Managing Community Maintenance and Improvement Needs

Keeping a community running smoothly requires strong attention to maintenance, whether it's managed by volunteers or professionals. This task can become daunting, especially when faced with unexpected issues at the start of the week.

If you're part of an association board, rest assured that there are strategies to simplify the process of prioritizing and addressing maintenance and improvement tasks.

A good beginning

A proven strategy begins with a daily walk of the property to identify problems that are visible to residents. Engineers are encouraged to pay attention to what community members notice and create work orders for these issues. These work orders are then divided into three main categories:

Priority work orders. These address urgent issues that affect the safety, health, or daily lives of residents. The main concern is to determine if the issue disrupts community operations, poses a risk like a potential fall due to broken lighting, or involves a malfunctioning air conditioning system.

Day-to-day work orders. After dealing with critical issues, the focus shifts to visible concerns important to both board members and residents, such as weeding, repairing visible scratches, or cleaning dirty carpets.

Preventative maintenance work orders. Once immediate concerns are handled, attention can move to tasks that prevent future issues or extend the life of major systems, which align with overall reserve planning.

An ounce of prevention

Preventative maintenance is crucial to aligning with reserve studies, which in turn, guide budgets for capital improvements and significant repairs or replacements. The effectiveness of reserve studies hinges on their accuracy, significantly influenced by ongoing preventative maintenance.

One of the first steps in evaluating a facility involves detailed inspection of all equipment against the reserve study. If discrepancies are found, they become priorities to address, ensuring longevity through preventative measures. Such measures save communities money in the long run by extending the life of their resources.

Managing a community's reserve study is akin to retirement planning—it requires regular updates and management to yield the best results. Even though most communities have reserve studies, their preventative maintenance is frequently not updated as necessary.

Roofs present a particular concern regarding preventative maintenance. Their replacement is a high-cost project that significantly impacts a community's financial health, as it’s the community's responsibility rather than the individual homeowner's. Communities often find themselves financially unprepared for timely replacements, leading to hefty special assessments or loans.

Annual inspections and repairs by certified roofing professionals, ideally the installers, are advised to maintain the roof and avoid early replacements. This strategy extends the roof's lifetime, granting the community more time to save for future replacements.

Planning for improvements

No infrastructure lasts forever, and planning for improvements is essential alongside routine maintenance. Prioritizing high-cost maintenance projects each year can be helpful, particularly if budget constraints are a concern. A checklist can guide prioritization:

Does the project mitigate a safety or security risk?

Will the repair prevent further damage or additional costs?

Is the repair an association responsibility?

Does it benefit the largest number of residents?

Is it included in the long-term reserve study?

Will it require special funding, such as assessments or loans?

Has community input been considered?

Keeping a community appealing to current and future residents involves diligent maintenance and strategic planning for improvements. Prioritizing tasks, from emergencies to preventative maintenance, and aligning them with budget and reserve studies, can prevent minor issues from turning into crises. Effective planning and prioritization are key to managing community needs successfully.