Fall is upon us and winter is right around the corner! Here are a few preventative maintenance tips that will help save you time and money. Remember that planning ahead and preparation are half the battle!

By fall, you should have completed or have been in the process of doing your annual community assessment. This is the perfect time to begin doing the repairs from your assessment. It’s the slower time of the year, and if you plan ahead, you won’t have to rush and be stressed to get these items taken care of. Fall is the time that our chimneys and fireplaces if you have them, need to be inspected and cleaned if needed to ensure that everything is safe and there won’t be any fires. By this time, you should already have your snow and ice removal plan in place as well. Make sure that you have contractors lined up to help with snow removal as well as projecting and ordering ice melt in advance so you are well stocked in the event of a snow storm. Don’t wait until the snow hits to find a contractor or order supplies as their schedules will already be full by this time and ice melt will be hard to come by. Also, make sure that you have your “freeze warning” signs ready and order new ones if you don’t have any. Lastly, now is the time to begin protecting your outdoor faucets and turning the heat on in your fire sprinkler riser rooms if you have them.

To prepare for the winter months, you should inspect all of your clubhouses, models, vacants, and amenity areas to ensure that the heat is working properly and set the thermostats to a minimum of 60 degrees. You should also prepare your swimming pools and pump rooms for the winter if you don’t keep your pools open year-round. There is nothing quite like frozen and busted pipes that you could have prevented. This may not apply to everyone’s schedule, but this is the best time of year to schedule your fire extinguisher, sprinkler systems, and alarm systems inspections. Again, this is the slower time of year and you won’t have to rush to get the inspections and repairs done like you would in the spring and summer months. These are just a few tips, that if followed, will make your job just a little easier in the long run.

- Mark Fiscus