If you want to know how to win condo maintenance contracts, here's the straight answer: boards don't score bids on price first. They score them on risk. The question in the room is which contractor is least likely to blow up at the next owners' meeting. Price breaks the tie between bids that already look safe.
That's the whole game. Make yourself the safe bid, then be priced fairly. Most contractors do it the other way round, and then wonder why the lowest number lost.
Who actually decides on a condo or strata contract
In Canada the client is the condo corporation, or the strata corporation in BC. The people deciding are the board, or the strata council in BC. They're volunteers. They have day jobs. They live in the building, so they hear about every mistake you make.
Most of the time you won't deal with the board first. You'll deal with the condo manager or strata manager. They run the tender, collect the bids, chase the paperwork and put a comparison in front of the board.
On bigger capital work, like roofing, a balcony repair program or a garage membrane, there's often an engineer or building consultant who writes the spec and reviews the bids. Usually that work comes out of the reserve fund study in most provinces, or the depreciation report in BC.
So you're really selling to three people:
- The manager, who wants a bid that's complete and easy to compare.
- The consultant, if there is one, who wants you to price exactly what they specified.
- The board, who want to make a decision they can defend to owners.
The manager is the gatekeeper. If your bid makes their job harder, it doesn't reach the board in good shape.
What boards actually score bids on
Every building scores differently, and some managers use a formal scoring sheet. But the same things come up again and again. Here's what I'd assume they're checking, roughly in the order a bid gets cut.
The paperwork that gets you through the first cut
This is pass or fail. Missing paperwork means you're out before anyone reads your price.
Have these ready before the tender lands, not after:
- A current certificate of commercial general liability insurance. Expect the manager to ask for the corporation and the management company to be named as additional insureds. The coverage amount is set by the building, so read the tender.
- A workers' compensation clearance from your provincial board. In Ontario that's a WSIB clearance certificate, in BC a WorkSafeBC clearance letter, in Alberta a WCB clearance. Other provinces have their own.
- Any trade licences or registrations your province requires for the work. Quebec contractors will be asked about their RBQ licence. Gas and electrical work comes with its own provincial rules.
- Your safety documentation. Site-specific safety plan, how you handle working at heights, how you protect residents and common areas.
- References from buildings like this one. Not your kitchen reno clients. Other condos, other managers.
Keep it as one clean pack you can send in five minutes. A manager who asks twice for your insurance certificate has already started ranking you lower.
Bid their scope, not yours
This is where good tradespeople lose. They read the spec, decide they know better, and price a different job.
The manager needs to put bids side by side. If yours doesn't line up with the others, it looks either cheap or confusing. Neither wins.
Price exactly what was asked. If you think the spec is wrong, say so in a separate note and price your suggestion as an alternate. That shows you know the work without making the manager do maths.
Spell out your exclusions and allowances. Boards hate surprise extras more than they hate a higher price, because extras mean going back to owners.
Show how you'll deal with residents
This is the bit almost nobody puts in the bid, and it's the bit boards care about most.
Condo work happens where people live. Elevators get booked. Parking gets blocked. Someone works nights and you start drilling at 8 a.m.
Put a short section in your bid on resident communication. How notices go out, who the contact is, your working hours, how you protect the common areas, how you leave the site each day. One page is enough. It tells the board you understand their actual problem, which is the complaints, not the concrete.
A price the board can defend
Board members answer to owners. Your price has to survive an AGM.
Break it down so they can explain it. Show line items, unit rates where they make sense, and what's included. Be clear on your payment terms and how the statutory holdback under your province's lien legislation is handled. If you're vague, the board can't defend you, so they'll pick someone they can.
You don't need to be the lowest. You need to be the easiest to say yes to.
The rule I ran my company on
When I ran my maintenance company in London, our clients were housing associations and letting agents. Not condo boards, but the same animal. A small group signing off on work for people who live in the building, and who answer to someone else.
The rule I ran by was simple. The person who signs the order has to be able to defend you in a room you're not in.
That changed how we bid. Clean paperwork. Photos before and after. Updates before they had to ask. When something went wrong, and it does, they heard it from us first, with the fix already moving. It's not the price. It's the service. That's what gets you the next job and the one after.
Mistakes that kill a condo bid
I see the same ones every time:
- Sending insurance and clearance documents late, or expired.
- Pricing a different scope from the one in the tender.
- One lump-sum number with no breakdown.
- No mention of residents, access or working hours.
- Missing the site walk-through, then asking questions that were answered there.
- Going quiet after submitting. A short follow-up to the manager is fine. Lobbying board members directly usually isn't, so don't.
- Promising dates you can't hit because your subtrades never confirmed them.
That last one is the one that hurts after you've won.
After you win: keeping the contract
Winning the first job is the easy part. Condo maintenance work comes back every year if you're good, and goes to someone else if you're not.
This is where most of my thinking went when I stepped back from contracting to build Plan@Job. It's project and operations management for construction and property businesses. In Plan@Job terms you're the Operator: the contractor business that manages the client, the delivery, your subcontractors and your own operatives.
Here's how a condo job runs in it. Illustrative example, not a real client: a corporation hires you for a lobby and corridor refresh. You split the job into internal stages, say protection and prep, drywall repairs, painting and flooring. Each stage has its own scope, dates, status and costs, and each can go to a subbie or to your in-house team.
The board and manager see the overall agreed scope and price, plus the evidence you choose to share, like progress photos. Your internal stage costs and which subtrade is doing what stay internal. That's your margin, and it stays your business. If a tender requires you to name your subtrades, name them. That's a contract term, not a software setting.
The AI staff help with the chasing. Daniel Reed, the AI Operations Manager, follows up quotes and proposed dates with your existing vetted network and gives you a morning brief. Sophie Bennett, the AI Enquiries Coordinator, checks job briefs for missing information and asks for clarification. They don't award work, set prices or move money. Those decisions stay with you.
You can see how the project side works at Plan@Job project management and how the AI staff work at Plan@Job AI staff.
If you want the bigger picture on running a contracting business as the middleman, winning the client and managing the subbies, I write about that strategy at Construction Arbitrage.
Your next move
Plan@Job is live in the UK first. Canadian contractors can reserve a spot on the Plan@Job Canada contractors page and we'll be in touch when it opens there.
In the meantime, build your tender pack this week. Insurance certificate, clearance, licences, safety plan, three condo references, a one-page resident communication plan. When the next tender lands, you're sending it the same day. That's how you become the safe bid.
FAQ
Do I need to be the lowest bid to win a condo contract?
No. Boards look at risk first and price second. A bid that's complete, matches the scope and explains how residents will be handled often beats a cheaper one that leaves questions. Be fairly priced and easy to defend.
What insurance do condo boards in Canada usually ask for?
Commercial general liability is standard, and many managers ask for the corporation and the management company to be named as additional insureds. The coverage amount is set by the building, so check the tender. Expect to show a workers' compensation clearance from your provincial board too.
Can I bid on condo work if I use subcontractors?
Yes. That's how a lot of general contractors work. The board wants one accountable contractor, and that's you. Make sure your subtrades carry their own insurance and clearance, and if the tender asks you to name them, name them.