The use of salt as a deicer on townhome roads and sidewalks is the preferred method to promote safe motor vehicle and pedestrian travel during winter months. The most commonly used deicing salt is sodium chloride (NaCl). Sodium Chloride effectively depresses the freezing point of water to melt ice. But what are the impacts of salt applications to drinking-water supplies and watershed ecosystems?
The application of NaCl and its environmental consequences have come under scrutiny by the environmental and scientific communities as well as regulators and legislators.
There is growing concern over plant habitat, wildlife kills, and water-quality issues. It is estimated that the United States applies 8-12 million tons of salt on the roads annually. Living in Minnesota, we certainly get more than our share of this total. The question is, how much damage to the environment is caused by dumping the equivalent of 20 pounds of salt on the ground for every man, woman and child in the U.S. each year?
Environmental Fate
Soil with high salt concentrations affect biotic communities, hinder plants ability to uptake nutrients and reduce root growth.
Wildlife
Damage to vegetation hurts wildlife habitat by destroying food resources, shelter, and nesting sites..There have even been reports of bird kills. The thinking is that birds might not be able to distinguish between salt crystals and the grit their diets require. Salt can be an irritant to dogs and cats too.
Infrastructure Impacts
In addition to the public health and environmental problems associated with chloride deicers, the corrosivity of road salt adversely impacts motor vehicles and infrastructure. In vehicles, corrosion can affect critical vehicle parts, such as brake linings, frames, and bumpers, and of course, surface rust on the body. Townhome sidewalks receive a lot of damage each year.
“Pet Safe” products
Many bags of salt promote the fact that they are pet safe. In practice, most pet safe salts have a blend of different chemicals, some of which can be an irritant to pets. Magnesium Chloride and CMA are more “pet and environmentally friendly” than Sodium Chloride, but there still may be other salts in the blend.
So, what is the solution for townhome associations and condos?
1.review your winter maintenance contract. Does your contract call for auto salting by the contractor whether the site needs it or not? Although the numbers vary widely, most snowfalls in the Twin Cities don’t require salting. If we have 20 snow events in a season, Maybe 4-7 need salt. So salting 20 times is not only damaging your property and the environment, but you’re throwing dollars out the window as the contractor has built in the cost of the 20 saltings in your contract.
It’s better to have your board or manager determine when and where salt is applied on your property. Since the board lives on site, you’ll have a constant watch of your sites conditions.
2. Even if a site requires salt, many times putting the proper amount of salt on intersections, hills and underground parking ramps are all that is needed. That alone will save at least 50% of the salt applied.
3. Temperatures matter! At 30 degrees, one pound of salt melts 40 pounds of ice, while at 20 degrees, one pound of salt melts only10 pounds of ice, a 400% difference! And the air temperature is a minor part of the equation. Does your contractor apply varying amounts of salt to your property at different temperatures? Do the varying amounts show up when they bill for salt, or does it always seem to be “2 tons” every time?
4. Barrels of salt/sand. 10 years ago, we were applying mixtures of 80% sand and 20% salt as THE standard application for townhomes. The salt was in there basically to keep the sand from freezing solid in the spreader. Nowadays, sand is rarely used on private lots, but there is still a place for sand. Your contractor can usually provide sand barrels for your association. They’ll place them next to hills and parking ramps, or wherever you want them. It’s that same 80/20 mix of sand/salt. They’ll provide a cover and a scoop for residents to use whenever needed. When a barrel runs low, call the contractor and he’ll refill it. At the end of the season, the contractor picks up the barrel and stores it.
Road-Salt Alternatives
Calcium Magnesium Acetate
CMA is relatively harmless to plants and animals, noncorrosive to metals, and nondestructive to concrete and other highway materials. CMA is very expensive and is required by customers with raised parking decks or concrete parking areas. Because of it’s expense, it’s use as a parking lot deicer is limited, but can be found in bagged salt as a blend to be used on sidewalks. CMA acts more slowly and is less effective than salt in cold conditions.
