Volunteer board members inherit an obligation almost no resident has read: the association's own recorded instrument, sitting on top of a Georgia statute that decides who maintains what. Exterior cleaning is one of the few line items where that obligation, the community's appearance, and the association's litigation exposure all land on the same invoice. A board that can name the statute behind the contract is defending a duty at the annual meeting. A board that cannot is arguing about pollen.
This guide is written for the board member who has to justify a cleaning budget to neighbors, not for a professional manager who does this for a living. Every legal statement below is quoted from the statute or ordinance it comes from, every figure names its publisher and the date the source was read, and the Sources section at the bottom links all of them. Rare Earth Ltd quotes exterior cleaning per property after a walk, so no price for our own service appears anywhere on this page.
Two companion pages carry the operational detail this one leaves out. The service page for HOA pressure washing across metro Atlanta covers scope, sequencing and the visit itself. The reference for property managers covers portfolio scheduling and vendor onboarding. This page covers the board's decision.
Which Georgia statute decides what your association must maintain?
The answer turns on whether the community is a condominium or a planned community, because Georgia runs the two on separate statutes. A Georgia condominium association is governed by the Georgia Condominium Act at O.C.G.A. Title 44, Chapter 3, Article 3. O.C.G.A. section 44-3-105 allocates the maintenance duty in a single sentence: "Except to the extent otherwise provided by the condominium instruments, all powers and responsibilities with regard to maintenance, repair, renovation, restoration, and replacement shall pertain to the association in the case of the common elements other than limited common elements and to the individual unit owner in the case of any unit and the limited common elements, if any, appurtenant thereto."
Three consequences follow from that one sentence, and a board should read all three before writing a scope of work.
- The recorded instruments come first. O.C.G.A. section 44-3-105 opens with "Except to the extent otherwise provided by the condominium instruments", so the declaration and bylaws override the statutory default. A board that has never read its own declaration on maintenance is guessing at its own duty.
- General common elements default to the association. Sidewalks, breezeways, parking areas, the clubhouse exterior, entrance monuments, retaining walls and pool decks sit here in most communities, which is why exterior cleaning of those surfaces is association work rather than an owner's work.
- Limited common elements default to the unit owner. The statute puts limited common elements on the same side of the line as the unit itself, which is the opposite of what most owners assume.
A planned community that has opted into the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act works from a different section, O.C.G.A. section 44-3-231, and a townhome or single family community that never opted in works from its declaration and general corporate law. Naming the correct instrument matters more than the label on the community sign. The HOA service page covers the board authority question under the Property Owners' Association Act in full.
Who pays to clean a balcony, a breezeway or an entry stoop?
Limited common elements are the recurring fight, and O.C.G.A. section 44-3-105 answers it against the association by default. A limited common element is a portion of the common elements reserved to fewer than all units: a balcony serving one unit, a patio behind one unit, a storage closet, an assigned parking pad, a stoop at one front door. Under the statutory default, maintenance of those surfaces belongs to the unit owner they serve, not to the association.
Boards run into three practical problems with that default. First, cleaning balconies one owner at a time produces one result per owner and a building elevation that looks striped from the parking lot. Second, a soft wash of a building elevation physically cannot stop at a balcony rail, so the work crosses the line whether or not the contract does. Third, an owner who declines to clean a limited common element is not violating the statute, only the community's own covenants, which is a slower enforcement path.
The clean resolution is a scope decision the board makes on the record. Where a declaration already assigns limited common element cleaning to the association and recovers the cost through assessments, the question is settled before the bid goes out. Where the declaration is silent, a board can contract for the work as part of a building wash and record in the minutes why. What a board should not do is assume the statute puts balcony cleaning on the association, because O.C.G.A. section 44-3-105 says the reverse.
Who is named as the defendant when a resident falls on a walkway the association maintains?
The Georgia Condominium Act answers that directly, and the answer is the association. O.C.G.A. section 44-3-106(g) provides: "A tort action alleging or founded upon negligence or willful misconduct by any agent or employee of the association or in connection with the condition of any portion of the condominium which the association has the responsibility to maintain shall be brought against the association." The same subsection adds that "A judgment against the association arising from a tort action shall be a lien against the property of the association."
