Winter in Maine and with it comes many four-letter words such as “snow,” “high fuel bill,” and “dams.” By “dams,” I mean ice dams. Some winters are worse than others, causing boards and property managers to look for ways to reduce this serious problem in the coming months. Infrared scanning (thermography) can be one of….
You are a board president and you just found out that your association needs $200,000 to replace the clubhouse HVAC system. Your operating budget has no contingency funds and your reserve fund (which only gets occasional contributions) only has a balance of $50,000. What do you do now? No one wants to be in such….
With the dust of the election campaigns starting to settle, how often did we ask ourselves why would anyone put themselves through all that? Why risk personal reputation and consumption of precious time for such unguaranteed rewards? Or to the point of this article, why should you join the condo board? The answer(s) will be….
Enhanced Reserve Studies Offer More Detail What is your condo’s future? Many condo boards may believe the standard reserve fund study will provide the information necessary for a solid financial future for their community. This traditional tool has served well for many associations, but more and more associations are now using a more sophisticated plan,….
Blame it on COVID-19. Blame it on politics or the economy. Blame it on social media. Whatever is to blame, property managers have noted a rising temper at condo and homeowners association meetings this year. Maybe it will calm down in 2021 when a successful vaccine is widely distributed or when the nightly news doesn’t….
Criterium-Pacific Engineers has begun operations in Honolulu, serving the island of Oahu and the entire state. John McLain, P.E., president of the firm, is a licensed, Professional Engineer with nearly 30 years’ experience as a civil engineer. The business is an independently owned and operated affiliate of Criterium Engineers, one of North America’s leading consulting….
Workmanship, Quality Control & Water… Probably because I have inspected thousands of condo buildings and their units for construction defects and other issues, I am often asked by both prospective condo buyers and property managers to name the most common problems found in new condo developments. Interesting enough, new condo buildings have more hidden problems….
Gale Flags Are Flying! Is your condo or HOA ready for a climate change future? Currently we are in the middle of a hurricane season predicted to be one of the worst in recent times in terms of both frequency and severity of future storms. Prior to June when the hurricane season started, Maine’s Superintendent….
We are thrilled to share this project we worked on in Austin, TX. The Independent is a residential skyscraper and is the tallest building in the city at 690 ft tall and 58 stories. It also happens to be the tallest residential tower in Texas! We completed a Transition Study and Reserve Study for the Independent’s….
If your house, condominium or commercial office building is like most built in the last 50 years, it probably has a sloped roof with one of the following roofing materials: composition shingles composite tile cement or clay tile wood shingles metal roofing Each type of roofing has its unique characteristics. However, there are also some….