What Community Association Managers Worry About These Days

With COVID-19 vaccinations widely available and government restrictions dramatically loosened, community association managers have more bandwidth to deal with matters that might have been neglected during the pandemic. We asked some of our experts about the issues they were now turning their attention to.

Unfortunately, while COVID concerns have receded, they’ve been replaced with a new group of worries generated by the June 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers condo complex in Surfside, Fla. “I think it’s going to have an impact for a long time,” says Ken Bertolucci, president of NS Management in Skokie, Ill.

Deferred maintenance already was front and center for managers after pandemic-related delays, but the situation in Surfside has intensified the sense of urgency.

“Everything got pushed last year,” says Evelyn Dufford, CEO of Association Services in South Puget Sound, Wash., which manages about 50 associations.

“The big thing for us has been the skilled pieces. Our contractors are backed up a couple months and the cost of bids we got even two months ago are affected by lumber and oil prices. Our vendors are now going to be later, and it’s going to be expensive.”

Brad van Rooyen, president of HomeRiver Group-Florida, the management company for about 160 associations in the state, is having the same experience. “We’re seeing higher costs for capital projects — roofing, painting, asphalt — than some boards are prepared for. We’re also hearing from vendors in landscaping and janitorial that their costs are rising, and they’re going to start pushing those costs onto clients.”

For more on the myriad costs of deferred maintenance, as well as other areas of concern for community association managers these days, read the full article now:

On the Radar: Current Issues Confronting Community Association Managers

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President