Why an association repaint is different
The declaration decides what the association is repainting, and the Civil Code fills the gaps. Under Civil Code 4775 the common area falls to the association to repair, replace and maintain unless its own documents shift it, while exclusive use common area is maintained by the owner and repaired and replaced by the association. That line runs straight through a repaint scope: which doors, rails and garage doors are in, and which are the owner's.
A repaint is a reserve item before it is a paint job. Civil Code 5550 puts a visual inspection of the accessible major components at least once every three years, identifying those with less than 30 years of useful life left. Exterior coatings sit on that list, which is why boards scope a whole tract at once rather than a building at a time.
Buildings from before 1978 change the order of the job, not the scope. On target housing the components are tested before anything is scraped, or the work runs as a lead renovation under the federal renovation rule: the pamphlet goes to the owner and, in common areas, written notice reaches every affected unit or is posted, no more than 60 days before the work. Doors and windows within 20 feet are closed and the ground is covered 10 feet out.
Residents stay, so the program is written around them. Notices go out per building, the day's elevation is agreed with the manager, and doors and windows are closed only while the crew is within 20 feet of them. Entrances, stairs, carports and refuse routes stay usable, and a board that wants one appearance across the tract stages the buildings across the dry months.
What HOA and apartment exterior painting includes
Every building is walked with the board or the manager and the exterior painting contractor assigned to the request, recording the substrate by elevation, the condition of trim, doors, rails and garage doors, and which of them the declaration puts on the association.
Cracks, failed sealant, soft boards and rusted rails are listed as repairs before the coating, and anything that turns out to be decayed wood is separated out for the board to see.
Where the buildings predate 1978, the pamphlet and written notices reach the owner and every affected unit, or are posted in the common areas, before the work starts.
The program is set building by building and elevation by elevation, with the manager naming the parking and entrances that cannot be blocked, so residents know which face is worked in which week.
Surfaces are prepared with the ground sheeted 10 feet out, nearby doors and windows closed, and no open flame in use.
After a lead renovation the work area and the ground are visually checked clean, and the board receives the product list, the color schedule and photographs of every elevation.
An association repaint is scoped from the declaration and the reserve plan first, and from the color deck second. Who owns which surface decides what the estimate may include, and a board that settles that before the walk-round gets one number.
Where association and apartment repaints run
Condominium and townhouse tracts
Stucco bays with siding panels between them, garage doors facing the private drives, and fencing and patio walls the declaration may or may not include.
Garden apartment complexes
Two and three-storey blocks with shared stairs and walkway rails, repainted a block at a time so each stair stays in use.
Pre-1978 apartment blocks
Older wood trim and painted stucco where surface preparation runs under the lead renovation rules and notices reach every affected unit first.
Mixed-ownership tracts
Where owners maintain some exterior surfaces themselves, the scope is drawn so the association's work and the owner's stop cleanly at the same line.
Buildings with balconies and walkways
The wall face and the rails are repainted here; the balcony structure and its walking surface are a separate scope under dry rot repair.
Occupied buildings through summer
Work runs in the dry months with early starts on sun-facing elevations, and residents keep their entrances, parking and laundry routes throughout.
Questions about HOA and apartment exterior painting
Far enough to land in the dry months and to have the reserve position settled. Boards usually take the walk-round and the estimate through the winter, approve at a meeting, and have the work run in the dry half of the year, which also gives time for the notices a pre-1978 building needs.
Yes. Nothing happens inside a unit, and the only ask is that the doors and windows on the face being prepared stay shut while the crew is within 20 feet, and that patio furniture, plants and vehicles are moved clear of that elevation for the day. Notices give each building its dates before anything starts.
The wall faces, the rails and the soffits are painted here. The balcony structure, its decking and its walking surface belong to dry rot repair, and boards on an inspection cycle usually line the two up: the balcony inspection guide sets out what that report has to contain.
The preparation. Components are tested first, or the job runs as a lead renovation: written notice to each affected unit, the ground sheeted, nearby openings closed, no open-flame burning, and a visual check of the work area and the ground before containment comes down.
Yes. The product list and the color schedule go to the board at handover, with photographs by elevation and the written scope the work was priced against, so the next cycle is planned from a record.
HOA and apartment exterior painting by city
An association or apartment repaint is requested through the stucco, siding and painting page for your city, which covers its tracts and permit route.
Related stucco repair services
