Tertius de Ridder, the new chairperson of Sardinia Bay Golf & Wildlife Estate’s Homeowners’ Association, is determined to present residents with a below-inflation increase next year.
This is the challenge the 55-year-old and fellow association member Frederick Skein have set themselves for the next 12 months.
“We want to show we are serious about managing residents’ money,” says Tertius.
“We aim to be extremely prudent in how we oversee the finances. We represent a hundred homeowners, and we need to look after their best interests.”
Tertius and wife Catherine are relative newcomers to the estate, having only moved into their newly-built home in November last year.
But with 30 years’ experience in the corporate sector, there is little question that the seasoned procurement specialist knows what is required to manage operations effectively.
The couple decided to make the move to Sards from Walmer, where they spent many happy years raising their two children.
With their 25-year-old son (now a yacht captain in the US) and 27-year-old daughter (who gave them their first grandchild two years ago) out the house, they felt the time had come for “something smaller”.
Sards was on their radar for several years, though the properties they were shown were never quite what they wanted.
Eventually, they took the decision to build their own home and, while there were moments of stress, it ultimately proved to be the right one.
“This is perfect for us,” says Tertius, an avid cyclist who has competed in more than 120 events around the country.
“You really feel like you’re out of town here.
“At night I hear the Cape eagle owls. I’ve seen the local jackal. When I went out for an early-morning ride the other day, I almost rode into a porcupine! It’s just lovely to be here.”
Tertius was approached by former HOA chair Stephan Steinmann to take the reins this year. As a resident now well and truly invested in the estate, he accepted.
Aside from his ambition to achieve a below-inflation increase, his other big goal during his tenure is to ensure homeowners are always kept in the loop – no matter how big or small a proposal.
“I am not one for autocratic decisions. We never want homeowners to come back to us and ask why they were not part of the decision-making process.”
To this end, Tertius and Frederick are releasing a quarterly update to every homeowner to ensure they know exactly what is happening on the estate.
He praises Stephan and former association member Don Roberston for the outstanding projects they have put in place and says their first priority is to see these through.
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Then they will “attend to some big-ticket items”, he says.
Being able to bounce ideas off the estate’s financial guru, Peter Wilson, is a big plus.
“It is awesome to work with him,” says Tertius.
In the corporate world, the latter has always been one to bring fresh ideas to the table and he now hopes to do the same at Sards.
He believes it is necessary to run the estate like one will do a small business. For example, they recently replaced lights at half the usual cost.
If nothing else, one thing that is sure on the shores of Sardinia Bay is that Tertius and the rest of “management” will run a tight ship.