Highlights
- Atlantic Hurricane Season starts June 1. Audit in April or early May, while there’s still time to fix what’s broken.
- Five audits to run: insurance and named-windstorm deductibles, vendor contracts, resident communication, the hurricane plan itself, and reserve accessibility.
- Synergistic Community Association (CAM) offers Tampa Bay boards a free 30-minute hurricane plan second-opinion review.
Talk to any Florida Homeowners Association (HOA) or Condominium Association (COA) Board treasurer in mid-September after a near-miss, and the same regret surfaces: they wish they’d audited the hurricane plan in April, when there was still time to fix what was broken. At Synergistic Community Association Management (CAM), we run this five-point audit for every Florida association we manage every spring.
1. Audit insurance and named-windstorm deductibles
Florida insurance has shifted hard. What your policy covered two renewals ago isn’t what it covers today. Pull the latest policy and read the named-windstorm deductible, the all-other-perils deductible, and the hurricane sublimits. When we take on a Tampa Bay association, we translate those numbers into actual dollar exposure for the board.
2. Re-read every vendor contract
This is what the audit boards skip most. Most landscape, pool, and cleanup contracts haven’t been re-read since signing. We look for defined named-storm response, enforceable response times, and capped post-storm rates. Our office keeps a current vendor file for every association we manage. It decides whether a community recovers in three weeks or three months.
3. Update your resident communication plan
A plan in a binder doesn’t help residents at 11 PM on a Sunday. Yours should specify how the board reaches residents, who sends what, and the post-storm cadence. At Synergistic CAM, every managed community has its own webpage, with notifications from your online portal and a contact who answers the phone.
4. Confirm your hurricane plan is actually current
A current plan is one that the sitting board re-approved in the last 12 months, with current vendors and carriers named, and put in residents’ hands. Most plans we inherit fail two of those tests. Common gaps: contact lists with people who left two years ago, vendors no longer under contract, post-storm protocols assuming a manager who’s since changed. We deliver a one-page gap summary with a line-by-line review with the board president and treasurer.
5. Check reserves and their accessibility
Two halves. Is the reserve study current and being funded on schedule? And, the half board forgets: is the money actually accessible if the board needs an emergency draw within 24 hours? Reserves stuck in instruments with redemption windows or settlement delays don’t help when contractors need a deposit the day after a storm. Our pre-season report flags both halves for every Tampa Bay association we manage.
Looking for a community association management partner in Florida?
For the associations we manage, this five-point audit is a standard spring service. For boards working with another company, we offer a free 30-minute hurricane plan second-opinion review. Bring the plan, walk through it with us, and get a written one-page gap summary. No commitment, no proposal.
Synergistic Community Association Management (CAM) is a certified woman-owned firm (State of Florida, Hillsborough County, City of Tampa) managing HOAs, condominium associations, and master associations across Florida. Local team, Midwestern work ethic, and a dedicated point of contact for every community, rather than a call center ticket queue. Questions about pre-season audits, statutory compliance, or transitioning from another management company?
Call us. Someone picks up.
☎️ 813-940-8588
🌐 synergisticcam.com
✉️ hello@synergisticcam.com
📍 4511 N. Himes Ave., Suite 125, Tampa, FL 33614
