Best HOA & Condo Reserve Study Companies (2026)

Search “reserve study company” and most results are the firms themselves, each insisting they’re the right pick. Here’s a neutral look at the national and regional firms HOAs and condo associations hire most, so you can shortlist candidates and compare real quotes instead of guessing. Whether hiring one is legally required depends on where your community sits — see the state-by-state reserve study requirements before you decide how big a search to run.

Independent guidance — we’re not paid to rank one reserve-study firm over another.

What a reserve-study company actually does

Before comparing firms, know what you’re buying. A reserve-study company sends a preparer to inventory your association’s major shared components — roofs, paving, pools, elevators, siding, structural elements — estimate each one’s remaining life and replacement cost, then hand back a funding plan for your board. See our HOA reserve study guide for what the report itself contains and how “percent funded” — the share of what you’ve saved against what you should have saved by now, with roughly 70% considered strong and under 30% weak — is calculated.

A board or the management company can build a DIY estimate instead of hiring one of these firms, though lenders and some state statutes require a report from a credentialed preparer — see our DIY reserve study guidance for where that line falls. For a very small or newly built community, a full professional study may not be worth the cost yet either — the cost-by-community-size breakdown shows where a lighter option still fits.

How we’re ranking these

We looked at geographic coverage, staff credentials (CAI Reserve Specialist or licensed PE/RS), how long the firm has specialized in community-association work, and whether the firm can also perform structural inspections some states now require. Every firm below is real and actively taking new engagements as of this writing; pricing is not public per firm, so we describe positioning rather than quote a number we can’t verify.

Once you sign, budget time for the process itself. A full study typically takes 4 to 12 weeks from signing to final report, and most associations plan for a full update every 3 to 5 years with lighter updates in between. If you want a rough number before paying for either, the free HOA reserve fund calculator gives a straight-line estimate to start from.

Association Reserves

Best for: associations that want the most widely used reserve-study methodology in the industry.

Association Reserves is one of the longest-operating national reserve-study firms, founded by Robert Nordlund. The firm has performed studies for condos, co-ops, HOAs, POAs, and townhome communities across the country and its founder helped shape the reserve-study standards other firms measure themselves against. Its scale means broad coverage but also more standardized, less hands-on service than a small regional shop.

Reserve Advisors

Best for: large or multi-state portfolios that want one firm across several properties.

Reserve Advisors has provided reserve study and capital-planning consulting since 1991 and reports serving more than 18,000 community associations nationwide. In December 2024, Reserve Advisors acquired California-based Browning Reserve Group, whose founder Robert Browning had provided reserve-study services for over 35 years — meaning boards that previously worked with Browning are now folded into the larger Reserve Advisors organization. An existing Browning-prepared study doesn’t stop being valid because of the acquisition — it still holds until its normal update cycle comes due. What changes is who services the account: Reserve Advisors is now the entity behind future updates, so confirm with them directly which preparer is assigned to your community going forward.

Miller-Dodson Associates

Best for: communities that want a firm doing high study volume with a standardized process.

Miller-Dodson Associates is a national reserve-study firm reporting roughly 1,000 studies completed annually for HOAs, condominiums, and other community types. Co-founder Peter B. Miller was part of the industry task force that updated the national reserve-study preparation standards. High volume can mean efficient turnaround, but ask for your specific preparer’s credentials rather than assuming firm-wide expertise applies evenly to every engagement.

Kipcon

Best for: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Great Lakes communities that want an engineering firm, not just a reserve-study preparer.

Kipcon is a full-service engineering, design, and inspection firm — not a reserve-study-only shop — with offices covering New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Boston, Florida, and the Great Lakes region. Co-founder Mitchell Frumkin also helped develop CAI’s National Reserve Study Standards. Because Kipcon is engineering-based, it can pair a reserve study with structural or building-envelope inspections in the same engagement — useful for older buildings or states layering on structural-inspection mandates. Florida’s SIRS and Milestone Inspection rules require the report to be signed by a licensed engineer or architect. Kipcon lists a Florida office, but a board there should still confirm directly that the specific preparer assigned to its building holds an active Florida engineering or architecture license before assuming any staff engineer can sign a Florida SIRS.

