A slogan is easy. Living up to it is the important part.
When we launched Levels Property Management, we chose Next Level Management as the phrase that would sit alongside our name. It sounded right. It summed up the ambition we had for the business and the kind of managing agent we wanted to build. But I also think phrases like that have to mean something.
It is very easy to say you offer a different level of service. It is much harder to demonstrate what that looks like when you are preparing a service charge budget, taking over a development from another agent, dealing with a major building defect, advising directors on a difficult decision or telling a client something they would probably rather not hear.
That, for me, is where “Next Level Management” actually begins.
In the first article in this series, I talked about communication and why keeping people properly informed matters so much to me. Communication is absolutely part of next level management, but it is only one part. The bigger picture is how you run the whole operation – it is the decisions you make, the standards you hold yourself to, the people you employ, the systems you build. It is the way you manage somebody else’s money, the way you deal with risk, and ultimately, whether your clients can trust you to do the right thing when things become difficult.
At Levels, we bring all of that back to three core values:
Integrity. Information. Innovation.
They have been with us from the beginning, but I think it is worth looking beyond the words themselves.
Integrity: doing the right thing, including when it is difficult
Integrity can become one of those corporate words that gets printed on a wall and then forgotten. For us, it has to be much more practical than that.
Our responsibility is to act in the best interests of the clients and developments we represent. Most of the time, everyone wants the same outcome and the route forward is relatively straightforward.
Sometimes it isn’t.
There are occasions when the information we need to give a client isn’t necessarily what they wanted to hear. A building may require work that cannot sensibly be delayed. A lease may restrict the options available. Legislation may create an obligation that cannot simply be ignored. A budget may need to increase because continually underfunding a development would create a much bigger problem later.
Next level management is not about telling people what they want to hear. It is about giving clear, professional advice, explaining the reasoning behind it and then walking alongside the client through what happens next. That means explaining the legal position where necessary, setting out the options, discussing the financial implications and making sure directors understand not just what we are recommending, but why.
The same principle applies inside our own business.
We will make difficult decisions when they are necessary to protect Levels, our clients, our colleagues or the contractor and professional network that supports the developments we manage. Not every decision in business is comfortable. Integrity means not avoiding the difficult ones simply because avoiding them would be easier.
It also shows up in the everyday details: transparent charging, robust contractor procurement, proper governance, accountability and careful handling of client money. Those details matter because trust isn’t created by saying that you are trustworthy. It is created over time by what you actually do.
Information: giving people the clarity to make good decisions
We explored communication in the first Level With Us article, so I don’t want to simply cover the same ground again.
Information goes further.
A managing agent sits in the middle of an enormous amount of information: leases, budgets, accounts, contracts, compliance reports, legislation, surveys, maintenance records, insurance documentation, Section 20 consultations, health and safety assessments and much more. The job is not simply to possess that information – the job is to understand it, manage it properly and turn it into something useful.
For an RMC or RTM director, that could mean understanding the financial position of the development before approving a budget. For a leaseholder, it could mean being able to see why a particular cost appears within their service charge.
During a major works project, it means giving decision-makers the right information at the right stage so that legal, financial and technical considerations can be understood together.
This is also one of the reasons we developed LeaseClear. Leases are fundamental to almost everything we do in block management, but they can be incredibly difficult documents to navigate. LeaseClear uses technology to help turn that complexity into structured, understandable information.
To me, that is a perfect example of what our value of Information means – we are not changing what the lease says, we are simply making it easier to understand.
Innovation: solve the problem, don’t just digitise it
Innovation is probably the value that I am personally most associated with at Levels because technology and systems are a huge part of my role. But innovation does not mean adding technology for the sake of saying that you have an app. It means looking at a problem and asking whether there is a better way to solve it.
MyLevels grew from exactly that principle.
We wanted our clients, directors and leaseholders to have a central place where the management of their development actually made sense. Somewhere that information, documents, financial resources, building updates, maintenance information and development-specific guidance could be accessed whenever it was needed. MyLevels continues to evolve because our requirements continue to evolve.
LeaseClear came from a different problem: complicated lease documents that take significant time and expertise to navigate. The solution was different, but the thought process was the same: What is the problem What would make it easier? Can we build something better?
Innovation also happens far away from anything visible to a customer. It can be an improved internal workflow, better automation, a stronger compliance process or a system that removes repetitive administration from a Property Manager’s day. If technology saves somebody an hour of administration and allows them to spend that hour managing a building, speaking with a client or resolving an issue, that is meaningful innovation.
