How should an HOA board prepare for a reserve study site visit?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 23, 2026

What an HOA board should send the reserve study provider before the site visit, who should walk the property, what to point out, and how to review the draft.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The provider only knows what you show them

A reserve study provider spends a few hours on your property and then builds a 30-year spending forecast from what they saw and what you sent. They do not dig through your files, and they do not audit your numbers. The CAI Reserve Study Standards say it outright: information the association's representative provides about finances, quantities and history is deemed reliable by the consultant, and the reserve balance in the study is based on information provided and was not audited. So the board's job before the visit is simple to describe and tedious to do. Send a complete packet two weeks ahead, put someone on the walk who knows the property's history, point out every known problem, and then read the draft line by line before accepting it. A study built from a thin packet will look professional and still be wrong about the roof.

Know which kind of study you bought

Read the proposal before the visit so you know what the provider is supposed to do. CAI's standards describe a Level I full study, which builds the component inventory from scratch, and a Level II update with a site visit, which checks the existing inventory against what is on the ground but does not require every quantity to be measured again. A Level III update has no site visit at all. For both kinds of update, the standards treat the association as having accepted the earlier study's quantities as accurate, so a wrong count of light poles or square feet of asphalt in the last study carries forward unless you flag it. CAI calls a site-inspection update at least every third year best practice. State law varies. California Civil Code section 5550 requires a visual inspection of accessible major components at least once every three years once their replacement value reaches half the gross budget, plus an annual review. Colorado's responsible governance policies under CRS 38-33.3-209.5(1)(b)(IX) must cover when the association has a reserve study prepared, whether a funding plan backs it, and whether it rests on a physical and a financial analysis. That statute says an internally conducted study is enough, and CRS 38-33.3-317(1)(k) makes the most recent study an association record owners can see. Florida HOAs that set up reserves under Florida Statutes 720.303(6) must compute them from remaining useful life and replacement cost. In Texas, check the declaration and bylaws for any study requirement. Your governing documents may add their own schedule on top of any of these.

What goes in the packet

Send these at least two weeks before the visit, in one folder, with a short index. The previous reserve study and any updates. The plat or site map, plus as-built drawings if you have them. The declaration's maintenance responsibility section, so the provider does not include fences or driveways that owners maintain. A list of every reserve project completed since the last study, with the date, the vendor and the final cost, with invoices attached for the large ones. Current bids or quotes for anything coming up. The reserve account balance as of a stated date, taken from the bank statement rather than the budget. This year's adopted budget and reserve contribution. Warranties on roofs, pool equipment and gate operators. Recent inspection reports from roofers, pool contractors, arborists or engineers. Maintenance contracts that cover a component, such as a pool service or an elevator contract. A written list of known problems. If a document does not exist, say so in the index. The provider notes the gap, and the board can see later why an estimate was soft.

Who walks with the provider and what to point out

Send one director and one person who knows the history. That might be the longtime owner who used to run the grounds committee, or the landscaper who has maintained the irrigation for eight years. Two people is enough, and a crowd of owners slows everything down. Before the day, collect keys and codes for the clubhouse, pool equipment room, irrigation controllers, gate operator cabinet, attic hatches and any locked storage. Walk the whole site, not just the amenity center. Point out the things a visual walk misses: the section of retaining wall that was patched after a storm, the pool heater that has been repaired twice, the mailbox kiosks that the post office has complained about, the drainage swale that floods every spring. Say which items were replaced early and why. Ask the provider to note components that will last longer than 30 years so the board knows they exist. Do not expect the walk to answer a safety question. CAI's standards say an on-site inspection is not a project audit or quality inspection, and structural integrity evaluations are not included unless the study says so. If you suspect a structural or drainage problem, hire the right engineer separately and give the report to the provider.

A sample timeline for a calendar-year budget

Work back from the budget meeting, because a study that arrives after the budget is adopted helps nobody until next year. For a board that adopts its budget in November: sign the proposal by the first week of June. Send the packet by July 1. Hold the site visit in mid-July, in daylight and on a dry day so the provider can see pavement and roofs. Expect the draft in mid-August. Collect every director's questions and send them to the provider in one email by September 1. Receive the final study by mid-September. The treasurer then builds the draft budget's reserve contribution from the funding plan in October, and the board adopts it in November. Put the next site visit on the board calendar the day the final report arrives.

Reading the draft before you accept it

Check the draft against your own records, section by section. Does every component on the list belong to the association under the declaration? Is anything missing, such as the entry monument, the fence along the retention pond or the playground surfacing? Do the quantities match reality: number of light poles, square feet of asphalt, linear feet of fence? Does the starting reserve balance match the bank statement for the date you gave? Were the projects you completed recorded with the right year and cost? CAI requires the study to disclose its interest and inflation assumptions, so find them and ask whether they fit your investment returns. Then look at the next five years of the cash flow. Those are the years the board can act on. Our guide on how to read an HOA reserve study walks through percent funded and the cash forecast in more detail.

Wording the board can use

An email to the provider when you send questions on the draft: 'Attached are the board's questions on the draft reserve study dated August 14. Please correct the component list for items 12 and 19, which owners maintain under Article 7 of the declaration, and confirm the asphalt quantity against the attached site map. We would like the final by September 15 so we can use it for the 2027 budget.' A motion to accept the final study: 'Motion to accept the reserve study update prepared by [provider], dated [date], and to use its recommended funding plan as the basis for the 2027 reserve contribution of $[amount].' If the board picks a different contribution than the study recommends, say so in the minutes along with the reason. That line matters later if an owner asks why reserves fell short.

Mistakes that make a study less useful

Boards most often send no packet and let the provider guess. Close behind is a reserve balance copied from the budget rather than the bank, which shifts every projection. Some boards let the provider include items that owners maintain, which inflates the contribution, or leave out a component the association does own, which produces a surprise special assessment. Others treat the site visit as a structural inspection. A board that receives the study in December has already set dues for the year without it. The last mistake happens quietly: the final study goes into a director's inbox and never reaches the association's records. Save the final report, the packet you sent and the board's accepted motion together. When the time comes to fund the work the study predicts, our guide on how to plan a major HOA project picks up from there.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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