Providing maintenance for shared community areas is one of the core duties of most HOAs. Dedicated green spaces, parks, and walkways are all features that need regular attention from landscapers. While responsibility for these areas belongs to the community association, HOA management providers offer services that can resolve these issues.
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How To Resolve Landscaping Issues
Common landscaping issues include damaged or overgrown grass areas, snow build-up, and flower beds that need to be replanted. Whatever the green space, these four strategies can make resolving the problem easier:
Establish Effective Rules
Effective green space maintenance begins with prevention. HOA board members must establish and update rules protecting green spaces from damage. Anti-littering measures and requiring owners to clean up after their pets are standard preventative measures.
Enacting rules like these can be of little help if they aren’t publicly posted. Even residents who know and understand the rules may forget if reminders aren’t posted appropriately.
Preventing damage is only half of the purpose of rules. Fines and other penalties associated with violating these rules help alleviate the costs of repairing damage when it occurs.
Plan Ahead
Green space management is easier and more effective if board members put a plan in place before it is needed. Knowing what needs to be done before it is needed helps board members save time and money when maintenance is necessary.
Waiting until the damage is done before planning how to deal with it makes the situation worse before the solution becomes available. This adds unnecessary costs in time and money that can be avoided with an advance plan and prompt response.
Manage HOA Funds
Funding is often one of the most constraining limits on an association’s ability to address maintenance needs. Even the most detailed maintenance plan will fail without funds. Carefully managing the association’s funds allows the board members to fund grounds-keeping projects without burdening residents with assessments or other fund-raising measures.
Prepare for Surprises
However well-planned your approach to green space maintenance is, there will always be surprises. Severe weather, driving accidents, and other factors can cause unexpected damage to HOA facilities or amenities.
While events like these can’t be predicted with certainty, an HOAs board of directors can still prepare for them. The board can set aside funds for emergency maintenance, and understanding the community’s environment can help board members prepare for likely causes of damage.
How HOA Management Providers Get the Job Done
The four strategies above are an excellent foundation for ongoing green space maintenance. Professional HOA management providers offer many services that make applying these strategies easier and more cost-effective.
Understanding of How Laws Effect Association Rules
Drafting HOA rules and keeping them up to date can be one of the more complicated strategies to implement. While it may seem simple, federal, state, and local regulations can complicate matters in ways that are not always obvious.
Management service providers can help with this. HOA management companies specialize in the needs of community associations and can provide expert help with understanding the laws that affect HOAs. With professional support, it is much easier for board members to draft rules that provide the intended effect without leaving legal loopholes that may make them difficult to enforce.
Experience With Regional Landscaping Issues
An HOA’s board of directors is composed of volunteers. While they have the best intentions, volunteers may lack the skills or experience to efficiently manage green spaces in their area.
As experts in community association management, HOA management providers will be familiar with the maintenance needs common in the community’s environment. They will also have experience specific to an HOA’s needs.
Building Relationships with Landscaping Contractors
Another advantage of working with an HOA management company is their relationships with local landscaping contractors. While dealing with green space maintenance is rarely a daily event for the volunteer members of an HOA’s board, management providers deal with it daily.
HOA management companies can work with multiple community associations that share many of the same landscaping needs. This gives them two advantages:
First, HOA managers can develop close relationships with landscaping providers. These relationships help management companies find the best service providers to meet their client’s needs.
Second, HOA managers can address the needs of multiple associations at the same time. This allows them to negotiate bigger contracts with landscaping companies and better prices for their client associations.
Expert Support From HOA Management Services
Well-maintained green spaces are an excellent way for an HOA’s board of directors to make life in their community more enjoyable. While much is involved in green space management, working with an HOA management company makes it easy.
