How is a Transition Study Conducted?

Reserve Advisors begins all transition studies with an on-site meeting with the community association manager or board president, or both. Our engineer uses the meeting to gather background on the property. During the meeting, we also want to know about any common area problems the property is currently experiencing or has experienced in the past and steps the association or developer has taken to remediate the suspected defects.

Following the meeting, we conduct an inspection of the entire property. Our engineer documents each common element, noting the current condition and whether there are any defects. Our engineer also takes photos of apparent defects and prior attempts to remedy them. The transition study we produce provides you with a thorough evaluation from an independent source that substantiates defects and details solutions and costs.

A transition study may determine that invasive or destructive testing is necessary to uncover the extent of hidden or latent defects. Sometimes a defect manifests itself with visible material damage from an indeterminate cause. Or, there may be unknown hidden damage, such as trapped water in the walls.

Reserve Advisors does not conduct invasive or destructive testing. Instead, we recommend whether invasive testing is necessary. If it's needed, we detail the scope and purpose and provide an estimate of the cost for hiring a specialist.

The costs for the additional testing should be paid for by the developer as part of the remediation process. As your advocate, our goal is to provide the initial evidence about the common element defects to compel the developer to investigate the defects, invasively if necessary, and to remediate them.