Group Re-Lamping: A "Lights Out" Way for Your Association to Save on Maintenance Costs

Group Re-Lamping refers to the practice of replacing all the bulbs or "lamps" in the Community's common areas on a scheduled basis. Since most light bulbs have a reasonably accurate life expectancy, it should be fairly easy for the Association's Maintenance Superintendent to create a replacement schedule based on this benchmark. Bulb manufacturers can be consulted regarding their products to determine what the life cycle of each bulb should be.

So how does the Association save money by implementing this program? Changing bulbs costs money. And time. And labor. Most Associations replace bulbs as they burn out on an as-needed basis. However, this approach is inherently wasteful and inefficient because it requires the issuance and administration of more work orders and interruptions in labor scheduling. Instead, try leveraging the cost of replacement over several bulb fixtures and amortize that cost across all installations for the community. The Association will save money by purchasing the bulbs in bulk as they are needed for the specific area scheduled for replacement, and labor will be more efficiently managed because of the planned outages. As a beneficial side-effect, the property will enjoy better overall lighting which promotes a safer environment for its residents.

*special thanks to the Vendome Group, LLC, Insider's Guide to Managing Community Associations.