MC4 (Florida)
Posts: 29
Posts: 29
Posted:
We are looking for a management company in Florida. How do we go about this?
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Management Companies
Started by MC4 • 4 replies • 1306 views
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TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059
Posts: 21,059
Posted:
MC4,
Hiring a management company is the same as any other contractor:
Identify what you want them to do.
Talk to others for recommendations.
Solicit bids from multiple companies
Interview the companies
Check references, licenses, insurance and bonds
Decide who you want to hire
Read and understand the full contract.
Ask for clarification and or changes in the contract that you want.
Reread and understand the full contract.
If everything is agreeable - award the contract
If everything is not agreeable - decide if you can live with what is unagreeable or move on to your second candidate.
Hope this helps,
Tim
Hiring a management company is the same as any other contractor:
Identify what you want them to do.
Talk to others for recommendations.
Solicit bids from multiple companies
Interview the companies
Check references, licenses, insurance and bonds
Decide who you want to hire
Read and understand the full contract.
Ask for clarification and or changes in the contract that you want.
Reread and understand the full contract.
If everything is agreeable - award the contract
If everything is not agreeable - decide if you can live with what is unagreeable or move on to your second candidate.
Hope this helps,
Tim
DeborahB6 (New York)
Posts: 34
Posts: 34
Posted:
MC4,
I would also like to add a couple suggestions. When you talk to others for references, pay particular attention to those whose managers have helped them with major projects and ask specifics about how well those project were handled (bidding, supervision, response to concerns, etc.). Also, keep in mind that with any bid, including the management company, your lowest bid may not be the best one. We have hired low bidders that have ended up costing us more in the long-run.
Good luck!
Deborah
I would also like to add a couple suggestions. When you talk to others for references, pay particular attention to those whose managers have helped them with major projects and ask specifics about how well those project were handled (bidding, supervision, response to concerns, etc.). Also, keep in mind that with any bid, including the management company, your lowest bid may not be the best one. We have hired low bidders that have ended up costing us more in the long-run.
Good luck!
Deborah
AnnaD2 (Florida)
Posts: 960
Posts: 960
Posted:
MC4, I've been following your posts and it sounds as if you have a nightmare management company, and from what you've written, it sounds suspiciously like OUR previous management company.
It was also a nightmare trying to get rid of them. First we did our homework and found a company we wanted to contract with, based on recommendations from other associations.
We (thought we) carefully read the "cancellation" section of our contract with the original management company. When we tried to cancel our contract with them, they hit us with "cancellation fees" like crazy. We took THAT to our attorney along with all the proof of their unethical and (downright) illegal service they'd given us through the years. (I won't go into the details of THAT.)
Our attorney wrote them and lo and behold, all those fees were dropped. Our NEW management company was then in charge of obtaining all of our records from the old one. Our new manager literally sat in their office for HOURS, day after day until he obtained all the records we'd requested.
Even after we were done with them, I insisted on receiving financial statements from them until year end. Guess what? Months later I discovered they STILL had some of our funds in another account.
We've now been free of them for three years and things are running so much more smoothly. I wish you lots and lots of luck!!! Keep us posted!
It was also a nightmare trying to get rid of them. First we did our homework and found a company we wanted to contract with, based on recommendations from other associations.
We (thought we) carefully read the "cancellation" section of our contract with the original management company. When we tried to cancel our contract with them, they hit us with "cancellation fees" like crazy. We took THAT to our attorney along with all the proof of their unethical and (downright) illegal service they'd given us through the years. (I won't go into the details of THAT.)
Our attorney wrote them and lo and behold, all those fees were dropped. Our NEW management company was then in charge of obtaining all of our records from the old one. Our new manager literally sat in their office for HOURS, day after day until he obtained all the records we'd requested.
Even after we were done with them, I insisted on receiving financial statements from them until year end. Guess what? Months later I discovered they STILL had some of our funds in another account.
We've now been free of them for three years and things are running so much more smoothly. I wish you lots and lots of luck!!! Keep us posted!
PeterB1 (Florida)
Posts: 257
Posts: 257
Posted:
Get recommendations!!!!
From: your neighboring associations, accounting firm, landscaper, etc. Interview them.
peter
From: your neighboring associations, accounting firm, landscaper, etc. Interview them.
peter
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