The Uncommon Area

John Ayala, Freedom Restoration, breakdowns the things to know and do when you have any kind of water intrusion.

Resources:

The Uncommon Area Ep. 3: What do you need to know about re-piping an HOA building?

Tiffany Kaldenbach, senior community manager, explains what she did to help an association address a $4 million landscape project when it did not have the funding.

Resources:

Understanding Reserves: A Guide To Your Association’s Reserve Fund & Reserve Study

Reserve Funds: How & Why Community Associations Invest Assets

Cecilia de Heras, community manager, talks about ideas that she has implemented to raise funds for her HOAs–and how such projects actually help build community.

Ryan Darby, regional manager, gives a detailed breakdown of what you need to know about required deck inspections in California.

Welcome to the Uncommon area. I’m Matthew Holbrook, and this episode is all around legally required deck inspections. Joining me to talk about that is Action Property Management Regional Manager Ryan Darby.

Ryan, just to get this rolling, this is all revolving around SB 326. Maybe you could just give us a very basic introduction. What do we need to know about SB 326?

Yes, so SP 326 is formerly called the Balcony Bill but it’s actually about all exterior, elevated elements of the building that protrude outside of the building that are supported by wood.

Let’s stop right there. I just want to make sure we have clarity here. SB 326 applies to all elevated. First criteria is elevated elements. Anything that’s elevated in a condominium association, we’re not talking about single family home.

It’s something that’s actually in a condominium or a townhome community that’s elevated, that protrudes from the main portion of the building and is connected by wood. If I was to summarize it, those are the three specific criteria, right?

That’s correct. The main criteria that the State set is that the elevated elements are 6 feet or more above the ground. Predominantly made of wood and that it could be balconies, staircases decks that are walkways on second or third floor of the buildings.

But also, a unique item is that it has to be a building that has three or more units. If the community is comprised of duplexes throughout the community, it doesn’t apply.

Okay, so three or more units is also an important component. All right, good to know. Then the bill says that these elements that are 6 feet and connected by wood, elevated and so forth, that they have to be inspected. What does that even mean? What is an inspection? Who has to do it? Talk to us about that.

Yes, the inspection has to be done by a structural engineer or an architect with appropriate licensing for that. The inspections, there are two types of inspections that can occur. The first is a visual inspection, which will be done on 75% to 85% of the community, where they’re looking at the exterior of the deck, the connections to the building. They’re also going to check any of the support posts that are holding it up that are visible.

But then there’s the physical inspections, which are a little more cumbersome. If you have just a wood structure, it’s actually relatively simple because they can see all of the structural elements. But a lot of communities, they’ve enclosed the wood with stucco, where they’ll end up having to open several three inch holes to get a little camera up in there so that they can inspect the actual structure itself.

They’ll do that for 15% to 25% of the community, depending on the maintenance records that are provided to them ahead of time and then what they see on the visual inspection.

All right, this might be an obvious or basic question, but what are they inspecting for?

For all the balconies when they do the inspection, which is predominantly the visual, so the balcony deck, regardless of an HOA or a homeowner responsibility, they inspect that the transition from the deck to the building. They’ll check the rails and check that the railings are to current code, which is the bars can’t be more than 4 inches apart.

If they’re more than four inches apart, they’ll be sighted as part of the inspection, which a lot of communities have railings that are more than 4 inches apart. Usually four and a quarter, four and a half, which will be one of the things that would have to be fixed as part of it.

They’re going to check the drainage. The big thing is that the drain is sealed when it’s in the deck. A lot of the inspections so far, they’ve noticed that the deck drain itself doesn’t have any sealant around it and is either dripping or has a little bit of water that gets through when it gets wet.

Do you know when this bill was passed?

Yes. It was passed in 2019 after they had removed HOA from the 2018 bill, which applies to apartments and hotels.

Okay, so there was a 2018 bill that didn’t apply to HOAs, and then 2019 HOAs were included?

Correct.

What is the time frame in which these inspections have to take place?

For both SB 326, which is for HOAs and then SB 721, which is for apartments, hotels and motels, the deadline is January 1 of 2025.

We’re coming up on we’ve got a little bit more than two and a half years. Once you’ve done the inspection, is it a one time thing or is there a certain frequency that has to continue thereafter?

Once it’s done, it has to be reinspected within nine years.

You get it done by January 1, 2025 and then after that, you need to make sure you do it every nine years.

Correct.

Then the inspections are going to identify theoretically deficiencies in the decks or the other elements. Then is there some time frame…The inspection itself has to be completed in that time frame but the remedies for those efficiencies, is there a time frame that that has to be addressed?

