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Most BC stratas have to choose between two management models early in their corporate life: hire a firm to handle everything, or hire a firm to handle the books and run the rest themselves. The choice is a function of three variables: building complexity, council appetite, and unit count.
What full-service management covers
A full-service contract bundles the four service domains we describe in our breakdown of strata management services:
- Financial administration (trust accounts, billing, AP, financial statements)
- Governance support (council meetings, AGMs, bylaw enforcement)
- Building & contractor coordination (trades, emergencies, capital projects)
- Compliance & advisory (Strata Property Act updates, depreciation reports, sales documents)
The council still decides; the firm executes. Time commitment for a council member in a well-run full-service relationship is roughly 3–6 hours per month plus the AGM.
What financial-only management covers
Financial-only (sometimes called "self-managed with bookkeeping") narrows the scope to the financial administration domain. The firm handles:
- Trust accounts
- Strata fee billing and collection
- Accounts payable
- Monthly and annual financial statements
- Tax filings and basic regulatory paperwork
Everything else (council meetings, AGMs, bylaw enforcement, contractor coordination, emergency response, depreciation report management) falls to council members.
The actual cost difference
In the 2026 Lower Mainland market, full-service management runs $22-$60/unit/month depending on building size; financial-only runs $8-$22/unit/month. The headline cost saving from going financial-only is real: for a 50-unit building, you might save $14,000–$20,000 per year. The hidden cost is what gets dropped when council members run out of time.
What gets dropped under financial-only
The pattern we see, repeatedly, is that councils signing up for financial-only quietly drop:
- Bylaw enforcement: nobody has time to send the warning letters and run the hearings
- Contract reviews: the cleaning contract auto-renews at last year's price for five years
- Project management: the roof replacement is run by whichever council member can take a week off
- Compliance tracking: the depreciation report deadline (now July 2026 for most Metro Vancouver stratas) gets missed
- Records hygiene: minutes lag, contracts go missing, the next manager spends six months reconstructing the file
None of these are fatal individually. Together they slowly erode the corporation's effectiveness and, eventually, its property values.
When financial-only does work
Financial-only is the right model when:
- The building is small (typically 10–25 units)
- The construction is simple (low-rise wood-frame, townhouse)
- The council includes at least two members with the time and skill to handle governance and operations
- The corporation has stable, low-conflict membership
- There are no major capital projects on the horizon
If three of those five conditions don't hold, full-service is almost certainly cheaper in total cost over a five-year window.
When full-service is non-negotiable
Three building characteristics push hard toward full-service:
- High-rise concrete construction: elevators, fire systems, and building envelope work require active management.
- Mixed-use buildings: the commercial / residential split adds material legal complexity.
- Buildings with active capital projects: an owner-led project management role on a $2 million envelope job is not a part-time volunteer position.
How to switch models
Switching from financial-only to full-service (or vice versa) is normal and doesn't require an owners' vote in most cases: it's a council-level service contract decision unless the bylaws say otherwise. Run the standard RFP process described in our choosing a strata management firm guide.
For benchmarks on 2026 fees and what they include, see our strata management fee guide.