Circulating proposals

Started by GregM14 • 5 replies • 384 views

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GregM14 (Washington)
Posts: 81

Posted:

I've been an active board member, acquiring and circulating proposals from vendors for work around our community. (~250 homes, $250,000 annual budget). Happy to do so as a volunteer, kinda fun actually.

However, I find that some of the board members have constant feedback and want me to go back to the vendor 2 or 3 times and get different proposals. I don't enjoy that as much, because then I am going back and forth, back and forth. Some of the proposals with multiple revisions are small dollar contracts (under $5,000) and I'm not convinced it's worth my time to try to get multiple revisions on these.

I'm tempted to have our property manager handle proposals from here on out, so she can spend her professional time getting proposals and then requesting multiple revisions from vendors.

How do you handle this on your boards?

ND (PA)
Posts: 792

Posted:

Spending time up front to create a Board-agreed-upon specification of what work is to be accomplished would result in proposals/quotes that would be apples-to-apples comparisons and should (in theory) not require revisions from the vendor. Once Board decides the full extent of the project, then that's it. Board can't be changing their mind and scope of the project while vendors are making proposals/quotes. If any revision to a submitted proposal are deemed absolutely necessary, it should be a one and done thing. Consolidate any and all Board feedback and requested changes, send to vendor and request revision, then make decision based on what's received . . . no additional requests.

While this should ultimately be a responsibility of your MC, I personally think that the MC doesn't have as much of a vested interested in the project and/or results, so will likely not give it the same amount of time and/or effort that you do. That said, perhaps there are certain proposals where that level of effort is acceptable and the MC should completely handle those, freeing up the time you spend doing it. And then perhaps there are more involved projects that you can handle or at least be more involved with.

BillH10 (Texas)
Posts: 1,217

Posted:

Greg

Why are the other members of the Board asking you to go back to the bidders to obtain revised bids? Is it because they "feel" it is too much? I personally do not put a lot of stock in, or have much patience for, that response. If there is a concern the proposed cost exceeds the planned budget, or the board member has recent first hand knowledge of what something should cost, or the bid scope was not accurate or complete, that is a different matter.

If the bid scope is not as comprehensive as it should be, including alternatives, then that should be addressed before the bids are sent. Tasking your PM to send bids which do not include everything to be bid upon is not going to make the process any more effective or efficient, it will simply transfer the frustration of having to go back for supplements from you to the PM.

As to gathering bids for projects estimated to cost less than $5,000, I tend to agree with you. We have told our clients we will not seek bids to repair issues with irrigation systems or water supply lines from the meter to the faucet. Generally those issues require immediate attention, secondly they are difficult to bid as the cause of the problem may not be known until earth has been dug up or a slab broken into.

If the issue is a discretionary repair, there is more time and latitude to gather bids. However, we have advised our clients obtaining bids for small projects of less than $2,500 is often impossible. Eligible (meaning insured) contractors do not wish to waste time on bids, they just want to get in, do the work, and get out.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

I discussed a $3,500 job with several vendors and one told me that he did not want to bid as HOA's were a PIA to deal with. They were always coming back wanting this and that and changing stuff as time went on. He said then the BOD changes and we are back to square one. He said thanks, but no thinks.

I agree. Some times a business has to fire a customer.

MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 859

Posted:

Our association has a Landscape committee that works with both the Management company rep and a landscape vendor to develop plans for the whole Board to review. The boards determines how much money is available for a particular project.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Greg

Might you have to many balls in the air at the same time? Seems your BOD needs to assign someone (BOD Members and/or committees) to specific areas like landscaping, construction, parking, etc rather than one person (you) doing it all.

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