Creating Sustainable, Resilient, and Healthy HOAs
CAP Management is a Certifiably Green Denver Business and an industry leader in community and HOA sustainability. As the only HOA Management Company in the Denver Metro Area with a dedicated sustainability department, we are committed to helping your association in the topics of:
We utilize HOA Management as a tool for community-scale sustainability initiatives. We have developed a suite of customizable services that allows your HOA to thrive – both today and into the future:
Sustainability Assessments for Associations
The purpose of a Sustainability Assessment is to provide an objective analysis of a property’s environmental and financial status as it relates to sustainability. Environmentally, the assessment analyzes and benchmarks a community’s water consumption, including indoor water usage as well as water used for irrigation in the landscape. An energy analysis is conducted for the property’s common utilities such as boilers, elevators, or hallway lighting.
Analyzing these historical consumption trends of energy and water-use can be an effective tool for association budgeting, which should not be overlooked in terms of fiscal sustainability, especially as utility rates continually increase. Additionally, the assessment establishes a baseline consumption level, which helps to determine the cost-savings potential of various conservation initiatives and upgrades. With well-documented data, the effectiveness of sustainability projects can be measured and tracked in a before/after scenario – another useful tool for HOA financial planning.
Project Management for HOA Sustainability Projects
Project Management is the mechanism used to take your community’s sustainability initiative from start to finish. Sustainable Project Management is a collaborative process between the Association’s Board of Directors, the HOA Management Company, community residents, and any hired consultants or performance contractors.
A complex sustainability project can have many moving parts, including barriers to change and obstacles to overcome. A skilled project manager will demonstrate the ability to move through the inherit HOA’s challenges while working towards the desired outcome. Important aspects of sustainable project management include: setting goals and objectives; defining roles and responsibilities; agreeing on the scope of work; developing a communication plan; providing oversight of implementation; and conducting a post-project evaluation.
HOA Board Member Training and Advising
The purpose of a sustainability training is to equip HOA Board Members with the skills and tools to bring sustainability to the forefront of HOA decision-making. The training utilizes both an educational and practical approach, which has proven to be a durable and long-lasting method of influencing the way HOAs operate.
The education training covers environmental issues from a regional perspective, answering questions like “why water conservation matters for Denver HOAs?”, or “why HOAs should provide electric vehicle charging stations?” The tools are more pragmatic, covering the nuts and bolts of sustainability and conservation initiatives, which might include ways to take advantage of free services, or how to apply for grants and rebates for community projects.
Sustainability Committee Formation and Management
HOA Committees are often described as the lifeblood of a strong HOA, performing work that the Board of Directors wouldn’t otherwise be able to accomplish. Sustainability Committees are composed of interested and engaged residents with a desire to enhance their community.
On average, we’ve found that between 12%-18% of all HOA residents are interested in sustainability issues in their community, especially in the topics of water, energy, and waste. With some supporting guidance and oversight from the HOA Management Company, a resident-led committee can be trusted to make well-informed sustainability recommendations to their HOA. Oftentimes, the most effective initiatives emerge from within the community itself.
Community and Resident Campaigns
Many sustainability opportunities are designed for individual residents rather than the Association at large, like solar panel systems or thermostat upgrades. In a portfolio-wide survey, we found that many residents would greatly appreciate help from their association on services or opportunities for household sustainability. By working collaboratively with the Board of Directors, a community-wide campaign can be designed and launched with the goal of making sustainability easy for the residents.
Such campaigns have proven to be beneficial for all community residents. For example, a property-wide toilet retrofit program has the potential to save millions of gallons each year, a success enjoyed by all HOA dues-paying residents.
Access to our Sustainability Network
The Greater Denver Area is a national leader in urban sustainability, resiliency, and community wellness. This thriving network of sustainability professionals ranges from conservation-oriented water providers, like Aurora Water, to innovative trash, recycling, and compost collectors, like the Trash Gurus. CAP Management is also proud to have partnered with CU Boulder’s Masters of the Environment Program, working with talented graduate-level students on solving real-world sustainability problems.
HOAs have numerous resources and support available. If CAP Management can’t provide you with a sustainability solution ourselves, we know someone who can!