That is where technology meets bricks and mortar.
It starts before we even take over a development
One of the areas that I think really demonstrates the difference between basic administration and proper property management is onboarding.
Taking over a development isn’t simply changing the name at the top of a service charge demand. There can be years of history sitting behind a building. Contracts need reviewing, financial balances need reconciling, client funds need transferring, compliance records need checking, maintenance history needs understanding. Outstanding projects, arrears, insurance matters and existing contractor relationships all need to be identified.
And importantly, the people living there need to know what is happening.
A good handover establishes control early. We work with outgoing agents, clients, contractors and other professional parties to gather the information we need and understand the development properly. Then we start building the systems and structure around it. For new developments, that involvement can start even earlier through budget forecasting, service charge setup, operational planning and preparation for residents moving in.
The objective is the same in either situation: start properly.
Sometimes the work is anything but straightforward
Property management can quickly move from day-to-day maintenance into some very serious territory. Our team has experience managing complex major works, Section 20 consultation and high-value refurbishment projects.
We also have significant expertise around building safety and cladding remediation. Joy, one of our founding directors, was among the early professionals in the sector to successfully secure Building Safety Fund support for cladding remediation. That specialist experience now directly benefits Levels clients dealing with incredibly complicated building safety projects.
These projects involve far more than appointing a contractor. There can be legislation, funding arrangements, technical consultants, resident engagement, fire safety considerations, procurement, cost control and enormous amounts of documentation to coordinate. This is where experience matters. It is also where calm, structured management matters.
The same applies when leaseholders want to take control of their own development through the Right to Manage process. We can assist from the early eligibility stages and incorporation of the RTM company through to the statutory process, handover and ultimately the ongoing management of the building.
Taking control of a development should be empowering. Our role is to help make sure that control is supported by the right professional structure.
Good management is also good financial management
There is another subject that can never be separated from property management: money.
Service charge management is a significant responsibility. The money we manage is not ours. It belongs to the developments and clients we represent, and everything from budgeting and reserve planning through to invoice control, arrears management, year-end accounts and financial reporting has to be approached accordingly.
A realistic budget is not necessarily the lowest budget. Sometimes the responsible decision is to recommend greater expenditure because the alternative is allowing a building to deteriorate or storing up a much more expensive problem for the future.
Equally, every cost should stand up to scrutiny. Good financial management means understanding where the money is going, planning ahead and giving clients meaningful information about the financial health of their development.
That is why strengthening our finance function has been such an important part of the growth of Levels, including the recent appointment of Joanne Coolen as our Head of Finance, bringing more than 20 years of accounting experience and specialist property management finance knowledge into the business.
Next level management has to be financially literate management. There really isn’t a way around that.
Ultimately, it comes back to people
We can develop brilliant systems, create excellent processes, invest in technology, build applications and automate tasks, but none of those things make Levels what it is. People do.
I am incredibly proud of the team we are building. Everyone brings something different: property management expertise, finance, building safety, compliance, technology, operations, customer service and a great deal more.
As directors, the responsibility of Joy and myself isn’t simply to drive the commercial success of the company. It is also to create an environment where talented people can do their best work, where colleagues feel supported and where high standards are expected without losing sight of the human beings responsible for delivering them. If our team succeeds, our clients feel the benefit.
That culture extends beyond our employees too. Property management relies on an enormous network of contractors, surveyors, solicitors, accountants, insurers, health and safety specialists and other professional partners. We want to work with people who share our standards and who understand the responsibility that comes with working inside somebody’s home or spending somebody else’s money.
So, what does Next Level Management mean?
Levels has recently been shortlisted for Boutique Property Management Company of the Year at the 2026 Property Management Awards, while Joy has also been shortlisted for Business Development Manager of the Year. For a relatively young company, being recognised alongside established names in our industry means a great deal to us.
But awards aren’t the definition of Next Level Management. Neither is an app or a slogan.
For me, it is everything working together. It is giving honest advice, making difficult decisions when they are necessary and managing money responsibly. It is understanding the legislation and planning rather than continually reacting. It is having the experience to deal with a multimillion-pound project and the willingness to care just as much about the broken light fitting in a communal hallway. It is giving talented people the tools and support they need to do their jobs properly, using technology intelligently rather than hiding behind it, and it is constantly asking ourselves one simple question:
Can we do this better?
Because I don’t think you ever reach a point where you can declare that you have taken something to the next level and stop. There is always another improvement, another problem to solve, another lesson to learn, another standard to raise. And that, perhaps more than anything else, is what Next Level Management means to me.
