There’s a quiet shift happening inside Australia’s top property management agencies. Maintenance – the most painful part of the job – is being turned into a competitive advantage.
Every property manager has their “maintenance horror story”: the calls, the chaos, the blame. But a growing number of agencies are proving it doesn’t have to be that way.
The engine behind that shift? The Method – a framework that’s setting the gold standard for Property Care.
Anna, Director of Customer Success at Tapi: “We analysed hundreds of thousands of jobs that had gone through our platform to understand what lead to a good job outcome and what leads to a bad job outcome.
“We were able to boil the results down into 5 simple principles and corresponding practices to provide the ultimate maintenance coordination.
“It sounds super simple, but if you read through those practices and score yourself as a business; I bet you’ll find you’re lacking in some crucial areas.
“Those areas are likely why you’re losing managements or team members over maintenance. But that’s okay, because now you know and you can move forward to better them.”
From maintenance to momentum
Earlier this year, Tapi’s co-founder, Taylor Coleman, addressed The Method at AREC 2025.
It was evident in his talk that there was a new way of maintenance that transcended technology.
A new way that was giving agencies a repeatable, scalable process for handling every job from triage to completion with clarity and speed.
It addressed team burnout and poor customer experience, leaving a business with a unique experience of actually gaining business due to maintenance.
Turning maintenance into a selling point
The penultimate practice in the Method is “It’s not repairs, it’s reputation”.
Anna, Director of Customer Success at Tapi: “When you think about it, the tenant and owner aren’t going to remember the plumber, they’re going to remember your business and how you dealt with their home, time, and money.
When the most common touch point each year you have with your owner is maintenance, it’s pretty important to get it right.”
When a business can show a clear, data-backed process for how it protects an owner’s asset, manages trades, and keeps tenants happy, it builds instant confidence.
Investors see operational excellence. Owners see reliability. Tenants feel cared for.
Jess, Founder of Bise Property:
“I always include maintenance in my pitch – whether it’s a new business call, meeting with a new owner, or onboarding tenants. By showing exactly how maintenance is handled from day one, I set clear boundaries and prove our competence.
It’s helped me win trust quickly and show that we take maintenance seriously.”
A measurable lift in performance
Agencies using The Method report faster turnaround times, fewer tenant escalations, and higher owner satisfaction.
But the real magic is what happens behind the scenes: teams feel calmer, communication flows better, and leaders can finally see what’s working (and what’s not).
The Method’s structure is built around five simple but powerful ideas:
- Foundations: Know the property and standardise everything.
- Coordination: Triage smartly, act fast, and keep everyone in the loop.
- Execution: Track until it’s done and close the loop every time.
- Quality: Measure, review, and improve continuously.
- Mindset: Progress beats perfection – calm beats chaos. Every-time.
Natalie Fel, Head of Property Management Across 20+ offices at Lifestyle Group:
“Maintenance tracking and follow-up were huge pain points… We had no simple way to ensure maintenance was being actioned consistently across offices, and that caused issues for everyone – tenants, landlords, and our team.”
Building the era of Property Care
Tapi, the technology company behind The Method, calls this approach Property Care – a shift from “fixing things” to “caring for properties and people.”
It’s a subtle but significant mindset change that resonates with the industry’s best operators.
Property Care means faster action, smarter decisions, and a more human experience for everyone involved.
And as more agencies adopt it, the bar for what good looks like is getting higher.
A new gold standard
The Tapi Method isn’t another buzzword or checklist.
It’s a framework built on the lived experience of hundreds of thousands of maintenance jobs across Australia and New Zealand.
By codifying what top-performing agencies already do intuitively – and making it teachable – it’s helping teams scale consistency, quality, and trust.
In an industry defined by service, The Method is fast becoming the benchmark for how great agencies operate behind the scenes.
Those who adopt it aren’t just running smoother maintenance – they’re winning more trust, more managements, and more calm in their day.
And as the bar keeps rising, the real question for property leaders is simple:
Will your agency be known for chaos – or care?
👉 Download The Tapi Method to see how Australia’s top agencies are setting the new standard for Property Care.
About Tapi
Tapi is the leading property maintenance software in Australia and New Zealand, trusted by thousands of property managers to support over 450,000 properties. It streamlines repair coordination, improves communication with suppliers, and reduces admin, helping agencies manage maintenance more efficiently and deliver a better experience for tenants and owners.
Tapi integrates directly with Property Tree, Reapit PM, PropertyMe and Palace, enabling seamless syncing between maintenance workflows and trust accounting. By simplifying day-to-day operations and supporting a smarter, long-term approach to property care, Tapi turns maintenance into a strategic advantage for modern property management teams.
