A strata or property-manager program is a ready-made way for a building to buy drainage maintenance from you. Instead of a quote on letterhead and a hope, the manager gets a short explainer for the council, a sample annual schedule, a clear price per visit, and an after-hours contact card for the lobby. You make the decision easy, and you win buildings in groups. It works best when your capability statement is ready, since managers forward it to councils.
The job, the buyer, the offer
The job. Scheduled jetting of building mains and stacks, camera inspection of shared lines, sump and catch-basin cleaning, parkade drain maintenance, and an agreed emergency response for the building.
The buyer. Two people, in sequence:
- The strata or property manager, who handles many buildings, collects quotes, prepares council agendas and gets the angry phone calls when a parkade floods.
- The strata council or building owner, who approves the spending, often in a meeting with limited time and many agenda items.
British Columbia is the obvious place to start. The province estimates about 1.5 million people live in strata housing, which can include condos, townhouses, duplexes and bare-land strata homes (gov.bc.ca, as of October 2026). The same government says the strata corporation must repair and maintain common property and common assets, while owners carry their own responsibilities (gov.bc.ca repairs and maintenance). Exactly what counts as common property in a given building depends on its plan and bylaws, and that's for the strata and its advisers to confirm, not us.
The offer. A building drainage plan with a fixed number of scheduled visits, written findings after each one, and a named after-hours contact.
What's included
- Council explainer pack. Two pages in plain language: what gets cleaned, how often, what the findings report looks like, what it costs per year, and what happens in an emergency.
- Manager onboarding sheet. Building details you need (access, cleanouts, parkade layout, previous issues), so the manager can sign up a building in one email.
- Sample schedule and findings report. Built from your real process, with your own photos and camera stills (with the building's permission).
- Lobby and owner contact card with your after-hours number and what to do while waiting.
- Manager outreach to the management firms in your area, by letter, phone and LinkedIn, with email sent within CASL.
- A strata and property-manager page on your website that mirrors the pack.
Timeline
- Weeks 1–4: interview your team, write the pack, design the cards and the web page.
- Weeks 5–10: outreach to management firms, starting with any you already work for.
- Months 3–6: first council presentations, pilot buildings, findings reports in circulation.
- Annual: a renewal letter timed before each building's budget is drafted.
Councils tend to approve maintenance when they set the year's budget, so the right time to pitch is a few months before that, not after a flood. Ask each manager when their buildings' fiscal years start.
How results are measured
| Measure | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Management firms reached | Coverage of the market |
| Buildings proposed | Manager trust |
| Buildings under agreement | The core outcome |
| Units covered | The real size of the program |
| Renewal rate | Whether the program is valued |
| Emergency calls from enrolled buildings | Extra revenue, and a test of response |
A worked illustration (assumed figures): a manager with 18 buildings enrols six in year one at $2,400 per building per year. That's $14,400 a year from one relationship. If the renewal rate holds at 85%, most of that is still there in year three, and the manager is far more likely to add the other twelve.
Mistakes to avoid
- Pitching councils cold. Go through the manager.
- Legal-sounding claims. Don't tell a council what the Act obliges them to do. Link the province's pages and let them decide.
- Findings reports nobody reads. Lead with three lines: what we found, what it means, what we recommend.
- Pricing that changes per visit. Councils need a number for the budget.
- Ignoring after-hours. The night a parkade drain fails is when a council decides whether to renew.
Our long-form guide on winning strata drainage contracts in BC goes deeper. For costs see pricing, and for the BC context see the British Columbia page.
Frequently asked questions
Why focus on strata?
Because one decision can cover many units. The BC government estimates about 1.5 million people live in strata housing, and a strata corporation is responsible for repairing and maintaining common property, which usually includes shared drainage.
Do you tell councils what the Strata Property Act requires?
No. We link to the province's own pages and leave interpretation to the strata, its manager and its advisers. Our material explains your service, your schedule and your pricing, not the law.
Does this work outside BC?
Yes. Condominium corporations elsewhere, co-operatives and rental portfolios all have someone who approves maintenance spending. The documents change their wording, not their purpose.
Who should we approach first, the council or the manager?
Usually the strata or property manager. They prepare the agenda, gather quotes and often recommend a vendor. A council rarely approves a contractor it has never heard about from its manager.