Getting Common Property Repairs Actually Done: A Council Workflow

The cracked walkway was first raised in April. In May council agreed to get quotes. In July one quote had arrived. In September a resident tripped on it. At the AGM in November an owner asks why a $4,000 repair took seven months, and nobody on council has a good answer — because there was never a process, only a series of meetings.

Repairs do not stall because councils are lazy. They stall because nothing in the system forces the next step to happen. Here is a workflow that does.

Why delay is expensive

Deferring a repair feels free. It is not.

Damage propagates — a failed sealant becomes water ingress becomes framing damage. Costs escalate faster than a strata's contributions grow. An unrepaired known hazard becomes a liability question, because the corporation must repair and maintain common property and council is held to the standard of a reasonably prudent person. And owner confidence erodes in a way that makes the next levy vote much harder to win.

The buildings that spend least on repairs over twenty years are not the ones that defer. They are the ones that decide quickly.

Step 1: intake, and one place for it

Every request goes to one channel and gets logged the day it arrives — reported by, date, location, description, photograph if there is one.

The channel matters. Reports made to a council member in the lobby, to the manager by phone, and to a group chat all disappear. Publish one address, tell residents to use it, and log everything that arrives anywhere else into the same register.

Acknowledge receipt within a day or two, even if the answer is that it will be considered at the next meeting. Most complaints about repair speed are actually complaints about silence.

Step 2: triage into three lanes

Not everything needs the full process.

Emergency. A risk to safety or of imminent significant damage — active water, a failed lock on an exterior door, an unsafe stair. Act now, authorise under the emergency powers, and minute it afterwards. Your emergency preparedness plan should already name who can call whom at 2am.

Routine. Small, obvious, within council's spending authority and clearly the corporation's responsibility. Authorise and instruct; do not spend two meetings on a $300 item.

Project. Large, technical, contested, or over council's authority. This goes through the full sequence below.

Miscategorising is the usual failure. Councils run routine items as projects and lose months, then run projects as routine items and lose money.

Step 3: settle responsibility before doing anything else

Half of all stalled repairs are stalled on this question, and it is answerable.

The dividing line comes from the strata plan and your bylaws: what is common property, what is limited common property, and what is inside the strata lot. Who's responsible: strata vs owner repairs, common property vs limited common property and how to read a BC strata plan cover it in detail.

Two practical rules. Settle it in writing, with the reasoning, in the minutes — the same question will arise again and a future council should not have to re-derive the answer. And where responsibility is genuinely unclear and the damage is progressing, do the work first and settle the cost after. Arguing while water runs is the most expensive option available.

Step 4: authorisation — know your limits before you need them

Have this settled in advance, at the start of each council year:

• What council can authorise without an owner vote, from the approved budget
• The unapproved-expenditure allowance the Act and your bylaws permit
• Emergency spending, which the Act allows without prior approval
• Contingency reserve fund spending, which ordinarily requires an owner vote at a general meeting

Write the numbers on one page and put it in the council handbook. Councils lose weeks discovering their own limits mid-decision, and the discovery usually happens in an email thread rather than at a meeting where it could be resolved.

Step 5: define the scope before you request quotes

The most common procurement mistake in strata management is asking three contractors what they would do. You will get three different scopes at three different prices, and comparing them is impossible.

Write the scope first: what is to be done, to what standard, over what area, with what materials, what is included and excluded, who handles disposal, what warranty is required, and by when. Then send the same document to everyone.

For anything technical — envelope, structure, membranes, mechanical — the scope should come from a consultant, not from council. A few thousand dollars of engineering on a six-figure project is the cheapest money the building will spend, and it converts a guess into a specification.

