A well-conceived and executed maintenance plan stops something bad—e.g. lower values, higher repair and replacement costs, unhappy owners—and saves money.


association will sell and refinance at different times, so your goal should be to maintain the property to always achieve top market value.


A Cautionary Tale


Before we break down the tasks to create a maintenance plan, here is an example to illustrate the cost of inadequate maintenance. Prior to our recent reserve study update of a twenty-two-year-old six-story building in Seattle, the association hired a reputable elevator consultant who reviewed the system conditions and maintenance work of a reputable elevator vendor. The consultant provided a scathing report of the association’s failure to maintain per the contracted obligations, resulting in poor operating conditions—so much so that the conclusion of the association was their risk was too high not to overhaul the elevators eight years in advance of their typical service life. Bids were obtained and a vendor chosen. The poor maintenance in this case led to a penalty of $227,000 to the owners. This example shows the value of maintenance, oversight and accountability provided by their consultant.


The poor maintenance in this case led to a penalty of $227,000 to the owners.


4


Elements To Create A Maintenance Plan


Creation of a Maintenance Plan Can be Broken Down into Four Parts:


1. Get Organized—Data & Master List


Using your operating budget, reserve component list and knowledge of your governing documents, create a master inventory of the associations common and limited common element maintenance responsibilities. Don’t exclude any


Upon creation of your list, consult your facility manager, building and grounds committee, or applicable oversight body, and delegate the review of any operation and


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Limited Common / owner responsible components for which board has the duty to set the standard of care. You can create a simple spreadsheet by using an online template, (order RS Means Maintenance for Multi-Family Housing with downloadable worksheets)., or hire a company to compile a spreadsheet for you. I suggest organizing the spreadsheet in chapters, like your reserve study, as applicable: Site & Grounds, Recreation, Building Exteriors, Building Interiors, Systems, etc.


Create a spreadsheet of maintenance responsibilities: site & grounds, recreation, building exteriors, building interiors, systems, etc.


Maintenance Line Items


Be aware that some maintenance line items will be present in both your operating and reserve budgets. For instance, there may be touch-up painting allocated in the operating budget and large-scale cyclical painting in the reserve budget. Another example is annual asphalt crack seal and repair in the operating budget, large-scale cyclical seal coating in the reserve budget.


Pay special attention to life- safety, structural and building envelope components needs.


A special focus on maintenance needs of any life-safety, structural and building envelope components is critical.


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