Which tool for a condo board?
Before comparing products, you need to know what a condo board actually has to do. Eight needs, three solutions everyone tries first, and the five points to check before committing.
What a condo board needs to do
None of these eight needs is theoretical: they come up in every building, and they are what a term of office is won or lost on.
- 1
Find a decision a year later
Who decided what, when, and on what grounds. The question comes up at every meeting, and almost no board can answer it.
- 2
Attach photos to a defect
A crack photographed in March, found again in October with its date. Without that, you cannot show a defect is getting worse.
- 3
Keep the documents together
Minutes, contracts, quotes, rules: in one place, open to the whole board, not in one person’s inbox.
- 4
Compare and keep quotes
Three quotes received six weeks apart, compared on the same scope, and findable when the vote comes.
- 5
Consult owners between meetings
Take the temperature on a subject without waiting eleven months — not as a formal decision, but to prepare the resolution.
- 6
Not miss a deadline
Contract end, warranty expiry, the deadline to serve the notice: the dates that cost money when they slip by.
- 7
Hand over to the next board
A term lasts three years. What is not handed over is lost, and the next board starts from a blank page.
- 8
Stay on the right side of GDPR
Owners’ contact details, photos of private units: this is personal data, and it engages the association.
The three solutions everyone tries first
All three work at the start. Each breaks in a different place, and it is that place which decides whether you need something else.
A group chat
Free, immediate, everyone already has it. It is the first thing a condo board sets up.
Breaks on memory: nothing is findable beyond a few weeks, and the thread leaves with whoever leaves the group.
A shared spreadsheet
Structured, exportable, familiar. It holds up very well for tracking works or checking accounts.
Breaks on the documents: no photos, no quotes, no exchanges. And only one person really keeps it up to date.
The managing agent’s extranet
Compulsory, filled in by the agent, it is where the building’s official documents live.
Breaks on the board’s own work: it archives what the agent puts in, it does not record what the board observes.
| Need | Group chat | Spreadsheet | Agent’s extranet | CoproHarmony |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Find a decision a year later | Not covered | Partly covered | Partly covered | Covered |
| Attach photos to a defect | Partly covered | Not covered | Not covered | Covered |
| Keep the documents together | Not covered | Not covered | Covered | Covered |
| Compare and keep quotes | Not covered | Partly covered | Partly covered | Covered |
| Consult owners between meetings | Partly covered | Not covered | Not covered | Covered |
| Not miss a deadline | Not covered | Not covered | Partly covered | Covered |
| Hand over to the next board | Not covered | Partly covered | Covered | Covered |
| Stay on the right side of GDPR | Not covered | Partly covered | Covered | Covered |
This comparison is about categories of tool, not named products: a group chat, a shared spreadsheet, the online space a managing agent provides. The agent’s extranet does very well what it is built for — holding official documents and archives — but it is not designed to record the condo board’s day-to-day work, which is a matter of scope rather than a shortcoming.
The five points to check before committing
None of them shows on a marketing page, and yet they decide whether the tool will still be in use in two years.
Where the data is hosted
You are handling owners’ personal data. Check the hosting, the retention period and whether an account can be deleted on request.
What happens when the board changes
The history has to survive the chair leaving. A tool tied to a personal account is not a building’s memory.
Can you get out
PDF and CSV exports of your data. A tool you cannot extract anything from locks you in, however good it is.
The real cost, not the headline price
Users included, storage, options billed separately: work the total back to a yearly figure and to the number of lots.
Who pays
A subscription serving the condo board is an expense of the co-ownership: it can be put in the budget and borne by the association, rather than by one owner personally.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, several tools have a free tier, CoproHarmony included. What matters is what the free tier limits: number of users, storage, access to exports. Those ceilings, more than the price, decide whether the tool will last a whole term.
Try it rather than compare on paper
The only way to know whether a tool suits your board is to record the next incident in it and see what is left six months later. It is free to start, and nothing commits you.
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