Quick answer
This usually comes down to no shared record of what was approved, by whom, and to what scope. Fix it by putting every job through a written work order with a scope and an approval step before work starts, keeping one place for quotes, updates and sign-off, and having a clear rule for who can approve what without a full committee vote.
Sounds familiar?
- A contractor turns up on site and nobody on the committee remembers approving it
- Work is finished before an invoice or even a quote has been seen
- Contractors go quiet for weeks between the quote and the job actually happening
- Different committee members have given a contractor conflicting instructions
- Nobody can say which quote was accepted or what the agreed scope was
- An invoice arrives for work that's larger in scope than what anyone remembers agreeing to
Why it happens
- Approvals happen verbally or over a phone call, with no record kept anywhere
- One committee member deals directly with a contractor without looping in the rest of the committee
- There's no agreed threshold for what a single office-bearer can approve versus what needs a full committee decision
- Quotes and instructions are scattered across emails, texts and phone calls instead of one place
- Contractors aren't told who the actual point of contact is, so they act on whoever answers the phone
Key takeaways
- Unapproved work almost always traces back to verbal approvals with no shared record.
- Agree a clear threshold for what one office-bearer can approve versus what needs the full committee.
- Every job should have one committee point of contact so contractors aren't taking mixed instructions.
- A short standing review of open jobs at each meeting catches problems early.
- No invoice should be paid without a matching approved work order.
What to do about it
- 1List every contractor currently engaged or quoting, and note who on the committee is dealing with each one
- 2Agree a simple approval rule this week: a dollar threshold or job type that any office-bearer can approve alone, and everything else needs the committee
- 3Put any job in progress or about to start into a written work order with scope, quote and approval recorded
- 4Nominate one point of contact per job so the contractor isn't taking instructions from multiple people
- 5Ask each active contractor for a written scope and price before any further work proceeds
- 6Set a simple rule that no invoice gets paid without a matching approved work order
- 7Review open jobs at every committee meeting, not just when something's gone wrong
- 8Keep quotes, approvals and updates in one shared record the whole committee can see, not one person's inbox
Why this keeps happening
Most committees don't have a formal process failure — they have an informal one. A tap starts leaking, someone rings a plumber they know, the plumber turns up, does the job, and sends an invoice. Nobody wrote anything down because it felt too small to bother with. Multiply that by a dozen small jobs a year and the committee has no reliable record of who authorised what, and owners start asking questions the committee can't answer.
The other common pattern is one enthusiastic or long-serving committee member who "just handles" maintenance because they always have. That's fine while it works, but it means approvals live in one person's head and one person's phone. If they're away, or they leave the committee, the scheme loses the only record of what's been agreed with which contractor.
The real cost of unapproved work
Unapproved work isn't just an administrative headache. It creates real exposure:
- The scheme can end up liable for work nobody formally agreed to, at a price nobody compared against other quotes
- Contractors without proper licensing or insurance can be engaged without anyone checking, because there was no step where that got verified
- Owners lose confidence in the committee when they hear about work happening that was never discussed
- Disputes over invoices are much harder to resolve without a paper trail showing what was actually agreed
Set an approval threshold, then stick to it
Every committee should be able to answer two questions in one sentence: who can approve small jobs on their own, and at what point does something need to go to the full committee (or, for larger works, to owners at a general meeting)? Getting specific dollar figures right depends on your scheme's by-laws and state legislation, so check what applies to you rather than assuming a number — but the principle holds everywhere: write the threshold down, tell every committee member what it is, and don't let it drift.
Give every job a paper trail
A work order doesn't need to be complicated. At minimum it should record: what the job is, which contractor is doing it, what was quoted, who approved it and when, and what happened next. That single record answers almost every question that comes up later — whether it's an owner asking why a lift was serviced, an incoming committee member trying to understand what's already in train, or a dispute over an invoice that doesn't match the quote.
Make it easy for contractors to report back
Contractors go quiet for the same reason committees lose track of jobs — there's no clear channel for updates. If a contractor has to guess whether to email the secretary, the treasurer or whoever answered the phone last time, updates get lost or never sent. Give every job one committee contact and one place to send updates, quotes and completion notes.
Review open work regularly
A short standing item at every committee meeting — "what's currently quoted, approved or in progress" — catches problems while they're still small. It's much easier to chase a contractor who's gone quiet for two weeks than to untangle a job that was meant to finish three months ago and now has a disputed invoice attached.
How Flex Strata helps
Flex Strata's maintenance and work order tools keep every job's scope, quotes, approval and status in one place the whole committee can see, so nobody has to reconstruct what happened from memory or a scattered inbox. Approval thresholds and who signed off are recorded against each work order, and contractors have a clear place to report back instead of guessing who to email.
Where Flex Strata fits
Flex Strata's maintenance and work order tools keep every job's scope, quotes and approval in one shared record, with a clear point of contact for contractors and a visible history of who approved what. That means fewer surprise invoices and no more reconstructing decisions from memory after the fact.
Common follow-up questions
Related answers
Step-by-step guides
Strata Maintenance Work Orders: A Clear Process
From a resident's report to a signed-off invoice — the stages a strata maintenance work order should go through, and why skipping steps causes disputes.
Choosing and Vetting Strata Contractors: An Insurance Checklist
What to check before engaging a contractor on common property — licences, insurance cover, certificates of currency, and how to keep the register current.
Cite this page
Flex Strata (2026). Chasing Contractors and Dealing with Unapproved Work. Flex Strata by Strata Pages. https://flexstrata.com.au/committee-problems/chasing-contractors-and-unapproved-work
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Other things committees get stuck on
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Missing compliance deadlines
Fire safety checks, insurance renewals, certificates and other recurring obligations slip past because nobody owns the calendar.
Members not responding
When committee members go quiet, miss meetings or never reply, one person ends up carrying the whole scheme.