Electric Vehicle Charging Capabilities
Ready or not, the future is here. One of the most complex situations every HOA will face, if they’ve not already, is how to handle the quickly emerging demand for electric vehicle (EV) charging capabilities. Per the US Department of Energy, between 2015-2020, the number of EV charging stations installed throughout the country doubled. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of charging stations has doubled again. As electric vehicles become more accessible and affordable, demand has and will continue to increase. The issue associations are currently facing is how they can accommodate residents who make the switch to electric vehicles. Accommodating electric vehicles presents different challenges at each unique Association: Will the underground parking garage of a condo building offer charging stations in each garage stall? Will the association install a common area station somewhere for residents to share? Does the detached garage in the townhome association have an adequate electricity supply to the structure to handle 240-volt charging stations should a homeowner want to install one? Is the transformer to the townhome metered separately, and does it have the bandwidth to allow owners to install a station in their private garage? How will costs be handled? Sharper is excited to announce a recent partnership with the experts at HOAMEV to assist HOAs with answering these questions. HOAMEV is equipped to offer installation, setup, and electrical service upgrades and, perhaps most importantly, are experts in interpreting and working with association governing documents. The first step is to evaluate and audit your association’s existing electrical infrastructure and electricity usage. This electrical audit provides the information that HOAMEV needs to develop a plan to accommodate for the inevitability of being ready for electric vehicle charging capabilities at your association. The cost for the electrical audit is roughly $1,000 per association. The audit takes place over the course of a 30-day period, is unintrusive, and will not affect or interrupt electrical service. Your homeowners likely won’t even know the audit is taking place. If you are interested in exploring this opportunity, speak to your Community Manager and they can connect you with a HOAMEV representative. It is important that associations act soon. While the electrical audits can be conducted now, supplies for installing electric vehicle charging capabilities are currently limited, and installers are already booked into the fall of 2023. If you haven’t started the process yet, you are already behind.
2023 Sharper Events: Save-the-Dates
Join us for the following events throughout 2023. All events are FREE to Board members serving Associations managed by Sharper. Board Training Schedule: April 19 – Roles & Responsibilities of the Board & Governing Documents July 12 – Associations Defined & Property Management Practices October 25 – Insurance & Financials March 22 – New Client Orientation May 18 – Board Member Appreciation BBQ July 14 – Annual Sharper Scramble Golf Tournament August 16 – New Client Orientation
Sharper Launches Educational Video Library
We are extremely excited to launch our Video Resource Library – which contains nearly 100 professionally filmed educational videos with topics ranging from insurance to governing documents, to financials, to association meetings, and more. Although there are nearly 6 hours of total footage, each video is a short 2-8 minutes long with a very specific and focused topic. Feel free to browse around for topics that might intrigue you. “We are excited to launch this resource for our Board members, homeowners, and even as a refresher and training center for our own managers,” said Sharper Management owner and CEO Dan Cunningham. “We look forward to adding more in the future!” You can enter the video library at https://sharpermanagement.com/resource-library-2/ You can also see the videos through our weekly Tuesday Training Topic post by following us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/880327.
A Sharper Focus on 2022
Looking back on 2021, it was certainly a rollercoaster ride for Sharper Management. The successes are many. Continued growth and securing 20 new association accounts. Retention of existing accounts remained strong at 98%. The processes and structure of the Client Care Department continues improving our customer service level. The partnership with Finite Business Solutions has already shown great value in efforts to collect outstanding assessments. The switch to Alliance Association Bank for all Operating Checking accounts has better streamlined accounting and reduced banking cost to clients. Our team of 15-portfolio community managers is as strong as we’ve ever had. And, as previously mentioned, we closed out the year taking home half (four of eight) of the awards at the Community Association Institutes’ Annual Gala and Vision Award event held earlier this month. It has been an amazing year of change and success! The low of the year, of course, was the untimely and tragic death of Sharper patriarch and founder Matt Froehlich. A void that certainly can never be filled; however, in tragedy comes opportunity. Opportunity to refocus and to retool, and to emerge from the loss and make Sharper stronger. As we enter 2022, Sharper has made significant changes in our leadership structure that we are excited to share. 30-year industry veteran and 10-year Sharper leader, Candy Lee will take on the task as president of operations. She will oversee and provide leadership to all functions and departments of Sharper Management. Sharper leader and seasoned veteran, Natalie Martynow will fill the role of vice president of community management, overseeing all 170 accounts and mentoring the growth of our 15 community managers. Experienced community managers Tom Parsons, Kim DuPont, and Chris Gosse will fill newly created roles as senior community managers, providing mentoring and support opportunities for new and in-training managers. Grant Peterson, director of client care, will continue leading the ever-growing and evolving client care team. Returning to Sharper is another industry veteran and long-time employee, Josh Reams, who will fill the role of director of business development and education, focusing on continued company growth, marketing efforts, and education opportunities for Board members and staff. Todd Essig remains the accounting manager, overseeing all areas of financial management. Dan Cunningham and Nick Schilling remain the owners and operators. We are extremely proud of things accomplished in 2021 and are even more excited about the great things to come in 2022!