The Manager And Community Association Maintenance

By Author: Felix Shelsher
Total Articles: 17
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As anybody who’s ever had his air conditioner go out in the middle of summer can tell you, buildings don’t maintain themselves. The purpose of this article is to discuss how community Association Management and board members work with staff and contractors to maintain their building and grounds to keep the various components and parts functioning.

A series of questions and answers below may serve as a guide for managers and board members.

How much day-to-day involvement with maintenance does the typical community manager have?

The involvement varies greatly depending on the knowledge and experience of the manager, scope of the maintenance requirements, complexity of the property’s common elements, number of on-site staff, and dependence on third-party service providers. However, the board should rely on professionals recommended by the manager who are expert in each category of repair and replacement. The manager is an expert in organization and administration, not in preparing specifications to replace the roof of a building.

What baseline level of knowledge should a manager have about a building’s ...
... physical plant and equipment?

In general, the manager should have a working knowledge of the physical components of the property for which the association is responsible, and be able to refer the board to professionals who are expert in every aspect of maintenance, repair and replacement. This is not to say the manager should perform the maintenance but, rather, should be capable of collecting proposals and scheduling and contracting the projects. A manager should know the limits of his or her expertise and recommend to the board that the association hire professionals such as engineers, project managers to supervise the work of both contractors and on-site maintenance personnel. Typically, most high-rise condominiums and communities with complex common areas employ a facilities manager who is responsible for the physical plant and reports to the manager, while the manager addresses the administration and operations of the other aspects of the community.

Do managers obtain training as part of their licensing curriculum applicable to their state, or are there other resources available to them?

Very few states require community manager licensing. Those that do provide a licensing curriculum that touches on maintenance and emphasizes the need for managers to 1) know the maintenance requirements of their association and state statutes, and 2) utilize the services of professionals who are experts in their particular field. However, there are other sources of training including classes offered by the Community Associations Institute (www.caionline.org) and other professional organizations. Some management firms offer inhouse manager training related to many aspects of maintenance. For continued education, managers can attend local seminars and additional inhouse training to gain maintenance knowledge.

How do state statutes address community association maintenance responsibilities?

Every state regulates maintenance of community associations to some degree. For condominiums, statutes often distinguish between unit, limited common area and common area maintenance responsibilities. A manager must know the association’s and the individual owner’s maintenance responsibilities. For example, the air conditioner equipment that serves only one condominium unit is probably the maintenance responsibility of the owner even though some of the equipment is located outside the boundaries of the unit.

Other statutes may require community associations to provide pest control, and regulate vehicle towing and swimming pool maintenance. If the association is incorporated, it is probably a non-profit or not-for-profit corporation and would be governed by state statutes that regulate all non-profit corporations.

What are some common mistakes when it comes to Association Management maintenance and how can those mistakes be avoided?

Inadequate specifications and supervision are the two most common causes of failure. Others include haphazard bid process and board member/homeowner interference. For example, a board may not see the need to hire a roof consultant to review the specifications for replacing the flat roof on a building because they think that the manager can evaluate the bids and the on-site maintenance technician can oversee the roofer. After all, those folks are being paid “big bucks” to look after the association. In reality, the board is being shortsighted by failing to realize that the portfolio manager cannot spend every waking moment on the project, nor does s/he have the skills and expertise to determine if cement has the appropriate consistency and mix or if roofing flashing is installed correctly. The manager is the generalist who knows where to find the specialists, not the person who writes specifications and Requests for Proposals and ensures that the word is performed in the correct manner.

Avoiding the common pitfalls requires a good working relationship and level of trust between the board of directors, the manager, the onsite staff and the maintenance providers.

Association Management requires a blend of solutions with the objective of making a superior group for all citizens and investors.