How a BC Strata Should Get Contractor Quotes (and Make Them Actually Comparable)

"Get three quotes" is the most common instruction in strata governance and one of the least useful, because three contractors asked an open question will return three different jobs at three different prices. The council then picks the lowest number, which is almost always the one that priced the least work.

Comparable quotes come from a comparable scope. Everything else in this article follows from that one idea.

This article is general information for BC strata councils, not legal, engineering or construction advice. Requirements under the Builders Lien Act, WorkSafeBC regulations and municipal permitting are summarised here in outline only — confirm the specifics for your project with the appropriate professional.

Write the scope before you call anyone

A scope of work does not need to be long. It needs to be specific enough that two contractors reading it would price the same job.

At minimum it should state:

• The problem, described factually. Not "fix the parkade leak" but "water ingress at grid line C, observed after rainfall, staining and efflorescence on the underside of the slab over stalls 41 to 46."
• The deliverable. What the finished condition looks like, and how you will know it is achieved.
• Products and specifications where they matter — membrane type, paint system, sealant, underlay rating. If you do not specify, the bidder will assume the cheapest thing that works.
• Exclusions, so nobody prices site restoration you have already covered.
• Site constraints — occupied building, work hours, elevator booking, parking for trades, protection of finishes, noise limits, resident notification, access to units.
• Waste and cleanup responsibilities.
• Warranty on labour and materials, in years, stated in the scope rather than left to each bidder's standard terms.
• Schedule, including a start window, a substantial completion date and any blackout dates.
• Unit rates for likely extras, so that a change condition has a price before it becomes a negotiation.

Send the identical document to every bidder, in writing, with a bid deadline and a single point of contact for questions — and circulate every question and answer to all bidders. That last habit costs nothing and eliminates the most common source of unfair bids.

When to hire a consultant first

For small, well-understood work — a corridor repaint, a landscaping contract, an annual service agreement — the council can write the scope itself.

For anything where the outcome depends on conditions you cannot see, a consultant writing the specification is usually cheaper than the change orders you avoid. That includes:

• Building envelope, roofing, windows and balcony membranes
• Structural work of any kind
• Elevator modernisation
• Major mechanical, boiler and plumbing replacement
• Anything arising from a depreciation report recommendation with a large price tag

A consultant's fee typically buys a condition assessment, a specification, a tender process, bid analysis, field review during construction and sign-off on deficiencies. The field review is the part councils are tempted to cut and the part that actually protects the money.

The paperwork every bidder must produce

Non-negotiable, before award:

• A current municipal business licence for the jurisdiction the work is in
• A current WorkSafeBC clearance letter. This confirms the contractor's account is in good standing. Hiring without one can leave the strata exposed for the contractor's unpaid premiums — it takes minutes to obtain and there is no reason to accept a promise instead
• A certificate of commercial general liability insurance, with limits appropriate to the work, naming the strata corporation as an additional insured, and confirmation the strata will be notified of cancellation
• Trade certification and permits. Electrical and gas work requires permits through Technical Safety BC; most structural, envelope and mechanical work requires a municipal building permit. Confirm who is pulling them
• Hazardous materials. For a building constructed before 1990, a hazardous materials survey by a qualified person is required before demolition or renovation work that could disturb asbestos-containing materials. Since January 1, 2024, asbestos abatement contractors in BC must be licensed by WorkSafeBC, and workers doing abatement must hold the applicable certification. Verify the licence, do not assume it
• References from comparable buildings, ideally strata, ideally in the last two years. Call them, and ask specifically about change orders and about how the contractor handled the thing that went wrong

Holdbacks: the Builders Lien Act obligation councils miss

A strata corporation contracting for improvements to land is an "owner" under BC's Builders Lien Act, and the holdback obligation applies automatically — you do not opt into it and you cannot contract out of it.

In outline:

• The owner must retain a 10% holdback from each payment
• The holdback period expires 55 days after the head contract is completed, abandoned or terminated (or, where there is no head contractor, after the improvement is completed or abandoned)
• Before releasing the holdback, do a title search to confirm no lien has been registered against the strata's title

Stratas that pay contractors in full as they go have given up the protection the statute gives them, and if a subcontractor goes unpaid the strata can find itself paying twice. Put the holdback in the contract, hold it in the bank, diarise the release date, search title, then release.

Payment terms that protect the building

• No large deposit. A modest mobilisation payment for materials on a big job is normal; a third of the contract before anyone arrives is not.
• Progress claims tied to milestones, not to the calendar. "50% on completion of the north elevation," not "50% on July 15."
• Every payment supported by a claim showing work completed to date, less holdback.
• Final payment after deficiency sign-off, with a documented deficiency walk and a written list.
• Holdback released after the statutory period and a clear title search.
• Warranty start date stated, and diarised so a warranty inspection happens before it expires.

