Residential maintenance
There are two ways to look after a house. The first: wait for something to break, then fix it. The second: see it coming, and act before it does. The second costs the homeowner less, prevents damage, and takes a particular kind of know-how.
The Residential Maintenance Lead does both: the maintenance work for their members, and the eye that sees trouble coming. Here's what the job involves, and how you get there at Beau-frère à louer, possible after 6 months.
The role, in practice
The Residential Maintenance Lead is the person who answers for a set of homes: their members' homes. They:
- do the maintenance work and small repairs for their members;
- inspect every home in their portfolio: visible roofing, gutters, caulking, siding, exposed foundations, basement, windows, finishes;
- build the preventive maintenance plan: what to do, in which season, how often, in order of priority;
- make sure the plan is followed, and that the work gets done at the right time, often with their own hands;
- document what was done and what was observed;
- explain the state of the home to the homeowner, frankly, without trying to sell them anything.
A portfolio, for us, is about 50 homes and a few condo boards. Not a territory: a set of properties you get to know inside out.
Why start with repairs?
We could hand inspections to someone as soon as they arrive. We chose not to, for a simple reason: you inspect better what you've already repaired.
Someone who has redone caulking can tell which caulking is about to fail. Someone who has repaired water-damaged drywall knows to look for where the water is coming from. And a homeowner takes the word of someone who knows their house from the inside.
And repairs don't stop at the six-month mark: as a lead, you keep doing the maintenance work for your members. Inspections and the plan come on top of that.
That's why it all starts in the field, as a handyman, paid from day one.
Your first six months, step by step
These first months are your onboarding in a paid job, not separate training.
Month 1 — The foundations
You do maintenance work and small repairs in our members' homes. You learn how we do things, the app and the safety rules. You observe inspections alongside an experienced lead, and you discover the Beau-frère à louer inspection method.
Months 2 and 3 — Co-inspections
You keep doing work for our members, and you inspect with a lead who reviews and corrects your work. You learn to write a maintenance plan: prioritize, schedule, explain. At the end of the third month, your trial period is over: $500 bonus and group insurance 50% paid.
Months 4 and 5 — Your first members
Members are assigned to you: you do their work, your supervised inspections, and you get your first plans approved. You also learn to follow a plan over time, and you're introduced to the condo maintenance logbook.
Month 6 — Residential Maintenance Lead
Once your 10 supervised inspections are done and you've passed your training in building maintenance plans, you become a Residential Maintenance Lead, at $28.50/h, with your own portfolio: its work, its inspections, its plans.
Who can hold this position?
Two profiles, one destination.
Handy people without a trade diploma. You've proven your skills on projects you took from start to finish, and you like the idea of growing into more responsibility. You start as a handyman, and the lead role opens up to you after 6 months.
Graduates and soon-to-be graduates of the DVS in General Building Maintenance. Your DVS taught you to read a building. This job takes you from theory to real homes, with the lead role in your sights from the day you're hired. Soon-to-be graduates are welcome.
Either way, the conditions are the same from day one: $26/h, 35 guaranteed hours, days Monday to Friday, company van provided, $400 a year for tools, clothing provided, holiday week paid.
The qualities of a good lead
- A sharp eye: noticing the detail that's off.
- Rigour: record, date, follow up. A plan that isn't followed is useless.
- Honesty: telling the homeowner what's urgent and what can wait.
- Teaching: explaining things simply, without jargon.
- Consistency: coming back to the same homes, season after season.
A role built with its pioneers
We'll be upfront: this position is new. Our first leads help shape how the work gets done: the inspection method, how plans are written, how we welcome the people who come after them. We bring on only a few people at a time, so each one gets real support from an experienced lead.
What doesn't change are your conditions: they're in writing from the day you're hired.
A trade that's gaining value
Homeowners are increasingly looking for someone to look after their home over the long haul. And since August 14, 2025, the law requires every condo syndicate in Quebec to have a maintenance logbook (by August 2028 for existing condos), which the board of directors updates at least once a year (Regulation establishing various rules concerning divided co-ownership, CQLR c. CCQ, r. 8.01). Doing the work at the right time, inspecting, documenting: that's exactly what a Residential Maintenance Lead does.
Key takeaways
- The Residential Maintenance Lead does the maintenance work for their members, inspects, builds the preventive maintenance plan, makes sure it's followed and documents it.
- A portfolio: about 50 homes and a few condo boards.
- You start with repairs, in a paid job, and you keep doing them: you inspect better what you've already repaired.
- After 6 months and 10 supervised inspections: lead at $28.50/h.
Connect-forces
Ready to fix things, and see what's coming?
DVS graduate, or handy without a trade diploma: two ways in lead to the same job.
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