Magnesium Chloride. Another good choice if you’re concerned about pets and the environment. Magnesium Chloride also melts ice at much lower temperatures than Sodium Chloride.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Budgeting options for commercial snow removal
The vast majority of property managers think of only 1 or 2 ways to specify snow removal services. This article talks about the good and bad of some interesting methods!
The best methods to budget snow removal for your sites this winter:
There are innovative ways to budget your snow removal that most property managers are unaware of. They are (in order of wildest swings in meeting budget to most conservative):These methods will have the BIGGEST impact on whether you beat or blow your budget this year.
a) Snow billing by the hour. This is the riskiest plan in order of maintaining your budget. Good contractors billing by the hour are fine, but if you don't know them, it's also the easiest for a bad contractor to overbill you and your clients (tenants). Also something that many property managers fail to include in their strategy is to know if your snow contractor is using all or mostly subcontractors. Now you have TWO entities that could overbill. Unless the general is out there every night, it's nearly impossible to verify each subs hours. If they can't verify it, you'll probably pay extra. This isn't all bad though, if we have very light snowfall this winter, you can save considerably over other methods.
b) Snow billing by the PUSH. This is the newest method of determining pricing. Let's say you have a retail site and you have a 1" trigger. You need constant service to keep drive lanes open and ice free. Once the site gets to an inch, the contractor will start snow removal operations, even if snow is continuing to fall. When they're done, if there's another inch or two on the ground, they'll go through the entire process again.
You have one price per push, which is MUCH less than a per "event"
and gives you some control
c) Snow billing by THE EVENT. You're probably familiar with billing "Per Time". Usually this is broken out at 2-4 inches, then a higher price for 4-6 inches, etc...The plowing usually includes a breakout at 4" where the contractor will clear the drivelanes, then come back hours later and finish the entire job. Then you get charged once per snow event
d) Snow billing by THE INCH. This is another new method of budgeting for snow. You receive a bid for $200 per inch of snow. The snow can be measured on site over the season, or if you'd like numbers with no argument, go with the snow totals at the Chanhassen Weather Service. At the end of the season, if we've had 48 inches, then you would have been billed $9,600.
e) Seaasonal billing. When you absolutely need to be on budget, a seasonal bill consisting of 5 equal monthly payments will keep you there. What are the downsides? If we have a winter with light snow, youi'll end up paying more than you could've by taking a chance on any of the above methods.
This is the favorite method of townhome associations. I think it's because no board wants to get beat up by being way over budget. At least when the price is decided in September, the residents know what to expect.
Let's touch on subcontractors again. One of the real life problems with using subcontractors is that many times they sign up for a site with the "general contractor", but have 3-5 of their own sites that they have a personal stake in, and almost always pay better. So, are you going to get service when you expect it? Good question, but many property managers are now adding "no subcontractors" to the bidding process.
This is the preferred method of the largest snow removal operations. They can use up to 95% subcontractors, and may offer a lower price. Their success is determined by how well they can find and retain great subcontractors who can't sell their own work.
Check on references of course, and spend a little time getting to know your bidders in person. They'll be the ones you count on to keep your clients happy and your phones quiet for 5 months, and that's darn important.
If you are in need of a snow removal bid, call me at 763-213-2410, or email me at Steve@Landscape.Pro and I'll give you a no obligation property evaluation and snow response plan.Email steve at Steve@Landscape.Pro to get your free snow response plan.
The best methods to budget snow removal for your sites this winter:
There are innovative ways to budget your snow removal that most property managers are unaware of. They are (in order of wildest swings in meeting budget to most conservative):These methods will have the BIGGEST impact on whether you beat or blow your budget this year.
a) Snow billing by the hour. This is the riskiest plan in order of maintaining your budget. Good contractors billing by the hour are fine, but if you don't know them, it's also the easiest for a bad contractor to overbill you and your clients (tenants). Also something that many property managers fail to include in their strategy is to know if your snow contractor is using all or mostly subcontractors. Now you have TWO entities that could overbill. Unless the general is out there every night, it's nearly impossible to verify each subs hours. If they can't verify it, you'll probably pay extra. This isn't all bad though, if we have very light snowfall this winter, you can save considerably over other methods.
b) Snow billing by the PUSH. This is the newest method of determining pricing. Let's say you have a retail site and you have a 1" trigger. You need constant service to keep drive lanes open and ice free. Once the site gets to an inch, the contractor will start snow removal operations, even if snow is continuing to fall. When they're done, if there's another inch or two on the ground, they'll go through the entire process again.