Comparing the bids properly

1. 1.Normalise to one scope. Write down, line by line, what each bidder included and excluded. The differences are the whole exercise.
2. 2.Interrogate the low bid. A price well below the others usually means a missing scope item, an optimistic assumption about conditions, or a change-order strategy. Ask the bidder to walk you through their assumptions.
3. 3.Check the allowances. An allowance is a placeholder, not a price. Three bids with different allowances are not comparable until you equalise them.
4. 4.Ask what they expect to find. An experienced contractor will tell you what is likely behind the wall and what it would cost. That conversation is more predictive of the final number than the bid total.
5. 5.Weight non-price factors explicitly. Availability, references, experience with occupied buildings, communication. Decide the weighting before you open the prices, not after.
6. 6.Interview the site supervisor, not just the estimator. They are the person the residents will deal with.

The principle here is the same one we set out in why the cheapest quote often costs more: the lowest number is only the best value if it is the same work.

Approvals: get the authority right before you sign

A council that signs a contract it was not authorised to sign creates a problem that is much harder to fix than the delay of getting the vote. The route depends on where the money comes from:

• Budgeted operating expenditure — already approved; council can proceed
• Operating fund expenditure not in the budget — a 3/4 vote at a general meeting, unless another authority applies
• Contingency reserve fund — a majority vote in the circumstances the Act specifies (including repairs and replacements identified in a depreciation report), and a 3/4 vote otherwise
• Unapproved expenditure — only up to the lesser of the amount in your bylaws or $2,000 or 5% of the total operating fund contribution for the year
• Emergency — where the Act's test is met, but limited to the minimum amount needed. See what counts as a strata emergency

The thresholds themselves are set out in proxies, ballots and vote thresholds. If a project needs a special levy or a strata loan, the tender should be far enough along that the resolution puts a real number to owners rather than an estimate.

Change orders

Every project has them. The question is whether they are controlled.

• In writing, priced, and approved before the work is done. No exceptions, including for the contractor you like.
• Set a council or manager authority limit for small changes so the job does not stop for a meeting, and require anything above it to come to council.
• Track cumulative change orders against a stated contingency. When you cross it, that is a decision point, not a footnote.
• Distinguish genuine unforeseen conditions from scope you left out. The first is the nature of construction; the second is a lesson for the next scope.

Conflicts, disclosed

If a council member, or someone connected to a council member, is bidding, the Act requires disclosure, abstention, leaving the meeting, and no attempt to influence the vote — and a competitive process is the best evidence the decision was made properly. The details are in conflict of interest on a BC strata council.

Frequently asked questions

How many quotes should a BC strata get? Three is the usual practice and there is no statutory minimum. The number matters far less than whether all three priced the same written scope of work. Two comparable quotes are more useful than five incomparable ones.

Does a strata have to hold back 10% on contractor payments? Under BC's Builders Lien Act, an owner — which includes a strata corporation contracting for improvements — must retain a 10% holdback from payments, and the holdback period expires 55 days after the contract is completed, abandoned or terminated. Search title before releasing it.

What documents should we require from a contractor? A current municipal business licence, a current WorkSafeBC clearance letter, proof of commercial general liability insurance naming the strata as an additional insured, the applicable trade certifications and permits, and references from comparable buildings. For pre-1990 buildings, confirm the hazardous materials survey and, for any abatement, that the contractor holds a WorkSafeBC asbestos abatement licence.

Do we need an engineer or consultant for every project? No. Use one where the outcome depends on conditions you cannot see — envelope, roofing, structural, elevator, major mechanical. For routine service contracts and cosmetic work, a well-written scope from the council is enough.

Can council award a contract without an owners' vote? Only if the expenditure is already authorised — in the approved budget, within the unapproved-expenditure limit, or within the Act's emergency authority. Otherwise the vote required depends on which fund the money comes from.

Related reading

• Strata Loan, Special Levy, or Higher Fees? How BC Stratas Fund Big Projects
• Your Depreciation Report Says You're Underfunded — Now What?
• Proxies, Ballots and Vote Thresholds: How BC Strata Votes Actually Pass
• Conflict of Interest on a BC Strata Council
• What Counts as a Strata Emergency in BC
• Why the Cheapest Strata Management Quote Often Costs More

WorkSafeBC publishes its asbestos licensing and certification requirements online, including a registry of licensed abatement contractors.

Writing scopes, running tenders and holding contractors to them is daily work for a manager and occasional, stressful work for a volunteer council. Onehive handles procurement and project administration for strata communities across Metro Vancouver as part of strata management — request a proposal.