Friday, September 21, 2007

Preparing Your Townhome Association for Snow

IMPORTANT LANDSCAPE and SNOW PREPARATIONS
It’s been a hot, dry summer. Many landscapes suffered damage this summer. While the turf will show the damage right away, the trees may take a year or more to show stress.
Tim Pearson of Concierge Enterprises advises that if brown areas of the lawn haven’t come back, then the fall (August 20th – Sept 20th), is really the best time to re-seed the lawn. Look for bluegrass mixes for sunny areas, fine or red fescue mixes for shady areas. A mixture of perennial ryegrass of up to 50% is advised to provide fast cover and shade for the tender bluegrass shoots that take their time germinating.
As for the sprinkler system, you probably noticed areas with poor coverage. Most systems had some areas that couldn’t be kept green. A landscape or irrigation contractor can tell you if there is enough water flow & pressure to add sprinkler heads to these areas. If you don’t have a sprinkler system yet, you can usually get a bid or ballpark figure from a reputable contractor. It might be something to budget for the future.
Getting ready for winter.
Tree wrap should be put around trees that have smooth bark to prevent cracking during freeze-thaw cycles. Sometime in Late October or November is usually fine.
Rick Anderson of Concierge Enterprises recommends that the irrigation system is blown out by October 31st. Rick also discussed repairing main lines and zones before the blow out to make sure that the air pressure stays high enough to blow out the zones and keep the system safe over the winter.
If you have an RPZ backflow, your association is required to have it inspected once per year, and rebuilt every 5 years. The backflow is important because it protects the drinking supply!
Getting the Property ready for winter.
Get under contract with your snow contractor early. Don’t wait until the last minute when your preferred vendor has made commitments with too many other clients. Make sure the language in the contract is clear about trigger depths. (A trigger depth is the snow depth in 24 hours that starts the snow removal process). A 2” trigger depth is most common with 1” being used at some associations. The cost of going from a 2” to a 1” might be about 40% higher because we would assume we would be out 30-40% more often.
Just as important as a clear contract is clear expectations with the residents. Send a letter out advising residents of who the snow contractor is, the trigger depths, and let them know what they can expect and more importantly, what not to expect. This will save everyone phone calls and disappointments all season long. Items that cause confusion between the board, contractors and residents are:
Will we be getting sand/salt automatically?
Where will sand barrels be placed?
Trigger depth.
Explain the difference between a breakout and a full plow.
Ideas on garbage placement on garbage day when heavy snow is forecast
Are city sidewalks included?
Finally, give them one phone number to call in case of a serious problem so they don’t leave messages with everyone on the board trying to find the right person.
Set expectations with the residents so if their car is in the driveway, it probably won’t be plowed. If the car can’t be put inside, then park it tight to one side so as much snow as possible can be removed.
Piling of snow. We get excited about piling snow! If the HOA was designed with areas to put snow, we’re happy, for those HOA’s designed by someone in California, you want to agree up front where it’s OK for the contractor to put snow.
Staking. Your contractor should be staking your property. Lathe, fiberglass, or the newest staking fad, irrigation flags. Lathe isn’t very pretty, but stands above most snowfalls, fiberglass is expensive and rarely used. Irrigation flags are small, unobtrusive, but will be covered with the first 6” snowfall.
Stakes are turned into Light Sabres or swords by 12 year olds, so expect some to be removed. Some residents also dislike the stakes and remove them. This might lead to more turf and curb damage over the winter.
Finally, work with your contractor to develop a simple color coded map of the areas to be plowed and shoveled, & preferred areas to pile snow. Now that video and pictures are digital, it would take 15 minutes to drive down each road filming the curb lines, noting what the site looks like before winter hits so damages can be assessed in the spring.
Following all of these ideas will help you enjoy winter and help you and your contractor have a successful snow season. A quiet HOA is a happy HOA? In the case of winter, I’d say a resounding yes!
This article was written by Steve Hoogenakker of Showcase Landscape and Tim Pearson of Concierge Enterprises. Steve can be reached at Steve@Landscape.Pro or 763-213-2410 and Tim can be reached at 763-286-6285.
Steve Hoogenakker has 20 years in the landscaping and leadership field. He can be reached by email at Steve@Landscape.Pro. Much of this information can be found in the excellent book, Crucial Conversations.
Steve Hoogenakker, MHA, CAI, CIC Midwest, MNLA, PLANET, MTFG, Showcase Landscape