Sooner or later, every resident living in a condo, HOA or co-op community will  have to deal with the inconvenience of living through a major capital  improvement project—a roof replacement, an elevator rehab, serious exterior work, or something of  that nature. No matter how carefully the project is scheduled, inevitably it  will be disturbing someone. But with strategic planning and constant  communication between board members, residents, management and the project  crew, the hassle of the project can be significantly reduced.  

 Those Pesky Projects

 All capital improvement projects have their major inconveniences but industry  professionals note that some are definitely more disruptive than others, namely  a roof or façade replacement, or even a road repair.  

 “The most disruptive projects are the ones that obviously are going to interrupt  daily routines of those residents,” says Russ Zwergel, senior manager at Cambridge Property Management in Totowa. “For example, a roofing project where residents' routine is going to be  interrupted because of access to the premises.”  

 Exterior projects such as repaving the parking lot have also proven to require  tip top organizational skills from management. “The milling up of old pavement, preparation of the underlayment and then  actually repaving the lot, you have to keep people off that surface for a  couple of days. When you to take people away from where they are accustomed to  parking, you have to make sure that everything is moved so the project can go  off,” says Scott Dalley, senior vice president at Access Property Management in  Flemington. “Those kinds of projects are typically the most difficult in terms of how they  affect the residents.”  

 Although some projects can be done without interfering with the lives of the  residents, the noise, dust, disruption and general hassle can sometimes be  unavoidable.