Association Planning Services for Builders and Developers
Comprehensive and insightful association planning is essential for the successful launch and sustainability of every planned HOA development – and no one knows that better than developers and builders. Our FirstService Association Consulting team is comprised of acclaimed industry professionals and strategists with deep expertise in association budget preparation and consulting for properties of all types and sizes. Our consultant team members are highly proactive and responsive throughout the association planning process, ready to support you and provide the answers and solutions you need at every phase.
Our comprehensive association forward planning and services include:
- Establishing a community vision and distinctive identity
- Creating timelines and planning benchmarks
- Developing association structures that support your overall vision
- Association budgeting, including phasing budgets and master developer subsidies
- Funding and cost sharing agreements Amenity and social program design
Quality HOA association forward planning can take from several months to several years, depending on each project’s size, complexity and specific needs. There are many factors to consider and get right, such as planning the community’s governance structure, budgeting, social programming, amenity planning, transition planning and more. That’s why we prefer to collaborate with your development team right from the start. We work closely with your partners, such as your land planner, landscape architect, civil engineer, attorney and other professionals, to deliver customized solutions and genuinely helpful service that reduce costs, streamline operations and add value to your project from conception through build-out, transition and beyond.
We offer a full range of association planning and consulting services:
Governance Modeling
FirstService Association Consulting is a vital part of your planning and consultant team, providing valuable advice and best practice solutions. We help define community governance models; establishing the structure and the hierarchy of the association in support of the developer’s vision of the community. During development, we coordinate and communicate community specific information to development participants, including: master developer, residential builders, escrow companies, sales agents, residents, and government agencies.
Financial Services
Our process begins with the question: “How much is this vision going to cost in a monthly HOA assessment?” The first step is a feasibility and financial analysis of the community’s proposed amenities and governance structures. We prepare detailed analyses, including: California Department of Real Estate budgets, financial planning for community assessments and supporting budgets, and subsidy projections.
Amenity Utilization and Design
With consideration of the developer’s vision of the community, we offer practical, relevant advice related to your proposed amentia’s, including:
- Space design
- Utilization of proposed rooms/uses
- Staffing plan based on budgetary parameters
- Opportunities for better end user experiences
Lifestyle and Experience Planning
Development of community programs and an annual calendar of events to establish and foster a sense of community. Social program planning and evaluation, preparation of budget and identification of funding sources to support community programs.
California DRE Consulting
Over the last 30 years, FirstService Association Consulting has submitted and gained approval on hundreds of budgets from the California Department of Real Estate (DRE). Our experience and relationships bring tremendous value to our clients. The FSAC consultants will help you determine the appropriate budget structure for your community and lead the process of submittal to the DRE. Working in concert with your key team members, FSAC will facilitate a smooth DRE submittal and approval process.
Engineering Services
Asset management and engineering consulting services complement building development and HOA management and help to ensure that sophisticated equipment and shared amenities are protected and continually supported through strategic programs.
Whether you are a developer in need of asset commissioning services and warranty review, a member of a high rise community that requires engineering expertise in complex building equipment, or a resident in a community of family homes with a country club, pool, or other valuable common area amenity to protect, our engineering support services can be customized to meet your needs. By performing regular equipment inspections, educating engineers, implementing preventative maintenance programs, and overseeing emergency protocol creation, our team aims to keep building equipment in excellent working order and to enhance our clients’ property values over time.
Our consistent programs allow us to monitor building system functioning so that repair expenses are anticipated rather than unexpected, helping our clients’ get the most out of their equipment over the long haul. We use the latest technology to perform our inspections, including thermal imagers, energy analyzers, and drones in order to gather a complete picture of our clients’ equipment performance. We also continually train engineering staff and educate them with online courses to keep them up-to-date on the latest methods, policies, and procedures, so that our clients can be confident in their engineers’ abilities to protect and maintain the systems they manage both routinely and in the event of an emergency. While we always hope for the best, we prepare the associations we support for worst-case scenarios, so that if an emergency situation does occur, our clients can feel confident that their assets are safeguarded.
We support our clients’ properties by offering a customizable range of services, including:
- Building engineer education and training
- Preventative maintenance programs that prevent pre-mature equipment failure
- Specialized equipment testing and evaluations
- Recommended solutions for lingering equipment issues
- Emergency preparedness program implementation and review
- Review of reserve studies for accuracy and value
- Energy consumption audits
- Documentation and data-capture of shared asset inventory and maintenance
- Professional project consulting
- Full-building inspections
- Construction defect consulting and support