Because of the recent economic and mortgage related problems, we have seen a growing trend with Associations hiring new, low cost and low fee service companies. These low cost vendors and service companies that are coming into the marketplace are new, inexperienced and under staffed. These new companies have no real experience in their chosen fields and as a "Start-Up", are usually under staffed, without back-up and under capitalized.
If an association is considering getting a price quote from a new service company, the following are a few of the questions that should be asked of that service company by the association:
How long have you been in business and what is your direct experience in this business?
How many employees do you have and what are their job duties and responsibilities?
Do you sub-contract any of your work to any other companies or firms? And if that is the case, you will then have to get all of this same information on that company as well.
What types of insurance does your company have and in what amounts? Also, get proof of their insurance as well. Have them add your association as an "Additional Named Insured". That way you will know if the policy lapses.
What type of bonding does the company have and in what amounts?
What other types of services do they provide and does this arrangement create any conflict of interest in terms of supervision?
In case someone gets sick, goes on vacation or quits what are their contingency plans? Who are the back-up personnel and how will they interface with the association during this time?
How do they handle emergencies? Will they provide you with personal telephone numbers?
The point is that all companies pretty much all have the same overhead and costs. Therefore, if a new company price is much lower than an established firm, the association will not end up with same level of service and it will be much less than what they are currently receiving.
Associated Property Management (APM) is a 21-year-old full-service property management company specializing in community association management in Palm Beach County, Florida. Currently, we provide management, maintenance, supervision, bookkeeping and administrative services for more than 130 community associations. Our corporate website is http://www.assocpropmgt.com
We have a weekly newsletter about Community Association living at http://www.apmnews.org
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