Limits on Constrution/Maintenance

Our HOA passed a rule several years ago, the VP Bullied it through! I should say intimidated!( He had a house next to him that had a lot of work done on it) The Rule says no construction work can be done by a contractor or homeowner on weekends and must be done during the week between the hours of 8a.m. to 6p.m. - this covers both exterior and interior work. Has anyone every heard of or had one that is so restrictive - this means that a homeowner who works must take off work to do or have any construction projects done. Needless to say this has caused a lot of upset amongst owners. We are a townhouse community with 20 houses. And to make matters worse the VA himself had roof repair done on a Sat. because he said he had some loose shingle and that was an emergency - which there is a provision for emergency repairs. The Docs. give the Board the right to make rules and regulations that make the community a better place to live. Just searching for advice and any others who have been in this situation. I am now the HOA President and am thinking about proposing abolishing such a strict unreasonable rule. My feeling is this rule was only written to satisfy one person and not for the well being of the whole community. If we were a high rise I may go along with it.

I'm the Architectural Control Committee chair in my community, and I wrote the construction policy. What your board members need to understand is this: Every time we act to protect homeowners from the actions of other homeowners, we run the risk of interfering with the rights of everyone to enjoy the ordinary benefits of home ownership. Every decision needs to be balanced on this tightrope: protection on one side, freedom on the other.

In my opinion, your prohibition on weekend construction is going too far. I think it's reasonable to give people a little extra time to sleep in on the weekends, but otherwise, weekends are often the only time homeowners have to do such work.

Here's what I wrote about this for my community, and it seems to work for us:

Hammering or running of saws or other loud power tools is restricted to the hours
between 7:30 AM and 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday, and 9:00 AM to 6:00
PM, Saturday and Sunday. Any unit owner who violates this noise rule is subject
to fine.

Rob

Rob, Thanks...I like the way that is written and am going to use it..... you are right so hard to balance it all and it is a tightrope.

Lawyer already involved but I don't want to be reinventing the well, in Va we can enact new Rules and Regulations

Does your municipality have noise/construction ordinances?

Running a chain saw at 7:30 am in my neighborhood would result in a fist fight, I'm afraid.

At precisely 9 am you can hear the mowers start up, but not before.

That was my point. These examples were clearly ridiculous, and would not be legal. But they are not much more ridiculous than the rule that your board passed, which is likely not legal either.

If there is enough upset, circulate a petition in the membership to hold a special meeting for the express purpose of passing an amendment that counters the current rule. Rob provided a good rule option that should satisfy most of the community. When you circulate the petition, explain what has happened.

To be honest, some board members believe that a rule should be written whenever something inconveniences them. Sadly, if there are not other members willing to stand up and say no - rules get passed this way. This is why it's important to be involved in the governing of the Association.

When I served on our Architectural Committee, a past Board President complained of a neighbor parking a vehicle he though violated the covenants. The Committee informed him that our decision was it did not. When he complained, we had to point out that the governing documents left the interpretation of the guidelines to the committee and not the Board. We informed him that the Board had the authority to rewrite the rules providing they held a community meeting first and/or the authority to remove the Architectural Committee but that the Committee was united behind this and in removing us the Board would have to act as the Committee and perform the annual inspection and write the violation notices. The President backed down.

I used my story above to demonstrate how you don't have to be on the Board to prevent this stuff from happening but you do need to be involved.

Tim

Going back to the balancing act of governance...

It is very easy to lose sight of the fact that all of us volunteers, whether director, officer or committee member, are only servants. We serve our communities, which means that in order to do our jobs efficiently (or even correctly), we must first consider each decision we make in terms of its benefit to the community as a whole, and only secondarily consider its effect on us personally.

Wouldn't you all agree that this is true? But at the same time, wouldn't you all agree that this is incredibly difficult to do, in every situation?

My architectural policy, repeated here, works in our community:

Hammering or running of saws or other loud power tools is restricted to the hours
between 7:30 AM and 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday, and 9:00 AM to 6:00
PM, Saturday and Sunday. Any unit owner who violates this noise rule is subject
to fine.

This policy is time-tested (15 years). If homeowners seriously - and in numbers - had complained that 7:30 A.M. was too early for construction noise, then the board would have bumped it later by now. But they didn't. In fact, no one has complained. If running power tools (chainsaws?) at 7:30 A.M. would result in altercations in your community, then modify it accordingly.

But this only serves to illustrate my point: we serve, and in order to serve effectively, we solicit input from the community. As leaders, we do not have the right to make decisions based upon on our personal convenience, lifestyle, prejudices, assumptions, logic or even "common sense." And we certainly aren't empowered to enact rules and create policies based on whether or not we dislike hearing power tools on the weekends, or at 7:30 A.M.

In my case, the architectural policy had to apply to everyone - even me - and to be honest, my own policy has often bitten into my hobby of radio control scale model ship building. Sometimes I like to run my band saw or Dremel tool after 6:00 P.M. on a summer evening, but I can't. People are sitting down to dinner at that time, and it would interfere with their quiet enjoyment of their homes.

Perhaps the Rotary motto says it best: Service Above Self

Rob

Rob, Well put, as a new Board member and a new homeowner in this community, the construction limits surprised me. I have been on 5 other HOA Boards whree I lived and NEVER saw any like this, that is why I intend to change it - after much searching I discovered the VP is a real bull ( got this done because he had a neighbor who remolded his house on weekends and he didn't want to be disturbed) - and no one ever challenges him - that is going to change too. I was elected the President and have been overwhelmed with complaints - most about the constuction rule. I truly believe in things done for the better of the community as a whole, not just for one.
Rob - would u like to come and serve in my community????
Thanks for your feedback - this is going to be put to bed by the end of the month - I have support of the other Board member and the community.
Whew, this is just the beginnig of a thankless job.

I always said that being president of your HOA isn't a Thankless job but a THANKFULL job. You have to make it part of your DNA. It has to be you and the confidence that comes with that. Those who are president's of the associations who begrudge it don't own it or don't own it anymore. Once you adopt that mentality that you represent your HOA as soon as you walk out the door or answer the phone, the better off you are.

Don't get "cocky" about of course. Treat it like you would an unruly child you love. Some days you may want to put it up for adoption...but you want it to succeed.

All well put. I have been President of two other HOA's one a condo and one a single family development, and have always felt a pride and responsibilty to my community - and left on very good terms and what was a successful time - was just overwhelmed and surprised how angry some homeowners were at this crazy rule - and never expressed this discontent.
As one of the residents said to me at the mailbox today - " I am so glad we now have a Board member who is going to work for the whole community instead of their own purpose" whew.... thanks for your input and support and certainly have taken everything as good advice.

All well put. I have been President of two other HOA's one a condo and one a single family development, and have always felt a pride and responsibilty to my community - and left on very good terms and what was a successful time - was just overwhelmed and surprised how angry some homeowners were at this crazy rule - and never expressed this discontent.
As one of the residents said to me at the mailbox today - " I am so glad we now have a Board member who is going to work for the whole community instead of their own purpose" whew.... thanks for your input and support and certainly have taken everything as good advice.