Hurricane Ian hit us back in September, and communication has been somewhat one-sided for the past seven weeks.
As owners, we need to make decisions in our personal lives. However, with little transparency and communication, it has been nearly impossible to plan anything.
We have now received an email update that addresses some of the unknowns we’ve been gossiping about and worrying about for weeks.
In my opinion, the biggest news is that our roof replacement is approximately 5-6 months out. However, this is subject to change based on the following timeline:
- An engineer is currently designing the plans/specifications for the new roof.
- Once complete, our adjuster and insurance company will agree on the type of design and materials.
- For a few weeks, we’ll accept bids from roofing contractors.
- Replacement will begin when our insurance company, adjuster, and the selected contractor finalize all details and approve the costs.
We’ve been advised not to invest in any repairs until the roof is replaced. This makes total sense because every time it rains, I get hundreds of gallons of water; and even sometimes when it’s not raining 🙂
Jokes aside, this is the level of transparency I expect from our leaders weekly. It empowers people to “live” for the next six months. To decide where they will be for the holidays. Whether or not they should buy a new boat to live on.
This is all we have been asking for since the beginning, and it would have been better to have minor weekly updates rather than save them all up for the President’s Letter. Still, I will take it for now.
There was, however, one part that I didn’t love about the update; a threat:
Refusing entry for them to check for mold/moisture or not running the dehumidifier and air scrubber will put you at risk of having a “Release of Liability” opened on your property. This means that addressing the next water intrusion in your Condo will be your problem, and your unit will be identified as not having removed the possibility of mold.
November 20, 2022 – President’s Letter
With SouthernCAT coming in and out of units ten hours per day, seven days a week, it is unreasonable to say that a resident/owner is not allowed to deny access occasionally. Some examples off the top of my head include Sleep, Work, and Sickness.
Rather than threaten people, I’d expect our leadership team to use this update to educate anyone who is not allowing entry or running their equipment.
With two-way communication, the Board can work out why residents are not allowing access (e.g., fear of more drywall being removed or inconvenience) and why they are not running their equipment (e.g., it adds $150 to the monthly electric bill, or it trips the circuits every hour).
Once they understand the root causes, they are able to provide information and solutions that address the hurdles that SouthernCAT is facing. This is much more effective than threatening our neighbors with a “Release of Liability” being opened on their property.
With that said, here are a few tips for anyone having a hard time with this:
- If the frequency of SouthernCAT’s visits is getting to you, put a note on your door explaining when it’s more convenient for them to come. They have loads of stops, so try to remain flexible by providing windows outside their lunch/break hours, “Available between 10 am-2 pm and 4:30 pm-6 pm”.
- If possible, talk to the guys with moisture meters and ask questions to understand what they see and where.
- They will likely send a team to do mapping if moisture is found. Ask to discuss the mapping before they leave, so you clearly understand what they are proposing happens next. This is when you will discover if a drywall removal team is headed your way in the next 12-48 hours.
- If your dehumidifier or airs scrubber keeps tripping, ask SouthernCAT for one of their yellow surge protectors. This will allow you to microwave popcorn for the whole 2.5 minutes without having to remove whatever obstacle hides your ugly circuit breaker box.
- If your electric bill is through the roof (err.. higher than usual) and you have homeowner’s insurance, you can claim the difference by providing them with last year’s bill and the most current one.
As the letter states, we have a long road ahead of us. Even though SouthernCAT has experience with disasters (and they get paid handsomely for it), it doesn’t mean our Board does.
Let’s hope that this most recent update is a turning point, with more frequent updates that address common questions (sans the threats).