This Project is to replace the Wooden front and back fences and gates with brand new construction in vinyl. Some images are below.
The situation: Wooden Fences
- Wooden fences begin to decay almost immediately.
- The decayed fences give the community a rundown appearance.
- Wooden fences are cost and labor intensive to maintain over time.
- Many owners have allowed the fences to just fall apart – most have no gates anymore.
- The fences were all installed at all different times so some are in advanced stages of decay and others are not so bad. A few are fairly new.
- The fences do not follow any standard, so they are all slightly different.
- They used to be stained wood and six years ago when a past board had the buildings painted, they also had them paint all the fences grey.
The Resolution: Vinyl Fences
- Vinyl fences can last up to 20 to 25 years.
- Vinyl fences have come down in cost and wooden fences have gone up.
- Vinyl fences only need to be pressure cleaned to maintain.
- New fences will all then match and have gates / hardware that match.
- Vinyl fences should hold their look and integrity through the years much better than wood.
- Front 4′ high vinyl fences would have reinforced poles where the gates are attached so they do not sag over time.
The issues: One time cost
- Wooden fences are the Owner’s responsibility to maintain and replace.
- The COA documents say the fences are not COA property.
- If the Board should approve a new design of vinyl fences it could be many years before all the owners would replace their fences with the new design. Leaving the community run down and not cohesive design.
The possible answer:
- The board would approve a community wide project for all fences to be replaced at one time.
- Since the COA would be getting the price on all 136 units at one time, we can expect a very good, discounted price for all owners.
- The fences would be paid for by the Owners with a one-time special assessment – we assume at this time it would be around $3300. However, we are still getting quotes from other companies. Single unit estimates for vinyl have been around the $5600 range and wood around $4800.
- Owners could pay all up front or over time with finance fees.
- The cost would be a lot less than what a new wooden fence would cost to replace.
- All fences would be installed at the same time making a community wide change for the better.
- The board would ask the Owners to vote for an amendment that would take the fence responsibly out of the documents and move it to the COA as a new reserve fund.
- The COA would then have 20 to 25 years to collect that Fence reserve fund over time at a few dollars per month added to the quarterly fees.
- The installation could be coordinated to happen after the painting of the buildings.
The shadowbox design similar to the existing wooden fences
The Lattice work top design – less expensive but doesn’t let the breeze flow through.
