China property manager Colour Life plans to expand to 10,000 communities by 2020

Although an increasing number of mainland Chinese developers are diversifying into property management and grabbing market share, Colour Life Services Group, China’s largest property management firm by residential floor space, is not worried as its business model is not easy to replicate, said chairman Pan Jun. A spin-off from Shenzhen-based property developer Fantasia Holdings, Colour Life listed on the Hong Kong exchange in 2014, becoming the first mainland property management company with a presence on the city’s main share-trading board. Pan, who serves as chairman of both companies, plans to extend Colour Life’s community services to 10,000 residential communities by 2020.

A number of leading property developers have accelerated their move into the property management sector to take a piece of the market pie. How do you see the competition?

Our key advantage is our team, which has rich experience in cost management and providing value-added services. We have acquired nearly 100 property management firms that suffered losses. If it was you, would you dare to buy them? Not everyone has the ability to transform these companies and turn losses into profits.

Is that because you hire talented people and pay them good salaries?

No, high salaries cannot solve the problems and property management is a very cost sensitive industry. We don’t pay much. We hire talent who have dreams and a passion for the industry.

Do you find it’s hard to expand your footprint further as many existing residential communities are owned by property giants such as Vanke and China Overseas Land and Investment, and they have their own property management team?