Meeting with vendors

Depends on the project. Personally, the more the project will cost, the more I'd be interested in a vendor who will come out to see where he or she will be working and what will be required. It's similar to when I consider contractors for my home - I want to meet the people and for them to explain what they're seeing, what will be required, what could happen that could impact the project in terms of more time and money, etc.

When I was on the board, there were five of us with different schedules, so we usually had our property manager do the meeting, although the presidents usually tried to attend - it's called scheduling the meeting and coming up with a date and time that works for everyone. Even if one person arrives first and the other one shows up a little later, that can work.

You don't say how many people are on your board, but I know you've expressed concern before about the time it can take to get certain projects done. I also said you might consider setting priorities and encouraging (strongly) your colleagues to share in the work - have you even talked to them about this? If you want to oversee a project, you have to be willing to put in the work - from some of these previous posts, you've either learned it's taking more time than you thought it would or have changed your mind about doing it. That's fine, but make up your mind and tell your colleagues so they can move in another direction. If not, you'll have to put in the work and perhaps find a more efficient way to do it.

You're correct that some vendors will make the estimates sky high without seeing the site and the quality of work doesn't always equal what you pay for it, so you need to decide what's important to you. And remember, you're not the only one making the decision - talk to your board members and vote on what should be done. If there's a scheduling conflict, say so, get someone else (or your property manager) to attend the meeting and then report back.

Yes, I am on the board.

No, the board hasn't voted to delegate meeting with vendors to anyone, however, someone needs to do it otherwise we get stuck with crummy vendors.

After the vendor provides the proposal, then we circulate it amongst ourselves and then vote on whether to go with the proposal and sign the contract. I don't sign contracts unless we have a majority vote in favor of signing the contract. Of course, any board member can sign contracts but generally I seem to be the one most interested in doing so.

Greg,
It sounds to me like you are on the right course. I have always wanted to meet with vendors since I have been around construction and trades for my 39 years of working life. I can tell a good vendor verses a bad one almost every time. The ones that want to bid it by phone or Internet are always going to be higher since they will assume the worst and hope to cut corners and make more profit. I also have found that if they are busy they will over price the bid and if you select them they make more money and if not they have other jobs.

I always try and get a second board member to also meet with our bidders on specific projects. If you do not have a good RFP written you need to make sure they all get the same message. This way the bids should come back close to what you actually want. It also protects the single board member from the vendor saying he was told something he wasn't. It is the vendors word against the PM and possibly 2 board members.

Over my 10 years of being on boards I find that many vendors try and take advantage of HOAs because they know that they are Managed by some managers (not all) who really do not understand the jobs they are trying to get bids on and then boards who are volunteering and are spending other peoples money. This can be a recipe for disaster.