THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMMMMMMMMMM!

By Darlys Walker

Published April 25, 2012

The answer to Eric’s question from Mondays posting is a resounding, YES!!!!!!!!.  My philosophy is now and has always been, you can’t be good at everything, so be great at one thing.  For us, that is Community Association Managers.

Unfortunately, in the Florida market we see far too many companies, gobbling up smaller Management Firms, retaining the company name and then ultimately competing with themselves for management contracts.  Never informing the potential client that a parent conglomerate owns 80% of their company and while the Board may have decided to change companies, they are really just getting more of the same.

These same companies have purchased majority shares of service providers such as Landscaping, Janitorial, Concierge, and Maintenance. Then, they have their Property Management employees bid out the work using only companies they hold ownership in for the bidding process. Again, competing with themselves for the work. Or better yet, the Managers will sign contracts on behalf of the Association, sometimes unwittingly and sometimes unknowingly.

Believe it or not, many of your vendors or service providers may be forced to offer kickbacks or incentives to the Management Company for allowing them to work on their communities.  I know it is hard to believe, but it’s absolutely true.

Through our numerous takeovers form these companies we almost always reduce expenses by 20-25%.  These are HUGE dollars and every discount should be given back to the Association. After all, isn’t it our job as Management to work in the best interest of the Association?

You may ask yourself, what can I do to keep this from happening to my association?  Below, you will find a few easy measures that can say you a lot of headache and money!

1. Establish a vendor approval process, whereby the Vendor must sign an affidavit disclosing their relationship to the Management Firm and or any homeowner/board member.  This should also be a part of your Management Company.

2. Assign a Homeowner/Committee member or Board member to choose 3 companies to bid on the service.

3. Google the vendor’s name. Google is a wonderful tool to find out who is related to whom, and in what way as it pertains to the business world.

4. Have your budget committee spot check Vendors. Send them a survey asking if there were any improprieties. You will be surprised what you learn.

This is a situation which I am very passionate about, as I believe it gives all Management companies a bad reputation, and encourages the public to think poorly of all.  I liken this behavior to that of a drug dealer.  Drug dealers make a lot of money, retain inventory, keep accounting and productions records, supervise a large sales staff, organize shipping and so on.  Think about it, if they quit taking short cuts and focused on what they are good at (running a business not the selling of drugs). They could live a longer more productive life and make a positive difference in society.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm!

Yes it is true, we are not the biggest Management Firm, nor are we the richest. But we have our integrity. We have clients who have been with us 10 years and know we have their best interest at heart and we are very well respected in our focus markets.  Richness is determined by more than dollars.