You have one price per push, which is MUCH less than a per "event"
and gives you some control
c) Snow billing by THE EVENT. You're probably familiar with billing "Per Time". Usually this is broken out at 2-4 inches, then a higher price for 4-6 inches, etc...The plowing usually includes a breakout at 4" where the contractor will clear the drivelanes, then come back hours later and finish the entire job. Then you get charged once per snow event
d) Snow billing by THE INCH. This is another new method of budgeting for snow. You receive a bid for $200 per inch of snow. The snow can be measured on site over the season, or if you'd like numbers with no argument, go with the snow totals at the Chanhassen Weather Service. At the end of the season, if we've had 48 inches, then you would have been billed $9,600.
e) Seaasonal billing. When you absolutely need to be on budget, a seasonal bill consisting of 5 equal monthly payments will keep you there. What are the downsides? If we have a winter with light snow, youi'll end up paying more than you could've by taking a chance on any of the above methods.
This is the favorite method of townhome associations. I think it's because no board wants to get beat up by being way over budget. At least when the price is decided in September, the residents know what to expect.
Let's touch on subcontractors again. One of the real life problems with using subcontractors is that many times they sign up for a site with the "general contractor", but have 3-5 of their own sites that they have a personal stake in, and almost always pay better. So, are you going to get service when you expect it? Good question, but many property managers are now adding "no subcontractors" to the bidding process.
This is the preferred method of the largest snow removal operations. They can use up to 95% subcontractors, and may offer a lower price. Their success is determined by how well they can find and retain great subcontractors who can't sell their own work.
Check on references of course, and spend a little time getting to know your bidders in person. They'll be the ones you count on to keep your clients happy and your phones quiet for 5 months, and that's darn important.
If you are in need of a snow removal bid, call me at 763-213-2410, or email me at Steve@Landscape.Pro and I'll give you a no obligation property evaluation and snow response plan.Email steve at Steve@Landscape.Pro to get your free snow response plan.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Summer swelter damages lawns in 2010
Summer Swelter Stresses Lawns
Inside our company, we’ve been discussing mother nature’s effect on our lawns. It’s no surprise that it’s been a strange season for weather. Honestly, every season seems strange. This one started out with over 400 funnel clouds early in the season, followed by plenty of rainfall, and an extended period of hot, humid weather. The item that’s caught our attention is the bumper crop of weeds. We expect a lot of weeds during hot, dry weather, but not in a season with plentiful rainfall.
So, why the bumper crop of weeds? It shouldn’t be a surprise when you hear that on August 30th, it was announced that Minnesota farmers are expecting all time record crops this year. It’s obvious that growing conditions are excellent.
Crabgrass is a particularly tough problem. Crabgrass crowds out healthy turf and a single plant can leave behind an ugly purple skeleton along with 3000 seeds to germinate in your lawn for the next few years, so control is critical. Most companies apply crabgrass control once in the spring. We’ve taken the proactive stance of applying it twice as a pre-emergent and have spot treated during the summer as a third treatment.
Let’s recap the year:
Mild growing conditions in the spring and early summer produced beautiful lawns, but excessive heat and rainfall have produced some weary and weedy lawns that will need assistance to recover this fall. Statewide precipitation rates well above normal provided ample water for lawn growth, but while your sprinklers may have been growing cobwebs, lawns in Minnesota were being set up for decline from diseases, weeds, insects, and summer stress.
Disease
Dollar spot and red thread were active through June, but the more deadly brown patch and Pythium have reared their ugly head in late July and August to finish off some of the weaker lawns.
Weeds
This was a terrible year for crabgrass and yellow nutsedge. Pre-emergence herbicides generally give 85 to 100% control of crabgrass, but this year's excessive rain and high temperature reduced efficacy of crabgrass control products. High moisture and high temperature are two factors that increase the activity of soil microorganisms that ultimately ingest the herbicide and render it inactive for season long weed control.
