“How much does an apartment management company charge?” has no single answer, because two quotes may not cover the same work. One may include only accounting; another may include staff, technical maintenance and legal follow-up. Before comparing numbers, compare what you are paying for.
This article explains what the fee depends on, what a quote is made of and which questions to ask when requesting one. We do not quote a current figure: any number given without seeing the building is a guess.
Five factors that set the fee
1. Number of units. More units mean more work: billing, collection, resident communication and repair requests all grow with the unit count. The management share per unit usually falls in larger complexes.
2. The building’s equipment. Lifts, generators, booster pumps, boiler rooms, pools, security booths and landscaped areas each mean separate maintenance and follow-up. A building without a lift and with few common areas cannot be managed for the same fee as a complex with a pool and security.
3. Scope of service. Do you want financial management only, or full management from staff and technical maintenance to legal processes and resident communication? The wider the scope, the higher the fee; but combining services you would otherwise buy piecemeal often lowers the total burden.
4. The building’s current condition. A building with badly kept books, no debt follow-up or inherited enforcement cases needs intensive clean-up in the first months. Ask up front whether that work is charged separately.
5. How digitally the management works. Management that runs dues tracking, announcements and repair requests through a platform spends less time than management working by paper and phone. This shows in the fee, and it also means transparency for residents.
What does a quote consist of?
A management quote usually contains these items, listed separately or combined:
- Management service fee: what the company charges for management, coordination, reporting and resident communication.
- Accounting and bookkeeping: billing and collecting dues, keeping the statutory books (decision, operating, audit) and a monthly income-expense report.
- Staff management: hiring the caretaker, security and cleaning staff, social-security filings, timesheets and leave tracking. The wages and social-security cost of the staff are not a management fee; they are an expense the building already pays and should be shown separately in the budget.
- Technical maintenance follow-up: planning and commissioning periodic maintenance of lifts, boilers, booster pumps and fire equipment. The maintenance contractor’s fee is a separate expense.
- Legal follow-up: enforcement against owners in arrears and advice at owners’ meetings. Whether this is included or charged per case must be stated clearly.
Who pays the fee, and how?
Under the Condominium Law, the manager’s pay counts among the common expenses and is shared in proportion to land shares (art. 20). A management company’s fee falls under the same heading, so each owner contributes their own share. The amount and the contract with the company are decided by resolution of the owners’ board. If the management plan provides a different split, that applies. See Common Expenses and Dues and The Owners’ Board for detail.
Working with a management company looks like an extra cost compared with leaving management to a volunteer neighbour. The fair comparison also counts the volunteer’s time, the cost of mistakes and dues that are never collected.
Questions to ask when requesting a quote
Ask for these in writing when comparing quotes:
- What does the fee cover and what does it not? Is there a separate charge for each item outside the scope?
- Are staff, maintenance and legal costs inside or on top of the fee? Which are paid separately from the building’s budget?
- How does the fee change during the year? What is the increase based on and how often?
- What is the contract term and what are the exit conditions? How hard is it to leave if you are unhappy?
- Whose account does the money go through? Do dues go straight into the building’s own bank account or through the company’s? A separate account in the building’s name is safer.
- How often, and in what format, will you get reports? Can you see income, expenses and debt whenever you want?
- Who is your contact? Is the person to call and the response time in writing?
- Can they give references? Can you get information from similar buildings they manage?
Be careful with a very low quote
A quote far below the market can look attractive, but usually an item has been left out and comes back later as an “extra service”. Missed maintenance, slow responses and weak reporting are also common results of a very low fee. Look at the total annual cost, not the lowest figure: management fee, staff, maintenance and legal costs together.
How we set the fee
We price by the number of units, the building’s equipment (lift, pool, generator, security) and the scope requested. We do not give a figure without seeing the building: we first make a free survey, see the common areas, technical equipment, existing contracts and staffing on site, then present the scope and fee in writing. The survey and the quote carry no obligation.
For the scope of our services see Facility Management and Financial Management and Accounting, and for the districts we serve see Areas. To get a clear quote for your building, request a free survey.
Beyond price, see What to Look For When Choosing a Management Company for the other criteria.