How SunLand HOA Uses Coast for Transparent Property Maintenance

Managing a homeowners association (HOA) is often a thankless job, especially when the “system” for tracking repairs is a loose collection of verbal requests and paper notes. For Stuart Koop, president of the SunLand Owners Association’s Division 11 in Sequim, Wash., the “ad hoc” nature of their maintenance was more than just a nuisance — it kept the HOA from properly serving its community.

SunLand Division 11 consists of 44 units across 22 buildings. As a volunteer-run working board, they don’t have a professional management company to handle the heavy lifting. Instead, the board oversees everything from roofing and siding to landscaping and painting. Before Coast, a homeowner would report an issue like a leaking gutter, only to be forgotten by the next board meeting.

“It would be generous to say we had a paper system,” Koop says. “The board was not tracking what it needed to do. Since we didn’t track it, we couldn’t tell the homeowner where we were in the process unless it was a large project. All the little ones got buried.”

Finding Flexibility in a Rigid Market

With a 40-year career spanning IT services and roles as a chief financial officer, Koop knew there was a better way to manage property maintenance. However, he found that most project management options he researched were built for $30 million industrial facilities, not a 44-unit residential division. They were either too expensive or too rigid, requiring mountains of data entry that provided zero value to a volunteer board.

“It was critical that, if we were going to adopt something like this, it needed to at least look like it was tailored to our needs. We needed something our homeowners would understand for their projects,” Koop says. 

Koop chose Coast because of its inherent flexibility. He needed a work order app that could be tailored to the specific language of an HOA — one that homeowners could actually understand.

“The biggest thing [about Coast] is the flexibility to map it directly onto your needs,” says Koop. “You can add fields that you need, designations that you need and so on. It just fits an HOA, and there’s nothing else that will do this. It’s not that Coast is even targeting HOAs, but what it brings to the table makes it fit.”

Customizing the Maintenance Workflow

As a former programmer, Koop appreciated the ability to adjust the software “on the fly.” During the implementation phase, he started with a pilot of 10 projects to identify exactly which data points mattered to the board.

One of the most impactful additions was a custom field for progress notes. This allowed the board to record granular updates on building maintenance tasks, ensuring that anyone looking at the record knew exactly where a project stood. 

Koop highlighted five additional aspects of Coast that were especially helpful in creating a solution that fit the needs of their HOA. These included the ability to:

1. Identify asset classes that fit their nomenclature
2. Identify project statuses that fit their business vocabulary
3. Limit the displayed fields to those relevant to them
4. Add an unanticipated data item to the list of things to capture for a project. 
5. Track things not traditionally considered projects — i.e., the need to file paperwork for their business license as well as when board agendas and minutes need to be sent to homeowners

Currently, the HOA has roughly 200 projects in the database. Koop uses Coast’s filtering capabilities to quickly isolate projects by specific locations or completion status, providing a level of oversight that was impossible with a paper-and-pencil method. Whether it’s a roofing project or a simple gutter repair, the history is now visible and searchable.

Results: Transparency & Timely Completion

Since adopting Coast in August 2025, the impact on the community has been visible. For the first time, homeowners can see the sheer volume of repair and maintenance work the board manages.

“We weren’t getting the projects done at all, let alone quickly,” Koop notes. “[But with Coast], they’re starting to appreciate what we do and the information we get. It’s the reflection of a system that’s working.”

The most significant shifts include:

• Timely completion: Projects that used to fall through the cracks are now getting done on time.
• Increased accountability: By tracking every work order digitally, the board has eliminated the “forgotten” tasks that previously frustrated residents.
• Historical records: The HOA is building a long-term record of all work performed on each unit, which is invaluable for new board members and future homeowners.
• Positive feedback: Homeowners have actively reached out to express appreciation for the improved communication and transparency regarding their specific condos.

Now, the board can provide professional, printable reports to homeowners, showing exactly which tasks are open and which have been closed.

Strategic Advice for HOAs

For other volunteer boards struggling with facility maintenance, Koop’s advice is simple: Don’t settle for “off-the-shelf” software that doesn’t fit your unique requirements. In a setting where board members change and institutional knowledge is easily lost, having a customizable computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is the only way to ensure continuity.

By moving away from “ad hoc” tracking, SunLand Division 11 has transitioned into a proactive organization that can prove its value to every resident it serves.