Lawns inundated with crabgrass by August 2010 will benefit from pre-emergence crabgrass control in spring 2011 to reduce the infestation of crabgrass that is eminent; seed from this year's heavy infestation will germinate next summer and the cycle of crabgrass will continue.
Should you try to kill the heavy infestation of crabgrass now? When crabgrass covers less than 25% of the turf area, do nothing. Crabgrass will die after the first frost and the Kentucky bluegrass will usually fill in the areas through the dead crabgrass. However, if the Kentucky bluegrass is being smothered beneath a layer of crabgrass that covers 50 to 100% of the visible lawn surface additional action is needed. The thick, uncontrolled mat of crabgrass will dominate the turf until the first killing frost that usually occurs in October; then it will be too late to establish Kentucky bluegrass from seed. Contact your lawn care company for assistance to suppress or kill the existing crabgrass to aid re-establishment. Power rake and reseed in early September.
Insects
White grubs and bluegrass billbugs are our two major lawn insects. There were some bluegrass billbugs this year but damage was very limited compared to past years with drier conditions. Annual white grubs of the masked chafer and Japanese beetle are showing up in ample supply and right on schedule for Mid-August. Grub damage may be concealed by ample rainfall in late summer, only to appear during a dry spell. Curative insecticides are only effective between now and early October.
Summer Stress
High temperature and excessive moisture are a deadly combination that cause stress for cool-season grasses grown in Minnesota lawns (Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue). High temperatures favor warm-season grasses such as crabgrass while cool-season grasses suffer. This partially explains why crabgrass can overtake Kentucky bluegrass as the summer progresses.
Excessive moisture also contributes to lawn decline in the summer. Roots need air to survive. Oxygen is displaced in soggy or flooded soils and the anaerobic conditions cause the roots to not function properly. Imagine lying down in the sun of your front yard in the hottest part of the day on a sunny, soggy and humid bed of grass. You wouldn't last but a few minutes. Grass plants in the sun can't get up and move to the shade. They're stuck, and when the evaporative cooling system begins to shut down the grass plant, thatch, and soil surface quickly heat up to the existing air temperature or higher. Plants can be literally cooked to death by direct heat injury as plant tissue temperatures rise above 95 degrees F. Temperatures this year were sufficient to cause rapid injury directly from high temperatures and indirectly from prolonged periods of high temperatures that eventually depleted stored carbohydrates. Weakened plants with slow growth were often overcome by brown patch and pythium diseases that flourished when night time temperatures were greater than 72 degrees F.
What to do
The bad news is that several lawns have succumbed to the various woes of summer described above. The good news is that now is the best time to rejuvenate damaged lawns. This may be a good time to kill the existing mess and start over with improved grass varieties suitable for your lawn. Consult your local lawn care professional company to develop a plan to recover your lawn through aerification, slicing, seeding, and fertilizing.
By Dave Minner, Department of Horticulture & Steve Hoogenakker, Concierge Landscape Environments
Inside our company, we’ve been discussing mother nature’s effect on our lawns. It’s no surprise that it’s been a strange season for weather. Honestly, every season seems strange. This one started out with over 400 funnel clouds early in the season, followed by plenty of rainfall, and an extended period of hot, humid weather. The item that’s caught our attention is the bumper crop of weeds. We expect a lot of weeds during hot, dry weather, but not in a season with plentiful rainfall.
So, why the bumper crop of weeds? It shouldn’t be a surprise when you hear that on August 30th, it was announced that Minnesota farmers are expecting all time record crops this year. It’s obvious that growing conditions are excellent.
Crabgrass is a particularly tough problem. Crabgrass crowds out healthy turf and a single plant can leave behind an ugly purple skeleton along with 3000 seeds to germinate in your lawn for the next few years, so control is critical. Most companies apply crabgrass control once in the spring. We’ve taken the proactive stance of applying it twice as a pre-emergent and have spot treated during the summer as a third treatment.
