EPRs for Wood-Frame Walk-Ups & Townhouses: A Guide for Vancouver Island Strata Councils

The full guide

Picture a "strata building" and a concrete highrise probably comes to mind. But outside Metro Vancouver, most of BC's strata stock looks nothing like that — it's low-rise wood-frame walk-ups and townhouse complexes, often built in stages over decades. The Electrical Planning Report (EPR) requirement applies to these buildings exactly as it applies to any other strata, and building type changes a few practical things worth knowing before your council starts.

What this building stock looks like, region by region

The mix varies by region, but wood-frame walk-ups and townhouse complexes are common across every part of BC outside the Lower Mainland's urban cores:

• Vancouver Island (outside the CRD): townhouse-heavy stock through Nanaimo, the Cowichan Valley, and the central and North Island, with 1970s–1990s wood-frame and concrete blocks common through the urban cores.
• Okanagan: townhouse complexes through the resort communities, plus 1980s–1990s wood-frame walk-ups still common in older urban cores like Rutland and central Penticton.
• Kootenays: a smaller strata footprint with significant 1970s–1980s wood-frame inventory alongside heritage buildings.
• Cariboo–Thompson: Kamloops carries a mix of 1980s–1990s wood-frame walk-ups and townhouse complexes through neighbourhoods like Aberdeen and Sahali.
• Northern BC: 1970s industrial-expansion-era wood-frame walk-ups in Kitimat and Prince Rupert, 1980s walk-ups in central Prince George, and townhouse-dominant inventory through the Peace River municipalities.
• Sea-to-Sky & Sunshine Coast: a mix of newer post-2010 mid-rise development and older townhouse stock through Squamish, Whistler, Sechelt, and Gibsons.

See our full region-by-region breakdown for the building stock, deadline, and utility details specific to your area.

The EPR requirement doesn't change for a smaller building

Section 94.1 of the Strata Property Act applies to every BC strata corporation of five or more lots — there is no exemption or lighter version for a wood-frame walk-up or a townhouse complex versus a concrete highrise. If your strata is in the December 31, 2028 deadline group, see our 2028 deadline guide for the full regional breakdown; Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, and the Capital Regional District are on the earlier December 31, 2026 deadline.

Building type does affect who can prepare your report

Where building type matters is the Strata Property Regulation's list of who may prepare the EPR. Wood-frame walk-ups and townhouse complexes are generally three storeys or less with a footprint of 600 square metres or less — the BC Building Code's definition of a Part 9 building. For a strata corporation where every building on the strata plan is a Part 9 building, the regulation's list of qualified persons includes a journeyperson in the construction electrician or industrial electrician trade — a Journeyperson Electrician, as defined under the Skilled Trades BC Act — alongside professionals registered with EGBC or ASTTBC. See how to check whether your strata's buildings are Part 9 for the detail.

For an all-Part-9 strata, that Journeyperson Electrician pathway is often the most cost-effective route to a fully compliant report — the trade the regulation names for these buildings is the one that works on exactly this kind of electrical system every day.

The report content doesn't change either

Whichever qualified person prepares it, the content requirement in section 5.11 is identical: a physical inspection of the building's electrical infrastructure, twelve months of utility consumption data, the three future-electrification scenarios modelled separately, demand-management recommendations, and upgrade recommendations. See our full section 5.11 checklist for what to expect in the report itself. A smaller building does not mean a shorter list of requirements.

One utility difference worth knowing

In much of the Okanagan and Kootenays, electricity comes from FortisBC rather than BC Hydro. The EPR still needs twelve months of consumption data — the request simply goes to a different utility, and the analysis works the same way in either territory.

Getting your building's EPR done

CF Electrical Services works with most BC strata building types — wood-frame walk-ups and townhouse complexes as often as larger buildings — and scopes every report to the building in front of us, not a template. Request a fixed-price proposal, ask to see a redacted sample report from a comparable building, and see what strata councils and property managers say about working with us.

Authoritative sources

• Strata Property Act, section 94.1 — the Electrical Planning Report duty (BC Laws).
• Strata Property Regulation — the report content requirements (section 5.11) and who may prepare the report, including the Part 9 pathway (BC Laws).
• Guidance for the Preparation of Electrical Planning Reports — Province of British Columbia (May 2026).