Time to Reduce $80,000 Plus in Caretaking Costs!

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Residents were recently advised that our caretaker will be gone as of August 31st. Residents have been advised on numerous occasions over the past two years that a new caretaker was being sought. It appears that no effort has been made during this period to find and ensure a replacement.

There is an opportunity to finally correct the many caretaker issues we have experienced in the past ten years. For many years, the caretaker has been overpaid while his duties have been drastically reduced. As a result, substantial contractor costs have been incurred to make up for this reduction in duties. An additional $20,000 would be a conservative estimate of these additional annual costs. With the caretakers cost for a number of years at $80,000 plus this $20,000, the annual caretaker costs have as a result have essentially been $100,000 plus. Obviously, there is an opportunity to save tens of thousands of dollars.

A resident review of invoices in 2015 revealed that the caretaker was spending time providing private services to the commercial units, often at the expense of the Corporation. For many years, caretaker services contracted by the Corporation were strictly for common area services and not for services provided within condominium units. This practice must resume immediately. The new caretakers duties should include inside common area and ground services only and should not be available to provide service to any individual unit. A separate service source for miscellaneous in unit services could be arranged and their contact information provided to all unit owners.

There are numerous contracting options available including:

  1. Caretaker provides common area cleaning only.
  2. As per #1 but providing the living quarters to the caretaker
  3. As above, but the caretaker provides specific inspection and maintenance duties at prescribed hourly rate.

A contract must ensure that the duties of the caretaker are sufficiently described. Regular inspections and enforcement of building regulations (ie. parking) must be included as well.

It is suggested that a pre AGM meeting be held to cover not only the Reserve Fund Planning matter, but also to hear the input of unit owners regarding a caretaking contract. In the meantime, temporary cleaning services can easily be arranged.