Investigate why the repair is needed

The board members are inherently good people. You volunteer your time and run the association. Something breaks and you fix it. But you don't know what the underlying reason is that it needs to be fixed. With board members turning over regularly, you may not know the history of the issue that needs to be fixed. All you know is that it's broken. So, start asking questions. The scope of work is extremely important. You need to know How big the issue is, where it is, and how it's going to affect the community.

If you're a newer community, maybe the builder didn't do the job right. So give you a quick example. You have siding on the walls of the condo complex. A few units are affected, but you don't know how many. There might be more. And if you keep paying, It's going to become a bigger, bigger part of the budget. And maybe the builder's responsible. There's a deadline for holding them responsible. Attorneys know this timing. I don't.

But board members, what can you do? You should ask an independent contractor for their expert opinion. And specifically, if it was built wrong, write the builder a letter. If you don't get a response from the builder, then you're going to need to escalate it. But don't let it drop as you don't want to have to pay for the faulty workmanship out of the association's funds. Managers, it's your job to pay attention to what bills were paid or to look back on maintenance trends to be able to advise the board.

Your job is to coach the board, to guide them on what's happening in the community.