The Falcon Group

Best for: New York and New Jersey condos and co-ops that need reserve studies alongside Local Law compliance work.

The Falcon Group is an engineering, architecture, and energy-consulting firm that has completed reserve studies since 1997, with more than 3,500 capital reserve studies on its record and six CAI-credentialed Reserve Specialists on staff. Its concentration in the New York metro area means deep familiarity with local requirements like Local Law 11 (façade inspection) alongside standard reserve work — a strong fit if your building already deals with those filings, less relevant if you’re outside that region. Its licensed engineers can perform structural work, but since the firm’s stated coverage centers on New York and New Jersey, a Florida board weighing Falcon Group for a SIRS or Milestone Inspection should confirm directly that an assigned preparer holds an active Florida engineering or architecture license — Local Law 11 experience doesn’t automatically carry over to Florida’s statutory requirements.

Compare firms at a glance

Firm	Coverage	Specialty	Credential to ask about
Association Reserves	National	High-volume standardized studies	RS-credentialed preparers
Reserve Advisors	National (incl. former Browning Reserve Group clients)	Multi-state portfolios	RS / PRA designations
Miller-Dodson Associates	National	High annual study volume	RS-credentialed preparers
Kipcon	Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, FL	Engineering + reserve studies combined	Licensed PE on staff
The Falcon Group	NY / NJ metro	Reserve studies + Local Law compliance	CAI Reserve Specialist (RS)

Which to pick

• Large, multi-state portfolio: Reserve Advisors or Association Reserves, for national coverage and standardized reporting your management company can compare across properties.
• Florida condo needing a SIRS, or any older building facing a structural-inspection mandate: Kipcon or The Falcon Group, since both are engineering firms that can scope a structural assessment alongside the reserve study — but before shortlisting either one for a Florida SIRS, request written proof that the specific preparer assigned to your building holds an active Florida PE or architect license. A firm’s general engineering credentials don’t confirm that the individual signing your report is licensed in Florida.
• Single community wanting the most established name: Association Reserves or Miller-Dodson Associates, both long-running national firms with high study volume.
• New York / New Jersey condo with Local Law filings due: The Falcon Group, for the regional-compliance overlap.

Whichever firm you shortlist, get the scope in writing — full study vs. update, site visit vs. desktop review, and which credential (RS or PE) the assigned preparer actually holds — before comparing price. Our reserve study guide’s interview questions lay out a fuller list to put in your RFP, including asking to see a sample report from a similarly sized community and confirming the firm carries professional liability (E&O) insurance. A cheaper quote that skips the site visit isn’t the same product as a full study.

Why two firms’ funding numbers can differ

Two reserve specialists can walk the same building and come back with very different recommended contributions, and that doesn’t automatically mean one of them is wrong. In our work advising HOA and condo boards across the country, the gap usually comes down to three things: the funding goal each firm assumes (full funding vs. a lower threshold or baseline model), the inflation rate applied to future replacement costs, and how conservatively each preparer estimates a component’s remaining useful life. Before picking a number, ask both firms which funding goal they used, what inflation assumption drives their forecast, and whether they inspected the same components — a study that missed a waterproofing membrane or a seawall will naturally show a smaller number than one that caught it. If the gap is large, ask each firm to walk through its assumptions line by line rather than just averaging the two contributions.

Bottom line

The “best” reserve-study company is the one whose coverage area and specialty match your building. National firms give you scale and a proven methodology; regional engineering firms often know your state’s code and climate risk better. Either way, confirm credentials, get the scope in writing, and get at least two quotes before you sign. Hiring the firm is only the first step — a board that receives a study and then significantly waters down its funding recommendation still carries fiduciary duty for that decision, including possible personal liability. A current study also affects financing: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are raising minimum reserve-funding requirements for loans dated 2027 and later, so an up-to-date study can matter directly to a buyer’s mortgage approval. If you want to know where your building stands today, see how Fannie Mae condo project eligibility works. For what the report itself should contain, what happens when a board won’t adopt its recommendations, and the coming financing rules, see our HOA reserve study guide; for how reserves interact with your community’s insurance, see what does HOA insurance cover, and if your management software should reconcile against a reserve study, see our best HOA management software roundup.