Condominium Manager Magazine

Building owners and property managers should be aware of the importance of preventative maintenance procedures for electrical distribution and emergency generators and the responsibility to protect their longevity, safety, and critical infrastructure to avoid unexpected equipment failure.

We know that more families than ever are struggling with debt, and many are too embarrassed to seek financial help. As a condo manager, you likely see signs from some of your owners but may not be aware that they are financially stressed. Let’s look into some tell-tale signs that you can watch out for.

Every year, more Canadians switch to Electric Vehicles (EVs), with Quebec, British Columbia, and Ontario leading the way in vehicle sales and charging infrastructure. With the growing popularity of EVs, more and more residents will expect to be able to charge their vehicles in their own parking spots overnight. By working with your residents and getting ahead of the demand by planning for EV charging now, you can prevent costly time-sensitive work in the future while keeping your residents happy.

Refurbishment projects in condominiums often wrongfully use the CCDC2 contract for a design-build contractual arrangement. This practice, despite its commonality, is a risky approach.

Property managers and board of directors in condominiums are looking to solve or prevent problems in existing buildings/renovations. Owners are simply trying to follow their condo regulation chart when renovating floors. They do that by looking at soundproof ratings, which can often become a nightmare. Is the high-performance number advertised the right thing to look at to make a good decision? The answer is yes, but there are also several factors to be taken into consideration.

Property Managers are not typically mindful of elevator codes and developments. However, incoming amendments to jurisdictionally adopted elevator codes (related to elevator safety and emergency features) will affect capital expenditure planning (CapEx) whether these are initially considered or not.

ne of the many jobs a manager has is the tendering of the corporation’s contracts. From firsthand experience, I think we can all take a collective sigh and agree that this can be a challenging and time-consuming process. There is a lot to consider with potential vendors, including whether they are registered with ACMO, their overall experience level, and reputation in the industry, to name a few.

This article provides an introductory guide for the two main types of EVCS installations; by the condominium corporation on the common elements for shared use and by unit owners in their own parking spaces. It also provides practical advice so that you can be well-prepared for the growing demand for electric vehicle charging in multiple-dwelling residential buildings.

The pandemic continues to have a significant impact on our industry with little end in sight. We are all aware that almost all sectors that service our communities face employment challenges. Service providers from management companies, to accounting firms, to security companies and plumbing companies; most have reported that they are understaffed.

The paper tools that we once used for so many purposes have, by and large, given way to digital alternatives that we now use every day and take for granted. Yet many condominium corporations, and the property management companies that serve them, are still using paper bills and cheques to pay their suppliers.

Smart Building Control Systems are generating a lot of buzz these days, with fancy terms like “cloud control,” “AI-driven,” and “carbon negative” to contemporize decades-old technology as the next fad for today’s condo owners. Digital devices have come a long way with technological capabilities and, more importantly, lower fees to purchase and maintain devices and software.

The City of Toronto’s Net-Zero Existing Buildings Strategy has set the stage for all existing buildings in Toronto to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero by 2050. To reach this important goal, all existing buildings will have to be significantly transformed and retrofitted.

The new regime gives the contractor and sub-contractors a method to ensure payment is made when it is rightfully due, without terminating the contract for non-payment and walking off-site.

The two most common methods of renovating an existing condominium building are hiring one team that does both design and construction or hiring a designer first and then tendering the contractor afterwards. It sounds easy. Yet, under this apparent simplicity lies a web so intricate and complex that boards can rarely cut through all the fine print with confidence and ensure a reliable service for their owners.

With more people working from home and experiencing pandemic-related cost sensitivity, condominiums are now challenged to support the increased reliance on common elements and amenities and show residents that their fees are being spent wisely to improve the community.