Making a Change

Effective communication fosters better relationships among council members, your residents and property management company, and keeps all parties well informed. Here are the 4 components of a successful communication plan that create effective outreach to all members of your community.

At FirstService Residential, our mission is to make a difference every day for communities like yours, serving as your partner in its management, evolution and enhancement. It’s rewarding work that is built on strong relationships, grounded in our deep local market knowledge and strong industry experience.

It takes a lot to build a great community. You need committed residents, a dedicated strata council, and a clear understanding of everybody's roles and responsibilities.

Managing packages at your strata corporation has become a necessity and as the holidays arrive it's more important than ever to be organized for the onslaught deliveries. Read FirstService Residential BC's solutions to the manage holiday rush.

As a council member, one of your top responsibilities is to maintain and improve your community’s physical property. But it can be tricky to budget for new amenities like a dog park or gate houses, or shared, common-area assets that will need to be replaced or upgraded years down the line such as roofing or building facades.

Comprehensive training gives your strata manager the tools they need to support your council and resident needs, while creating operational successes.

When your strata begins the process of hiring a vendor, you want to ensure that you're making the best choice possible for your community's benefit. A good vendor will execute your vision on time and budget, whereas a not-so-good one can be the source of lousy quality, unexpected delays, inconvenience, and a whole lot of headaches!

While communicating clearly and effectively with residents is vitally important, it is just as important to foster better council communication.

Whether you have been newly elected to your Council or you have been a Council member for several years, you owe it to your residents to make sure that you are managed by the best strata management company. Every condominium corporation differs in their needs, so you must take the proper time and ask the right questions when hiring a strata management company.>

Creating your strata corporation’s annual budget is one of your council’s most important jobs. It takes a lot of time and hard work, and it frequently means making tough spending decisions. Strata members often scrutinize it carefully because of how much it impacts the strata as a whole and themselves as individual homeowners. “The budget affects everyone because it’s something that all the owners in the strata are contributing to,” explains Dylan Murray, controller for FirstService Residential in British Columbia. “You can never over communicate about it.”