I’m pleased to share that our painting project has finally completed. Throughout the project I’ve been really happy with how well the community has engaged with the process, from everyone who trimmed back their trees and bushes, to the 33 homeowners participating in our color vote, to the 67 members who pre-selected their door color, and to the 16 people who reported painting issues that needed correction. It’s always my goal as a board member to solicit and share information with the community as much as I can, and I’m so proud of what we accomplished together.
And here’s some of the best news – and news we so rarely get to share – the painting project has come in significantly under budget! The painting project consisted of 3 major components, each of which was estimated by an independent third party as a part of our reserve study: wood trim repair, wood trim painting, and stucco painting, for a total of $517,325 estimated. Our actual cost was only $290,540, or 44% under budget! (To be completely transparent, this isn’t some master stroke by board – the third party projection was simply overly pessimistic.)
I’m sure you’re wondering – what does this mean for the dues? It’s hard to say exactly, though we can certainly say that dues will be better than if we hadn’t been able to come in so well under budget. With the management and vendor changes that have happened this year there are several factors we need to assess the impact of. We’ve also just commissioned an entirely new reserve study, with the aim of producing a more accurate estimate of upcoming large expenses. Rest assured we’ll be evaluating these very carefully going into our 2025-2026 budgeting session, and all homeowners will have access to all the information in our annual report this summer (or even earlier if you tune in to board meetings).
Looking forward to a great 2025!