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Last month, our advertiser GAB Robins North America, Inc., told
us about Insurance Appraisals.
This month they will explain how a having a Reserve Study
prepared can help you better manage your business’s resources.
You learned
last month how a catastrophic loss can be devastating if your
insurance coverage is inadequate due to an underestimate of your
property’s reproduction costs. A less dramatic, yet just
as serious shortfall can occur when a major maintenance item hits
and there are inadequate funds in the budget to handle it. Yet, this is a disaster that you can also avoid
through good planning and with the help of the experts at GAB
Robins. |
“I
have found that many properties budget for maintenance and repair
expenses based on past experience,” says Stephen F. Brubaker,
Reserve Study Specialist at GAB Robins. “This is not always the
best approach.” While no one can foresee the future, a good Reserve
Study can prepare you to meet most maintenance and repair expenses
without blowing the budget.
In addition
to calculating insurance valuations, the appraisers at GAB Robins
are experts at preparing a thorough Reserve Study analysis for
your property. In its simplest form, a Reserve Study is a
list of common maintenance items, when these repair/replacements
are anticipated and an estimate of their cost.
A professionally prepared Reserve Study is much more than
that. It is a complete financial plan. In addition to projecting repair costs, a Reserve
Study should accurately project the remaining useful life of each
component selected by the client to be included in the study and
estimate which year each maintenance or repair item will be needed. A Reserve Study should also calculate the amount of annual contributions
required to be added to existing reserve funds to ensure adequate
capital is available to meet each expense item in the future. |
You
may contact Mr. Brubaker, at GAB Robins, at 800-248-3376 ext.
379 (FL only) or 407-805-0086 ext. 379, for more information about
how their experts can help you prepare for ongoing maintenance
and repair items. Since
the appraisers at GAB Robins are experienced in both insurance
appraisal and reserve studies, they can prepare both reports at
the same time with one site inspection and at a savings over the
cost of two individual reports.
Remember that when selecting an individual or firm to work
with, look at how long they have been in business and ask for
references. Ask other
clubs for referrals. Also
ask about updates. Once
the original insurance appraisal or reserve study is done, you
should be able to obtain updated reports each year for a fraction
of the original fee.
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