The honest answer to "who approves this?" is: more people than you think, in an order that depends on what kind of building you live in.
Each party holds one piece of the yes
- Owners decide whether the building should pursue charging at all, and whether they will fund it. In an association, the owners are the ultimate authority — through their votes and their money.
- Boards act on the owners' behalf. They set rules, approve budgets, and decide whether one resident's request becomes a building policy.
- Managers do not approve — they coordinate. They route the request, gather information, and keep the process moving. Treating the manager as the decision-maker is the most common early mistake.
- Committees — architectural review, finance, or a dedicated EV committee — often review before the board votes.
- Utilities hold a quieter veto. If the building needs more service, the utility's timeline and approval govern what is possible and when.
- Engineers determine what the building can physically support. Their load study turns "we'd like to" into "here is what we can actually do."
- Vendors do not approve the project, but the vendor a building selects shapes the terms everyone else has to approve.
Authority differs by building type
The same request follows three very different paths depending on how the building is owned and governed.
Owners hold deeded units, and the parking is usually a common or limited common element the association controls. The board, guided by the governing documents and counsel, decides — and often has to consider whether approving one charger sets a rule for all. This is the most procedurally involved path.
Similar to a condo in structure, but the parking and common areas vary widely by community. Authority sits with the board and the CC&Rs, and architectural review committees frequently get involved before anything is installed.
The path is shorter because ownership is singular. The owner or operator decides. But because the owner carries the full cost and keeps the asset, the decision becomes a capital and operating question — not a governance one. Faster to decide, harder to justify without a clear return.
No single person can simply say yes
The resident wants one answer from one person. What the building actually requires is alignment across several — each with a different job, a different timeline, and a different definition of "approved." Understanding that early is the difference between a project that moves and one that stalls in a loop of "let me check with."
Most residents underestimate how many parties become involved.