Why condo lobbies are different
A condo lobby is a home for hundreds of people and a workplace for a superintendent and a concierge. Holiday decor there has to please residents with different tastes, survive parcel deliveries and movers, meet the corporation's insurance rules and fit a budget approved by a board that meets once a month. It also has to be stored somewhere, which is where most condo decor programs go wrong.
We work with condo boards and property management companies across Southwestern Ontario, the GTA and Hamilton-Niagara on multi-residential holiday decor: lobby and elevator-lobby trees, entrance garland and wreaths, planters at the doors, and exterior lighting on the entrance canopy, columns and landscape trees. Everything is our own inventory, installed, maintained, removed and stored by us.
This guide is for the board member or property manager who has been handed the holiday decor file. It covers what to decorate, how to get it approved, what to expect on price and how the program runs so the superintendent never touches a box of lights. Share it with the rest of the board before the meeting.
What to decorate in a multi-residential building
Start with the two places every resident passes: the front entrance and the lobby. Outside, that usually means a lit canopy edge or roofline over the entrance, wrapped columns, a wreath on the doors and wrapped landscape trees or lit cone trees along the walk. Inside, it means a pre-lit tree sized to the lobby ceiling, garland on the concierge desk or railing, and a wreath or arch at the vestibule.
Elevator lobbies on the ground floor are the natural second step. A smaller tree or lit gift boxes beside the elevators carries the scheme through to where residents wait every day. Amenity rooms and party rooms are a third step if the budget allows, often timed for a residents' holiday event.
Colour matters more in condos than in offices because residents see it daily for six weeks. Warm white with gold or silver accents is the safest choice and matches most lobby finishes. Blue and white reads as winter rather than Christmas, which some boards prefer for a mixed community. We bring samples so the board can decide in the lobby itself.
- Entrance: canopy or roofline, columns, door wreath, wrapped trees or cone trees
- Lobby: main tree, desk or railing garland, vestibule wreath or arch
- Elevator lobby: small tree or lit gift boxes in the same scheme
Getting it through the board
Boards approve faster when the proposal answers the questions they will ask. What exactly is included. What it costs this year and next. Who is insured for what. Where the product is stored. What happens if something breaks. Our proposals are written to answer all of those on one page, with the lease and purchase options side by side.
Timing is the hard part. If the board meets monthly and the proposal is tabled in September, approval might land in October and the install in November. That works, but the choice of dates is narrower. Aim to have a site visit in July or August and the proposal on the agenda for the September meeting at the latest.
For multi-year agreements, boards like knowing the price and the dates are locked for the term, and that the corporation is not buying product it has to insure and store. That is why most condo lobby trees are leased rather than bought. Insurance and storage are two fewer line items for the corporation to manage.
- Site visit July to August, proposal at the September meeting
- Lease and purchase options on the same scope
- Insurance certificate and WSIB clearance attached
What condo holiday decor typically costs
Every program is custom quoted, but boards need ranges to set a budget line. As a typical range, a decorated 9 foot pre-lit lobby tree on a seasonal lease commonly starts around $1,500 per season, including install, maintenance, January removal and storage. Adding desk garland, a door wreath and a pair of entrance planters moves the lobby program up from there.
Exterior lighting on a condo entrance, with a lit canopy, wrapped columns and a few wrapped trees, commonly runs from a few thousand dollars per season. A full building program with a double-height lobby tree, elevator lobby decor and an extended exterior scheme can reach five figures. Treat these as typical ranges, not quotes.
The table below lists what moves the price and what a board can do about each item. Share it with the board so the discussion is about scope rather than surprises. Most corporations find the easiest savings in two rows: sizing the tree to the ceiling rather than the biggest one that fits, and lighting the entrance well instead of the whole building thinly.
| Cost driver | What it means for a condo | How to control it |
|---|---|---|
| Tree count and height | A 12 ft lobby tree costs more than a 9 ft; a second elevator-lobby tree adds to it | Size to the ceiling; add secondary trees in a later season |
| Linear footage outside | Canopy edge, roofline, columns and walkways are priced by the foot | Light the entrance well rather than the whole building thinly |
| Lift requirements | Canopies and tall landscape trees need a bucket truck or aerial lift | Confirm lift parking at the site visit |
| Indoor scope | Garland, wreaths, planters, arches and custom pieces | Start with the tree and vestibule; add pieces at renewal |
| One season vs multi-year | Multi-year locks pricing and priority dates | Sign for the term the board is comfortable with |
Who does the work and who is covered
No condo corporation should have a superintendent on a ladder hanging lights over the entrance. Our crews are insured and WSIB-compliant, work from our own bucket trucks and aerial lifts, and provide a certificate of insurance and WSIB clearance for the corporation's file before work starts. Property management companies can add us as a vendor across a portfolio.
We install after hours or in a quiet window so residents, deliveries and visitor parking are not disrupted, and we keep the lobby open while we work. Exterior installs are usually done in October and left off on the timer until the board wants them lit. Interior installs are done in November.
The concierge or superintendent gets a contact number for the season. Any fault in the display, from a dark tree section to a timer knocked off after the time change, is fixed at no charge as part of included maintenance. Nobody in the building needs to test a string, climb a ladder or buy a replacement bulb.
Takedown, storage and the mechanical room problem
The reason many condo decor programs fail after a few years is storage. Trees bought by a previous board end up in the mechanical room, ornaments get crushed, strings fail and the superintendent spends a December weekend testing lights. Then someone proposes buying everything again. The board pays twice and the lobby still looks tired.
Our program removes that cycle. Takedown runs through the first three weeks of January, after hours where needed. Everything is labelled by building and location and stored in our warehouse, tested before the next season and ready to go up on your reserved date. This is included whether you lease the decor or own it and pay for the service program. Storage space in the building goes back to residents.
If the board wants the warm-white exterior lighting kept up as winter lighting into February, say so at quoting time and we will plan the takedown around it. Themed interior decor normally comes down in January. Lit cone trees and wrapped landscape trees are the pieces most often kept as winter lighting because they read as winter rather than Christmas.
A simple path for the board
Here is the whole process in one place. A board member or property manager calls 519-266-6796 or sends a request with photos of the entrance and lobby and a ceiling height. We reply within one business day and book a site visit in summer. The proposal goes to the next board meeting with lease and purchase options, insurance documents and typical install and takedown windows.
Once approved, the agreement is signed, a deposit reserves product and dates, and we confirm access and timing with the property manager and superintendent. Exterior goes in during October, interior in November, maintenance runs through December, takedown and storage in January, and the board gets a renewal with locked pricing if it signed for multiple years.
The corporation sees one invoice per season and nothing in the mechanical room. The superintendent gets a phone number instead of a box of lights. The board gets a number it can approve once and a result residents notice every day in December. That is the version of condo holiday decorating that boards keep renewing.