Let’s recap the year:
Mild growing conditions in the spring and early summer produced beautiful lawns, but excessive heat and rainfall have produced some weary and weedy lawns that will need assistance to recover this fall. Statewide precipitation rates well above normal provided ample water for lawn growth, but while your sprinklers may have been growing cobwebs, lawns in Minnesota were being set up for decline from diseases, weeds, insects, and summer stress.
Disease
Dollar spot and red thread were active through June, but the more deadly brown patch and Pythium have reared their ugly head in late July and August to finish off some of the weaker lawns.
Weeds
This was a terrible year for crabgrass and yellow nutsedge. Pre-emergence herbicides generally give 85 to 100% control of crabgrass, but this year's excessive rain and high temperature reduced efficacy of crabgrass control products. High moisture and high temperature are two factors that increase the activity of soil microorganisms that ultimately ingest the herbicide and render it inactive for season long weed control.
Lawns inundated with crabgrass by August 2010 will benefit from pre-emergence crabgrass control in spring 2011 to reduce the infestation of crabgrass that is eminent; seed from this year's heavy infestation will germinate next summer and the cycle of crabgrass will continue.
Should you try to kill the heavy infestation of crabgrass now? When crabgrass covers less than 25% of the turf area, do nothing. Crabgrass will die after the first frost and the Kentucky bluegrass will usually fill in the areas through the dead crabgrass. However, if the Kentucky bluegrass is being smothered beneath a layer of crabgrass that covers 50 to 100% of the visible lawn surface additional action is needed. The thick, uncontrolled mat of crabgrass will dominate the turf until the first killing frost that usually occurs in October; then it will be too late to establish Kentucky bluegrass from seed. Contact your lawn care company for assistance to suppress or kill the existing crabgrass to aid re-establishment. Power rake and reseed in early September.
Insects
White grubs and bluegrass billbugs are our two major lawn insects. There were some bluegrass billbugs this year but damage was very limited compared to past years with drier conditions. Annual white grubs of the masked chafer and Japanese beetle are showing up in ample supply and right on schedule for Mid-August. Grub damage may be concealed by ample rainfall in late summer, only to appear during a dry spell. Curative insecticides are only effective between now and early October.
Summer Stress
High temperature and excessive moisture are a deadly combination that cause stress for cool-season grasses grown in Minnesota lawns (Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue). High temperatures favor warm-season grasses such as crabgrass while cool-season grasses suffer. This partially explains why crabgrass can overtake Kentucky bluegrass as the summer progresses.
Excessive moisture also contributes to lawn decline in the summer. Roots need air to survive. Oxygen is displaced in soggy or flooded soils and the anaerobic conditions cause the roots to not function properly. Imagine lying down in the sun of your front yard in the hottest part of the day on a sunny, soggy and humid bed of grass. You wouldn't last but a few minutes. Grass plants in the sun can't get up and move to the shade. They're stuck, and when the evaporative cooling system begins to shut down the grass plant, thatch, and soil surface quickly heat up to the existing air temperature or higher. Plants can be literally cooked to death by direct heat injury as plant tissue temperatures rise above 95 degrees F. Temperatures this year were sufficient to cause rapid injury directly from high temperatures and indirectly from prolonged periods of high temperatures that eventually depleted stored carbohydrates. Weakened plants with slow growth were often overcome by brown patch and pythium diseases that flourished when night time temperatures were greater than 72 degrees F.
What to do
The bad news is that several lawns have succumbed to the various woes of summer described above. The good news is that now is the best time to rejuvenate damaged lawns. This may be a good time to kill the existing mess and start over with improved grass varieties suitable for your lawn. Consult your local lawn care professional company to develop a plan to recover your lawn through aerification, slicing, seeding, and fertilizing.
By Dave Minner, Department of Horticulture & Steve Hoogenakker, Concierge Landscape Environments
Friday, October 8, 2010
Townhome living maintenance free? I think not
Maintenance Free Living! Really?