Step 6: procure properly

Once the scope is fixed:

• Ask three contractors where the value warrants it, on the identical scope
• Verify each one — WorkSafeBC clearance, liability insurance naming the strata, licensing where required, and a written prime contractor designation if more than one employer will be on site. WorkSafeBC and your strata explains why the last one matters more than councils realise
• Disclose site hazards. In a pre-1990 building that means the hazardous materials survey — see asbestos in BC strata buildings
• Read the exclusions, which is where quotes actually differ. The cheapest number is frequently the smallest scope
• Check references on comparable strata work, and ask the referee whether the final invoice matched the quote
• Award by minuted decision, recording why — and if the lowest bid was not selected, especially why

On anything substantial, agree the payment schedule up front and hold a proper holdback. BC's builders lien legislation contemplates a holdback on construction contracts, and releasing everything on the final day removes your only leverage on deficiencies.

Step 7: execute, and keep residents informed

Confirm dates in writing. Notify residents of access requirements, noise, parking disruption and duration before the crew arrives, not on the morning. Name one point of contact so the contractor is not fielding instructions from six owners.

Where entry to units is required, follow the notice requirements in your bylaws rather than relying on goodwill. And where the work is disruptive, over-communicate — a weekly two-line update prevents most of the complaints that otherwise arrive at the AGM.

Step 8: verify before you pay

Do not release final payment before someone has looked at the work. Photograph it. Walk it with the contractor and produce a written deficiency list with dates for correction. Obtain the warranty in writing, along with as-built drawings, product data and any required certifications.

Then close the item in the register, record the completion and cost in the minutes, and file the warranty where a future council will find it — see what must be included in strata council meeting minutes. A warranty nobody can locate is a warranty the building does not have.

The register is the whole system

If you take one thing from this: keep a live maintenance register and open every council meeting with it.

Columns: item, date reported, location, responsibility, status, next action, who owns the next action, target date, cost. One page, reviewed monthly, and every item ends the meeting with a named person and a date attached.

It sounds administrative because it is. It is also the single difference between buildings where repairs get done and buildings where they get discussed. Nothing survives three consecutive meetings untouched when it is on a list somebody reads aloud.

When a repair is actually a project

Escalate when the cost exceeds council's authority, when the cause is unclear, when the same component keeps failing, or when the work touches the envelope or structure. At that point you need a consultant, a proper scope, an owner vote on funding, and possibly a levy — see what is a special levy and strata loan, special levy, or higher fees.

Recurring failures deserve particular suspicion. A component repaired three times in four years is not a maintenance item; it is a replacement the depreciation report should already be anticipating.

Frequently asked questions

Who is responsible for common property repairs in a BC strata? The strata corporation must repair and maintain common property and common assets. The dividing line between common property, limited common property and the strata lot comes from the strata plan and your bylaws, and settling it in writing before starting work prevents most disputes about cost.

How many quotes should a strata get for a repair? Three is the usual convention for work of meaningful value, but the number matters less than the scope. Quotes are only comparable if every contractor priced the same written scope, which for technical work should come from a consultant rather than from council.

Can a strata council authorise a repair without an owner vote? Yes, within the approved budget, within any unapproved-expenditure allowance in the Act and bylaws, and in a genuine emergency. Spending from the contingency reserve fund ordinarily requires approval by owners at a general meeting.

What should a strata do if an owner and council disagree about who pays for a repair? Where damage is progressing, do the work and settle the cost afterwards. Record the responsibility decision and its reasoning in the minutes. If it remains disputed, the Civil Resolution Tribunal decides repair responsibility disputes.

Why do strata repairs take so long? Usually because no single step forces the next one. A logged register reviewed at every council meeting, pre-agreed spending authority, and a written scope before quoting removes most of the delay without any additional cost.

Related reading

• Who's Responsible? Strata vs Owner Repairs and Maintenance in BC
• Common Property vs Limited Common Property in BC Stratas
• WorkSafeBC and Your Strata: When the Corporation Becomes an Employer
• White Stains on Your Parkade Concrete? What Efflorescence Means for Your Strata
• Your Depreciation Report Says You're Underfunded — Now What?

The repair and expenditure provisions sit in the Strata Property Act, and holdback requirements are in the Builders Lien Act.

A register somebody reads out loud every month is most of this. Onehive provides strata management across Metro Vancouver — request a proposal.