Time was running out for the owners of Fairway Green, a luxury townhome association within the White Cliffs community in Plymouth, Mass. Decades of exposure to coastal weather had taken their toll on the association’s aging roofing and siding. Spending more money in a never-ending cycle of spot repairs, painting, and patching no longer made sense. And leaking roofs and windows were damaging property and fraying nerves.
“We were spending a tremendous amount of money on solutions that weren’t working,” says board member Antonia Cosgrove. “Our 30-year-old buildings had been patched over the years. The result was nothing but a hodgepodge appearance of siding materials and colors. Meanwhile, the leaks were only getting worse.”
Engineer Paul Martin of Noblin Associates was hired to do an assessment. His recommendation? A complete roofing and siding makeover for all 22 buildings.
“Now we had another challenge,” says association President Ray Hoefling. “Our reserves were no where near sufficient to do all 22 buildings at once. Property values and incomes were still reeling from the recession. And no one could tolerate a huge special assessment or a massive increase in common fees.”
The board decided the most palatable way to manage the multi-million dollar expense was to complete the work in phases. “We planned to do about a third of the buildings a year for three years,” says Hoefling. “And it seemed like a good compromise — until Eric Churchill from Schernecker Property Services said, ‘What if we could show you a better way?’”