FAQ

Common questions about Commonhold.

Who owns the data, how studies fit in, and where the numbers come from. Anything else, ask us.

Ownership

Who owns the data?: The association. A reserve firm works in it through an engagement and a management company through the association naming it as managing agent, but the association’s own members hold the admin seats. Nobody outside the association can delete the workspace, remove its members or turn off its export.
What happens if we change reserve firms, or management companies?: Nothing happens to the Asset Register. Every published study, photo, document and scenario stays. The new firm is invited to an engagement and starts from your history instead of a blank questionnaire; the new management company is named as managing agent and its people see the same record.
Can we take our data out?: Yes, any time, whatever you pay for: the Asset Register as a spreadsheet, every published study as a PDF, and a full export of the whole association. There is also the property book, a printable record of every component and its history, for whoever comes next.

Is Commonhold a reserve study?: No. In Washington, California, Nevada, Florida and the other states that require one, a reserve study is prepared and signed by a qualified professional. Commonhold is where that study lives and where your professional can publish the next one. What the board records between studies sits beside the signed figures, marked as the association’s own, and is never printed as a study.
Do we have to switch reserve firms to use it?: No. Import your current firm’s study and use Commonhold on your side. Invite the firm to publish into it when they are ready; publishing a signed study into your workspace costs them nothing. If they would rather not, you still have a working model of the study they gave you.
Does Commonhold sell reserve studies or refer us to firms?: No. We don’t perform studies, we don’t run a marketplace, and we don’t broker leads. If you need a firm, your state’s CAI chapter and APRA both keep directories.
What are the “levels” of study, and does Commonhold care?: National standards define a full study with a site visit, an update with a site visit, and an update without one. Your state sets the cadence. Commonhold records the level on every published study and tells you which one is due, and when.

How do I know the projection matches our study?: The match report. When you import a study, Commonhold recomputes it and shows every year’s expenses, starting balance, interest and fully funded balance next to the study’s own figures, and says where they agree. You don’t have to trust the model before it has earned it.
Where do the useful lives and costs come from?: From your study, or from the figures your board enters, and every value says which. We don’t supply a library of typical lives and costs yet. Your professional’s signed figures stay beside whatever you change, so you can always see the difference.
Can a published study be edited after the fact?: No. A published study is fixed and fingerprinted. A correction is a new version, and every version shows what changed against the last: components added and removed, lives and costs changed, and what each change does in dollars.

The study says the roof has ten years. A roofer says two. Now what?: Record what the roofer said against the roof: a note, a photo, the quote. Then correct the roof’s expected year, with the roofer’s report as the reason. The plan moves; the signed study’s figure stays beside it, so you can see how far you’ve drifted. If a firm is engaged, the correction goes to them as a change request to confirm or answer.
Do we have to walk the property every week?: No. Once a year is plenty, and the Asset Register is useful even if you never do: it’s the record that’s ready when a question comes. The walk is for the things a study can’t see between visits.
Can we plan something new, like a pickleball court or a generator?: Yes. Add it as an idea with a cost and a useful life, and see what it does to the plan before the board decides anything.

What is the Reserve Disclosure Pack, and is it the whole resale certificate?: It’s the reserve section that state resale laws require you to give a buyer: the study’s status, percent funded as the signed study states it, planned projects and special assessments. It is made from your signed study, stamped with that study’s fingerprint, and delivered as a PDF and a link. It is not the whole certificate: litigation, insurance, minutes and use restrictions are the board’s to supply, and the pack’s cover says so. Washington, California and Florida have their own packs; a general pack covers every other state.
Can a buyer or lender check the pack wasn’t altered?: Yes. Every pack names the signed study it came from, the preparer’s credential, and a fingerprint of its contents. The link shows the same, it expires, and it can be revoked.

We’re self-managed with 40 units and a treasurer with a day job. Is this for us?: Especially for you. There’s no manager’s system holding your history, so the Asset Register is the only record. Import the study, put the roof, the dock and the well in it, and it’s done until something happens.
Does it work on a phone? Offline?: Yes. Install it from the browser. Pages you have opened stay readable without a connection, marked as offline copies, and a walk keeps photos and notes until you’re back in signal.
Who can see our data, and does an AI see it?: Your association’s members, the firms and managers you have let in, and anyone you send the read-only owner link. Every change is logged with who made it and when. We never sell or share community data. Answers is the one place a language model is involved: it turns your question into a goal and words the answer, and every figure in that answer comes from the plan engine, not the model.
What if Commonhold goes away?: Your full export works today, on any plan, without asking us. A record that’s only portable while the vendor is around isn’t portable.

Import the reserve study you paid for, or start from a spreadsheet. Your Asset Register is free.