From the field
The BuildingHQ blog
Notes for board members, strata councils, and the people who run small buildings. Articles, guides, and the occasional opinion.
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The AGM packet you dread, and how it becomes routine
Why AGM prep is always a scramble for self-managed HOA and strata boards, and what changes when the log is the source of truth instead of eight people's memories.
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Every board is one turnover away from starting over
The annual reset problem: why incoming HOA and strata boards routinely spend three to six months relearning things the outgoing board already knew, and what a real handoff looks like.
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Where the boiler manual lives when you need it at 2 AM
Every self-managed HOA and strata is one late-night mechanical issue away from realizing their document archive isn't accessible. What a real manuals library looks like.
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Choosing a plumber (or roofer, or elevator co.) for a small building
A practical vendor-selection playbook for self-managed HOA and strata boards, and why the vendor Rolodex is the most under-rated asset a building carries between boards.
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The complaint that dies in the shared inbox
Why HOA and strata boards routinely drop resident complaints without meaning to, what the failure mode looks like, and what a working visibility layer would actually do.
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The first hour of a real emergency
What a well-organized self-managed HOA or strata does in the first sixty minutes of a burst pipe — and what the same building looks like without any of it in place.
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The inspection you missed and the fine that followed
Compliance calendars for HOAs and stratas fail in specific, predictable ways. Here's how boards routinely miss annual inspections and what a working reminder system actually looks like.
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Procedures aren't for this board — they're for next year's
Why 'everyone knows how the boiler works' is not a plan, what a real SOP looks like for a small building, and how a self-managed HOA or strata builds procedures without making it homework.
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How to talk to residents without inviting an email storm
Every HOA and strata board has been on both sides of a communication disaster. Why the standard channels fail, and what a working resident-communication system separates.
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The $40,000 boiler that could have been a $4,000 repair
Why equipment history is the most valuable — and most fragile — asset a self-managed building has. What it costs when you lose it, and what it takes to keep it.
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The visitor parking problem (and how to stop being the enforcement person)
Visitor parking is the single most contentious operational issue in HOA and strata buildings that offer it. Why the standard approaches fail, and what a working system looks like.
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What your management company knows that you don't
Every board that has a property manager also has an information gap. Here's what actually lives on the manager's side, why they can't share it easily, and how to close the gap.
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Self-managed vs. property management: when it's time to switch
An honest guide for HOA and strata boards weighing whether to hire a property manager, fire the one they have, or take operations back in-house — and what a self-managed board actually needs.
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How small HOAs lose institutional knowledge
Every two years a strata board turns over and the building forgets things it spent ten years learning. Why it happens, and what to do about it without turning into a paperwork factory.
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The 30-second test for board software
How to evaluate any building-operations tool: can a board member create a useful log entry on a phone in a mechanical room with bad signal in under 30 seconds? If not, the tool will end up unused.
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