Base fees run $180 to $360 a unit a year, with minimum fees of $2,400 to $3,600 for a small building. Disbursements, commissions and extra meetings add about 20% to 50% on top. Quarter self-managed is $12 a unit a month for the first 50 units, $8 for the next 50 and $5 after that, with the first 30 days free.
None of these is on the fee your body corporate manager quotes. Each one is a line Quarter removes or shows you.
| The line | Typically | Where it hides | With Quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insurance commission | Typically: A share of the premium, where the manager takes one. | Where it hides: Inside the premium. At best, a line in the disclosures at the AGM. | With Quarter: No commission, on anything. |
| Disbursements | Typically: Often billed on top of the fee. | Where it hides: Printing, postage, photocopying and "administration". | With Quarter: Notices, agendas and minutes go out digitally. There is nothing to post. |
| Software and portal fees | Typically: Recovered from the building, or inside the fee. | Where it hides: "Management software", "owner portal", "technology fee". | With Quarter: Replaced outright. Community is free, with a login for every owner. |
| Extra meetings | Typically: Often billed per meeting. | Where it hides: The fee schedule. | With Quarter: Hosted and minuted inside the plan, however many you hold. |
| Disclosure statements on a sale | Typically: Often charged for each pre-contract disclosure. | Where it hides: Charged to the selling owner, so the committee never sees it. | With Quarter: Pre-contract and pre-settlement disclosures produced from Quarter's records. Nothing per disclosure. |
| Arrears notices | Typically: Often billed per letter. | Where it hides: Recovered from the owner who is behind. | With Quarter: Levy reminders go out automatically, as part of Finance. |
| Insurance claims | Typically: Often billed per claim or by the hour. | Where it hides: The fee schedule. | With Quarter: Tracked on the compliance dashboard, nothing per claim. |
| Professional time | Typically: Special projects, billed separately. | Where it hides: The fee schedule. | With Quarter: Not something software replaces. When you need a person, we quote it up front. |
New Zealand fee guides publish the management fee and say special projects are billed separately. They don't say how much, which is the point. Your own agreement and your last year's accounts are the real numbers.
A year of running the building, three ways, at three sizes.
| A year | 6 units | 25 units | 75 units |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body corporate manager, base fee | $2,400 to $3,600 | $4,500 to $9,000 | $13,500 to $26,250 |
| Body corporate manager, all in | $2,880 to $5,400 | $5,400 to $13,500 | $16,200 to $39,380 |
| Quarter self-managed | $864 $72 a month | $3,600 $300 a month | $9,600 $800 a month |
"All in" adds the disbursements, commissions and extra-meeting charges that usually come on top of the base fee, 20% to 50% of it. 2026 market ranges. Quarter self-managed is $12 a unit a month for the first 50 units and less after that, with the first 30 days free.
How many units. If you know the management fee on your budget, put it in and we'll use yours, then add what a normal year puts on top of it.
25 units, New Zealand
Quarter, self-managed
$3,600 a year ($300 a month)
25 units at $12 a month, with Community included. No commission, no disbursements, nothing per meeting.
You keep $1,800 to $9,900 a year.
That is 33 to 73% less than paying a body corporate manager, every year the building runs itself.
The management fee is the range published for New Zealand in 2026, with the minimum a body corporate manager charges a small scheme and the lower rate they quote a big one. Extras are 20 to 50% of the fee in a normal year, from Australian managers' own guides: no New Zealand source puts a number on them. A bad year costs more.
Base fees run $180 to $360 a unit a year, with minimum fees of $2,400 to $3,600 for a small building. Disbursements, commissions and extra meetings add about 20% to 50% on top. Quarter self-managed is $12 a unit a month for the first 50 units, $8 for the next 50 and $5 after that, with the first 30 days free.
Commission on the insurance premium where the manager takes one, disbursements for printing and postage, software recovered from the building, extra meetings and disclosure statements on a sale. No New Zealand source puts a number on them; in Australia they add 20% to 50% to the base fee.
No. The Unit Titles Act 2010 lets a body corporate run itself at any size. Body corporate managers are not licensed, and since 2024 one you keep must have a written contract and disclose conflicts of interest.
Review your management fees
The calculator is an estimate. The review is the real figure: every dollar your body corporate manager was paid last year, beside what Quarter would cost the same building, and the service you got for it.
1.
Press “Review our management fees” on its page. Quarter already knows its size and its state, so the estimate is there before you type anything.
2.
Once you've joined: the last statements or budget, the management agreement and the insurance renewal invoice. Quarter reads them and adds up the fee, the extra work, the disbursements and any commission on the insurance.
3.
A poll with the real figures on it, to send round. It binds nobody. When the numbers make the case, the motion to run the building yourselves comes next, and Quarter drafts that too.