HOAs and community associations
HOA answering service for after-hours calls
After hours, association calls are about the things nobody owns alone: the gate, the pool, the roof over six units. Mae answers in your company name, sends common-area emergencies to whoever is on call for that association, and logs the rest for your team.
Thursday night
Lakeview Estates HOA, 240 homes- 9:52 PMTom Becker · 555-0177 · 18 Heron Way“The main gate is stuck open and cars are driving straight in.”Emergency
- 9:53 PMCalling Rosa Diaz, on-call for Lakeview · answered, connected
- 10:31 PMLinda Park · 555-0119 · board member“Can you tell the manager the pool lights are out again?”Logged for morning
- 10:33 PMLogged for the manager with Lakeview's name and Linda's number
Example calls. Names and numbers are invented.
Short answer
What does an HOA answering service do?
It answers the management company's line for each association when the office is closed. Common-area emergencies such as a roof leak into several units or a gate stuck open go to the on-call contact for that association. Homeowner repairs and board messages are logged with the association's name for the morning.
Last updated
Why are association calls hard to answer at night?
Common areas have no single owner
A tenant calls their landlord. A homeowner with water coming through the ceiling from the roof calls whoever answers, and that is often your personal cell.
Whose repair is it?
A leak inside a home is usually the owner's problem. A leak from the roof or a shared pipe is the association's. The night answerer needs your rules to tell the two apart.
Every association has its own list
One board wants a call for a stuck gate, another only for water or fire. Keeping track of that across several associations is a job in itself.
What does a missed common-area call cost?
Damage across several homes
A roof or shared-pipe leak does not stop at one unit. Each hour it waits can add another homeowner, and another claim against the association.
Security and liability
A gate or garage door stuck open overnight is an open door to the whole community, and the board will ask who knew and when.
A board that wants a record
When the board asks what happened on Thursday night, a timestamped log of who called and who was reached is a much better answer than a recollection.
What changes when the right contact gets the call?
Common-area emergencies reach the person on call for that association, and homeowner repairs stop waking you up.
Each association on its own rules
Mae knows which association the caller belongs to from the address and follows that list and ladder.
Homeowner repairs handled politely
Your script explains what the association covers and what it does not, and the call is logged in case the board wants to follow up.
A record for every board meeting
Every call and every attempt is timestamped, with the association name on it.
What do association calls look like after hours?
- Emergency
Roof leaks into several units
Water from the roof or a shared pipe goes to your on-call ladder. Mae asks how many homes are affected.
- Your list
Gates and garage doors
Stuck open or stuck shut. Your list says whether it is a call tonight or a ticket for the morning.
- Your list
Pools, sprinklers and amenities
A broken sprinkler head flooding the street, pool lights out, a clubhouse door left open. Logged or escalated by your rules.
- Logged for morning
Repairs inside a home
Mae explains, from your script, that repairs inside the home are the owner's, and logs the call for your team.
- Owners and board
Board members
Recognized by name and number and passed to the manager as a message, so they stop calling your cell at night.
- Logged
Neighbor complaints
Noise, parking and pets, logged with the address. If someone feels unsafe, Mae tells them to call 911.
How does Mae tell an association repair from a homeowner repair?
She follows the responsibility rules you give her for each association. When the rules do not cover a call, she treats it the safe way you choose: escalate, or log it for the morning.
Example associations. Names are invented.
- Common elements (roof, exterior walls, shared pipes, gates, pools) follow the association's emergency list.
- Repairs inside a home are explained as the owner's responsibility, in your words, and logged.
- Calls that could be either, such as water coming through a ceiling, are escalated unless your rules say otherwise.
- Board members and committee chairs can be named so their calls reach the manager as messages.
Lakeview Estates
On-call: Rosa, then the manager. Gate stuck open: call tonight.
Pine Ridge Townhomes
On-call: the community's own tech, then Rosa. Pool calls: log for morning.
What does it cost?
Billed by the second, not rounded up. Spam and wrong numbers are not counted. Setup is $297 on monthly plans and free on annual plans.
Starter
$197 / month
500 minutes, about 150 calls. Then $0.35 a minute.
Growth
$397 / month
1,250 minutes, about 400 calls. Then $0.30 a minute.
Portfolio
$797 / month
2,500 minutes, about 800 calls. Then $0.25 a minute.
Call counts assume about 3 minutes a call. See full pricing and how it compares
HOA manager questions
Can each association have its own after-hours rules?
What happens when a homeowner calls about a repair inside their home?
Can board members reach the manager after hours?
Which plan fits a company that manages several associations?
Bring your association list. We will set up each one.
On a 20-minute setup call we go through your properties, your emergency list and who is on call. You leave with a plan and a price.