Setting Up Email for a Strata Building
Committee members often use their personal inbox for building business - which makes handover almost impossible. Use a dedicated Gmail for the role, or go further with Google Workspace for the building.
· Nathan Croxton · Building Operations · 5 min read
Committee members often handle building business from their personal inbox.
It is convenient in the moment. The problem shows up at handover. When someone steps down as chair, secretary, or treasurer, the next person cannot open that inbox. Quotes, contractor threads, insurance mail, and owner correspondence stay locked in a private account the scheme does not control.
The fix is simple: put committee matters in a dedicated inbox that belongs to the role, not the person. That can be a free Gmail account, or - if the building wants to go all out - a Google Workspace setup on the building’s own domain.
Why a personal inbox does not work for strata
Committees change. Personal email accounts do not transfer with the role.
When scheme mail lives in someone’s private Gmail, Hotmail, or work account:
- The next office bearer cannot access the old correspondence
- Owners and contractors keep writing to an address that no longer represents the building
- Records walk away with the departing committee member
- Scheme business gets mixed with personal mail
You do not need a complicated IT project. You need a dedicated inbox for committee work.
Option 1: a free dedicated Gmail
The simplest approach is a regular Gmail account created for the role.
Examples:
buildingname-chair@gmail.combuildingname-secretary@gmail.combuildingname-treasurer@gmail.combuildingname-committee@gmail.com
Use it only for committee and building correspondence. Keep the login with the committee - a shared password manager entry for the secretary and chair is enough. When someone steps down, hand over the password. Do not ask them to forward mail from their personal account forever.
That alone solves the handover problem.
A few limits to know:
- There is no admin console. If someone changes the password and leaves, recovery can be painful
- Files shared from that account are not a Shared Drive owned by the scheme
- It will not look as polished as
secretary@yourbuilding.com.au
For many buildings, it is still the right starting point - free, quick to set up, and clearly better than mixing strata with personal mail.
Option 2: Google Workspace for the building
If you want to go further, Google Workspace gives the scheme custom-domain email, Shared Drive, Meet, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and admin controls.
Custom email on your building’s domain
Addresses like secretary@yourbuilding.com.au or committee@yourbuilding.com.au stay with the scheme. When someone steps down, you transfer the mailbox (or alias) to the next office bearer.
You can also set shared aliases - maintenance@, committee@, agm@ - so owners always know where to write.
Shared Drive for scheme records
Keep AGM packs, by-laws, insurance policies, quotes, contracts, and defect reports in a Shared Drive owned by the scheme. New committee members get access when they join. Departing members lose it when they leave.
Calendar and Meet
Put AGMs, committee meetings, contractor visits, and compliance dates on a shared calendar. Google Meet is included for hybrid or online meetings - no extra app for residents to install.
Admin control
One or two trusted admins (often the secretary plus the building or strata manager) can add and remove users, reset passwords, and recover mail or files if someone leaves abruptly. That is the main advantage over a free Gmail role account.
Pros, cons, and expected costs
Rough guide for a typical small committee (prices change - check current rates before budgeting):
| Dedicated Gmail | Google Workspace | |
|---|---|---|
| Pros | Free; minutes to set up; solves handover if logins stay with the committee | Custom domain email (secretary@yourbuilding.com.au); Shared Drive; admin reset/recovery; Meet + Calendar included |
| Cons | No admin console; password recovery can fail if someone locks you out; looks less professional; no scheme-owned Shared Drive | Needs a domain; monthly per-user fee; a bit more setup (DNS / MX records) |
| Domain | Not required | About $15–40/year for a .com.au domain (varies by registrar; renewal is ongoing) |
| Email / Workspace | $0 | Business Starter roughly $10–12 AUD per user / month (annual commit is cheaper than month-to-month) |
| Example annual cost | $0 | Domain ~$25 + 3 users × ~$11 × 12 ≈ $400–450/year (4 users ≈ $530–600/year) |
Most schemes only need a few seats - chair, secretary, treasurer, and maybe a shared committee@ account. Business Starter includes custom email, pooled Drive storage, Meet, Calendar, and a 14-day free trial.
A practical setup
If you choose free Gmail:
- Create role accounts like
buildingname-chair@gmail.comandbuildingname-secretary@gmail.com - Store the logins where the committee can find them
- Move committee correspondence onto those accounts
- Update owners, contractors, and Onsite with the new addresses
If you choose Google Workspace:
- Register or use your building domain (for example
yourbuilding.com.au) - Create role-based accounts -
secretary@,treasurer@,chair@, and optionallycommittee@ - Put core documents in a Shared Drive
- Share a committee calendar
- Document who the Super Admins are and where recovery codes live
- Update letterheads, noticeboards, and Onsite
If you already use Onsite for resident communication, building notices, and maintenance, a dedicated committee inbox sits alongside it - it is not a replacement for building-wide messaging.
Get started
Pick one:
- Dedicated Gmail: create free role accounts like
buildingname-chair@gmail.com, keep the logins with the committee, and stop using personal inboxes for scheme mail - Google Workspace: try it free for 14 days, set up role-based email on your building’s domain, and hand the next committee a system that still works when the faces change
The goal is the same either way: committee matters live in an inbox the building can hand over.