“When a member asked me to address the belief of homeowners, that HOA living is maintenance free living, the zippy Green Acres theme song came to mind immediately. “Green Acres is the place for me, farm livin’ is the life for me… It continues on “The Chores.. The Stores.. Fresh Air… Town Square…”
I mean, the whole premise of the show was about Eddie Albert & Eva Gabor moving from a complicated city life to their own piece of “the promised land” to enjoy nirvana. Nearly all the comedy revolved around the Douglas’s interactions with “real” people and misconceptions about a simple lifestyle they thought they would enjoy.
This isn’t much different than the belief that moving from a single family home to an HOA would make life carefree. Well, without the comedy and Arnold Ziffle, the pig.
Where does the thinking come from?
In general, many developers sell units implying the Association repairs everything and pays for everything, via dues. They don’t explain that some items, like a leaky or clogged kitchen sink or a low battery in a smoke detector is the homeowner’s responsibility. They also don’t understand the concept of a benefit assessment – i.e. a certain element is used exclusively by one homeowner so the association assesses the cost of repair back to the unit owner who benefits from said element – like a waste pipe or a fence or whatever.
In addition, some people think they live in an apartment – or assisted living. People call the property manager complaining about smoke detectors beeping because of a low battery or burned out light bulbs in their living rooms and are aghast when I tell them I’m happy to send someone over there, but they’ll get charged for it. One woman called a manager 3 days in row to keep the manager updated on her fight with a spider web in her garage.
If you think that homeowners are entirely responsible for this thinking, you’d be wrong. In a quick search of one local real estate’s company, using the term “maintenance free”, there were over 1,200 homes for sale! There were even 4 farms listed as maintenance free. Now, that’s funny.
Senior communities tout the maintenance free benefits, and for good reason. Many of the seniors have health problems that keep them from doing a lot of maintenance. Townhome living is meant to be easy.
Think about the term “maintenance free” during the winter. I’m sorry to say, snow season is expected to make another surprise entrance in about 90 days. (Yuk) One of the biggest benefits of living in an association is that the lawn care is done, the driveway is plowed and the sidewalks are shoveled. Is there some maintenance required by the homeowner if the downspout is spilling water that freezes onto a sidewalk? It’s certainly not in the governing docs, but some common sense is in order here. What would a good neighbor do? What if you had a pregnant daughter coming to visit? Do you say well, it’s not my responsibility; C’est La Vie or do you get out there and do something about it? At the very least, call and let someone know about the dangerous situation or make sure the outside lights are working.
It amazes me that during a snowfall at an HOA, there are always a handful of people who shovel their driveway and sidewalk off, even before the snow has stopped and while our trucks are working down the street. I often wonder what drives these people to do something they don’t have to do. I just assume they care about their association and neighbors. Maybe they’re doing their neighbors sidewalk, maybe they’re trying to help us? If we all thought and acted like these neighbors, I don’t think worrying about light bulbs would even come up.
Association living isn’t responsibility free either. A homeowner who just sits back and waits for the board to decide everything to their satisfaction is not going to work out for that homeowner or anyone else in the association who might be experiencing the same thing. Boards & property managers really need more (quality) inputs from the homeowners so they can do their job.
Contribute your time and ideas to make your association a better place to live for everyone.
Don’t believe everything the developer and salesperson said about maintenance free living. What’s wrong with doing your part and maybe just a bit more to realize the feeling at the end of the theme song…”You are my wife.. Goodbye city life, Green Acres We Are There!”
“When a member asked me to address the belief of homeowners, that HOA living is maintenance free living, the zippy Green Acres theme song came to mind immediately. “Green Acres is the place for me, farm livin’ is the life for me… It continues on “The Chores.. The Stores.. Fresh Air… Town Square…”
I mean, the whole premise of the show was about Eddie Albert & Eva Gabor moving from a complicated city life to their own piece of “the promised land” to enjoy nirvana. Nearly all the comedy revolved around the Douglas’s interactions with “real” people and misconceptions about a simple lifestyle they thought they would enjoy.
This isn’t much different than the belief that moving from a single family home to an HOA would make life carefree. Well, without the comedy and Arnold Ziffle, the pig.
Where does the thinking come from?
