Although the number of strata high-rises in Surrey might
pale in comparison to our slightly bigger neighbour Vancouver, the
opportunities to do business within these complexes are no less
substantial. By the time Surrey becomes
the largest city in British Columbia, the skyline of the city will be markedly
different with over 30 high rises instead of 7 or 8. This makes for a huge opportunity to do
business within a very unique, high concentration, and high-yield consumer
market: the residential strata high-rise
condominium.
The needs in this market are significant, and
immediate. The people who live in these
buildings have several problems in their suites every month, yet often have no knowledge
of a contact person to help them. If
they must resort to the yellow pages, or the internet, they not only could be
paying a $150 minimum charge, they could also be inviting a complete stranger
into their home to help them. The
company may be located in Vancouver and as such, would undoubtedly need to
charge for the travel time.
What if they have two problems in their suite? They then have to ask two different trades
people to come, and each may charge their own minimum charges, even though the
jobs may take no more than 5 minutes each.
So the resident just puts up with their leaky sink,or often waits until
they can't stand it anymore, or tries to
fix it themselves unsuccessfully.
Is there any solution to this conundrum? Absolutely.
One must only understand the unique inner workings of the strata
high-rise condominium to best advertise one's services. Although an on-site building maintenance
staff may be employed to take care of common areas such as hallways, and
parkade, the owners of the individual suites, and their residents, are meant to
fend for themselves for anything inside their suite door. So that means that anything from
garburators, shower heads, sinks and tubs, toilets, lights, and painting, just
as examples, are 95% of the time the owner's responsibility to repair. Who are
these people going to call when their toilet is plugged?
A broad majority of these buildings house a concierge staff
person, or an employee of the strata whose job it is to help residents with any
questions, or problems in their suite. These
concierge staff often have carte-blanche authority to pass on to owners the
name and phone number of a company or individual that can solve their
issues. Would you like that person or
company to be you?
It can often be surprisingly easy to have your name be a
part of the preferred trades list within a strata high-rise condominium. A handyman in particular could thrive in
this setting with just some basic knowledge of electrical, plumbing, painting
and carpentry. Imagine having a client
base where you drive to one location, bring a box of tools, and service 10
customers in one day. Now that's a
smart business model!
-Written for submission into the Surrey Board of Trade newsletter