Read alongside O.C.G.A. section 44-3-105, that subsection is the whole argument for a documented cleaning program. Biofilm on a shaded concrete walkway is a condition of a portion of the condominium the association has the responsibility to maintain. Algae on a pool deck is the same thing in a wetter place. A board that can produce dated before and after photographs, a written scope, and a signed completion record for each visit is describing a maintenance program. A board that cannot is describing an absence of one, and the statute has already named who answers for it.
Rare Earth Ltd photographs each area before and after every visit and issues a written completion record per service, because that record is the association's evidence rather than the contractor's marketing.
How many Georgia communities are making this decision without a professional manager?
According to the Foundation for Community Association Research's 2025 U.S. National and State Statistical Review, Georgia has 11,400 community associations, an estimated 889,000 units, and an estimated 2,326,000 residents, which places Georgia ninth on the Foundation's state table. The same review estimates that 30 to 40 percent of community associations nationally are self managed, meaning the association engages professional help for specific projects but employs no professional manager or management company.
The Foundation describes these numbers as curated estimates compiled from a blend of sources including U.S. Census data and the American Community Survey alongside housing and real estate data, so they are not an official count, and the state figure counts community associations of every kind rather than homeowner associations alone. Both qualifiers belong with the number whenever a board quotes it.
For a self managed board, the practical reading is that no procurement department exists between the board and the contractor. Scope definition, insurance verification, resident notice and documentation are all board work, which is why the checklist near the bottom of this page is written as tasks rather than as advice.
Does deferred exterior maintenance reach a unit owner's ability to sell or refinance?
Deferred exterior maintenance reaches financing through the lender's project review, not through Georgia law, and a board should be careful to state it that way. The Fannie Mae Selling Guide section B4-2.2-01, Full Review Process, effective 2026-08-05, requires that a project budget "provide for the funding of replacement reserves for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance that is at least 10% of the budget", calculated by dividing the annual budgeted replacement reserve allocation by the association's annual budgeted assessment income.
The same section sets out what a replacement reserve study has to address, including "all major components and elements of the project's common areas for which repair, maintenance, or replacement is expected", "the condition and remaining useful life of each major component", and "an estimate of the total annual contributions required to defray costs (minus the existing reserves funded for this purpose), including inflation".
Three cautions belong with that citation, and leaving any of them out turns a real rule into a false claim. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide is a lender eligibility standard governing loans Fannie Mae will buy, not a Georgia statute and not an obligation the association owes anyone. The 10 percent test applies to the project budget, so it is not a rule that an association must reserve 10 percent of anything else. And the Selling Guide is versioned, so the effective date shown on the section is part of the citation.
With those cautions in place the argument to a board is straightforward. A reserve study prices the remaining useful life of pool decks, walkways, siding and paver hardscape. Recurring cleaning is an operating expense that pushes those replacement dates outward, and a project whose common areas are visibly deteriorating invites the review scrutiny that reaches unit financeability.
Where does the wash water go, and can the association be held responsible for it?
Wash water from exterior cleaning is not stormwater, and the rule that governs it is federal in origin and local in enforcement. 40 CFR 122.26(b)(2) defines an illicit discharge as "any discharge to a municipal separate storm sewer that is not composed entirely of storm water except discharges pursuant to a NPDES permit (other than the NPDES permit for discharges from the municipal separate storm sewer) and discharges resulting from fire fighting activities." A community's private storm system still discharges to the public one, so the catch basin in a private parking lot is the front door of a regulated system.
Local ordinances are where a board actually meets the rule. For a community inside the City of Atlanta limits, Atlanta City Code section 74-436 states that "No person shall throw, drain, or otherwise discharge, cause, or allow others under its control to throw, drain, or otherwise discharge into the storm sewer system of the City of Atlanta any pollutants or waters containing any pollutants, other than stormwater." Section 74-428 of the same article lists "detergents (biodegradable or otherwise)" and yard waste among pollutants, and section 74-429 applies the article throughout the corporate limits of the city.
Gwinnett County is the clearest published example of what a county expects and of who carries the exposure. Gwinnett County Code of Ordinances section 100-23(a)(1) makes it a violation "for any person to throw, drain, or otherwise discharge, cause, or allow others under its control to throw, drain, or otherwise discharge into the county separate storm sewer system anything other than stormwater", and section 100-27(f) sets the penalty on conviction at "a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment for 60 days or both", with each day treated as a separate offense. Those figures are Gwinnett's own ordinance and belong to no other jurisdiction.
