HOA management company with no office

Our HOA is looking at hiring a new, small management company but they do not have a physical office yet although they say they will very soon when they grow. Should that be a concern? Are there any requirements for a management company having office space?

They have assured us they have a space available for meeting with owners to review documents and other situations that may arise.

Thoughts?

They have space available? What space?

Do they have references? Do they have experience?

Is it one person or an actual company with employees?

Since Covid many people no longer use their office spaces. Most people are working from home. So it may be the new "normal" to not have an "office space". My work have not seen my co-workers in office for over a year now. Some may not even come back into the office unless for Tech support.

Our current PM has no offices. I don't understand how they are able to provide the services they claim to provide to the number of communities they claim to serve.

Who maintains your community's records, and where do people go when they've requested access to some of your records? Where would owners have to go? What sort of backup protection do your records have? Rb.cords management is often a PM's job.

My issues with companies that lack a physical location are:

* Big issue: no track record/lack of recommendations from satisfied customers.

* Making people go to strangers' homes is not safe for a variety of reasons, for both the homeowners and the persons who live in that home.

* Commercial office space often provides physical security, including sprinkler systems in case of fires. A person's home is unlikely to have these. In addition, a person's home may have pets and kids getting into stuff they shouldn't or a spouse who can access confidential information.

* Is after-hours emergency support an issue? People who work at home aren't going to want somebody calling at 2 AM because a pipe burst in the condo upstairs.

* They may plan to grow, but that's no guarantee that they will. If they don't get enough clients or they don't manage their growth well, they may well put themselves out of business.

A new company can work out well - our previous PM's company started with a single person who was fed up with the quality of service provided by the company that managed her community. But this company provided top notch service from the get-go and now is taking serious market share from the Big Dog in my area. Your new company may not do that.

If it were me, I'd be inclined to wait a while and see what kind of a track record they have after a few years.

I have a meeting in two weeks with a board to discuss roofing and paving. The average length of the three roofing bids is 24 pages, while the paving is 10 pages long. Who and when does the 102 pages of bids put into the record as you describe?

So when do the board read them and then discuss. why not give them the info ahead of time to be prepared to discuss.