“The caretaker takes care of the building” sounds clear until something falls through the cracks and everyone realizes they had a different idea of what that actually meant. A written job description isn’t bureaucratic overkill for a strata building, it’s what prevents exactly that kind of gap.
Why This Gets Overlooked
Many strata buildings inherit a caretaker arrangement from a previous council, or set one up informally when the need first comes up, without ever writing down the full scope. It works fine until there’s turnover, a dispute about what’s covered, or a new council that wasn’t part of the original conversation. At that point, a written description isn’t just useful, it’s the only reliable reference anyone has.
What to Include
Core daily duties. Common area cleaning, garbage and recycling area upkeep, general building walkthroughs, light bulb replacement, minor repairs, whatever applies to your specific building.
Seasonal responsibilities. Winter brings its own list, slip prevention, entrance matting, salt or ice melt application, which is easy to assume is covered and just as easy to find out too late that it isn’t. We break this down specifically in our guide to winter caretaker duties.
Reporting expectations. What gets reported to the strata council or property manager, and how often? Should the caretaker be logging completed tasks, flagging maintenance issues, or both?
Response time for urgent issues. If a pipe bursts or an entrance becomes hazardous outside normal hours, what’s expected of the caretaker, and what’s outside their scope and needs to go to another contractor entirely?
What’s explicitly not covered. This is often the most useful section. Specifying that the caretaker isn’t responsible for, say, major plumbing repairs, carpet cleaning, or window washing prevents both under-delivery and over-reliance on one person for work that needs a specialist.
Hours and availability. Whether the role is full-time, part-time, or on-call, and what days or hours residents can expect to see the caretaker active in the building.
Avoiding Common Gaps
The most frequent problem we see isn’t a caretaker doing bad work, it’s a caretaker and council operating from two different mental lists of what’s covered. Writing the description down, reviewing it with the caretaker directly, and updating it when the building’s needs change closes that gap before it causes friction.
Keep It Living, Not Static
A job description written once and never revisited tends to drift out of date as the building’s needs evolve. Reviewing it annually, or any time the caretaker role changes hands, keeps it accurate and gives your council a clear reference point whenever a question about coverage comes up.
EcoPlanet Property Services provides building caretaker services for Greater Vancouver strata buildings with clearly defined scopes from the start, so there’s no ambiguity about what’s covered. See our building caretaker services page or request a free quote to talk through what your building needs.
How to Write a Building Caretaker Job Description
building-caretaker-job-description-strata
A vague caretaker job description leads to vague results. Here’s what strata councils should spell out before hiring or contracting a caretaker.
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