by Richard Thompson
The purpose of a Maintenance Plan is to instruct a homeowner association board and property manager how to properly maintain common element components. Following a well prepared Maintenance Plan will help extend the useful life of the components and reduce costs to the members.
An effective preventive maintenance plan should satisfy the following five key goals:
1. Preserve owners' investment. Preventive maintenance can extend the life of building components, sustaining and enhancing the property's value.
2. Help buildings function as they were intended and operate at peak efficiency. Because preventive maintenance keeps equipment functioning as designed, it reduces inefficiencies in operations and energy usage.
3. Prevent failures of building systems. Buildings that operate trouble-free allow the occupants to enjoy the property as intended. Preventive maintenance includes regular inspections and replacement of equipment crucial to building operations.
4. Sustain a safe and healthy environment. Protecting the physical integrity of building components preserves a safe environment for residents.
5. Provide cost effective maintenance. Preventive maintenance can prevent minor problems from escalating into major failures and costly repairs. Preventive maintenance can be handled relatively cheaply, efficiently and systematically through advance scheduling while major failures always happen after hours, at peak billing times and to equipment that must be special ordered (Murphy's Law).
The objective of the Maintenance Plan is to provide clear direction to the board and management how and when to provide repairs to building and grounds components. If consistently followed in conjunction with a properly prepared reserve study schedule, the components will enjoy their maximum useful lives and related repair costs kept to a minimum. This is how a successful homeowners association was meant to operate.
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Published: October 7, 2009
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