Free tool · Australia
Six numbers about the building. No login, no email. It runs the same engine as the paid product.
Your building
Six numbers. Everything recomputes as you type.
We build a starter register from your building’s age, type and size, then project the fund 15 years. Indicative only — a real plan uses your actual register.
On the current levy, the fund runs short in 2040.
Recommended levy
$63,000
$3k above current
Runs short
2040
fund goes negative
15-yr works
$1.3m
escalated to 2040
Lowest balance
−$3k
in 2040
Reserve balance — 2026 to 2040
Your fund, year by year, against the safety floor.
This is the same engine behind Plinth — refine it with your real register on a live plan.
The six numbers
Building type, year built, lots and levels describe the building; from them the calculator assembles a starter register — the roof, lifts, paint cycles, membranes and plant a building of that shape and age typically carries, each with a replacement cost from published cost guides and a renewal cycle.
Your fund balance and current levy anchor the money side. Every future job is escalated to the dollars of the year it falls due — the step a flat percentage rule skips, and the reason funds that look healthy today run short in year nine. The engine then walks the fund forward year by year: contributions in, indexed annually, plus modest interest on a positive balance; escalated works out.
Three results fall out of that walk: the first year the fund goes below zero, the lowest point the balance reaches, and the recommended levy — the opening annual contribution, indexed each year, that keeps the fund above its safety floor in every year of the projection. It is solved from the model — arithmetic, not an opinion and not a percentage of anything.
Reading it
The year it runs short is the useful number. A shortfall in year twelve is a gentle levy conversation at the next AGM; a shortfall in year three is a special levy already forming. Either way, the committee is deciding with the timing in front of it instead of finding out when the quote arrives.
It is an indicative first read, not a statutory document. Most states require a long-term plan in some form — the rules differ for a Victorian maintenance plan, a NSW capital works fund plan, a Queensland sinking fund budget, a WA reserve fund and a South Australian sinking fund — and where a prescribed form or a qualified person is required, that still applies. The calculator tells you whether the number you are working from deserves a closer look.
Questions
- Is it really free?
- Yes — no login, no email. Enter six numbers and read the answer.
- How accurate is it?
- It's an indicative first read. It builds a starter register from your building's age, type and size, then runs Plinth's real forecasting engine. A formal plan uses your building's own register, genuine quotes and a condition assessment.
- What is the recommended levy?
- The flat annual contribution that keeps the fund above its safety floor in every year of the projection — the levy that avoids a special levy later.
- Does it work in every state?
- Yes — the maths is the same everywhere; only the name changes. Capital works fund in NSW, maintenance fund in Victoria, sinking fund in Queensland and South Australia, reserve fund in WA — and Tasmania, the ACT and the NT use the same idea under their own rules. The five state pages on this site cover the largest markets in detail.
- Where do the replacement costs come from?
- They are indicative defaults built into the starter register — typical figures for a building of your type, age and size, scaled by lot count. They are a starting point, not a pricing: a formal plan replaces them with your building's own register, a professional's costings and real quotes.
- What should we do if it runs short?
- Take the projection to the committee. The two levers are the levy and the works timing, and the earlier either moves, the smaller the move needs to be. For decisions with statutory weight, put the question to your strata manager or a qualified professional — the calculator shows the timing, it doesn't make the decision.
The calculator is a snapshot. The plan is the thing that stays true — with your real register, your documents and your renewals.