Security & Maintenance Fee Calculator for Malaysian communities

Your community

Total houses / units

Monthly costs

Guards & security (RM/month) Guard salaries, agency fees, guardhouse running costs. Utilities (RM/month) Street lights, guardhouse electricity and water, internet. Maintenance & services (RM/month) Repairs, landscaping, cleaning, pest control, gate servicing. Other expenses (RM/month) Insurance, admin, community events, festive celebrations, anything else.

Collection reality

Households that actually pay 70% Most Malaysian communities collect from 50–80% of households. Be honest — the fee has to work at your real collection rate, not the ideal one. Reserve after 12 months RM 12,000 Your safety net: the amount you want sitting in the community's account after a year of collecting. It covers the surprises no monthly budget sees coming — a gate motor that dies, storm damage, a guard bonus at Raya — and it's what keeps one bad month from becoming a door-to-door emergency collection.

Recommended monthly fee

RM 100

per household, rounded up to the nearest RM5

Total monthly income: RM 14,000
Total monthly costs: RM 12,350
Monthly surplus: RM 1,650
Reserve after 12 months: RM 19,800

Collect it with Teras

Teras invoices every household, reminds them on WhatsApp, and turns paid-up status into gate access.

How the recommendation works

The calculator takes your total monthly running costs — guards, utilities, maintenance and other expenses — and adds one-twelfth of your reserve target on top. It then divides that by the number of households that actually pay, not the number of doors in your neighbourhood, and rounds up to the nearest RM5.

That last part matters. Most fee structures fail because they're computed against 100% collection, and no Malaysian community collects 100%. Budgeting against your real collection rate means the guards still get paid in the months when collections dip.

What's a healthy reserve?

A common rule of thumb is two to three months of running costs sitting in the account. If your community spends RM12,000 a month, a RM24,000–36,000 reserve means a broken barrier gate or an emergency repair never interrupts security. Start where your community can afford, and revisit at the AGM.

The fee is only half the problem

Setting the right fee doesn't collect it. Collection rates climb when residents can pay in two taps, get reminded on WhatsApp instead of a notice board, and can see security working — passes verified, visitors logged, alerts arriving. That's the part Teras automates: invoicing, smart reminders, and pay-to-pass gate control that turns paid-up status into access. See how Teras compares to other community platforms, or book a demo.

Estimates only — actual budgets vary by community. This tool stores nothing: every number stays in your browser.