Sea to Sky Strata Management: How Councils Hire and What to Expect

Most strata councils hire a manager the wrong way: a board member knows someone, a quote arrives, it gets signed, and the agreement is never read again until something goes wrong. It doesn't have to be that ad hoc. Hiring a strata manager is a procurement decision about who'll run the finances and governance of your building, and there's a process that gets a better result. This guide walks the whole thing: deciding whether to outsource, writing the scope, comparing proposals and fees, the management agreement, onboarding, what year one actually looks like, and how to evaluate the firm once they're in. It's for Sea to Sky strata councils and owners, from a team that manages strata files across Squamish and Whistler.

This is general guidance for strata councils, not legal advice. For the authoritative rules, see the Strata Property Act and the Strata Property Regulation; for disputes, the Civil Resolution Tribunal. Strata managers in BC are licensed under the Real Estate Services Act and overseen by the BC Financial Services Authority.

When to outsource, the triggers

A strata can self-manage; the Strata Property Act allows it. The question is whether yours still should. The triggers that usually tip a council toward hiring:

• Volunteer burnout or turnover. The treasurer is leaving and nobody wants the books. The president has carried it for years and is done. Institutional knowledge walks out the door at the AGM.
• Books that don't reconcile. Statements are late, the operating and reserve funds aren't clearly separated, or last year's numbers don't tie out. That's a compliance problem, not just an inconvenience.
• A major project on the horizon. A re-roof, exterior coatings, mechanical replacement, a parkade repair: running a six-figure project (quotes, contracts, scheduling, owner communication, a special levy) is a job, and council may not have it in them.
• An insurance mess. A renewal that spiked, a claim being mishandled, coverage gaps nobody's tracking.
• A dispute heading to the CRT. Bylaw enforcement, fines, or a repair fight where council needs the procedure done right.

One of these on its own might not move you. Two or three at once usually means it's time. The full self-manage-vs-hire comparison is in self-managed vs professionally-managed strata.

There's also a quieter trigger worth naming: the strata that's fine but only because one or two people are carrying it. The treasurer who's a retired accountant and does the books perfectly, until they move. The president who's been doing it for eight years and has every contract and warranty in their head, until they don't run again. A self-managed strata that depends on a single irreplaceable volunteer isn't stable; it's one resignation away from a scramble. If your council can't honestly say the building would keep running smoothly if its most capable member stepped down tomorrow, that's a reason to bring in a professional manager before the gap opens, not after. The handover is calm instead of frantic, and the institutional knowledge gets captured properly instead of walking out the door.

Writing the scope (your RFP)

You don't need a 40-page tender. You need one or two pages that let every firm quote on the same thing. Include:

• The building. Number of units, type (condo, townhome, mixed), number of sections, year built, and anything unusual (a tourist-accommodation section, a shared facility, known deficiencies).
• What you want managed. Full-service, or a narrower scope? Accounting only? Be explicit.
• Meeting expectations. Will the manager attend council meetings? In person? How often? AGM and SGM attendance?
• Reporting expectations. Monthly financials, an online owner portal, a response-time standard for owner enquiries.
• Live issues. Current projects, an upcoming depreciation report, a warranty dispute, anything that needs attention day one.
• What you want back. Ask each firm for an itemised fee schedule, references from comparable buildings, the manager who'd handle your file and their current portfolio load, a sample financial report, and proof of licensing and insurance.

Send the same document to two to four firms. That's the comparison.

Comparing proposals and fees

Strata management is normally billed as a base management fee per unit per month plus a list of itemised extras: AGM and SGM attendance, after-hours emergency response, special-project oversight, and per-document fees for Form B, Form F and similar. The trap is comparing the headline per-unit rate and ignoring the extras.

How firms answer the questions is as telling as the prices. Written, specific answers signal a firm that runs a tight operation. Vague answers on fees, emergency thresholds, or portfolio load are a warning. For the buyer's-guide version of what good looks like, see best strata management companies in Squamish and best strata management companies in Whistler; for why local matters, strata management near me in the Sea to Sky.

The management agreement

This is the document council actually signs, and it should be read before signing, not skimmed. The clauses that matter:

• Scope of services. What's included, in plain terms. If something you expect isn't listed, it's an extra.
• The fee schedule. Base fee and every add-on, in writing. AGM attendance, after-hours, special projects, document fees, any maintenance markup, any annual escalator.
• Term and renewal. How long the initial term runs and how it renews (often automatically, year to year).
• Termination. The notice required to end it (by either side) and any conditions. This is the clause councils regret not reading. (More in switching strata managers in BC.)
• Exit handover. What transfers to council or a successor manager on termination: financial records, the operating and reserve funds, insurance files, vendor contacts, the corporate records. Spell it out now.
• Trust accounting. Confirmation that strata funds are held in a designated trust account, consistent with how brokerages are regulated.

If the firm won't put the full fee schedule and the exit terms in the agreement, that's your answer.

Onboarding and year one

Once the agreement is signed, onboarding is a handover project:

1. Records. The strata's books, registers, minutes, bylaws, contracts, insurance documents, and any depreciation report move to the new manager.
2. Funds and accounts. The operating account and the contingency reserve fund are transitioned into the manager's trust accounting. This is the step to get exactly right.
3. Vendors and insurance. The manager picks up the trades list, service contracts, and the insurance file, and flags anything overdue.
4. A health check. A fresh reconciliation of the books, a look at the budget and CRF against the depreciation report, and a list of stale items: bylaw enforcement that was started and never finished, a warranty claim left hanging, an insurance gap.
5. The first AGM. The manager prepares and circulates the notice package on the Act's timeline and runs the meeting.

Year one is, honestly, a cleanup year: catching up, straightening the foundations, and learning the building. The steady-state value (smooth AGMs, reliable reporting, a funded reserve, projects that run on plan) shows up clearly in year two.

Set council's expectations accordingly, and tell the owners. A new manager who walks in and immediately finds three things that were being done wrong is not a sign you hired badly; it's a sign you needed them. But if owners were promised everything would be seamless from day one, that discovery reads as chaos instead of progress. The honest framing is: year one, we straighten the books, the bylaws, the insurance, and the reserve plan; from there, it runs. Councils that say that up front have a far easier first twelve months than councils that oversold it.

Evaluating them, set the bar before you sign

Decide what success looks like at the start, then check it at the one-year mark on a written scorecard:

• Financials on time, accurate, and clearly separating operating and reserve funds.
• Responsiveness. Owner and council messages answered within the promised window.
• The AGM ran on schedule, with a proper notice package and clean minutes.
• Bylaw enforcement done by the book: written warnings, the procedural steps, defensible at the CRT.
• The CRF managed deliberately against the depreciation report, not just topped to the minimum.
• Projects scoped, quoted, contracted, and delivered close to plan.

Walk the scorecard with the firm. A good manager wants the conversation; a defensive reaction to a fair review is its own data point. If after a year the answer is "no" on most lines, switching strata managers in BC covers how to move on cleanly.

We ran a proper RFP for the first time, three firms, same questions, an apples-to-apples fee comparison. The difference in how they answered the questions told us more than the prices did. Best move our council made.

Talk to us about managing your strata

If your council is starting this process, or is mid-RFP and wants a serious proposal in the mix, we're happy to help. We'll review the building, the budget, the depreciation report and the bylaws, give you an itemised fee schedule with no surprises, and let you compare us properly against the field. Start on our owners page or get in touch through contact. The region-specific versions of this guide are Whistler strata management: a council's guide and Squamish strata management: a council's guide.