Condo Association Management Blog

This kind of failure on the part of management (the failure to properly plan for maintenance) often results when the Manager, or the Board, fail to do a very simple thing. To get an Independently prepared Rserve Study at least every 3 years. They try to save a couple thousand dollars by doing their own study, making their own inspections and fail to follow best practices with regard to developing their component database, and with regard to proper financial forecasting.

All is not lost.Get an opinion by a professional engineer registered to practice structural engineering in your state. His/her natural direction will be to see how much of the completed work can be salvaged and integated into the design and completion of a sound building. I would (predictably) agree with Sara Allan's opinion that engineering (and financial planning) doesn't cost; it pays. 
 
Why the project is not being completed may be a contractor performance issue. The contractor may be reluctant to proceed faced with the opinion of the walls and roof. Sounds like that opinion came from the contractor who uncovered the inadequacy once work began. Still, a good working conference between contractor and engineer may well be able to resolve things and get you back on track - at somewhat more cost.

I agree with Sara & Bob. It is fairly common to have rehab work turn out to be more expensive than originally planned. There are often issues that you can't tell exist until you pull the drywall away and look at the actual frame of the building. In this particular case, the question is what happens to the money collected? It should be used only for the purpose of the club house related expenses. If not, I would expect that the money be refunded or offset your future assessments until such money was exhausted. 
 
Darron 
 
HOA Receivables Management, LLC

From your posting it is not clear whether they have already spent the money on some of the repairs or not? If they have not spent any of that money then it should be in the associations bank account and the board will have to decide what to do with the money.  
If it has been spent then they will have to call in engineers to see if the project can be salvaged.