For small communities

Everything your community
needs, in one place.

Notices, votes, maintenance, meeting minutes — all in one shared app your neighbours actually open. Set up in ten minutes. Free for 30 days, any size community.

10 min to set up
30 days free, any size
No ads, no data resale
Notice Board
Rock Glen · 24 owners
FM
Fiona
Today
Culvert clearing ThursdayUpkeep
Driveway by units 12–18 blocked 8–10am.
JT
James
Yesterday
Vote: replace bark with schistVote
11 of 24 voted — closes Sunday.
Due soon
Insurance renewal
Crombie Lockwood · in 14 days
Why Common Ground

Run your community without running yourself ragged.

Most community management software is built for property managers billing by the hour. Common Ground is built for the volunteer chair, the engaged owner, and the neighbour who just wants to know what's happening.

One place, one source of truth

No more "did you see that email?" Notices, votes, contractor info and meeting minutes live in one shared view — searchable, sorted, and seen by everyone who needs them.

Maintenance that doesn't get forgotten

Track short-term jobs (gutters, insurance, gardening) and long-term capital plans (reseal, replacement). Get reminders before things become urgent — or expensive.

Decisions that actually finish

Run votes with a quorum, deadlines and clear results. Members vote from their phone in 30 seconds. Outcomes are recorded and linked to the minutes that follow.

How it works

From setup to full community in an afternoon.

There's no consultant, no implementation phase, no training day. Three steps and you're running.

01

Create your space

Name your community, add a couple of details, and you're in. No credit card. We pre-fill the maintenance schedule with sensible defaults so you start with something, not nothing.

02

Invite your neighbours

One shareable link covers everyone. They join in 30 seconds — no app store, no password gymnastics. Members get an email when there's a vote, a notice, or maintenance affecting them.

03

Run your community

Post a notice. Raise an issue. Open a vote. Log a contractor visit. Everyone sees what they need to see — and the people running things finally get their evenings back.

Built for

Small communities that run themselves.

If your community has fewer than a few hundred homes and the people running it aren't getting paid to do so — Common Ground is for you.

Residents' & owners' associations

Subdivisions and lifestyle blocks running their own affairs through a volunteer committee. Shared driveways, common land, levies, neighbours who would rather not chase each other.

Small apartment & townhouse complexes

10–80 units, no dedicated manager, owners doing the work themselves. Replaces the WhatsApp group, the shared inbox, and the dropbox folder no-one knows the password for.

Lifestyle & retirement villages

Resident-led committees in over-50s and retirement communities. Designed to be readable on a phone, in big enough text, by someone who isn't a "tech person."

Co-housing & intentional communities

Groups that decide together, share assets, and want the decision trail recorded. Common Ground keeps the social contract visible — without anyone having to be the secretary forever.

What's inside

Four tools, one shared place.

Each one replaces a piece of the mess. Together, they replace the mess.

Notice Board

The community feed your neighbours actually open.

A single place for announcements, lost cats, contractor visits, social events and the small stuff that builds a real community.

  • Pinned notices for the things that matter most
  • Comments and replies — discussion stays attached to context
  • Email digest for members who'd rather not log in
  • System events (votes, maintenance) appear automatically
Notice Board
3 new this week
FM
Fiona
Today
Culvert clearing ThursdayUpkeep
Driveway partially blocked 8–10am.
SR
Sarah
Yesterday
Lost cat — grey tabby, white paws
Last seen near unit 6.
Votes & Decisions

Decisions that finish — with the receipts attached.

Set a question, a deadline, a quorum. Members vote from their phone in seconds. Results are tallied automatically and the outcome stays linked to the relevant notice or meeting.

  • Yes / No / Abstain — or multi-option
  • Live tally so everyone can see momentum
  • Quorum and majority rules enforced automatically
  • Full audit trail — who voted, when, what they chose
Vote · Replace bark with schist
Closes Sunday · 11 of 24 voted
YES — 9
NO — 2
ABSTAIN — 0
Maintenance

A schedule that remembers what you forgot.

Track every recurring job and every long-term capital plan in one timeline. Get reminders before things go overdue — and a clear record of what was done, by whom, for how much.

  • Short-term (insurance, gutters, gardening) and long-term (reseal, replacements)
  • Cost history, contractor contacts, completion logs
  • Auto-rolling due dates for recurring jobs
  • Cost rollups per year so you can plan the levy
Maintenance
3 due soon · 1 overdue
Culvert vegetation clearing
Overdue · 15 days · Wakatipu Landscaping · $2,000
Insurance renewal
Due in 14 days · Crombie Lockwood · $3,000
Road reseal (capital)
In 7 years · estimate $25,000
Meetings

AGM minutes a member can actually find later.

Schedule a meeting, build the agenda, attach issues and maintenance items, run it, and write the minutes — all in one place. Past meetings stay searchable. Decisions stay linked.

  • Agenda items pulled in from open issues and maintenance
  • Attendance and apologies recorded automatically
  • Minutes published to the notice board with one click
  • Searchable archive — find what was decided, when, by whom
AGM 2026
Thurs 12 March · 7pm · 18 attending
1. Financial review
Treasurer's report · Q&A
2. Bark replacement voteVote
Resolution from notice board
3. Culvert clearing budget
Linked maintenance item
Pricing

Honest pricing. 30 days free, any size.

No setup fees. No per-feature unlocks. No hidden seats. Try the whole product, with every feature, for 30 days — no card needed.

Free trial

Try it

$0for 30 days

Any size community. Every feature. No credit card required.

  • All features unlocked
  • Unlimited members & posts
  • Cancel any time before day 30
  • Keep your data if you continue
Larger strata

Custom

Talkto us

More than 30 homes or units — let's chat.

  • Everything in Standard
  • Volume pricing per unit
  • Multi-community management
  • Custom branding & domain
  • Dedicated account contact
Optional add-ons

Want a hand getting started?

We offer optional, one-off services for communities that want extra support — onboarding setup, importing historical data (past minutes, contractor records, maintenance logs), and live training sessions for chairs and committees. Quoted per engagement.

FAQ

The questions we get most often.

Do my neighbours need to download an app?
No. Common Ground runs in any web browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Members join from a single shared link, set a password, and they're in. There's no app store gauntlet.
Is this only for body corporates / strata?
No — Common Ground works for any self-governing community. Residents' associations, lifestyle villages, small apartment complexes, co-housing groups, and informal owner committees all use the same toolkit.
Who owns the data?
Your community does. We store your notices, votes and maintenance records on your behalf — you can export everything at any time. We don't sell or share data. We don't show ads.
What happens to votes if someone doesn't have email?
A delegated proxy vote can be recorded by the chair or secretary on behalf of an absent or offline member. The audit trail still records who voted and when, so the result is defensible.
Can we still use our own accountant / property manager?
Yes. Common Ground replaces the coordination layer — notices, votes, maintenance scheduling, meetings — not the accounting or legal layer. It plays nicely alongside any external manager or contractor.
How long does setup actually take?
About ten minutes. Create the community, add a name and a few preferences, invite your members with one link. Maintenance items can be seeded from defaults or imported from a spreadsheet.

Run your community
without the email chain.

Free for small communities, no card needed. Set up in ten minutes. Invite everyone with one link.

Start your community