In general, many developers sell units implying the Association repairs everything and pays for everything, via dues. They don’t explain that some items, like a leaky or clogged kitchen sink or a low battery in a smoke detector is the homeowner’s responsibility. They also don’t understand the concept of a benefit assessment – i.e. a certain element is used exclusively by one homeowner so the association assesses the cost of repair back to the unit owner who benefits from said element – like a waste pipe or a fence or whatever.
In addition, some people think they live in an apartment – or assisted living. People call the property manager complaining about smoke detectors beeping because of a low battery or burned out light bulbs in their living rooms and are aghast when I tell them I’m happy to send someone over there, but they’ll get charged for it. One woman called a manager 3 days in row to keep the manager updated on her fight with a spider web in her garage.
If you think that homeowners are entirely responsible for this thinking, you’d be wrong. In a quick search of one local real estate’s company, using the term “maintenance free”, there were over 1,200 homes for sale! There were even 4 farms listed as maintenance free. Now, that’s funny.
Senior communities tout the maintenance free benefits, and for good reason. Many of the seniors have health problems that keep them from doing a lot of maintenance. Townhome living is meant to be easy.
Think about the term “maintenance free” during the winter. I’m sorry to say, snow season is expected to make another surprise entrance in about 90 days. (Yuk) One of the biggest benefits of living in an association is that the lawn care is done, the driveway is plowed and the sidewalks are shoveled. Is there some maintenance required by the homeowner if the downspout is spilling water that freezes onto a sidewalk? It’s certainly not in the governing docs, but some common sense is in order here. What would a good neighbor do? What if you had a pregnant daughter coming to visit? Do you say well, it’s not my responsibility; C’est La Vie or do you get out there and do something about it? At the very least, call and let someone know about the dangerous situation or make sure the outside lights are working.
It amazes me that during a snowfall at an HOA, there are always a handful of people who shovel their driveway and sidewalk off, even before the snow has stopped and while our trucks are working down the street. I often wonder what drives these people to do something they don’t have to do. I just assume they care about their association and neighbors. Maybe they’re doing their neighbors sidewalk, maybe they’re trying to help us? If we all thought and acted like these neighbors, I don’t think worrying about light bulbs would even come up.
Association living isn’t responsibility free either. A homeowner who just sits back and waits for the board to decide everything to their satisfaction is not going to work out for that homeowner or anyone else in the association who might be experiencing the same thing. Boards & property managers really need more (quality) inputs from the homeowners so they can do their job.
Contribute your time and ideas to make your association a better place to live for everyone.
Don’t believe everything the developer and salesperson said about maintenance free living. What’s wrong with doing your part and maybe just a bit more to realize the feeling at the end of the theme song…”You are my wife.. Goodbye city life, Green Acres We Are There!”
Monday, October 4, 2010
Standardizing Specifications as your competitive advantage
Using Standardized Specifications as a Property Managers Unique Service Proposition.
By Steve Hoogenakker Steve@Landscape.Pro
It was a hot Monday afternoon in July and the humidity made it feel like an Indian sweat lodge. The air conditioner was refusing to work through another day, much like the temp that was hired here last week. My desk, looking like it belonged to Andy Rooney was strewn with paperwork facing every direction.
Emails had come in over the weekend about sprinkler heads shooting fountains 15 feet in the air, and I’d received 2 calls from the Vice President of the board asking when the pruning was going to be done. I even got an email asking about the sidewalk edging. Sidewalk edging? Who asks about sidewalk edging?
I scrambled through the papers looking for the maintenance specs, then through my files. I called my assistant and asked her for the contract, but nobody had found it yet.
The contractor finally called me back at 3:00 PM. He didn’t think the pruning had been due yet. The edging might have been kind of done using a weed whip, he didn’t know. As for the sprinklers, how was he supposed to know? He said “I’ll get my irrigation subcontractor out there in the next week”. A week? Oh no.
At 5:45 PM, I left the office, never finding the specifications. I emailed the Vice President before I left and told her I was working on it, but didn’t feel like I had made a lot of headway.
Tuesday morning. Another email about wasting precious water due to the fountain sprinkler heads asking if I cared about the environment, if I worked for BP and asked if I was going to pay the water bill next month. I get a phone message from an angry resident about one of their bird baths being damaged by the mowers last week. With the edging and pruning questions still fresh on my mind, we did a full press search for the specifications. Voila, we found them. My assistant has saved us!
