How do we replace the shared carports in our HOA or condo community?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 21, 2026

How an HOA board replaces aging carports: who pays under the declaration, permits and wind and snow loads, steel vs aluminum, parking during work, and reserves.

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

The short answer

Treat a carport replacement as a small construction project, not a maintenance call. Start with the declaration and plat to settle who owns the carports and who pays. Get a condition assessment, then bid an engineered, permitted structure designed for your site's wind and snow loads. Run the work one row at a time, with a parking plan owners see before the first post comes out. Most boards get into trouble on the money question or the parking question, not the steel. Rules vary by state and by your governing documents, and this guide is general education, not legal advice. Have the association's attorney read the cost allocation language before you send an assessment to anyone.

Read the documents before you price anything

Find the carports in the declaration and on the plat or condominium map. Most are either general common elements everyone pays for, or limited common elements assigned to particular units, usually through a numbered space list. The answer decides who pays. In Texas condominiums governed by Property Code chapter 82, section 82.112(d) says a limited common element's maintenance, repair or replacement is assessed against all units as if it were a general common element, unless the declaration provides otherwise. Colorado reverses the presumption. Under C.R.S. 38-33.3-315(3)(a), to the extent the declaration requires, those costs are assessed against the units the limited common element is assigned to. Florida section 718.113(1) lets a condominium declaration make users maintain their limited common elements, or have the association do the work at the users' expense, but the declaration must describe in detail how the cost is split. In a planned community where the carports sit on common area, the cost is usually a general expense unless the documents say otherwise. Owners who park in the open lot and pay for everyone else's roof will ask about this at the meeting. Have the answer and the section number ready.

Repair, or replace

Walk every bay with a flashlight and a camera, then call a structural engineer if any of these turn up: rust that has eaten into a post at the base or the footing, a post bent by a bumper, beams that sag between posts, a roof that ponds water, or fasteners pulling out of the purlins. Hail dents in a metal roof are often cosmetic. Holes and split seams are not. A post or two with rot at the base, on an otherwise sound row, is a repair. Corrosion at most bases, a roof at the end of its life, and a structure built to an older load standard together point to replacement. Ask the engineer for a short written letter that says which, with a rough budget. That letter goes in the board packet, the reserve study file and, if a special assessment follows, the notice to owners. Florida condominiums must reserve for any item whose replacement cost exceeds $25,000 under section 718.112(2)(f)2.a., or the inflation-adjusted amount the division sets. Price your carports against that number. Add the carports to your next reserve study as their own component even where the law does not require it.

Permits and engineered loads

Expect a building permit. Lakewood, Colorado's residential carport handout requires one for any carport or patio cover regardless of size, sets a minimum design of 30 psf snow load and 10 psf dead load, and requires a Colorado professional engineer's stamp for any carport in the special wind zone west of Kipling Street, where design wind speeds run 166/133 mph instead of 130/110 mph east of it. Charlotte County, Florida, wants signed and sealed plans for a residential carport, a letter of compatibility for anything over 250 square feet, and a recorded notice of commencement for work over $5,000. Texas rules come from the city or, outside city limits, the county, so call the building department before you write the bid package. Two rules follow from this. First, the contractor pulls the permit, in the contractor's name, and the permit card goes in the project file. Second, insist on engineered drawings for your address. A kit carport certified for typical conditions somewhere else is not the same as one designed for your city's wind speed, snow load and soil. Ask the engineer to specify footing size and depth, too. New posts on old footings is the shortcut that fails.

Choices to settle before bidding

Steel or aluminum. Steel carports depend on galvanizing or paint to hold off rust. Aluminum does not rust, which matters near salt water. Either can meet the code if the engineer sizes the members for your loads. Ask each bidder for the coating, the gauge and the warranty in writing. Roof panels: match the hail exposure. Ask about impact ratings in Texas and Colorado hail country. Drainage: decide where the water goes. Gutters and downspouts that dump onto a sidewalk become an ice complaint in January. Lighting: if fixtures hang from the old structure, the electrician needs to be in the bid. EV charging: run empty conduit to each bay while the posts are out. In Florida, section 718.113(8) bars a condominium from prohibiting an owner's charger in their limited common element parking space, so the request is coming anyway. Keep the footprint and look close to the original. Florida section 718.113(2)(a) requires approval under the declaration, or 75 percent of the voting interests if the declaration is silent, for a material alteration of the common elements. Replacing carports with garages, or removing them, is the kind of change that can trigger that vote. Check your own documents for the equivalent rule in Texas or Colorado.

Parking during the work

Replace one row or building at a time. Before work starts, map where each displaced car goes: guest spaces, an overflow lot, a neighboring church lot with written permission, or street parking where the city allows it. Suspend guest parking enforcement during the project and say so. Sample notice: 'Carport replacement for spaces 21 through 36 begins Monday, April 6, and should take about two weeks, weather permitting. Please move vehicles out of those spaces by 7 a.m. on April 6. You may park in any guest space or in the overflow lot on Elm Court during the work. Vehicles left in the work zone risk damage from falling material. Questions go to the board at the email below.' Send it two weeks ahead, again three days ahead, and tape a copy to each affected space.

A sample timeline

Month 1: pull the documents, settle the cost allocation, and walk the carports. Month 2: engineer's condition letter and rough budget, and a board decision to repair or replace. Month 3: write the scope and request bids from at least three contractors who build engineered carports and pull their own permits. Month 4: compare bids, check licenses, references and the certificate of insurance, and confirm funding from reserves or a special assessment noticed under your documents. Month 5: sign the contract, with the contractor submitting for the permit. Allow several weeks for review. Months 6 and 7: demolition and construction row by row, with an inspection on each phase. Month 8: final inspection, warranty documents filed, as-built drawings to the reserve study provider, and the property insurer told the carports were replaced with a new value. Schedule demolition for dry months. In Colorado, avoid starting a row just before snow season.

Mistakes boards make

Sending invoices to assigned-space owners when the declaration makes the carports a general expense, or the reverse. Buying a kit online and asking a handyman to bolt it to the old slab. Letting the contractor work without a permit to save four weeks. Tearing out every carport in the community at once. Changing the design enough to need an owner vote and skipping the vote. Forgetting to tell the insurer, so the carports stay listed at their old value or drop off the schedule. For the bid package, follow our guide on how to write an HOA request for proposal, and if the carports came through a storm, our guide on inspecting HOA roofs after a hail storm covers what to photograph before anyone files a claim.

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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