Developing A Property Maintenance Plan For Your HOA

Maintenance costs are the biggest share of any property manager’s or HOA’s budget. With the right property maintenance plan in place, however, your organization can reduce costs and increase the productivity in property maintenance.

RowCal can help you identify the work that needs to be accomplished on the property and whether or not you think you have the resources to complete it. We can sit down with you to determine priority tasks and the ability to select the most cost-effective manner to accomplish your work.

To find out more about the property management and accounting services we provide, contact us today.

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Establishing Objectives For Your Plan

Before you develop a strategy for developing your maintenance plan, you need to establish the goals or objectives. In other words, what do you hope to accomplish by implementing your plan?

Some objectives you want to meet may include:

  • Creating a safe environment for members of the organization

  • Building up a fund for future repairs and maintenance

  • Determining what job can be performed by volunteers and what work needs to be taken care of by professional contractors

  • How much money you have in your emergency fund

  • Prioritizing which projects are the most urgent and which ones can wait

Creating A Financial Infrastructure

In essence, finances are at the heart of any maintenance program. Without funding, no plan will get past the planning stage. Therefore, you need to account for incoming and outgoing financial transactions, both now and in the future. What will this entail?

  • Accounting: Rather than trying to handle accounting yourself, you may want to hire an accounting firm to do your accounting and bookkeeping for you.

  • Property Management: A professional property management company can keep your maintenance on track, hire vendors for you, and give you ongoing reports that let you know if you are on schedule with your maintenance

  • Reserve Study: A reserve study will help you plan for the future by setting up a template to aside funds. This is money that you’ll use for projects down the road.

Creating A Maintenance Schedule

By creating a maintenance schedule, you establish a roadmap for what needs to be done and when it needs to be completed. A schedule can range from a daily or weekly schedule to an annual, five-year, or ten-year plan and even beyond.

An example of a maintenance schedule may look like this:

Monthly Maintenance

  • Basic lawn maintenance - mowing, trimming, light landscaping

  • Alarm systems and smoke detector inspection

  • AC filter replacement

Annual Maintenance

  • Landscaping, planting flowers, sowing grass seed, mulching

  • Systems inspections including electrical, plumbing, HVAC

  • Pest control treatment

  • Structural inspections such as ceilings, floors, paving, painting

Every Two To Five Years

  • Replace furniture where necessary

  • Interior painting

  • Major repairs that affect your property value

Every Ten Years

  • External painting

  • Replace floor coverings

  • Replace notice boards

  • Replace guttering

  • Replace electrical wiring

Property Management Services

If you are a property manager or an HOA looking for property management services, contact RowCal. We offer real estate management, general contracting, and consulting services for high-rises, condos, townhomes, and self-managed companies. To schedule a consultation, call us today at 651-233-1307.

Mark Zubert