Commercial · Ocean County, NJ · · By Nick Sheridan
Most HOA boards and property managers we talk to in Ocean County have the same setup. One company does the power washing and another one does the gutters, the handyman may or may not call back, and the safety check happens whenever somebody remembers. That's ten vendors and ten invoices. Nobody's on the property between calls.
The commercial Quarterly Maintenance Plan is our answer to that. We come four times a year. Every building gets the same seasonal checklist and a photo report after every visit, and the treasurer gets one invoice to file.
January to March
The winter visit is for the inside and the safety items. The emergency lighting and the smoke and CO alarms get tested and get new batteries. We change the HVAC filters and clean the bathroom exhaust vents, then do the dryer vents or the light fixtures, whichever the building needs more. The handyman list from the last report gets worked through while the weather keeps us indoors.
April to June
Spring is the outside. Filters again, then the exterior wash. That covers the facade and the entryways, plus the fences and signage and the drive-thru lanes where there's one. We power wash the walkways, sidewalks and patios. Commercial gutter cleaning comes next: gutters and downspouts get cleared and flushed until they run clear, and so do the roof drains and scuppers. This is the visit residents notice, because the building looks new again in a day.
July to September
Summer means glass and cooling. After the filters, we do the windows inside and out, and clean the AC coils so the units run cool through August. Depending on what the property has, we either flush the water heater or clean and disinfect the trash enclosure.
October to December
By fall, we're getting the building ready for winter. Once the leaves are down, the gutters and roof drains get cleared a second time. We do the filters and clean the low ceiling fans, and the overhead and garage doors get a tune-up. The handyman and light landscaping items get closed out before the cold.
What the report is for
After every visit, the manager gets time-stamped before and after photos of each item and a short written report. We write it for the HOA board meeting, where somebody has to show that the money was spent and the building was looked at. One photo of a flushed scupper settles more questions than a line on an invoice.
Why being there on a schedule matters
We run the recurring maintenance for Pinnacle Property Management at the White Sands in Seaside Park. On one scheduled visit, we found that a tenant had dumped planter pots out a window onto the siding and the AC condensing units. We cleaned the units out before a repair was needed. Replacing the condensers could've cost over $20,000. Nobody called us about it. We were there because it was the day we were due.
That's the whole point of preventative maintenance.
How a plan starts
Call or send the address, and we'll walk the property with you. After that, you get the four-visit checklist written for that building and one price, and the first visit goes on the calendar. HOA boards can work with us through the management company or directly. It's one contact and one invoice per visit either way, with photos every time.