The sentence a board should carry away comes from Gwinnett County Water Resources' own consumer brochure on hiring a pressure washing contractor: "Keep in mind that as the consumer, you may also be held responsible for illegal discharges that occur on your property." The county's surface cleaning guideline WQ-1, dated 04/05/2007, puts it the same way at 3.1(11), calling the surface cleaner "jointly responsible with the property owner" for appropriate disposal of the wash water. Hiring the cheapest bidder does not move that exposure off the association.
Guideline WQ-1 also closes the loophole most vendors sell: section 3.1(10) states, in capitals in the original, that "There are NO 'environmentally friendly' or 'biodegradable' cleaning products that are approved for discharge to storm drains." A board evaluating an eco friendly claim in a proposal should ask what happens to the water instead.
What washing pressure is safe on the buildings your community actually has?
Cladding decides pressure, and a single number applied to a whole community damages something. Three manufacturer and trade documents cover most metro Atlanta association housing stock, and each one speaks only for its own material.
- Brick. The Brick Industry Association's Technical Notes 20, "Cleaning Brickwork", August 2018 edition, instructs "Do not use water pressures higher than 400 psi (2800 kPa) as measured at the nozzle tip unless permitted by brick manufacturer", and states plainly that "High-pressure water cleaning is not appropriate for brick and may damage the brickwork." The same document calls for a stainless steel 25 to 50 degree fan tip held a minimum of 12 in. (305 mm) from the brick surface, and a trial cleaning on a 20 sq ft sample area.
- Fiber cement. James Hardie Building Products' Technical Bulletin #20, November 2018, states that "Using wide fan tips that are kept a minimum of 6 feet from the wall and at pressures under 1500 psi will minimize the chance of damaging the siding", and warns that damage from improper cleaning "may not be covered by the James Hardie warranty."
- EIFS and acrylic stucco. Sto Corp.'s StoTherm repair and maintenance guide instructs the cleaner to "keep the pressure at approximately 200-500 psi" and not to exceed 500 psi, "as the EIFS surface integrity can be destroyed with higher pressure washing". Sika's Senergy technical bulletin on cleaning EIFS finishes sets the same ceiling and adds a standoff: "Never use water pressure more than 500 psi or allow pressure nozzles to come within 2 feet of the wall."
None of those numbers crosses to another material. The 1500 psi fiber cement ceiling is almost four times the brick limit, and carrying it onto a brick elevation erodes mortar joints. A board reviewing a proposal for a mixed stock community should see the cladding named surface by surface, with the pressure and standoff stated for each, rather than one number for the whole property.
What belongs in the written scope before the board asks for bids?
Vague scope produces bids a board cannot compare, and comparison is the entire point of soliciting three of them. A board should write the scope once, issue the same document to every bidder, and photograph each area while writing it, because those photographs become the baseline in any later dispute about condition.
- Linear footage of sidewalks, stair treads and pedestrian paths, with shaded runs identified separately
- Square footage of parking areas and drive aisles, and whether striping is in or out
- Number and dimensions of refuse enclosures, and whether the pads inside them are included
- Pool deck square footage and surface type: broom finished concrete, pavers, or a coated deck
- Building elevation square footage with the cladding named per building: brick, fiber cement, EIFS, vinyl, or painted masonry
- Entrance monuments, community signage, mail kiosks and retaining walls, counted and located
- Fencing linear footage and material
- Whether gutter exteriors are included, and whether gutter interiors are a separate line
- Water source, hydrant meter or on site spigot, and who supplies it
- Explicit exclusions: individual owner driveways, private patios behind fences, and roofing surfaces
What should a cleaning bid itemize, and what sits outside it?
A board comparing three proposals is really comparing three scopes, and the difference between the low bid and the high bid is almost always a line the low bid left out. Rare Earth Ltd writes an association proposal so that the following sit inside the quoted number for each visit.
