As we ring in the New Year, it is an ideal time to think about planning for the regular maintenance of your community. If your community is a single family home community with few common elements or recreational areas, then there may not be as great of a need for scheduling maintenance. However, if your community is of the type that has many common elements or recreational facilities or both, then creating a community maintenance schedule may be just the thing to keep your Board and any management on the right track.
Besides providing a gameplan for your community’s leadership, a well made maintenance plan will be able to provide your association with many benefits, including:
- Maintenance that can be accomplished within budget limits;
- Prevention of minor issues becoming major issues through preventative maintenance;
- More energy efficient equipment, and;
- Preservation of property values.
When starting to draft a maintenance plan, consider having a reserve study done. This will allow the Board to get an idea of what’s coming up as far as maintenance and repair is concerned, and what the financial status of the HOA is in regards to availability of funds for maintenance. Next, collect all maintenance related information such as maintenance requirements for keeping warranties valid; maintenance recommendations in owner manuals; expected costs and timeframes for replacing equipment or making major repairs to components, and; your association’s maintenance responsibility policy, which is typically found in your governing documents.
Once a reserve study is done and you’ve collected maintenance related information, you’re ready to begin creating your maintenance plan. This is going to look different depending on the association and the amount of maintenance needed, but you should definitely involve your manager if your association uses a management company. If your association is self managed, consider including any professionals you may be using. This might include maintenance workers, contracted professionals such as landscapers, snow removal companies and pool maintenance companies.
Keep in mind that the creation of a maintenance plan may likely be an ongoing task. As the year progresses, take notice of issues or concerns that may arise which were not initially addressed in your first draft. Don’t hesitate to make adjustments as necessary and always include each member of the Board, especially the Treasurer, so as to be sure your plan keeps the association’s budget in mind.
You may find a very general Sample HOA Maintenance Schedule here. While this sample will definitely not be one size fits all, it provides a good example of what an association maintenance schedule might look like and what areas of the community it might address.
Sample HOA Maintenance Schedule