the expectations of the new breed of informed traveller.

Part of the design process is to lead the development community to previously unimagined solutions and, in Australia, we are only beginning to imagine hospitality that reflects the desires for experience and authenticity.

“IN AUSTRALIA, WE ARE ONLY BEGINNING TO IMAGINE HOSPITALITY THAT REFLECTS THE DESIRES FOR EXPERIENCE AND AUTHENTICITY.”

www.rockend.com.au

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50 | ROCKEND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION UPDATE

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fter 37 years of market leadership, Rockend understands the trust our clients place in us, to provide market leading technology to grow and support their business. We are committed to innovation, intelligent solutions and intuitive user design delivered within a network of support, which our customers have come to expect from the market leader in property management technology.

PropertyTree: PropertyTree releases major features monthly. Innovation, automation and intuitive intelligence drive the development of our next generation, cloud-based property management platform.

Our in-platform community suggestions ensure the voice of the customer is embraced. Recent development highlights include: Receipt Received: Quickly select the ‘Received From’ field, from the list of contacts for the entity being receipted. Helping you with your data integrity and recording of payments.

Tenancy Ledger – Payer/Payee column: PropertyTree now has a centralised reference point explaining the source or destination of money flowing in or out of the trust on behalf of your tenancy.

Owner Statement Enhancements: See a clear breakdown of part payments, their respective charges, the date charged and what is outstanding.

Training Tab in the Help Centre: Quickly view and register for upcoming training webinars from within the HelpCentre in PropertyTree.

Ownership Statements: View the breakdown of outstanding invoices that have been added to the Ownership Statement.

Inspections Workflow: The Inspections Workflow simplifies the inspections process with new scheduling automation. The newly designed workflow gives you greater visibility of the historical and upcoming inspections and improved reporting!

Pay Creditor Wizard: You can now prioritise creditors and invoices allowing you to intuitively manage your payment processes.

REST Professional: Being the most widely used and feature rich product on the market, REST Professional is always being optimised. The next version, REST Professional Version 15, will be released in early November. The March release of Version 14.5 included the following enhancements: Additional Owner Contacts: Improve communication and service levels by storing contact details for multiple owners.

Tenant Water Invoicing: Users can complete water invoicing in minutes by creating both owner and tenant invoices with the fileSMART integration.

Property Information Enhancements: Record additional Property Information on updated screens within the Property Details section.

Portfolio Check: View and access other users’ Portfolio Check via a new toolbar icon within REST Professional.

Critical Business Alerts for Principal/Director: Senior business leaders will now receive a Business Alert email when a Bank Reconciliation or System Backup has not been performed.

REST Mobile Version 7: Access Tenant Status information and Additional Owner Contacts, and experience better performance in the latest version of REST Mobile.

SMTP Improvements: Streamline your processes with the ability to send bulk emails through mail applications such as Gmail.

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realbenchmark: Rockend released a business intelligence tool that integrates with REST Professional in August of this year. The tool is the first of its kind in the Australian real estate space and provides REST Professional clients with the following features: Visual Dashboard: a dashboard that allows you to compare and analyse your KPI performance data results in the one, easily accessible, location.

Benchmarking your business: with straightforward, easy to use filters that allow you to compare your KPIs with similar businesses and the industry in just a few clicks.

Customised metrics: with filters that enable you to produce reports on what matters to you, including properties gained or lost, leasing activity, maintenance and more.

Identify and track trends: utilising historical data from REST Professional, to easily identify trends and opportunities.

Access anywhere: as realbenchmark is based in the cloud, it can be accessed from anywhere, any time, from any internet-connected device.

STRATA Master STRATA Master, the leading Strata and Body Corporate Management solution on the market has scheduled releases in March and September each year. An additional release will be made available on 30 November to support the enforcement of the new NSW legislation.

Version 9.0 was released in September this year boasting significant user suggested enhancements.

Instructional information: Maximise your use of STRATA Master with instructional information helping you to use every feature in the program.

Opening Balance Entry: You can now see the end result of balance entries without saving them.

The need to cancel and reverse entries that were incorrect on data entry is now eliminated.

Improved Email Address Validation: Ensuring all email addresses are formatted correctly when used in STRATA Master.

Generic BPAY Levy Notice: Email levy notices are now available to all agencies that offer BPAY with the new BPAY notice, which can be used with all banks.

User Meeting Favourites: Multiple client suggested enhancements have been made.

fileSMART Our paperless office solution, fileSMART saw the major release of Version 7.0 in May this year. Key features of note: Bulk Owner and Tenant water invoicing workflow: Approve, process and easily send water invoicing with the new water invoicing workflow. If your Water Authority bills include a QR code, fileSMART even auto-populates tenant usage information for you.

Outlook Add-in enhancements: Our Outlook Add-in has never been easier to use with improved usage, installation and user experience in the latest version.

Better Workflow Control: Administrators can now alter the type of fileSMART workflow to save you time in correcting and processing documents.

www.rockend.com.au

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Our future is in the cloud

PropertyTree is the next generation cloud based Property Management solution.

An intuitive and innovative solution from Rockend that allows you to grow your business from anywhere at anytime.

Accessible across all devices, it’s the platform to take your business into the future. PropertyTree has extensive automation, new features are released monthly ensuring you’re always working on the latest version.

This innovation is supported with extensive training and client service from the market leader in Property Management solutions.

Book a free demonstration at propertytree.com or call us on AUS 1300 778 733 NZ 09 909 7093

Innovation. Growth. Trust.

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