finding hoa's looking for bids, ?? How do you find them?

[tank]

;) where do you find hoa' s looking for bids online

[Bill Schwab]

Unless I was starving, our company will never work for an HOA. Inevitably, someone on every board has gottten passed over for every promotion they ever felt they were entitled to. They seem to feel they own a crew when they work at the HOA. Not only do they demand rock bottom prices, they expect top notch service. HOA's are not worth the headache they create.

[Lanelle]

And each time a new board of officers is elected, they feel compelled to re-invent the wheel which includes firing the contractors that were hired by the previous officers even though the service was excellent. Also the officers seem to think that they are experts at everything and so they will challenge every professional practice and standard that you have implimented. In fact they will insist that you adopt D-I-Y methods that you abandoned years ago in favor of better horticultural practices. And then there are the individual homeowners who make it their business to watch every move that your crew makes and then call you to complain about something nearly every week.

OK, Ok, I know that not every HOA is like this but a great many are so committing your resources to that sort of contract can be risky. Its great for a couple of years ---just about when you have the property under control and have learned how to be profitably efficient---poof!---they announce that they are looking for cheaper bids from other contractors so lower your prices or it's 'bye-bye'. Now you know why the turf and shrubs looked so crummy when you took over. It takes thick skin to play that game.

[VoodooChile]

"HOA" ? Oh, duh, Homeowner Associaitons

Called Condo Associations in 'Sconi.

Mixed bag for me. Not profitable, plenty of hassle, but good visibility if you're breaking in.

[Nebraska]

No matter what part of the country you are in there is soOOOoooo much universal truth to what has been said about HOA's. The expectation is bottom line pricing for top notch micro-managed (inevitably on part of a few of the members of the board) service. Without fail....every time...every single time.

I have found that as the average age of the HOA residents increases so do the quantity of hassles exponentially ten-fold. Dramatically decreasing as wheel chair bound age is upon them. But...that's just my experience.

In the next couple of days will post some of the emails of our last HOA "adventure"; they are quite humorous; in retrospect.

The best way to approach this type of work would be with thick skin or with an account manager that could shelter the business owner from the inevitable....unfortunately it is quite often a matter of taking the money while you can. Definitely not something I would invest capital and resources into...sort of if it fits into the route, have the equipment and man-power thing.

[jwholden]

I think this question is what seperates the 'managers' from the 'designers' on the site. If your business model is profits through volume and you have multiple crews to feed, go for it. Your efficiencies will make it work out well for you.

If you believe that every lawn should be perfectly striped, beds manicured, and only run one crew forget about it. It's not your niche.

There are going to be contractors and condo associations that buck this theory, but overall that's the way it is...

High profile commercial work, that niche would be a nice place for a designer to be, though I have no clue how to open that door.

[Rex Mann]

My HOA uses Truegreen and a company called Evergreen. I think the later is connected to TG. And, they do not do a great job. It is sub-par for what my dues are.

The yearly contract for the common areas is 6 Million a year and that does not include either golf course. They have close to 33 million sf to maintain. The board revisits and evaluates the performance every quarter.


Peace,

Rex


coloradopavers (http://coloradopavers.com)

[Lanelle]

I have worked for a company with multiple mowing/maintenance crews and it took a lot of hand-holding and report generating to keep HOA work under control and I saw this revolving door scenario occur and know that the profit margin for this type of work was largely dependent upon selling enhancements and other extra work. The amount of effort spent bidding to more HOAs to replace the inevitable lost HOA contracts was another significant cost for being in that market. The most profitable part was doing the snow plowing. As long as you have plenty of other types of contracts in your business mix, doing a few is fine. But I still contend that it is risky to build a whole division's (or company's) budget on HOA work.

[Lanelle]

I just realized that we haven't actually addressed the original question of this thread. I can't speak for other areas but here HOA's are legal entities so a listing of them is available from our local government. I recall seeing contact information on the list so sending a marketing piece might be the way to start.

[Pelican]

I think you will find that most HOAs are interested in finding the low bidder.