For boards
SIRS and reserve funding, without the adjectives
Most of what is written about Florida’s reserve rules is either a law-firm client alert or a sales page. This is neither. It explains what the study is, what the numbers in it mean, and what a board actually has to decide once it has them — in the order a board hits those questions.
The short version
A SIRS prices the seven structural components and says when each runs out. Compare what should be reserved against what is reserved and you get a funded ratio. The gap gets paid either monthly over remaining life, or all at once in an assessment letter. The nominal total is the same either way — the components cost what they cost. What running the numbers early changes is who pays, when, and whether the board chose the schedule or received it.
The seven categories
A SIRS covers the structural and weather-critical systems — roof; load-bearing structure; fireproofing and fire-protection systems; plumbing; electrical; waterproofing and exterior painting; and windows and exterior doors. Note what is not on that list: the pool, the lobby refurbishment, the parking-lot resurfacing. Those may still belong in your general reserves, but they are not what the structural rules are about.
The practical consequence is that a board can be diligently reserving for the things owners notice and still be badly behind on the things that fail expensively.
What a funded ratio actually is
Take one component. It cost C to replace, lasts L years, and has R years left. It has therefore used up L − R years of its life, so the amount that should already be sitting in reserves for it is:
fully funded balance = C × ( (L − R) ÷ L )
Do that for all seven, add them up, and divide the total actually on hand by the total that should be there. That percentage is the funded ratio. It is not an opinion and it does not depend on who prepared the study — two honest studies with the same component data produce the same ratio.
The number matters beyond the budget: it is what a buyer’s lender asks about, and a low ratio can affect whether units in the building finance easily. A reserve problem quietly becomes a resale problem.
See it done on a real set of numbers
We ran this calculation end to end on an example 48-unit building — all seven categories, every figure checkable by hand, ending in a funded ratio, the total monthly contribution required, and the one-off catch-up assessment — with the arithmetic showing why the two are different quantities and why neither route is nominally cheaper.
Read the worked example →The decision a board actually faces
Once the ratio is known, there are only a few honest options, and they trade off against each other in predictable ways:
- Raise contributions. Easiest per owner to absorb, because the same total is spread over the remaining life of each component — but note that it is the same total, not a smaller one. Politically hardest, because it shows up every month and owners feel it immediately.
- Special assessment. Fastest, and sometimes the only option when a component is nearly out of life. Most painful per owner, and the one most likely to force an owner to sell.
- Borrow. Converts a lump sum into instalments, at the cost of interest and a lien on association revenue. Useful for genuinely near-term structural work; expensive as a way of avoiding a hard conversation.
- Phase the work. Legitimate when the remaining lives genuinely differ. Not legitimate as a way of deferring the component that is closest to failure — which, in most buildings we look at, is waterproofing or the roof.
Almost every board arrives at some blend. What separates a good decision from a bad one is whether the board did the arithmetic before choosing, or chose and then went looking for arithmetic to support it.
Questions boards ask
What is a SIRS?
A Structural Integrity Reserve Study. It is a study of the building components that keep the structure standing and dry, with an estimate of what each will cost to replace and when. It is separate from a general reserve study, which may also cover things like pools, paving and clubhouse furniture.
Which buildings need one?
Florida ties the requirement to residential condominium and cooperative buildings of three storeys or more. Height is the trigger, not age or unit count — confirm your own building's status with your association attorney, because the thresholds and deadlines have been amended more than once since 2022.
What is a good funded ratio?
There is no statutory pass mark. In practice, above roughly 70% is generally treated as healthy, 30–70% as a building that is behind but manageable, and below 30% as one where a special assessment is a realistic near-term possibility. Lenders and buyers ask about this number, which is why it affects unit values and not just budgets.
Can our members still vote to waive reserves?
Not by the old routine annual waiver — for SIRS components that general ability to waive or underfund was removed effective 1 January 2025, which is what turned this from a discussion into a budget line. But the prohibition is not absolute. CS/CS/HB 913 (2025) added exceptions to F.S. 718.112(2)(f)2.: a unit-owner-controlled association that completed a milestone inspection within the two years preceding the budget may pause or reduce reserve contributions for up to two consecutive annual budgets on a majority vote of total voting interests, for budgets adopted on or before 31 December 2028; a board may pause reserve funding with no owner vote while the building is declared uninhabitable by the local building official; and reserves may be funded instead by special assessment, line of credit or loan on majority approval. A pause is a deferral, not a discount — contributions resume at the level the arithmetic requires. Non-SIRS reserves are treated differently. Confirm your own position with association counsel; this is the provision that has been amended most.
Do we have to fix everything the study finds?
A SIRS estimates and schedules; it is not a repair order. What it does is remove the option of pretending the cost is not coming. The board's real decision is how to fund it — contributions over remaining life, a special assessment, borrowing, or a combination.
Run the numbers on your building
The $24 Florida Condo & HOA Board Toolkit is this calculation as a spreadsheet you fill in: the seven-category reserve tracker, a budget model, a special-assessment calculator with payment plans, and a compliance calendar. No subscription, instant download.
Get the toolkit — $24 →Secure checkout via Gumroad · Planning guidance, not legal or engineering advice
Or have it done and signed: Board Reserve Review — $2,000
The same arithmetic, run independently on your building and written up for the meeting packet: every component rebuilt, funded ratio and annual need recomputed with the inputs shown, catch-up options priced per unit per month, and every figure we could not compute named along with the document that would fix it. Delivered within 10 business days of your complete document set, on a calendar date confirmed in writing before you pay anything. Addressed to the association and circulatable in full — board, owners, manager, auditor and association counsel. It is not a SIRS and does not replace your reserve provider.
Order the Board Reserve Review — $2,000 →Read a specimen Board Reserve Review first — the full deliverable, section by section, on a fictional building.
Flat price per building · no card on this site · invoiced to the association after the board approves the scope · contracting with Sam Arora, sole proprietor, trading as CondoRiskFL
Written 29 July 2026. Florida has amended its condominium statutes repeatedly since 2022 (SB 4-D, SB 154, HB 913), and deadlines and thresholds have moved more than once. Treat the structure described here as durable and the specifics as something to confirm — verify your association’s obligations with your association attorney and a licensed reserve study provider. See the worked example · document checklist · estoppel certificates · the document-review window · pricing.