Reserve Study Companies in Boston

Triple-deckers and brick rowhouses converted into two, three and six-unit associations fill Somerville, Cambridge, Dorchester, South Boston, Jamaica Plain and Brookline. Back Bay and the South End have brownstone associations, the Seaport and downtown have newer towers, and the suburbs from Quincy to Waltham and Woburn have garden and townhome associations of a more usual size.

Adequate reserves, undefined

Massachusetts law requires every condominium to keep an adequate replacement reserve fund in a segregated account (M.G.L. c.183A, s.10) but does not require a study or define adequate, and after the developer leaves, owners with 67 percent of the beneficial interest can modify the requirement each year. For a small self-managed association, a reserve study is often the first document that puts a number on the roof, the masonry, the porches and the back stairs.

New England firms based in eastern and central Massachusetts and New Hampshire cover Greater Boston. For a three-unit association the fee is small and travel is a larger share of it, so ask whether the firm offers a shorter study for small buildings or can visit several nearby associations on one day.

Proposals from firms in different cities will differ on the level of service and the travel line before they differ on the fee. Comparing proposals sets out what to read first, and the firms near you page explains how distance is priced.