Why Commission an Assignee Competency Report?
If your caretaker sells his business to another entity, your body corporate should assess the abilities of the incoming caretaker [the assignee] to determine whether that entity or individual can adequately perform the caretaking duties. This has considerable bearing on the decision to approve or disapprove the contract assignment. The caretaker is an independent contractor to the body corporate and may be a corporation employing people with various skills.
Understandably, many committee members do not feel adequately skilled or qualified to carry out this assessment. For probity reasons, committee members frequently engage an experienced third party to interview and assess the core competencies of the proposed assignee.
What does the assessment of a proposed assignee involve?
First, we arrange a site meeting between the assignee(s) and an experienced and trained quantity surveyor from the Leary and Partners specialist strata team. Our team member will come prepared with a tailor-made questionnaire based on all available information about the proposed assignee. The interview aims to determine whether the assignee has the skills and knowledge to competently carry out the caretaking duties in accordance with the contract requirements. The skill base for this role is surprisingly wide. In addition to the general skills required to maintain common areas, including gardens, swimming pools, specialised plant equipment, and general cleaning, the role also requires project management, conflict resolution, and interpersonal relationship management. This is further complicated when the assignee is a corporate entity that involves more than one individual.
Our tailor-made questionnaire considers the assignee’s background information, provided to the body corporate as part of the assignee process, and combines it with our analysis of the contract requirements to produce a set of questions that are designed to assist us in determining whether or not the assignee is suitably qualified for the role.
What is the scope of a typical report?
Each report is customised to reflect the scheme infrastructure and the proposed assignee’s background information. Whilst each report is unique, typical performance metrics include the following;
- Logistical aspects of the assignee’s ability to carry out the works
- The assignee’s ability to manage resources where the entity has pre-existing commitments running concurrently with the proposed assignment.
- The relevance of the assignee’s qualifications and experience
- An assessment of the general knowledge of the assignee(s) that is relevant to the caretaking role
- An assessment of the administration and interpersonal relationship management abilities of the assignee(s)
- An assessment of the knowledge and skills relating to the core competencies required for the caretaking role