Residential VS Commercial Gym Equipment

Hi,

Did some forum searching but can't seem to find and answer based on the keywords I was using to search.

We have a townhouse community of ~100 units. We have a small Gym with a few bikes, treadmills and machines.

As a new board member, I wanted to repair our broken gym equipment and get a contract in place for annual upkeep of our treadmills.

The companies I have contacted have said they will not service most of our equipment as we are using cheap residential grade equipment in a commercial setting. I also was warned that this may be a lability to our community as our insurance carrier may not cover this.

I read our insurance documents and talked with our insurance agent and they were no help.

Does anyone have any insight on this? It seems plausible to be if someone gets injured on the treadmill and we are knowingly voiding the manufacturers warranty, our insurance company could deny coverage. I am assuming the same applies if you bought a playground from a big box store and installed it in a HOA park. Even if you had liability insurance for a playground if you used some cheap big box store one vs one made and rated for commercial use the insurance company could deny coverage.

Thanks in advance!

I don't think insurance could deny coverage. That's a common expression but rare in practice. Rather, the insurance would drop you if a claim was filed and then you'd have to find a new insurance carrier.

I'd definitely run that past your insurer. When I read that your gym equipment isn't commercial grade, it gave me the heebie-jeebies.

I suspect you should forget about repairs and use the money for upgrades.

When I ran it by my insurer through a phone call they couldn't seem to give me an answer. I plan to get a Yes/No answer from the in writing which should give me the best direction to go.

Its definitely an interesting situation.

We wouldn't be able to purchase items such as the pool, bathrooms, HVAC and etc. in a residential form as companies would not supply them. As I understand it, the past board went out on their own to source this residential equipment from big box stores.

I know that most gym equipment doesn't need service but items such as the treadmills need cleaning, tension and lubrication. If we can't service the item and in not servicing the item it becomes a dangerous item that causes bodily injury I will sure feel stupid. I hate to condemn perfectly working gym equipment but if it avoids an accident we need to make sure that equipment gets removed as fast as possible.

I dont't blame the OP for their concern. After the Lamplight Village lawsuit HOA's have a duty to make sure the equipment they provide as an amenity is safe to use.
The company they contacted to inspect the equipment has a valid objection. Personally I would put a motion to the board to either rent commercial grade equipment
or see if the gym equipment is part of your reserve study and just replace it with commercial grade equipment and have regular safety inspections conducted on the equipment.

Your reserve account is just that a savings set aside for reserves, your reserve study says where the money is allocated and about when.
My suggestion is to inform your neighbors, show them this lawsuit and organize your owners to force the board to get appropriate equipment
and conduct a reserve study.

Our HOA took great heed after this. We have a company come out and annually inspect the playground equipment. We have just a splash pad with a rubbery
base and a play structure with a child slide and the base is a rubbery structure. We do not want the same grief that the BOD of that HOA brought on
their owners.

Another good reason the Board should not "hire" residents do fix-it jobs for the HOA (unless insured, etc., etc.).