Common Area Mowing Contracts / Terms

Our lawncare people are on contract from around April/May till October/November time frame. They do work a little more later months for continued maintenance issues, plantings, and leaf blowing. They are to maintain our flower beds at the front entrance. So there are some odd/end jobs they do but we do review a new contractor come February/March. Which they are allowed to re-bid their contract.

Similar to Nigels, we pay the same fee year round, but go to biweekly mowing during the winter. This was set up before I joined the board, but when we have gotten other quotes, they were presented the same way. I imagine we could get it changed so we pay more in the summer and less in the winter, but if it is the same annual amount, it seems easier to just have even monthly payments.

Michael,

We enter into a contract for specific services.
The cost of the contract is paid over 12 months (what you call a monthly fee).

Yes, there are months when nothing gets done.
However, that does not negate the cost of the contract for the provided services.

Rather then thinking about as paying a fee for no services (when nothing is done), think about it as making payments over the year vs. paying the bill in full.

> this past summer, we had a major drought and there were months where mowing didn't take place, but yet we still paid the monthly fee.

And maybe next year spring is early and you get lots of rain. Do you want a predictable charge or do you want to pay per mowing? If the second, expect a higher charge per mow, because the guy still needs to have mowers, trucks, and employees.

> Now our contractor is wanting to extend the monthly fee year round.

THIS is a price increase. Decide whether it is acceptable, possibly by asking for bids.

Always ask for bids/proposals every time the contract is up for renewal.
This way, you know if you are getting a fair price for the work.
It also lets the current contractor know that they don't have a gravy train available with your Association.

If you like the current contractor and another contractor has a lower price, negotiate with the current contractor (i.e. will they match).

Short story - Just last year we liked out trash contractor but I wanted to send out requests for bids. The Board only agreed to sending out the requests because I was proactive and already had letters drafted and a statement of work written out. Fortunately, I did this work as we were able to save $10,000 per year. Since we liked our current contractor, we asked if they would meet the price and, if they would, we would be willing to sign a 5 year contract (vs. the typical 2 or 3 year). They agreed and we now have $10K more in our budget which allowed us to perform other projects that were being deferred due to a lack of funds.