This past Thursday, September 24th, Brandon Femia, Kipcon’s Reserve Study Manager, took on the role of Kipcon’s Team Captain at this year’s CAI-NJ F.A.S.T. Olympics. When I sat down with Brandon to interview him for this month’s blog, he told me he’s always been a sports fan, but “unfortunately I wasn’t athletic enough to make it in that field.” (We were talking about dream jobs and what we wanted to be growing up.) Fortunately for us, Brandon’s inability to play for the Miami Dolphins made him the perfect person to join not only our Olympics team but the Kipcon family.
Before September comes to an end, take a moment to read Brandon’s story and discover the one thing he thinks all associations should know about Reserve Studies.
An Apt for Numbers & Community Financial Planning
“I was always good with numbers, which is what led me to go to college for engineering,” Brandon told me. Keep in mind, a reserve study is a community association’s best budgeting tool. When the time comes to update your community’s reserve study, make sure you get connected with someone who enjoys math.
“After graduating, I still didn’t really have a full idea of what I wanted to do within this field. I went on a few interviews before getting the interview at Kipcon, and the rest is history!”
Left: Brandon hits the greens at the 2024 CAI-NJ F.A.S.T. Olympics (Jenn rearing to go on the sidelines) / Right: 2024 CAI-NJ Kickball Tournament Winners: Brandon Femia, Chelsea Brodmerkel, & Luis Sanchez
Every Community is a Different Puzzle
Brandon received his Reserve Specialist designation (R.S.) in May of 2012 and has been Kipcon’s Reserve Study Manager for the past ten plus years. When I asked Brandon what the best part of his job is, he told me, “I enjoy getting to travel all over the Northeast to visit all the different communities. Every Association is so different, and I enjoy the challenge of putting the ‘puzzle pieces’ together to build each unique reserve study.”
When he’s not on the road for Kipcon, Brandon can be found traveling with his beautiful family.
The Kipcon Difference
We all know there are other firms out there capable of preparing your community’s reserve study, but there’s a reason why Kipcon’s reserve studies stand out. “Any firm can provide the meat and potatoes of the reserve study; the component inventory, projections, etc. In my opinion, Kipcon stands out for two reasons: our experience and our customer service.” As Brandon told me and as many of you may remember from our interview with Mitch at the beginning of the year, “Our former President and Kipcon Founder, Mitch Frumkin, literally wrote the book on Reserve Studies, as he is one of the editors of the CAI National Standards. Not only did he set the standard at Kipcon, but he set the standard in the industry.” Just this week, CAI released a new Best Practices for Reserve Funding that features Mitch as a contributor.
“As for customer service, we pride ourselves on always being there for our clients, whether it be promptly responding to a simple phone call or email or attending a Board meeting to discuss the report and answer questions.” While this is true for everyone at Kipcon, I have to give Brandon even more of a shoutout here. There is no one faster than Brandon at returning a call, text, or email. Whether it’s me, a client, or anyone else on the team, Brandon is there to help. He’ll never leave you (or me) hanging.
“We want to make sure that we not only prepare an accurate report, but a report that an Association can actually use and rely on to help them with their budgeting. To do that, it requires some back and forth between Kipcon and the client, and we take pride in that aspect of the industry.” Throughout this year’s blog series, we’ve emphasized just how important education is to us at Kipcon. Our goal is to share our knowledge and insights with you while continuing to learn, grow, and expand our expertise along the way.
From left to right: Jason Roman, Brandon, Jenn LaGuardia, & Joe Tible at CAI-NJ’s 2026 F.A.S.T. Olympics
A Man Never Forgets His First Reserve Study
During our interview, I also asked Brandon if he remembered his first reserve study site inspection. “Gosh, that was a long time ago! I want to say my first Reserve Study that I completed on my own was at a large community in South Jersey divided up into three separate Associations. It was a bit difficult for a first timer, but in my head, I thought ‘it would probably get easier from here on out. And sure enough, the more I started to do on my own, the more I realized that I really enjoyed this field and that I could definitely handle this. Even now, I feel like I learn something different at almost every community we work at…and I enjoy always being able to get better and learn more.”
Across the board at Kipcon from the Sales and Marketing Department to the Inspections and Reserve Study Team, we are forever students, learning all we can to bring nothing but the best to our clients.
What All Associations Should Know
We get a lot of questions from clients about reserve studies – from the basics of what a reserve study is to why communities need one. There isn’t a question on this subject matter that Brandon hasn’t heard. So, with all these questions floating around, I wondered, “Is there one thing you think all communities should know?” and unsurprisingly, Brandon gave a quick response.
“Reserve studies are not an exact science! While we always strive to be as accurate as possible, at the end of the day, these reports are simply budgetary tools. They are not meant to precisely plan out every single expenditure for the next thirty years. (If we could predict that accurately, we probably would be in another business!) Reserve studies are performed simply to give Associations an idea of when common elements should likely be replaced, and to help with their annual funding to prevent the need for a special assessment or a loan.”
A reserve study is a budgeting tool, but beyond that, it is the cornerstone of a thriving community.
Connect with Kipcon
As Brandon stated, there’s no way for us to know what your community’s exact needs will be in the future, but we can help you plan early and prepare for whatever that future might hold.
Start planning now and reach out to us for all your community’s Reserve Study needs. You can call us at (800) 828-4118 or contact us here.