of 6— Get your reserve study ready

What you'll accomplish

Reserve studies are dense, technical financial documents that board members and homeowners rarely understand — even though funding decisions depend on them. You'll use Claude to convert your reserve study into a plain-language executive summary that boards can actually use to make informed decisions, saving you 1-2 hours of presentation prep per community.

What you'll need

A Claude account (free) at claude.ai — Claude Pro preferred for PDF uploads, free tier works with copy-paste
A copy of the community's most recent reserve study (PDF from your reserve study company)
Time needed: 10 minutes per reserve study
Cost: {{tool:Claude.free_tier}} free / {{tool:Claude.price}} for Pro (upload reserve studies directly)

How-To Guide: Reserve Study Plain-Language Summary with Claude

Step 1: Get your reserve study ready

Find the most recent reserve study for your community. Reserve studies are typically produced by certified reserve specialists every 3-5 years, and are usually PDF documents of 50-150 pages.

Key sections to locate in your reserve study:

Reserve fund balance (current balance)
Percent funded (the health metric)
Recommended annual contribution
Component inventory (list of major items and their estimated remaining life)

Tools:Claude