Landscaping Vendors

Are any of you fellow HOA dwellers noticing an issue with your landscaping service? Our HOA switched to XXX which is a high rated company, but they seem to bring out to our community the crappiest workers. They have a high turnover rate and again these fools keep hoping up plants that are blooming, and the occasional worker that has a Joan Crawford moment on peoples landscaping.

Their cost are also increasing, at the last board meeting the BOD decided to raise our assessments per month 15%. The board has several proposals from some good companies at a much higher rate. The dues increase will be absorbed into choosing a new company. Our CC&R's says the association is responsible for front of house landscaping, but i am not certain it says they have to come out every month. As it ia right now I am lucky to see the crew hit my house once every two months. out board also threw out the notion of paying the same price but have the landscapers come out every 8-10 weeks, I can see this point if it saves money, but if the rate stays the same it is senseless to pay for a service that we are not getting.

I have decided that I am going to run for a BOD position the next election cycle. I find there is a simple madness that needs to be stopped.
I am conservative as the day is long, considering this last 4th of July and what a hassle it was with illegal fireworks in the community and fireworks being launched at peoples homes and people in the pool, we also are experiencing an increase of homeless and vagrants that enter the gated community. I feel we need to increase security presence not having professional landscaping servicing each individual home. I am fine with the common area being professionally landscaped.

The property manager says that having a professional landscape company maintain the homes it increases the home value. I'm calling Bull$#!T because
when I did my re-fi, the appraiser said that landscaping in our case does not increase the value of the home, because we are not in a high class development.

What say YOU???

Landscaping is expensive. I've never managed a community where landscaping wasn't the largest single line item in the budget. Nor have I managed one where I didn't have to constantly remind and nag the landscape company to get quality service. It sounds like your current landscapers need a little more nagging, at the very least.

If front yard maintenance is in your CC&Rs, the Board can't just drop it without amending the CC&Rs. There is also the practical matter of how you will get homeowners to maintain their individual landscaping. There will be a wide range in quality. Your neighbors probably don't even own the necessary equipment, since they haven't had to do this before.

When an Association's expenses exceed its income, and all of the expenses are necessary, the only solution is to increase income. If you want more security, you're going to have to pay for it.

With others, landscaping is a constant issue of keeping after the gardeners. We have about 5,000 sf of planters in our city block high rise. So it's not our most expensive contract by a far, but we seem to change firms every 2-3 years. they're good for several months and then our PM has to almost follow them around.

Security is one of our biggest expenditures and there's a park across a side street from us frequented by homeless people. We have a gated entrance with a 24/7 kiosk officer, and doors to two lobbies that require fobs. We get trespassers inside about 2 X a year. So, LetA, why are homeless people finding your gated entrance such an easy target?

Let me add something in regards to the price you pay. I will compare pricing for management services to landscaping services as the specs are very similar.

A normal price for managing an HOA is about $10.00 per door. A condo or townhome community can, not always, require much more work than a detached gated community. Let's say you manage 10 condo properties of 25 units each. Your monthly income is $2500.00. You manage 10 detached properties of 250 homes with monthly income of $25,000. I will potentially have more work at the condo properties than the detached.

Take you home landscaper. I have one for $60.00 per month, comes every week. let's say he does 20 homes per day, 6 days a week and has one other worker. He maxes out at $62,400 per year.

Take a HOA landscaper. 90 detached home communities, non gated. $800.00 per month. They can do 3 per day with 6 workers. $144,000 annually with 6 workers plus office staff.

Then look at a Las Vegas resort and what they pay for landscaping. I don't think they nickel and dime.