- Mobilization, site protection, and pre wash sweeping or blowing of loose debris off the surfaces to be cleaned
- Detergent matched to the substrate, dwell time, agitation where the surface requires it, and a clean rinse
- Wash water control appropriate to the surface and the jurisdiction: dry cleanup first, collection where the surface or the ordinance requires it, and no discharge to a catch basin
- Resident notice materials the board can post or send, prepared before the visit
- Dated before and after photographs per area, and a written completion record per visit
- A certificate of insurance issued to the association as certificate holder before the first visit
The following sit outside the number and are quoted separately when a board wants them, because pricing them blind is how a proposal becomes an invoice dispute.
- Repairs to conditions found during cleaning: spalled concrete, failed sealant, loose siding, damaged trim
- Sealing or coating after cleaning, which is a separate trade with its own cure window
- Parking lot striping and pavement markings
- Roof cleaning, which runs on different chemistry and different access
- Gutter interiors, offered as a soft wash package add on rather than assumed
- Work inside individual units or behind owner fences, which the association is not contracting for
- After hours or overnight work where a board wants the parking areas cleaned without displacing residents at all
How should the board schedule the work around residents?
Residents are the association's members, which makes scheduling a governance problem rather than a logistics problem. Poor notice generates more board email than the cleaning itself generates value.
- Give at least 72 hours of notice before any work that moves vehicles or closes a walking route, using posted notice at the entrances, email, and the community app together rather than one channel.
- Clean parking areas in lanes or sections so that part of the lot stays open throughout, instead of asking a whole community to relocate on one morning.
- Schedule pool deck work outside swim hours and before opening weekend, since a wet deck closes the amenity for the duration.
- Check the local noise ordinance before committing to a start time. Atlanta City Code section 74-133 makes it unlawful to operate motorized landscape maintenance devices including leaf blowers in or within 300 feet of residential and mixed use zoning districts from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., and section 74-134(a) treats construction noise differently again, opening at 7:00 a.m. on a weekday and 9:00 a.m. on a weekend day or legal holiday. Section 74-132(j) excludes noise made by commercial entities in the normal course of business, and whether that exclusion reaches section 74-133 is an open question for the city, so Rare Earth Ltd runs blower work next to occupied buildings after 8:00 a.m. as a matter of practice.
- Name one board member as the single point of contact for resident questions on service days, and put that name on the notice.
What does Thrare Contracting need from an association before the first visit?
Rare Earth Ltd, operating as Thrare Contracting, asks an association board for six things, and all six exist to keep the first visit from producing a surprise.
- A site plan or a marked aerial showing the areas in scope and the areas expressly out of scope
- The declaration language on common elements and limited common elements, so the scope matches the instrument
- A water source: an on site spigot with a location, or written confirmation that water is to be hauled or metered
- Gate, garage and amenity access arrangements, including any code or fob handoff and the hours access is available
- The community's preferred notice channel and lead time, and the board contact for service days
- The name and address the certificate of insurance is to be issued to
Rare Earth Ltd carries general liability insurance and issues a certificate to the association before the first visit. Rare Earth Ltd holds DBE, ACDBE, MBE and SDB certifications, is registered in SAM under CAGE code 9JAV8 and UEI Z4WKS4UE8NJ6, and uses E-Verify. Rare Earth Ltd does not hold HUBZone, 8(a) or SOC 2 status and does not represent otherwise. A management company running a supplier diversity program can verify the certifications through the DBE and MBE certified contractor page and through SAM directly.
A board member's procurement checklist
- Read the declaration on common elements and limited common elements before writing anything
- Identify whether the community is a condominium under the Georgia Condominium Act or a planned community under its own instrument
- Inventory every common area surface with photographs, dimensions and cladding type
- Write one scope of work and issue the identical document to every bidder
- Require the proposal to state pressure and standoff per cladding type, not one number for the property
- Ask each bidder in writing how wash water is controlled and where it goes
- Require a certificate of insurance naming the association as certificate holder, and confirm the policy is current on the date of the first visit
- Require dated before and after photographs and a written completion record for every visit
- Compare per visit pricing against a multi visit agreement, and put the frequency in the contract rather than in an email
- Build the resident notice plan into the contract, including who posts it and how many hours ahead
- Record the board vote approving the contract in the minutes, with the scope attached
A board that works that list produces a file it can hand to next year's board, to the association's counsel, or to an insurer, which is a different outcome from a clean sidewalk. Schedule a property walkthrough or call (678) 748-3578 for a written scope based proposal for your community.