Establish Continuity For Smooth Sailing

Do you need some tips and tricks for maintaining continuity for your condo?

Aligning Your Team

Do you feel like you are starting from scratch as a board after every AGM? Do board members know what their role is as a team, and what their role is as individual board members? What about officers such as the president and treasurer? If roles aren’t written down and then reviewed after each AGM then we end up spending a lot of time constantly recalibrating.

It’s so helpful to create a document outlining the duties and responsibilities of everyone on the board. We like to review this document once a year at the first board meeting after the AGM. That way we can solidify good habits that will make the rest of the board term easy!

Streamlining Operations for Smooth Sailing

Most operational activities of your condo corporation happen at regular intervals. Whether it is the carpet cleaning, hydrant testing, generator maintenance, roof inspection, etc. You could rely on the memories of board members on when each activity last happened… or you could write everything down into a task schedule to keep track of what tasks are down, how often they are done, any special notes to remember about the scope, and which vendor was last used. We find it saves so much time and energy to review a task schedule once or twice a year, and also you can more strategically triage projects by doing things this way.

Another “trick” Key Condo uses to assist with continuity is creating a list of all one-off projects to be discussed as a board. Projects that the board wants to action are removed from the list, while projects that are discussed but not actioned are kept on the list along with our comments on why the item was added to the list but not actioned. We find that this helps cut down on the number of times we talk about the same project over and over again that never gets actioned.

Another tip that is incredibly helpful in saving money is keeping a list of building components that have been repaired or replaced sooner than scheduled in the reserve fund study. Great examples are exterior windows, patio doors, gates, decks, etc. Window replacements are a great one to keep track of in high rises as you will save a lot of money by only replacing what needs to be replaced. You can also keep track of stack cleanings so that when it comes time to do a full building stack cleaning you can skip the units that were recently done.

Understanding and Managing Financial Health

Most condo board members know that when you change management companies your digital financial history is erased. While it might be the norm that things are done this way, it’s not required that you have to start from scratch each time you hire a new management company.

The first step to ensuring financial continuity for your condo corporation is having your bank accounts in your condo corporation’s name. It’s incredibly easy to do. It’s also cheaper to hold onto your own money in your own bank account rather than have your money held in a trust account because trust accounts are more expensive to maintain. It also means that when you change management companies then you keep your bank account along with all unit owner EFT information. Wouldn’t it be great to not have to ask each unit owner to provide their banking information each time you change management companies? Doesn’t it make sense that your condo should be able to change management companies without also having to change banks?

Same with your bookkeeping. You could have your management companies do your bookkeeping for you, but there are bookkeepers out there that charge condo corporations $3.00/ unit for monthly bookkeeping. If you hire your bookkeeper as your own vendor then they remain your bookkeeper when you change management companies. Even better is if your condo corporation also owns the bookkeeping software license because then you can even change bookkeeping companies without losing any digital financial history. Quickbooks Online, which is a very popular bookkeeping software, costs $45/ month to operate.

Continuity is More Than a Strategy…

It's a proactive approach to safeguarding the future of your business. By focusing on governance, operations, and finances, you can prepare your condo to handle almost any emergency that comes its way.

We'd love to hear from you! How do you plan for continuity in your condo? What challenges have you faced, and what solutions have you found effective?