The questionnaire is short on purpose — it captures the few decisions the agent can't figure out on its own. Everything else (GL accounts, contract terms, historical trends) is pulled automatically. Anything you leave blank, the agent auto-detects.
Download the latest questionnaire as a Word document right from the Budget Setup screen (Download Questionnaire). When it's filled out, save it as a PDF before uploading (in Word: File → Save As → PDF).
⚠️ Upload as a PDF, not a Word file. Budget Setup expects the completed questionnaire as a PDF. In Word, choose File → Save As → PDF before you upload.
Before you fill it out — what to have handy
You'll only enter the items where your company has a specific policy — anything else you can leave blank for the agent to auto-detect. It helps to have these decisions in mind before you start; each maps to a setting below.
- Your preferred projection method for estimating current-year totals (historical average, annualized current year, or current year budget).
- Your management-fee change — a standard percentage, a flat dollar amount, or an anniversary month if renewals fall mid-year.
- Any utility or contract increase overrides (electric, gas, water/sewer, landscaping, insurance, pool, etc.). Leave blank to read the rate from an uploaded contract or fall back to 3%.
- Your reserve-funding minimum threshold (FHA 10%, a custom percentage, or none).
- Your assessment increase cap — the most a regular assessment may rise in a year.
- Whether to include homeowner fees (key fob, parking, pet, etc.) as line items.
- Any special instructions unique to your company (a one-off project, a statutory reserve floor, a GL to exclude, and the like).
How each setting works
Each setting below maps to one section of the questionnaire. For most, leaving it blank is a valid choice — the agent will detect a sensible value from your data.
1. Projection Method
Sets how HOAi calculates the Projected column — the estimated full-year current-year total your proposed budget is measured against. Options: Historical average (averages prior years), Annualized current year (YTD actuals ÷ months elapsed × 12), or Current year budget (uses the approved budget for months not yet actualized). Blank → the agent picks per GL based on what data exists.
Impact on the budget: This is the baseline behind every Variance figure. Annualizing early in the fiscal year can distort seasonal lines (a GL with heavy Q4 spend looks understated if you annualize in Q1); historical average smooths year-to-year spikes; current-year-budget keeps you anchored to the approved plan. More detail in Projection methods & how the Projected column is built.
2. Management Fee
Tells the agent how to project the management-fee line. Because fees are company-controlled, the agent won't guess. Enter a company-wide % increase, a flat dollar change, or leave it blank. Add an anniversary month if the increase takes effect mid-year.
Impact on the budget: A 5% entry raises every management-fee month by 5% in the proposed year. An anniversary month prorates it (a July anniversary keeps Jan–Jun at the old rate, Jul–Dec at the new). Blank → the agent reads the management contract from Vantaca (renewal date + escalator), or falls back to current inflation if none is found. Management fee is often one of the largest operating lines, so this one moves the bottom line.
3. Utility Increase Overrides
Optional per-utility percentage overrides (electric, water, gas, trash, etc.). Blank → a 3% inflation default is applied. The 3% is only a fallback — set an override per utility wherever you know the real rate, especially in higher-cost regions.
Impact on the budget: Setting electricity to 8% applies 8% only to electricity GLs; every other utility stays at the 3% default. Use it when you know one utility is climbing faster than general inflation.
4. Contract Increase Overrides
Optional overrides for contracted services — landscape, insurance, pool, and the like. Blank → the agent checks contract documents in Vantaca first, then falls back to 3%.
Impact on the budget: If insurance premiums jumped and no current contract is uploaded, an override (say 15%) makes the insurance lines reflect reality instead of a 3% guess. Where a contract is on file, the agent already reads the real escalator — so use overrides mainly to fill gaps. For a mid-year rate step (e.g. a contract that renews in July at +5%), note it in Special Notes so the increase lands on the right months.
5. Reserve Funding Minimum
Sets a warning threshold for reserve funding. Options: no minimum, the FHA 10% minimum, or a custom company target. Important: this does not change the reserve transfer.
Impact on the budget: The actual reserve contribution comes from the reserve study (or the prior-year method). This setting only raises a flag when the contribution falls below the threshold — e.g., FHA 10% flags any budget whose reserve transfer is under 10% of total. It's a prompt to review, not an automatic adjustment. If your association is subject to a specific statutory or governing-document reserve floor, state it in Special Notes as well, so the agent can account for it on the relevant lines.
6. Assessment Increase Cap
Caps how much the regular assessment can rise year-over-year. Leave blank if you don't have a cap.
Impact on the budget: If the budget needs a 12% assessment increase but your cap is 8%, the agent holds the regular assessment at 8% and recommends the remaining ~4% as a special assessment — so you never blow past board/owner tolerance without it being flagged and split out. If your cap comes from a specific source (a CC&R clause, a state civil-code limit, or a board resolution), name it in Special Notes so the cap is applied for the right reason.
7. Homeowner Fees
Whether to include non-assessment homeowner fees (key fob, parking, pet, etc.) as line items.
Impact on the budget: Turning this on adds those income lines to the budget; off leaves them out. It changes total budgeted income, so match it to how your boards expect to see fee revenue.
8. Special Notes
A free-form field for anything the structured questions don't cover. The agent reads and applies what you write here.
Impact on the budget: Use it for known, one-off changes the data wouldn't reveal — for example: "Pool closed for renovation next year, zero out pool maintenance and chemicals"; "New landscaping contract starts in March at $4,200/mo"; "Hold the regular assessment to the CC&R 10% cap and split any shortfall to a special assessment"; or "Apply the statutory reserve-contribution minimum on the reserve transfer line." These instructions directly shape the relevant lines.
What good context looks like
The questionnaire helps most when you give the agent things it cannot see in the data. A quick test: would a new manager need to be told this, or is it already in Vantaca?
- Worth providing — a planned assessment change and its cap; a known cost jump (insurance renewal, a new or expiring contract, a mid-year rate step); a reserve-study update or a statutory reserve floor; a line to zero out or add for a one-off project; how variable or per-unit assessments are structured.
- Usually not needed — general "be conservative" or "use your judgment" notes; restating numbers already in the GL history; instructions the agent can derive from contracts or the reserve study already on file.
Be specific: name the GL or line, the dollar figure or percentage, and the month it takes effect. "Electric is up about 10% in our region this year" or "Management fee renews in July at $4,200/mo" changes the output; "make it accurate" does not.
Remember: leave anything blank and the agent auto-detects it from the data. The questionnaire is only for the decisions that are genuinely yours to make.
↩ Part of Setup & configuration · Budgets — Start here
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