Want to save money on community management? Here’s how…
At Optimum, we know that your community is on a budget. As a board member, you are accountable for every dollar spent. But financial management doesn’t need to be painful.
By following a methodical, step by step approach, you can stay on budget, or even better, below budget on every project. Here’s how:
1. Understand Your Financials
Getting a handle on dollars in and dollars spent is the first step.
Too often, HOA financials are cumbersome and nearly impossible to read. Optimum is the only firm in Southern California to provide a one-page financial snapshot at each board meeting.
With an easy to read overview of your budget compared to actual spending, you will immediately understand your community’s financial position. There are no surprises, no hidden spending, and no unexpected costs.
2. Ensure Community Members Pay Assessments On-Time
Timely remittance of HOA payments is essential to healthy finances.
Without assessments, there is no money for ongoing maintenance or improvements. And you don’t want to be chasing down members month after month. Optimum does this work for you.
Your accounts receivable manager will handle all aspects of payments with residents in a polite, professional manner, as well as deal with the sometimes-delicate issues surrounding tardy fees.
3. Develop Realistic Budgets
Annual planning requires upfront budget estimates. But as the word implies, these are always just estimates. Once work begins, you might discover it’s a bigger task than initially thought.
Optimum’s highly experienced community managers guide you through the budgeting process each step of the way…so you allot the correct amount and rarely come in over budget.
4. Pay Attention to the Details
The old expression, “the devil is in the details” certainly applies to community management. Without someone’s expert guidance and attention to the little things, costly items slip through the cracks.
At Optimum, we pride ourselves on our attention to detail.
We have a low Manager-to-Community ratio, and a highly-experienced team. From ensuring routine maintenance is completed properly to managing multi-month projects, we notice issues early and often so they don’t become large costly mistakes.
5. Choose your Contractors Wisely
As projects unfold, you become more and more dependent on your vendors.
Taking the time to pick high-quality, reasonably priced contractors will pay off every time. Or, if you already have preferred vendors, it’s important that they continually provide excellent service.
Setting up an annual vendor audit, and/or getting multiple bids will ensure that contractors keep their prices low and their work quality high. Once again, Optimum facilitates these relationships and ensures the best results at the best price.
6. Follow Up Once Work is Complete
Finally, a postmortem on each large project is key to continuous improvement.
Review what went right, what went wrong, how the vendors performed and how well you stuck to the budget. After each project, we complete a summary report and present it at your monthly meeting. All costs and payments are tracked and calculated.
Combining these steps with the dedication of the team at Optimum, you can achieve substantial and often unprecedented cost efficiencies throughout your community.
