Understanding the structural flaws in condominium governance. And how to avoid them.

Finding Cost-Effective and High-Quality Condo Management Solutions

Condo owners often face high maintenance fees without seeing the corresponding service quality. Condo BI is developing a business intelligence tool to help condo directors optimize management efficiency, cut costs, and improve service quality. Our extensive research has uncovered critical insights into how some condos maintain top-tier services at a fraction of the cost

Best Examples of Condo Management Practice in Toronto & GTA
Best Condo Management Practice Exhibition. Best examples of condo management efficiency to show condo directors. Toronto & GTA

Key Findings from Our Research

Condo Fees Are Not Always Linked to Service Quality

Our January 2022 and July 2022 studies revealed striking differences:

Some luxury condos with multimillion-dollar market values charge as little as $0.23 – $0.37 per sq ft/month for maintenance.
Others charge four times more yet struggle with over $9 million in debt and require $14 million for emergency repairs.

📌 Conclusion: High condo fees do not always mean better service or financial stability.

COVID time was not a reason for many condominiums to raise condo fees. Some condos increased condo fees dramatically, but some condo did not change it and some of them even decreased.
Self-Managed Condos Save Money & Increase Property Value

A November 2022 study found that self-managed condominiums outperform professionally managed ones:

18% lower maintenance fees on average.
9% higher property values compared to condos managed by professional firms.

📌 Conclusion: Many professional management companies introduce unnecessary costs without delivering better results.

The Biggest Issue: Flawed Condo Management Practices

Our research uncovered major flaws in condo management decision-making:
🚩 Conflicts of Interest: Many condo decisions are made in conditions of a conflict of interests
🚩 Lack of Transparency in Vendor Selection: Many condo management companies use their preferred contractors and a pre-selection process is restricted for independent contractors and not transparent for condo directors. Some boards believe that having three to four quotes means transparency, but in reality, the pre-selection process itself is where decisions are made.
🚩 No Performance Evaluation: Many condos fail to track project outcomes, leading to wasted resources.

Why Does This Matter?

These flawed processes put condo owners’ money at a very high risks and often result in subpar service quality.

📌 Key Takeaway: Condo owners and directors must verify if their management company uses transparent management processes in the areas of high risks: