How to Plan a Major Strata Project (Roof, Envelope, Boiler)

Sooner or later every BC strata faces a project that dwarfs anything in the annual budget. A new roof on a 40-unit building, an envelope remediation on a leaky-condo legacy, a boiler replacement deferred two cycles too long. The first one is almost always traumatic. Council didn't expect the size, owners didn't expect the levy, and nobody knows what good project management looks like. This is the playbook we use for our clients, in the order it actually happens. We've run this sequence through dozens of Sea-to-Sky envelope, roof, and mechanical projects and the same six phases apply every time.

Phase 1: Establish the need and align with the depreciation report

Every major project starts with a triggering event: a roof leak, a failed inspection, a maintenance contractor flagging a component at end-of-life, or a depreciation report recommendation hitting its window. Council's first job is to separate "we should look at this" from "we need to act now."

The depreciation report is the anchor. If your report flagged the roof for replacement between 2026 and 2028, and you're seeing leaks in 2026, you're on the recommended path and don't need to debate whether the project is necessary, only when. If something is failing 10 years ahead of the report's projection, you have a different conversation: was the report wrong, or has something changed (water ingress, deferred maintenance, an unusual weather event)?

Before any consultant is hired, council should:

• Pull the relevant depreciation report sections and circulate to all members
• Document what's prompting the conversation now (photos, contractor notes, owner complaints)
• Resolve whether to engage a consultant for further scoping
• Set a modest budget for the scoping phase only

This is also when councils should review s. 4 corporation duties. The duty to repair and maintain common property is non-delegable, and procrastination has legal consequences.

Phase 2: Engage an independent consultant

This is the most misunderstood phase. Council needs someone whose only job is to represent the strata's interests through the project. That's not the contractor who'll do the work. That's not the manager (whose role is administration, not technical oversight). It's an independent consultant: engineer, building scientist, or roof consultant, paid by the strata.

Consultant fees are typically a percentage of construction cost and vary by project type (roof, envelope, mechanical, new amenity). Envelope work generally carries a higher consulting load than roofing or mechanical because of complexity and risk. Get a written fee proposal before engagement.

What the consultant delivers across the project lifecycle: condition assessment, scope of work document, tender package, bid evaluation, contract administration, site reviews during construction, change order review, deficiency walks, and final certification. The consultant's name should be on every invoice approval.

Phase 3: Scope the work and prepare a tender package

The consultant produces a detailed scope of work document, typically 30 to 100 pages for a major project, describing every component, specification, and quality standard. This document becomes the basis of the tender package that goes to contractors.

A complete tender package includes:

• Detailed scope of work and specifications
• Site conditions and access constraints
• Project schedule expectations
• Insurance, bonding, and WCB requirements
• Warranty expectations (minimum 5 years for envelope, 2 years standard for mechanical)
• Liquidated damages clauses for late completion
• Payment schedule tied to milestones
• Owner-disruption protocols (noise, parking, balcony access)

Skipping any of these creates the conditions for the change order culture that makes strata projects famous for going over budget.

Phase 4: Secure funding by special levy or strata loan

With a scoped project and a likely cost range, council moves to funding. Under Strata Property Act s. 99, a special levy requires a 3/4 vote at a properly convened general meeting. The notice package must include:

• The total levy amount
• The basis of apportionment (typically unit entitlement)
• Per-strata-lot amount in dollars
• The purpose of the levy
• Payment schedule and due dates

The three funding paths:

1. CRF draw. Allowed under s. 96 if the project matches a CRF-eligible purpose. Faster, no special vote needed for emergency repairs, but depletes the fund.
2. Special levy. Most common for projects above CRF capacity. Owners pay in lump sum or installments. 3/4 vote required.
3. Strata corporation loan. Specialty lenders offer medium- to long-term loans to strata corporations. Owners pay monthly through the operating budget. Requires a 3/4 vote and a borrowing resolution. Useful when owners can't absorb a lump-sum levy.

A hybrid is common: partial CRF draw plus a special levy, or special levy plus loan for those who can't pay up front.

Phase 5: Tender, evaluate, and award

With funding secured, the consultant releases the tender package to a pre-qualified list of contractors. For a Sea-to-Sky envelope project, the qualified contractor pool is small and most have meaningful backlogs.

Bid evaluation isn't just price. The consultant scores bids on price, schedule feasibility, crew experience and references, warranty terms, insurance and bonding, and quality of the submitted plan. Each council and consultant will weight these factors differently, but no major project should be awarded on price alone.

The lowest bid is almost never the best bid on a major strata project. Council should expect the consultant to recommend a contractor and explain why, and council retains the authority to override that recommendation if it has reasons.

Recent CRT decisions on contractor selection have reinforced that councils are expected to document the selection process (not just the outcome) when defending a contractor choice to owners.

Phase 6: Construction oversight and closeout

Once the contractor mobilizes, the consultant runs the project on council's behalf. Weekly site reviews, monthly progress reports to council, change order vetting, milestone payment certification, and deficiency tracking. Council's job during construction is to stay informed, approve change orders that have consultant recommendation, and resist the temptation to micromanage.

Closeout is its own phase and gets shortchanged in many projects:

• Deficiency walk by consultant and contractor, 30 days before substantial completion
• Final deficiency walk at substantial completion, with holdback released only when complete
• Warranty start date confirmed in writing
• As-built documents delivered and filed in the strata's permanent records per s. 35
• Warranty calendar added to the strata maintenance schedule

A clean closeout is the difference between a project that ages well and one that becomes a litigation file.

Common failure modes (and how to avoid them)

After many major projects, the same failures repeat:

1. No consultant. Council saves on consulting and spends far more on uncontrolled change orders.
2. Single bid. Sole-source contractor selection creates legal exposure and price gouging.
3. Inadequate funding vote. Trying to fund a project with a levy that doesn't cover the full scope, "hoping" for the rest.
4. Premature start. Project begins before final design and tender package is locked in.
5. No warranty enforcement. Year-two leak becomes "not our problem" because nobody filed a warranty claim within the deadline.

The fix for all five is process discipline. Use a consultant. Follow the six phases. Document every decision. The result is a project that finishes on time, near budget, and aged well.

For more on the financial side, see our special levy guide and our contingency reserve fund post. If your project is envelope-related, the BC envelope failures post is essential reading before you scope. And the maintenance schedule post shows where this project fits in your ongoing capital plan.

If your council is staring down a six- or seven-figure project and isn't sure where to start, reach out. Our team has run this playbook on roof, envelope, and mechanical projects across the Sea to Sky and we can usually save a first-time council 6–12 months of mistakes.