Building caretaker: create, keep or remove the post?

Removing a caretaker post "to save money" is the worst-calculated project in general meetings.

The caretaker post comes back regularly in condo debates, almost always from the same angle: cost. Salary, social contributions, tied accommodation, cover for absences — together often the building’s largest charge heading, ahead of heating.

The reasoning looks simple: remove the post, let the lodge, lighten the charges. It is far less simple in reality, and the board does real service by presenting the full picture before the meeting commits.

What a caretaker actually does

• Cleaning common areas and moving the bins — the visible part.
• Small technical jobs, bulbs, meter readings, letting contractors in.
• Taking parcels, managing access, daily contact with residents.
• De facto surveillance: a presence reduces fly-tipping, intrusion and damage.
• Reporting to the manager and the board, often before an incident becomes a claim.

That last point is what the calculations always forget. A caretaker who flags a leak in September avoids waterproofing work in January: see how a properly tracked issue costs less.

Costing a removal honestly

Before comparing, price what will replace the post. Removal never makes the tasks disappear: it redistributes them, and every redistribution has a price.

• A cleaning contract for the common areas, at a realistic frequency.
• A contractor to move the bins, usually billed separately.
• An on-call or small-works contract.
• Access and parcel handling, now down to residents.
• The cost of the removal procedure itself, including compensation.

For the first item, comparison only means something at identical scope: see how to write a cleaning specification.

What happens to the lodge

This is often the decisive argument: once free, the lodge could be let or sold. But the lodge is a common area, and converting or selling it involves specific decisions at high majorities, sometimes constrained by the building’s own rules.

Selling the lodge is therefore not a follow-on from removing the post: it is a second file, with its own procedure and timetable.

The majority question

Creating or removing a caretaker post does not follow the same rule everywhere: it depends on what the building’s regulations say. If they expressly provide for a caretaker, the path is markedly more demanding than if they are silent.

Have that checked before drafting the resolution, or the decision may be challenged: see the conditions for challenging a decision.

The middle options

Between a full-time resident caretaker and outright removal sit options rarely examined: a non-resident building employee, a post shared between neighbouring buildings, or redefined duties on reduced hours.

These need to be presented with figures and a clear comparison, like any budget trade-off: see questions to ask about the projected budget.

A caretaker post is never removed: it is replaced. The only question is by what, and at what price.

Prepare the file with CoproHarmony

CoproHarmony gathers quotes, comparisons, exchanges and decisions in one space, and keeps the whole file retrievable years later. Create your free space.

Once the lodge is free, two routes open: selling it or turning it into a shared room.