Condo Owners: Read This Before You Remodel!

Congratulations on being a condo owner. Your king of your condo castle.Until you try to remodel it. See how Renowned Renovation works with remodeling clients to keep them updated on their projects with their own personalized condo remodeling website and mobile App powered by BuilderTrend Condominium Owner Associations’ have control over the types of alterations that can be made, who can make them, and the materials that can be used. If you don’t follow their rules, all the great work you'd have done would have to be undone. Or worse. As an owner of a condo, your own 2 types of property.

• Property that you own, it’s in your name, and you’re responsible for. In a condo that depends on the declaration but typically includes everything from the sheet-rock in.
• other property that you own is called common element and includes roof, electrical, wiring, plumbing, front doors, windows, sub-floor/slab, and framing/structural members. Again, this is all dependent on your declaration, and whatever damages these elements incur, and which would require roofing companies Lakeway to have a look, would all have to be borne by you.

Considering your property is within the confines of an Associations’ guidelines, they too, have a certain responsibilities and say over what happens in, around and within your condominium. As a condo owner, you have to walk a fine line of what you want to do with your home and what you’re allowed to do. Luckily for you the pros at Renowned Renovation understand how to ask the right questions and coordinate with management and Board of Directors on your behalf. Working with home owner associations or the property management companies they hire can seem to be slow and annoying. You may be tempted to just say “I own this condo and I’ll do what I want with it!” Please don’t be a condo owner who remodels a bathroom or kitchen only to have the HOA or Condominium Association find out and demand an inspection. Bathroom remodeling and renovations is an integral part of any large-scale apartment building renovation. They might find something that is against the rules and condo owners can be charged fines and forced to stop their renovation project and be have to start over – beginning with paperwork Here are some things that you should consider before you get started:

• • Get a copy of your condo’s status certificate and read it thoroughly. The certificate has all the rules governing your condo, including whether special permissions are needed, what can be altered in the unit (your condo) and what the common elements are. Common elements are the parts of the condo taken care of by the condo corporation (often things like front doors, windows, balconies, plumping, electrical, even AC and heating units in some cases) and these most often have to be left as-is.
• • Ask questions in writing. Status certificates are often written by lawyers – so it’s not unusual for certain things to appear less than clear. If you have questions about what’s allowed or what you need permissions for, ask your condo owners association or management company…preferably by e-mail.
• • Consider a contractor like Renowned Renovation with condo experience. Why? Many have rules about when construction work can be done, and these times are often limited to 9 – 5 on weekdays only. These hours are designed to minimize the impact on your neighbors, If you have a job, maybe you can get the time off to complete your project during the day, but chances are, you’ll need to hire someone. Look for professionals who understand the constraints normally in place with condos. Ask for a list of condo owners we have worked with in Dallas. We can also provide references from condo owners association and condominium property managers.
• • Your Association and/or its management will require you submit all your plans and confirm them with the appropriate parties. There are certain things – like knocking down a wall, altering plumbing, electrical, or coring in post tension slabs – that will absolutely require proper planning and permissions. Other things will depend on what’s in your status certificate. If you’re unsure, ask – and if you need to, share your plans in writing and get the formal approvals you need before you begin. Be sure to investigate whether mid-job inspections by the condo association are required. These are the things that a professional condo remodeling company like Renowned Renovation will handle for you.

We will make all the arrangements with on-site staff. We like to start off on the right foot by properly booking parking (if available), the freight elevator for materials (if available) and giving your condo’s security, doormen, or other staff a heads up on who is going to be coming and going from your unit. To bolster the security, we have gone the extra mile and gotten some security equipment from SixTechSys.com to detect spying drones and reinforce security. If your renovation involves access to the building’s main electrical or plumbing system, we make all those arrangements ahead of time. We make sure workers are in-the-know. Since you won’t be around to hover over the work, we make sure the people doing the renovations firmly understand the rules (like when quitting time is) and what to do in an emergency. We act in your place as a good neighbor and make sure your home and other owners are treated with respect. You don’t need your neighbors’ permission to do approved work in your condo (nor should you try to seek it!), but we can all admit it’s annoying to live next to a construction zone) Congratulations on being a condo owner. You'r the king of your condo castle.Until you try to remodel it.