vender contracts

You should be able to propose a bid from any vendor you want to to the Board. The management company is a CONTRACTOR/VENDOR to the HOA/Board. Some people get lost and confused with this relationship and get dependent on them. A vendor should be discussed with the board and voted on by them. If they choose to hire the new vendor they tell the management company where to send the check.

We had a rule in our HOA. Anyone could suggest a vendor for a position we had open. However, we had to have 3 bids altogether to review. The vendor has to be licensed and insured. Not all bids are created equal. Make sure to establish guidelines and standards of what the job requires.

The board member may just not understand the process or one isn't set up. Time to define reponsibities and procedures...

I always recommend having a "Bid Specification" sheet for work to be performed. For landscaping you should also have a map with areas highlighted and know if there are supplemental services that you pay separate or if they are included in the contract already. (mulch, weed and feed, tree trimming, flowers) You have to make sure that they are apples to apples bids. If the normal process is to go thru the management company, then you should as there should be nothing to hide. You can copy the management company and Board together in the email. The contractor must also have the appropriate insurance.

Allan I wasn't clear if you contacted an outside vendor to submit a bid for landscaping services or you submitted a bid to provide the services yourself. If you would be provinding the services yourself the other board member may have been upset about a conflict of interest.

Just as long as your bid is apples to apples and he has insurance, then there would be no reason for the Board not to use the. Competitive bids are recommended for all large contracts.

You have a right to be concerned. Your MC sounds like they are in control instead of the board. The board not being knowledgable enough on how the dynamic between the board and MC works allows this to happen. It may be time to do some educating and learning to separate the dependency on the MC. Not that they may be a bad MC. It's just the relationship has gotten blurred a bit.

When I took over my HOA I had a similar issue. The previous president was a con man contractor. He'd hire himself or his friends to do the work of the HOA. The lawncare guy lived in our HOA. However, there was many many complaints about him. Once I became President it seemed the vendors were pretty much sucking off the teet of the HOA when the former President ran things. My first act. I went out and got competing bids for our lawncare. With that I also gave the existing contractor a chance to bid as well. We established a 3 bid rule of ALL contractors. Must be licensed and insured for atleast 1 Million. Contracts could ONLY last 1 year. Which meant each year contractors had to submit bids again. This way we didn't get stuck with one contractor unless we choose to. After that the HOA tended to change lawncare contractors more often making local contractors eager to bid to us over time.

This is exactly what I would do is request making some guidelines on contractors and time limits. If the MC recommends someone that is great. Just make sure to have 2 other competing bids against that contractor. Let the MC know this is how the process will work. Doesn't mean the HOA won't hire that contractor. It means the HOA will evaluate and decide itself if they want this contractor or not. Which is what the board should be doing anyways. Plus allow anyone in the community to submit bids. As long as they do the work of getting the bids and the contractor meets the criteria, anyone can be involved.

It improved our HOA tremendously when we put in these rules. The con man ex president had an issue with it but he'd still get a few contracts with us here and there. It just wasn't always him. Which was a problem.