The biggest responsibility of all homeowners associations is to keep owners happy by making sure their building always stays in top condition. Therefore, having in place several maintenance plans is a necessary practice for any HOA looking for long-term success. As a lot goes into this planning, many HOAs prefer to cooperate with a property management company to keep everything on track and to make their lives easier. Here’s how property managers can help your HOA when it comes to seasonal maintenance.
Why is Seasonal Maintenance Important?
Having a solid maintenance plan has multiple benefits for homeowners associations. It gives them a chance to extend the life of useful components by keeping them in good condition, and to reduce the risk of things breaking and causing a safety hazard. It also gives them a chance to keep residents happy by enabling them to use the association’s amenities and services freely to improve their own quality of life.
Important Seasonal Maintenance Tasks
Spring
When the warmer weather arrives, anything that couldn’t be done in winter becomes top priority, making the spring probably the busiest season for maintenance. The list of work for basic maintenance will depend on the specific property and its unique needs, but it’s best to go from the outside in. Be sure to do some HVAC maintenance, and finalize landscape needs for the summer.
Summer
Bigger jobs like paving, concrete or asphalt repair, roofing, painting, windows and fences are all best done during the warmer months. Summer is also a good time to check and make necessary repairs to a building’s heating system, to clean carpets, deep-clean and polish tiles in entryways and lobby areas, and touch up paint on walls.
Fall
Fall is the perfect time to properly prepare for the winter season. Anything to do with water should be looked at in the fall, including swimming pools, pipes, and water-heating systems. This is also the time to survey the building and its grounds for any possible hazards, to trim trees so they don’t break under heavy snow in winter, and to clean gutters of debris. Perhaps the most important fall maintenance job is putting together a solid snow removal plan to make navigating winter storms much easier.
Winter
While winter is not really the time to undertake larger projects like a roof repair, it still requires special maintenance attention. For instance, be sure that the building’s roof is properly insulated and sealed before the cold kicks in to avoid any damage caused by snow and rain. Keeping residents informed about snowplow schedules and inspections is also a good idea.
How can a property management company help?
While maintenance is a job for all seasons, planning ahead and properly prioritizing tasks can make it much easier and smoother. This is where working with a property management company can be useful. Experienced property managers evaluate building needs years in advance and create an inspection report that provides a detailed description of high-, medium-, and low-priority building issues. They also have access to a network of preferred vendors and contractors, engineers, recurring utility/ service providers, electricians, plumbers, locksmiths, and tradespeople, which ensures that maintenance and repair issues are handled promptly.
When a property management company reaches a certain size, vendors become interested in working with them, instead of the other way around. A property manager can put out a Request for Proposals and wait for the pitches from vendors, which greatly reduces the amount of time it takes to evaluate different offers. In the long run, this can save owners money.
At Hales, we:
- Continually evaluate building security
- Plan maintenance years in advance
- Negotiate favorable rates with contractors
- Stay on top of the latest building codes and legal matters
- Offer 24/7 access to emergency hotline, on-call licensed managers
Most importantly, we can help your HOA save money by solving problems before they even happen. We have years of experience managing properties, and we know how to handle every situation that comes up. Leave the day-to-day operations to us and relax knowing that your property is in good hands.
If you are ready to start working with us, request your proposal here!
