“How often should a level 
3 (no-site visit) report be done?”
There are several states that require a Reserve Study to be updated, or at least reviewed, annually. Of course, there aren’t any strict laws in Colorado yet, but the results of these laws in other states are overwhelmingly positive with associations that are well funded and are able to avoid Special Assessments.
With that said, we realize that every association will not update the Reserve Study every year. However, we strongly recommend it is reviewed as often as possible. Ideally, we would recommend performing a Level 3 the following two years 2 after the original study was done, followed by a Level 2 report in year 3, and repeating the process thereafter. Again, this rarely happens in Colorado. Therefore, we suggest performing an update every other year at the very least. If that means in year 2, you perform a Level 3 report, that is great. Just make sure that is followed with a Level 2 within 2 years. That means a professional is reviewing the conditions of the components every 4 years. In this climate, we see too many variations in conditions when a long period of time passes between on-site visits. Also, the more often we are able to update the report, the more “fine tuned” the report will become.
Of course, the end decision is up to the Board of Directors. However, please understand we have documented cases where associations that allow a long period of time between updates, and on-site updates, fall further behind in their funding plan.