Association getting hurt on lack of bids due t PM comp.

We are in an unfortuate position where hardly any companies will bid to do lawn/snow services because of our property manager. In fact as predicted at our last meeting, they only brought us one bid from the company that has been out here for the last few years and the job they do is not at a level the "new" board members feel it should be (or all the homewners who have complained about it.

The excuse this year - no one would give bids unless they were for year round services. So we were challenged to find companies. Well we did and of course the feedback from the property manangement company is how horrible they are and how the people were all fired from other associations...of course "we should give the current company one more chance"

Personally, after hearing about un acceptable behavior by their staff while on the property - that did it for me.

Any suggestions on how we handle the property company. The fear is we hire someone else, she treats them like crap and we pay the price by no company or their "friends" company

Krystal - sounds like your PM could be getting a kick back from this company, and couldn't get one from a competing bidder. Or perhaps it is a subsidiary of your PM. You have a right to ask. Sometimes if you don't use the contractors sugested by your PM, you could end up paying more for your next PM contract. Then it is time to interview for a new PM too. Have your board call directly for bids and interview them directly so you'll know they will be doing what you want them to do. Harold

KrystalA: I question whether the present lawn/snow service company is somehow linked with the property mgmt company since your mgr. is unwilling to get additional bids for you--if they are indeed "working" together, they would not want this to change. Also, is the PM and Contractor the same one the Developer had?

1) Part of the mgmt. contract should read that they will solicit bids from VARIOUS service companies to perform lawn/snow maintenance.

2) The Board needs to carefully review the present contract to ensure that all is being completed properly and to their satisfaction.

3) It is true that it is in your best interest to contract with a vendor who does both lawn/snow services and negotiate on the cost for both.

4) Why not check out other service companies yourself.

5) Network with other communities who are happy with their contractor/s and observe the job being done.

JC3,

There are two ways to look at the situation of eight men picking weeds, either: there are to many or eight can get the job done a lot faster.

Every common property has to have certain criteria that the individual HOA wants accomplished. It is best that as time goes on, the HOA puts together a list of what they would like to see completed on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis for each project. Then when shopping the bids these items can be addressed directly.

It is always easier to have one company to accomplish one maintenance issue, but sometimes two companies are needed if one cannot perform all the responsibilities.