What a minute taking service costs in Canada
There are two ways to buy professional minutes: pay someone to attend every meeting, or send your notes in afterwards. The models are priced very differently. Here is how to compare them honestly.
Condo and strata boards across Canada increasingly outsource their minutes, for good reasons: volunteer secretaries burn out, records drift out of compliance, and disputed minutes are expensive in ways that only become obvious at a tribunal. But the market quotes prices in two completely different shapes, which makes comparison hard. This page explains both.
Model one: a minute taker attends your meeting
Most established minute taking companies in Canada work on an attendance model. A trained minute taker joins the meeting, in person or by video, takes notes throughout, and delivers draft minutes afterwards. Billing is per meeting, and most firms quote on request rather than publishing a price list. The quote typically depends on:
- Meeting length. The minute taker's time is consumed for the whole meeting, so a three-hour AGM costs more than a one-hour council meeting.
- Scheduling. Board meetings happen on weekday evenings, which is premium time for a human attendee.
- Location. In-person attendance adds travel; video attendance avoids it but still books the person for the duration.
- Turnaround and revisions. Faster delivery and additional revision rounds are common surcharges.
The attendance model has real strengths: an impartial third party in the room, and no work at all for the board during the meeting. Boards that expect contentious meetings sometimes want exactly that. The trade-offs are cost that scales with every meeting, the scheduling dance of getting an outsider to every date, and an outside person present for discussions boards often prefer to keep private.
Model two: minutes prepared from your notes
The second model removes the attendee. The board meets exactly as it always has, privately, with no scheduling around anyone. Afterwards, someone sends in whatever record exists: typed notes, photographed handwritten pages, the agenda, or an audio recording. A complete, professionally formatted set of minutes comes back, ready to approve and distribute.
Because no person spends an evening in the meeting, the economics change completely. StrataMinutes prepares minutes for British Columbia strata corporations for a flat $29 per month, with one council meeting included every month, or $299 per year with twelve meeting credits. AGM and SGM minutes are a $25 extra, audio transcription $25 for the first hour, and every document arrives with a checklist showing how it meets the record-keeping requirements of the BC Strata Property Act. The first council meeting is free, so the comparison can be run on your own strata's material before any money changes hands. Full details are on the pricing page.
Comparing the two models
| Question | Attendance model | Prepared from notes |
|---|---|---|
| How it is billed | Per meeting, quoted on request | Flat monthly or annual subscription |
| Cost of a long meeting | Higher, time is billed | Unchanged |
| Scheduling required | Every meeting, evening availability | None |
| Outsider present in the meeting | Yes | No |
| Turnaround | Days, rush fees common | Usually within minutes |
| Compliance check included | Varies by firm | Checklist with every document |
| Annual cost, monthly meetings | Twelve separate per-meeting invoices | $299 flat (BC stratas, founding rate) |
Which model fits which board
Choose attendance when the board genuinely wants an impartial stranger in the room, for example during a governance dispute where who-said-what may be contested. Choose prepared-from-notes when the goal is professional, compliant, on-time minutes at predictable cost, which is the ordinary month for the ordinary board. Many BC councils land on the second model simply because the secretary's evening is the real cost they are trying to eliminate, and both models eliminate it.
A note for boards outside British Columbia
StrataMinutes is purpose-built for BC strata corporations: every document is checked against the BC Strata Property Act, which is why the service does not currently prepare minutes for Ontario, Alberta, or other provinces where condominium law differs. Boards anywhere are welcome to the free resources in our Help Centre, including the minutes template and agenda templates, which cover the universal parts of good minute keeping.
Run the comparison on a real meeting
Send in the notes from your last council meeting and see the finished document and compliance checklist. Your first council meeting is free, with no payment details required.
BC strata corporations. No payment details needed for your first council meeting.
Pricing for attendance-based services varies by firm and region; always obtain current quotes. StrataMinutes pricing shown is the founding-member rate in Canadian dollars, current as of July 2026.
Related pages
The StrataMinutes Service, in Detail
Pricing
How It Works
Strata Secretary Duties