The below links and calculators are useful in developing more reliable age, cost, inflation and measurements for the site and building components that are to be considered when budgeting for reserves. An accurate and comprehensive component list, which is based on component measurements and quantities, is the most important factor when budgeting for reserves as all funding models developed are based on this list. Unreliable information will result in unreliable funding models.
Age / In-Service Date
Cost Data
Inflation
Site Component Calculators
Building Calculators
Useful Life Charts
Age / In-Service Date
One of the most important aspects of the reserve study process is determining when building and site components were installed and/or built. Often site and building components are constructed or remodeled at the same time so finding just a few actual dates can be extremely helpful. Manufactures often like to label their material with a code (deciphering the code can typically be found online) for quality. Here are a few other pictures, tips, and links we have found helpful in determining when an item was placed in service:
+ Electrical Wiring (typicaly stamped)
+ Fire Hydrants (typically same age as underground water pipe)
+ Light Fixture Labels (often inside or rear of fixture)
+ Mailbox Clusters (label typically on rear)
+ Mechanical Equipment - Boilers / Hot Water Heaters / HVAC (serial number lookup)
- Vehicle Gate Operators (typically on label)
+ Windows Frames Date (often stamped or labeled)
Cost Data
It is important to remember that commercial construction costs are typically significantly more expensive than residential costs. Most of the information online is for single family residential projects which will be less reliable when trying to estimate costs for multifamily, common interest communities and commercial buildings.
Inflation
There are many indices tracking inflation rates for all types of commodities, industries, services, etc. however there are relatively few that track the inflation rate in the construction industry – specifically cost to the end consumer and even fewer that specifically track output costs (i.e., the selling costs to the end consumer, after the Vendor profit and overhead has been considered). Below are some of the more commonly referred to inflation indices that we have found useful.
Site Component Calculators
Building Calculators
Useful Life Charts
Outside of Client records and our own experiences, there is ample data on useful life of building and site components. We have found that our experiences fall right in line with these different useful life charts and tables published by very credible sources. We have linked to some of them below:
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