condo charging labor for any work in apt

I would imagine this is standard. All these items you mention are the unit owners responsibility. Of course they will charge you. You maybe better off doing it yourself or finding a handyman who offers better rates. We had a slow running shower drain that out super cleared out for free as a courtesy but they mentioned in future, there would be a charge for any plumbing related issues. But of course, you have to ensure if you do any repairs/maintenance yourself, you are using a vendor that is approved by the condo, especially for things like plumbing. All this should be clear in your condo bylaws.

Having the actual condo send you a bill? Never heard of it, and pretty weird. Situations I’ve found more common:

- Up to and including luxury buildings, people can pay (on their own dime) for the super or staff to do work (on their own time).

- In ultra-luxury buildings, it depends. At a staffing level of (say) 6 apts per staff, no work in apts beyond very specific items considered condo responsibility. E.g., windows and balconies. They just don’t have the time for anything more. At a staffing level of (say) 3 apts per staff, they’ll do anything they can as long as they know how and it doesn’t take a very long time. At a staffing level of (say) 1.5 apts per staff, anything they can however long it takes. The capabilities are expanded — e.g. more likely there’s someone who is an electrician or whatever — and they have lots of time — e.g., go down to the hardware store to buy whatever is needed to get the job done.

In ultra-luxury buildings, you’d never pay the staff for apt work. Either they can do it, or they cannot. Even if you offer to pay, even if they’re doing it outside of the shift for specialized work, they’ll refuse. Code of the ultra-luxury staff or some such thing.

I would assume, if you requested a clogged drain to be cleared or a lightbulb to be changed, the response would be either “Yes we can do that and the charge will be xyz” or “No, this is something we do not do, we can provide recommendations for so and so to do it but you are responsible “. To have the condo do the repair and say nothing, and then send a bill is a little strange, I would hope you would be warned beforehand that this is not a free service.

I'm assuming condos have house rules which should explain everything. This is why buildings hire handymen. They can be a source of income for the building beyond their wage.