As buildings age, small and large maintenance issues arise, and condo boards are  called upon to address these situations. The questions frequently revolve  around whether to use in-house staff (if the condo employs them) or to hire an  outside company to fix the problem. If the complex retains a management  company, especially one that has its own maintenance division, the situation  can become a bit more complicated.  

 Let’s look at a typical maintenance issue. The balcony railings on nearly all of the  20 units in a condo complex are rotting and need to be replaced. Board members  of the self-managed condo association need to make a decision. They have one  maintenance person on staff and he has carpentry expertise but he’s never replaced 20 railings at once. Should he be pulled away from his regular  duties to fix the railings, or should the project be outsourced?  

 There’s no easy formula to apply, but rather a few commonsense questions to be addressed.  

 Sizing Up the Job

 Condo board members need to look at the size of the job and the expertise of their on-site staff, says Andrew Raynor, president of Shawmut Property Management in North Andover, Massachusetts. If  the staff person has carpentry skills but lacks masonry experience, for  example, then you’d be more likely to assign him basic carpentry repairs but outsource masonry  work. The condo association may save money on carpentry but pay more for things  like masonry services.  

 But board members should be carefulabout steering every project to an on-site person in hopes of saving money,  Raynor says. “Vendored services aren’t always more expensive. If you ask a site person who works on an hourly basis  to do a job he’s not trained for, he can take more time than a trained person. It can also be  more costly down the road to fix any mistakes.”  

 And what happens to regular maintenance when you take in-house staff out of  commission for two or three days? Raynor asks. “Smaller condo associations with fewer on-site people generally don’t have the deep bench needed to provide additional workers.”

 There’s also a matter of liability. In some situations, including jobs that involve ladders, workers are required to have another person on hand for safety reasons, further drawing down the number of staff available for other tasks.

 Most Large-Scale Jobs Outsourced

 Ninety percent of condominium complexes will need to hire specific outside  vendors, says Raynor. Large-scale capital projects such as roofs, paving, and  pool replacement are typically outsourced. Projects that require specific skills or equipment, orspecial knowledge of building regulations and legal obligations, including  trades such as electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, are also typically bid out.  

 Ideally, an in-house maintenance person or building superintendent would advise  the board about possible contractors for jobs that make sense to outsource,  says Walt Williamsen of Reserve Strategies, LLC, in Harwinton, Connecticut. That person would likely be familiar with local companies and contractors. He or she might also be able  to facilitate multiple bids from those companies for the board to consider. And the on-site person would be in the best position to keep an eye on the contractor during the work andact as a go-between with residents, board, and contractor.

 “There are two components,” Raynor says. “Doing the job, and explaining it to everybody.” A dedicated on-site person knows the property intimately and is able to speak  the contractor’s language. He or she will have a working relationship with the owners and the board and be able to talk with them. These so-called “soft skills” are useful in communicating to residents what will be happening, how, and when.  

 “Condominium complexes are, well, complex,” says Raynor. Members of self-managed boards may have experience with some  maintenance issues from past home ownership, but they are less likely to  comprehend infrastructure, financial, legal and maintenance issues in a larger  setting.  

 This is where management companiescome into the picture. Whether the number of units is two or 200, most  condominium groups hire a professional management company at least to help them  with tasks such as bookkeeping. Because management companies usually oversee  multiple properties, they have greater leverage with maintenance companies and  contractors, which should ideally result in cost savings to the association.  

 Faster Response Time

 An important advantage of using a management company’s maintenance division is faster response time. Large property companies, such as Shawmut, provide automated 24-hour online maintenance request processing. So if a  condominium complex loses its air conditioning during a heat wave, service will  likely be faster than hiring an HVAC contractor.  

 When a condominium board decides to launch a big repair project involving contractors, the management company can provide project management, saving members the hassle of overseeing the project themselves. Management companies  also benefit associations by drawing up 5-year and 10-year preventive maintenance schedules and keeping tabs on punch lists.

 In recent years, management companies – like companies everywhere – have sought to generate additional revenue by adding services, and maintenance has become a lucrative component, says engineer Ralph Noblin, PE, of Noblin & Associates, LC in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. “It’s very controversial.”

 With the convenience of 24-hour maintenance comes the potential for conflict of  interest – what’s to stop an unscrupulous management company from funneling extra or unneeded  work to the maintenance division? If the company is in business to turn a  profit, how can it be trusted to keep maintenance costs down? If the  maintenance division always handles basic property care and that care is never bidout, then condo association boards may have little or no reassurance that the  maintenance can’t be done more cost effectively by someone else.  

 So how can board members know that their best interests are being servedwhen the management company says, “Don’t worry about a thing. We’ve got a crew that can install the landscaping by the pool.”  

 This potential for conflict of interest appears to be a gray area of the law in many New England states. The answer to the question depends on how the contract with the management company was  framed. Some management companies offer one-stop shopping and supply maintenance services from soup-to-nuts; others may provide a listof vendors they have used in the past.

 This may well save condo association boards the time and hassle they would  expend seeking out their own contracts. But the process is hardly transparent, a fact that frustrates many boards. It boils down to whether or not condo owners and board memberstrust their management company.

 In a best practices scenario, the management company would partner with the  board to supply multiple bids for outsourced projects.  

 Deferred Maintenance

 Condo association boards are charged with finding vendors that offer the most competitive price and best service possible. Boards must also decide where the money to finance projects will come from. In the last 10 years or so, condo associations have deferred maintenance and sorely neglected their reserve funds, according to Noblin and Williamsen. Instead of setting aside a certain portion of condo fees for longer-term maintenance, associations have relied on assessments for big-ticketprojects they can’t put off any longer.

 The prevailing sentiment among unit owners is that they’re only going to live there for a few years, so they want to pay for projects  that enhance their current living experience, rather than contribute toward a  new roof in the future. The effects of this attitude on the property value and safety of the complex are not good, says Williamsen.

 “You have to look at the life of the building,” Noblin says. “Even when a condo is well-maintained, certain things are inevitable, like replacing  roofing, asphalt paving, and siding.” It’s important that board members educate themselves about the costs of these  replacement projects and seek advice from their property or managementteam. Noblin says boards can currently expect these costs per square foot: $6 to  replace a roof, $12 for siding, $2 to $3 for re-paving. The life of a wooden deck is about 20 years, and  associations should figure on about $15,000 per unit to remove and replace a  deck, he adds.  

 The bottom line: The bigger and more specialized the job, the more it should be  outsourced. Small repairs involving carpentry, tile, or plaster work can often  be tackled by a skilled on-site maintenance person, whereas large-scale jobs  such as roofing and paving should be carefully considered for outsourcing.  

 April Austin is a freelance writer from Lexington, Massachusetts.