You have a completed Reserve Study, now what? An experienced reserve study specialist, working in partnership with community management, can help you and your association prioritize property maintenance needs while respecting current reserve limitations. This team should also not let the association hide from more urgent or more costly property improvement projects. How do you address the more complicated maintenance needs with a quality solution? Some reserve study specialists also provide design and construction administration services. The advantage of this type of specialist is that they have a deeper understanding of construction practices and can not only identify property needs, but help solve them.
Hiring an objective professional to oversee construction can improve the bid process, construction process, and final outcome. A construction administrator keeps all parties working together cohesively, brings their own expertise to monitor construction quality and timelines, stays focused on problem solving and cost management, and serves as point person communicating to the property manager and association. In most cases trade companies are glad to have a single person coordinating across the multiple trade timelines which reduces wait times to get questions answered.
J. Hershey Building Consultants has been hired to oversee the construction of a new clubhouse and outdoor pool. This project offers examples of the benefit of professional construction administration. Below left is the project in process. Below right shows a crack in the newly poured foundation. This crack might have been overlooked but was identified in time for the contractor to repair it before it was covered by finishing.
Above left shows water getting into the building from the roof above. A professional knows this is not a problem because the roofing is not yet complete and will not take up contractor time having this addressed. Above right shows rough (preliminary) electrical installation looking exactly as it should at that stage.
J. Hershey Building Consultants was called to help a community dealing with balcony structural and water damage issues. The first picture shows a balcony with too much distance between corner posts, resulting in a weak front rail that will not withstand much weight.
The middle picture above shows building damage resulting from water flowing toward the building rather than off the sides and front of the balcony. Repairs are designed to address structural and cosmetic water damage and balcony floors that pitch away from building.
J. Hershey Building Consultants conducted a water infiltraton analysis for an underground garage and discovered this had been an ongoing water leak since at least 2019, creating very unhappy residents. As a result, a steel support beam was badly corroded (pictures below) and will require temporary support until it can be reinforced and made safe to support the first floor of the building.
Our analysis identified multiple areas of caulk joints between the building and the sidewalk in need of repair (above left). To test these areas as the potential cause of the leak in the garage below, we ran water on the sidewalk, allowing it to flow into the pavement joints (above center). The picture above right shows the resulting wet wall which also allowed water to run along the steel support beam. Next step is to seal the gap between the building and the sidewalk, and reinforce that steel beam. Note that if this issue had been addressed sooner, the steel beam would not also need repair, and the residents wouldn’t be frustrated.
Let’s continue to improve our ability to proactively maintain our properties!
Our easy online Request For Proposal Forms can be accessed at the top right of the JHersheyGroup home page.
