Reserve Study Specialists

Do they give independent opinions on the "remaining useful life" of reserve components? Or do they get input from the board and use those numbers instead?

We have 100 roofs to replace in the not-distant future and if it's 7-10 years away we're in good shape. But if it's 5-6 years away we've got a problem. The board has been using 2025 as the year of the next re-roofing but recently a roofer - the same one that did the roofs 10 years ago - has suggested they'll need replacement in as soon as 5 years. To me, this is like asking a barber if you need a haircut and I'd prefer an independent estimate from someone who doesn't stand to benefit from the decision one way or the other. So far the board doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with listening to the guy who wants the contract badly. To me it's a no-brainer that he's the LAST person we should be listening to.

So to my question... would a reserve study specialist bring independent expertise to bear on the question? We've never had a reserve study done and the guy who's been keeping track of our reserve plan and scheduling (our retired CPA board member) recently moved out. I plan on pushing for a reserve study.

Good advice, SheliaH, thank you. All the roofs were replaced after the hurricanes of 2004-2005 so they're all about the same age. There are 2 different types of roofs between the first homes that were built and the rest because of 2 different builders each using their own architectural plans. After the hurricanes the insurance company insisted they all be re-roofed because they wanted to insure "equal risk" on all the buildings. Not sure if that's still going to be a requirement going forward. The last time it was done it was paid for out of an insurance settlement, which was literally a godsend because there were no significant roof reserves at the time. So after almost 30 years we're looking at the very first large-scale roof replacement project that will be paid for out of reserves.

If we move to a staggered replacement plan, which is not a bad idea, there's a whole other set of considerations we'll need to take into account. The plan has always been to do them all at once (over a 1-2 year period since 100 homes don't magically get all re-roofed in a couple of months). So many things here were not well thought out and the hurricanes in 2004-2005 gave a lot of people cover at the time for their bad decisionmaking.