Common area cleaning for strata buildings
Island Commercial Cleaning services strata and apartment common areas, churches and community halls across mid-Vancouver Island, from Duncan north to Courtenay and Comox. British Columbia has more than 35,000 strata corporations, and common property maintenance sits with the strata corporation under the Strata Property Act.
What counts as common property
Lobbies, corridors, elevator cabs and tracks, stairwells, amenity and meeting rooms, mail areas, shared washrooms, and parkade entries. Under the Strata Property Act the strata corporation must repair and maintain common property, and the council exercises that duty on its behalf. A written scope matters more here than almost anywhere else, because the person approving it is rarely the person who notices the work, and both need the same document.
Quoting in time for the budget
Strata spending is governed rather than discretionary. Expenditures that are not in the approved budget are limited by the Strata Property Act, and a recurring cleaning contract is a budget line rather than a decision a single council member can make. Practically, that means a quote is more useful in time for the annual general meeting than it is in the middle of a fiscal year. A scope written by area and frequency is also easier to compare against another quote, which is usually what a council is being asked to do.
Churches, halls and buildings with irregular use
A community hall used three evenings a week and twice on a weekend does not need the same schedule as a lobby. Cleaning follows the calendar rather than the clock — after events rather than on fixed nights — and the scope should name who confirms the calendar and how far ahead. Entry matting, washrooms and floors take the load, and floor care is worth scheduling in the quiet stretch of the year rather than around bookings.
How a strata quote is built
- Walkthrough — Common areas measured by floor type, elevator and stairwell counts taken, parkade and entry conditions noted, and access arrangements for a multi-entrance building agreed.
- Written scope and quote — A task list by area and frequency in a form a council can put in front of owners, priced from that scope.
- Start date and handover — Fobs and codes handed over to a written procedure, the first visits attended, and the scope checked against how the building is actually used.
Local conditions
Parkade entries and stairwells move winter grit up into lobbies faster than a weekly schedule can hold. A seasonal increase on those two areas, dropping back in summer, holds the building's appearance without paying for the higher frequency all year.
In practice
- Situation
- A 42-unit strata in Courtenay with a two-storey lobby, one elevator, three stairwells and a covered parkade entry.
- Complication
- The parkade entry sat below the lobby, so winter grit tracked up the stairwell and across the lobby floor faster than a weekly schedule could hold.
- Resolution
- The stairwell and lobby moved to three times a week through the wet season and back to weekly in summer, with the parkade entry scrubbed monthly — a seasonal schedule rather than a permanent increase.
People also ask
Who signs a strata cleaning contract?
The strata council, exercising the powers and duties of the strata corporation. Because a recurring contract is an ongoing expenditure, it normally belongs in the approved budget rather than being decided outside of one — which is why quoting ahead of the annual general meeting is worth doing.
How is a strata quote compared against another one?
By scope, not by the total. Two quotes for the same building can differ by half simply because one includes stairwells weekly and the other monthly. A task list by area and frequency makes the comparison possible; a single monthly figure does not.
Does the cleaner handle the parkade?
Entries and pedestrian routes usually, full parkade sweeping sometimes. It depends on the surface and the equipment, and it belongs in the scope either way rather than being assumed in either direction.
Areas covered
Book a walkthrough
Send the building type, rough square footage and how often it needs cleaning. A walkthrough gets booked around the hours the building already keeps, and the quote follows the written scope it produces.
Text or call (778) 909-4311