A few weeks ago, I asked everyone to fill out a survey. The purpose of the survey is help prioritize projects for the building. However, only a fraction of our owners/residents have filled out the survey.
How can the board plan 2009’s budget and maintenance priorities without feedback? What is important to you? Our property manager commissioned an engineering report for our building. In this report, an engineering firm went around the entire building and prioritized the repairs that need to be made from high to low priority. Our goal is to address the high priority items as soon as possible. This is where you come in… We need your help prioritizing the medium to low priority and cosmetic enhancements to the building. Please fill out the survey and, if you can, please attend our HOA meeting on Thursday, August 27th at 7:30 pm in the Great Room. HOA meetings are the last Thursday of every month at 7:30 pm in the Great room.
I’ve received a variety of questions from residents. Below I wanted to address some of those questions. If you have a question about why something is done a certain way then please take a moment and ask. You can click reply below and post your question, ask in an HOA meeting or you can contact our front office to ask.
Why?
Why do we not have card access on all of our doors? Unfortunately, when our building was built the developer did not add card access to most of our doors. The cost is incredibly high to add card access to the doors because electricity needs to be run to each door. The card reader is not the expensive part of the enhancement, but there is a cost and it adds up when you do multiple doors.
Why is our Club House closed when you need to use it? Our Club House is open when our front staff is in the office M-F (9-5pm) and Sat (12-4pm). Unfortunately, due to theft and vandalism we are unable to leave the club house accessible without someone keeping an eye on it. We struggle with people stealing weights out of they gym and cannot afford to have things stolen from the Club house/ Great room. There may come a point where we want to spend the money on a card swipe and cameras for the Great Room. If this is something you are interested in then please fill out the survey and let us know.
Door frames are cracking and hard to open. When the building across the street was built, it caused our building to settle a little. This settling is evident in the building door frames. This was actually one of the issues brought up on the engineering report as a high priority. Our property manager is getting quotes from contractors. Once we have three quotes, the board will evaluate the quotes and choose a vendor. If we can do the repairs this year then we will. If we do not have the funds (depends on the cost to repair) then we will have to add it to 2009’s budget. Aside from the frames, we are replacing each of the door locks one by one. They are expensive to replace so we are staggering it over the year.
Replacing the carpet & repainting the building interior. We have to make a decision if we want to replace the carpet for new carpet or if we want to rip the carpet up and stain the concrete. They both have advantages and disadvantages. I’ve discussed the carpet issue in a previous post under maintenance.
We will need to make a decision in the next month or so about what we want to do with the carpet in order to plan for ‘09. We have a couple of choices. Regardless of what option we chose, it is going to be an inconvenience for all of us when our floors are being redone.
1. Replace carpet for new carpet. This option is cheaper. Our carpet has lasted 7 years and not the 10 years it was expected to last. We have heard a lot of complaints about the carpet and the fact that some owners allow their pets to defecate on the carpet and not clean it up. On a side note, if you see this happen, please let the front office know, asap. This is our home and it is disrespectful to all of us who call this home. (We are in the process of getting quotes for carpet replacement.)
2. Replace carpet for stained concrete. This will last longer and require much less maintenance in the future. We will not have to worry as much about pet issues and this will save us money in the long run. Also, we will be able to reduce the amount we put away into our reserve b/c a portion of it goes to carpet replacement. Please stop by Uptown next door if you are concerned about a noise issue. They have exposed concrete. Our finish will dramatically different. It will be look more like marble because of the process. Our goal is live up to our luxury status. (estimated cost is $235,000)
3. Keep our carpet for another year and only replace the pieces that need to be replaced the most. We have some spare carpet. No cost and no inconvenience. However, in 6-12 months from now, we’ll have the same issue. We will have to wait to the next budgeting cycle to make a decision.
Once we decide what we want to do with the floors then we can paint the walls. It doesn’t make sense to repaint everything and then redo the floors. The walls are going to get scuffed up and damaged. We know some of the walls desperately need a repainting. However, the wall paint has aged and the color has changed over time. This is why you see touch up paint all over the building that is a different color. I am a big proponent for getting a fresh coat of paint on the walls. It will make our hallways brighter. This is why I keep pushing the survey. The sooner owners/residents take the survey then the sooner we can start making decisions and improving the property.
Lounge chairs. Our pool furniture needs to be redone. (Requested quotes)
Parking garage repainting. We received quotes to repaint all the lines in the parking garage because they are faded and hard to read. The quote was for more than $35,000 to repaint the lines with specific road paint. As with everything else, we would need to prioritize this project and evaluate the cost of everything together and what that means for your HOA fees. Is this something that is important to you? Then let us know by completing the survey.
Fence behind the building. Since we still have a pending lawsuit with the lot next to us, the fence company would not put up the fence. Now the fence company will not refund the deposit we paid them. Our property manager is working through this. The issue with the lot next door is almost resolved. Now, we are suing them to reimburse our legal fees.
Security. If we deem security is an issue and we need more of it then we need to increase our budget for security. Right now, we are spending $25,000 for monitoring the building Thur- Sunday night. If we want 24 hour coverage then we will need to get quotes for this. I would estimate our cost would increase dramatically. I am trying to work with a locksmith to offer all of us a discount to add an additional lock to our front doors. I’ll keep you posted. I highly recommend we all add an additional deadbolt that we can lock from the outside. This will be a huge deterrent for criminals. Even with added security, the security guard cannot be every where at the same time. We have a lot of ground to cover with our building from floor to floor, stairwells, parking garage, courtyard, pools, and walking around the entire building.
Sorry about the long post, but there is a lot to communicate. Feel free to ask questions and I’ll do my best to address them.