It depends on who you use for the inspection firm. What we’ve seen is most common practice, is they’ll label them as green, which means it passes no issue. Yellow is something that they want to see addressed before the next inspection in nine years and then red means that they’re likely going to be shutting down the balcony until the repairs are made because this report gets turned into the city within 15 days of the last unit being inspected.

I see. It’s really up to the inspector to determine what the speed is in which that needs to be addressed?

Correct.

Do you have any just ballpark range of what associations are paying for these types of inspections?

Depending on the number of units, but then also how they’re composed and one thing that we’ve seen is if you provide the inspecting firm with historical records, it’ll help get the price lower because they’ll have a better idea of what they’re going to be finding. But generally speaking, it’s between 250 and 450 per unit.

Okay. Then you said providing them with the records. That would be something that would be an important part of the equation just to keep the cost down. Is there anything else that managers or board members should be thinking about when they go out to get this set up?

Yes. One of the big things is to make sure you pick the right companies to bid for the inspections. You’re not supposed to be using a company that is affiliated with a contracting firm and that’s to prevent conflicts of interest.

We’ve seen a few companies that have hired on a structural engineer or they’ve partnered, and those are not really the firms you want to use. You want to have a separate entity that has no affiliation to a general contractor who would be doing the work afterwards.

Do you have any sense right now as to kind of what the backlog is for this? If you were to call up somebody who’s a qualified inspector, what’s the lag time to actually have them come out and do the inspection?

Right now we’re seeing about six to eight months. There’s not a lot of firms yet that are willing to put their license on the line until they understand more. Even though this bill was passed in 2019, there was a lot of back and forth on the wording of the bill between the HOA attorneys and the engineering firm attorneys on what should be included in the inspections, what shouldn’t be included in the inspections.

A lot of communities are just now starting to hit the ground running. But one of the challenges we’re seeing is that because apartments and motels and hotels have the same deadline as HOA, the firms that are willing to do it are already getting booked up relatively quickly.

Then once they complete the inspection, I’m assuming this would vary significantly depending on the size of the community. But what’s generally the turnaround time to get the final report?

Well, you’ll have the report within tw...

Darrell Conger, CEO of CPR Construction, discusses geotechnical issues that may arise from the settlement of a building foundation.

Darrell Conger, CEO of CPR Construction, talks about dry rot in communities.

John Ramirez, regional manager – engineering services, explains the factors involved with required fire life safety practices in a high-rise.

Anthony Edwards, community manager, answers the question of what would be helpful for board members to better know and understand.

Welcome to The Uncommon Area. I’m Matthew Holbrook, and in this episode, we are going to be looking at the question of, “What should a board member know about serving on an HOA board of directors, but maybe they don’t know?” Here to talk about that with us today is Anthony Edwards, one of Action‘s managers.

Yeah, we just wanted a manager’s perspective on what do you think that board members who serve for an HOA? What should they know, but maybe often we notice that they don’t know or don’t understand really well?

I would say things that the board members should know, specifically jumping into the new role is their realization and their expectation of their authority. Unfortunately, a lot of board members do have that expectation that they will jump in and take the side of the neighborhood cop, and it doesn’t necessarily work that way in the liability side. That’s where that comes in for the manager to really coach them on how to handle certain situations and allow management to do their job.

Let’s unpack that just a little bit. It seems to me that there’s a couple of angles or perspectives on just how a board member has authority, as you say. One might just be understanding that they are a part of an overall entity of the board of directors. Maybe you can speak to that a little bit about how a board member fits in what they have authority to do on their own versus their authority as an overall unit.

I think with, at least my boards, I do always stress the fact of never engaging a homeowner in regards to any violations or any behavioral aspects that does open up, not only the safety aspect of a liability side, but also just in regards to litigation side. But really just coaching them back through that once they’re out of that board meeting, their obligations as a board member are really going back to just the financial, the fiduciary, and everything else really should be mitigated back to the property manager.

I think there’s something counterintuitive for board members oftentimes on this. They get on the board, they want to be helpful, they want to communicate with the residents, they want to be proactive, and all of that is good. The challenge is, obviously, they are one board member and there are five board members generally, sometimes seven or three, but generally, it’s five. As one member of that five, you’re taking a big risk when you are representing something for the association as a single board member as opposed to speaking as a whole entity. That’s where it comes back to it’s not that the HOA manager has that authority-

No.

-the manager represents the whole board’s voice.

Correct, and trying to maintain that there’s regulations within the community. But a lot of board members, they do, they take that on, and they want to obviously make sure that their community is the way that they see it. That is why they were elected to be there. But it is also very important for the manager to really coach them in how to communicate with other residents, as well as communicating with other board members because that can also have its own internal conflicts.

