Every HOA board in Dutchess County has had the meeting: the buildings look tired, the roofs on the north side of the community are green, the pool deck is slick by June, and the budget was set last fall without a line for any of it. The answer is not a special assessment and it is not ignoring it for another year. It is putting exterior cleaning into the operating budget as the recurring line it should have been all along, and phasing the first round so the number fits. Here is how boards and managers in the Hudson Valley do that, and what it protects.
Why It Belongs In The Operating Budget, Not The Reserve
The reserve fund exists to replace the roofs, the siding and the pavement when they reach the end of their life. Exterior cleaning is what decides when that is. A roof carrying moss and algae loses years of service; the same roof soft washed on a cycle reaches the end of its rated life instead of the middle of it. Siding that stays green oxidizes and gets replaced instead of washed. Concrete that holds algae through the freeze-thaw cycle spalls. Every one of those is a reserve item arriving early because an operating item was skipped. Washing is recurring maintenance in the same category as landscaping and plowing, and the boards that treat it that way are the ones that do not have the special-assessment meeting.
Start With A Walk, Not A Quote
A price without an inventory is a guess, and a guess is what turns into a change order in July. The first step is a walk of the community with the manager or a board member, building by building, listing what is there: the number and size of the buildings, the siding and roof types, the amenities (clubhouse, pool deck, mail kiosks, playground surfaces), the flatwork (sidewalks, entrances, curbs, pads) and the fences, retaining walls and dumpster enclosures. That inventory becomes the scope, the scope becomes the price, and the price is the same number in the budget and on the invoice. Our HOA and community exterior cleaning page lays out the scope we write for townhome and condo communities in Wappingers Falls, Hopewell Junction and Fishkill.
The Three Ways To Phase It
By building cluster. A third of the buildings each year on a three-year rotation. The simplest to budget, the easiest for residents to understand, and the right choice for a community where every building is in roughly the same condition. By surface. All the roofs one year, all the siding the next, all the flatwork every year because it is cheap and it is the liability. This suits communities where one surface is clearly the problem. By risk. The mossiest roofs and the slickest walkways first, regardless of which building they belong to, then the rest on rotation. This is the phasing for a community that has gone several years without a wash and needs the damage stopped before the cosmetics. We write whichever phasing the board chooses into the agreement, with each year’s number fixed in advance.
What A Per-Building Price Does For The Budget
It makes the line item predictable. Each building carries its own price against its own scope, the community agreement comes in lower per building than the same buildings washed one at a time, and the annual number is the sum of the buildings scheduled that year. When a board adds a building or moves one up a year, the change is arithmetic, not a renegotiation. That is also what makes the budget defensible at the annual meeting: the manager can show which buildings, which surfaces, what it cost, and what it will cost next year.
Roofs: The Line That Protects The Reserve
The roofs are the largest item in most reserve studies and the one that exterior cleaning moves the most. The black streaks are algae feeding on the shingle; the green patches are moss holding water against it through every freeze-thaw cycle of a Hudson Valley winter. Both shorten the roof, and both come off with a roof soft wash at low pressure, under our One-Year Roof Wash Warranty, on a three-to-five-year cycle. A community that soft washes its roofs on that cycle pushes replacement toward the end of the roof’s rated life. One that lets the north slopes stay green replaces early and funds it with an assessment.
Walkways, Pool Decks And Entrances: The Liability Line
The flatwork is the cheapest part of the scope and the one no board should phase out. Algae on a shaded sidewalk is slick from the first wet morning of spring, a pool deck grows it under every chair, and the claim that follows names the association. Concrete and paver cleaning runs every year on every community agreement we write, with the pool deck timed before opening and the walkways before the leaves come down. It is the line that keeps the insurer happy and the one residents notice first.
Residents: Notices, Access And The Complaint That Never Comes
Most of what goes wrong on a community job is communication, not cleaning. The fix is a written notice to residents ahead of each phase with the dates, the hours and the three things they need to do: close windows, move vehicles out of the work area, bring pets and patio items in. The crew works building by building so no address is disrupted for more than a few hours, and the manager has one point of contact who answers the phone. The board hears about the work once, when residents mention that the buildings look new.
Bundle Winter: One Vendor For Washing And Plowing
A community that washes in spring and fall and plows in winter can put all of it on one vendor who already knows the property, the access points and the residents. Our commercial snow plowing and de-icing runs on a seasonal agreement from November through April, and pairing it with the exterior cleaning means one COI on file, one contact, and a fall flatwork pass that leaves the walkways clean before the first salt goes down. Our post on seasonal versus per-event snow contracts covers how boards buy the winter side.
A Sample Three-Year Cycle
Take a hypothetical 60-unit townhome community of ten buildings in Hopewell Junction that has not been washed in five years. Year one: the four buildings whose roofs are carrying moss, plus every walkway, the pool deck and the clubhouse. Year two: the next three buildings, roofs and siding, plus the flatwork again. Year three: the last three buildings and the flatwork, and the first four buildings’ siding gets its second wash. From year four the community is on a straight three-year rotation with the flatwork annual, the roofs every three to five years, and a number the board can read off the agreement. The special assessment never happens because nothing arrives early.
Get A Community Walk On The Calendar
If you manage or sit on the board of a community in Dutchess County, from the townhome developments in Wappingers Falls and Fishkill to the smaller associations around Rhinebeck and Millbrook, send us the address and we will walk it, write the scope and the phasing, and put a COI in your file before the first visit. Request a community walk-through or call (845) 709-9443.
HOA Exterior Cleaning Budget FAQ
The operating budget. Washing is recurring maintenance, like landscaping and snow removal; the reserve is for repair and replacement of the roofs, siding and pavement. Regular cleaning is what keeps those reserve items from coming due early, which is the whole argument for funding it every year.
Three common ways: by building cluster (a third of the buildings each year), by surface (all roofs one year, all siding the next, all flatwork every year), or by risk (the mossiest roofs and the slickest walkways first). We walk the community with the board or manager and write the phasing into the agreement so each year’s number is known in advance.
Per building, against a written scope, after a walk of the property. A community agreement comes in lower per building than one building at a time, and the annual number is fixed in the agreement so the budget line does not move. We do not publish community prices because no two communities have the same buildings, roofs and flatwork.
Close windows, move vehicles out of the work area, bring pets and patio items in, and nothing else. The notice goes out in writing ahead of the visit, with the dates and the hours, and the crew works building by building so the disruption is a few hours per address.
Yes. MJK Solutions is licensed and fully insured and issues a COI naming the association and the management company before the first visit. It should be in the file before any contractor touches the buildings.
Yes, and it simplifies the year. Our commercial snow plowing and de-icing runs on a seasonal agreement from November through April, the washing runs spring and fall, and the board makes one call to one vendor who already knows the property.