There’s this one voice idea that you want to make sure the board always speaks with one voice. That can be most effectively done and that’s filtered through the manager, or maybe sometimes through the board presiden.

Of course, and having that neutrality of the whole board is very important.

On the other side of it is, there is this whole legal side or legal aspect that you alluded to. But there’s civil code; and there are corporations codes; and there are specific rules, and regulations, and architectural guidelines; and there’s a whole list of different aspects that govern an HOA. Oftentimes, new board members may not understand where they might be stepping into an area where they might cause trouble or challenges for the association and not even realize it.

I think really it goes back to a board member maybe wanting to see certain changes, and not necessarily understanding, as you said before, that it does take that full vote, that the quorum of the board, to actually make a change of certain policies. Perhaps a board member doesn’t like one particular policy of the parking rules, and they say, “Well” to one homeowner, “don’t mind that, I’ll talk to the board,” and not necessarily understanding that it does need that full approval from the board, at least the quorum of that board, to make that policy change, and the homeowner is having that unrealistic expectation of that change already being in effect.

Homeowner may act on something thinking, “Hey, this board member told me that I can do this, and it’s from a board member, so I can rely on that.” The board member may be perfectly well-intentioned, but setting just a false expectation for the homeowner. It needs to go back and be discussed with the rest of the board. There may be other considerations that that board member may not be aware of.

Absolutely, and really just thinking about the existing policy, making sure that they’re following it as much as any homeowner would.

That’s where that collaboration and partnership with the management really becomes important, where the manager, again, can speak representing the board, representing that one voice, and also having the consideration of maybe what are some of the legal factors that apply in the situation. Not that we’re practicing law, but that we’re going to bring in the standards that we understand.

At least directing them in the right area to speak to people with the confidence they know what they’re talking about. But also, I would say, as long as they read their rules and regulations and have that confidence of talking on certain regulations.

Well, that’s great. I really appreciate your feedback on that, and I hope that that’s helpful. We always want to be able to encourage, and facilitate, and enable board members to be as effective as possible. But in doing that, we want board members to be aware of maybe where some of the pitfalls might be. I hope that that is helpful in giving consideration as to how you might be an effective board member.

Well, we hope that you continue to watch The Uncommon Area and look for additional episodes that might also be helpful.

The post What managers wish board members understood | Ep. 8 appeared first on Action Property Management.

Anthony Edwards, community manager, discusses his experience in becoming an HOA manager.

Welcome to The Uncommon Area. I’m Matthew Holbrook, and this episode is going to be looking at what a manager’s experience is like in first coming to Action Property Management. Here to talk about that here today is Anthony Edwards. Thank you so much for joining us.

Of course. Thank you for having me.

Yeah, maybe it’d be helpful. You’ve been here at Action now for a little while, but before you came to Action, what were you doing?

We’re doing construction and concrete management or property management.

Not exactly HOA management, but kind of a related field.

Related in the way that they do align in many ways, but not related on the other aspects of it.

Yeah, of the kind of HOA-specific component.

Yes.

I’m curious, just in getting into this business on the HOA management side, what are the types of things that align with what you previously did that translates into this business?

In terms of aligning, I would say, time management, and the aspects of keeping up with vendors, and maintenance obligations, those things all align.

What would be the different kinds of challenges that maybe your previous experience didn’t prepare you for?

I would say that the difference is more so on the personalities and the differences in personalities, and the homeowners and their communication aspect, as opposed to communicating with contractors and commercial vendors on a daily basis. They communicate much differently than homeowners do.

Right. It’s different when you’re talking like more on a B2B level as opposed to in this business, it’s very much we’re talking to people where they’re the consumer.

Yes.

It changes the dynamic of that relationship and interaction.

It does. It also changes the anticipated time frame of that communication, I think, with people, which rightfully so, you are a member of that association. You’re anticipating someone that works for the management company to respond a little bit quicker than you would maybe to a contractor.

Sure.

Just getting used to those time frame differences.

We’re interacting with people in their homes, and when something happens at home, it has a different level of urgency, too.

Absolutely.

We understand that. I know you understand that well, and you’ve made a really positive impression with the residents and the board members that you’ve worked with. When you first came to Action, as a company, what were your first impressions of Action Property Management?

Well, when I first came to Action, I actually didn’t know that HOA management was even an industry. I didn’t know it existed. I knew what an HOA was, but I thought it was more on the voluntary management end because I do live in an HOA, but I never really had any interest in their operation.

It was a shock to me of really a few different things of the regulatory side and the importance of the regulatory side, but the amount of regulatory laws that are associated with specifically homeowners associations and just the ch

Brad Perry, VP of technology, and Greg Tantum, lead full stack developer, talk about how Action Property Management uses technology for property inspections.