Well, saved might be a strong word. I start to read through it. Hmmm, I’ve never seen specs like these before, they’re only a couple of pages long, should be a piece of cake.
Let’s see here, mowing; “Contractor not responsible for damage to personal items left in common areas”. I don’t remember seeing that. I hope the birdbath was inside the sidewalk, but it’s not likely. I’m not looking forward to that visit and phone call. Ah, here’s edging. “Edging shall be completed once annually”. Well, no end date, so I guess they have until Halloween to finish. I’m sure they won’t wait that long, but when?
Then I found pruning. Pruning shall be completed twice annually, but after shrubs have flowered. What does that mean I wondered? Surely some shrubs have finished flowering, it’s July for Pete’s sake. Have they done any of it? OK, one more question, irrigation, let’s see if that’s any better. Irrigation: “Lawn Sprinklers will be started up in the spring and blown out in the fall. If adjustments or repairs are necessary, it is the responsibility of client to notify contractor.”
So, I feel good that I found the contract and specs, but I still don’t have a single answer to give to the association.
This story happens hundreds if not thousands of times in Minnesota each year in one form or another. The problem arises because there are no standardized specifications for grounds maintenance. The specs could’ve come from a book, or more likely, they’re using a contractors specifications. I’ve run the largest landscape maintenance business here in the distant past and I can tell you that 20% of the language in contracts being passed around is language I wrote in 2000, and I am not an attorney!
In the past the board probably took 3 bids with 3 sets of specifications and accepted one. If they were one of the lucky ones, they kept using the same specs even after the contract ran out. If not, when the bid was up again, they asked for 3 more bids and got 3 different sets of specs to try to compare and had a new board to re-learn everything all over again.
So, what’s the solution? Whether you’re non-managed, a managed association, or a management company, you need to come up with your own set of specs and standardize as much of it as possible. To me, NOT having grounds maintenance specs for one of the biggest budget items and complaint items is just like trying to run an association without having MCIOA as a backstop!
There are only a couple of large management companies that have their own specs and they have a big competitive advantage over all the others. Their property managers already know what’s required at each site, why and when. They have deadlines for pruning and edging and they’re the same date, so on July 15th, sidewalk edging had better be done at every site. 80% of the thinking and brain damage of the board and property managers has already been eliminated. Just mark it in your Outlook calendar in February: First edging to be completed July 15th. You’ll see July 15th coming up so you can contact the vendor 2 weeks in advance with a reminder if you wish. The standardized specification makes less work for the manager, and in turn makes the manager and the board more efficient, and that translates into a happier association.
So, how do you go about making standardized specs? Since 90% of the horticultural items apply to all sites, standardize as many dates and descriptions as possible. For those few items that have to be customized, put them on as an addendum WITH DATES.
Grab 2-4 of your current landscape contracts and setup a meeting with me 1-2 of your property managers with 2-4 of their current grounds maintenance/snow contracts and optionally 1-2 respected board members. Send the documents out ahead of time and ask all to comment. Then, buy them lunch to come up with best parts of all contracts. Have them combine the specs into two sets. One for very small associations and one for larger associations. Run these by your accounting and legal departments and start using the “ABC Grounds Maintenance Specifications” as your own competitive advantage. Once done, 90% will always be done. You can tweak it over the years but you can have a new competitive advantage in a couple of weeks.
Steve Hoogenakker
Concierge Landscape Environments
Steve@Landscape.Pro
763-213-2410
By Steve Hoogenakker Steve@Landscape.Pro
It was a hot Monday afternoon in July and the humidity made it feel like an Indian sweat lodge. The air conditioner was refusing to work through another day, much like the temp that was hired here last week. My desk, looking like it belonged to Andy Rooney was strewn with paperwork facing every direction.
Emails had come in over the weekend about sprinkler heads shooting fountains 15 feet in the air, and I’d received 2 calls from the Vice President of the board asking when the pruning was going to be done. I even got an email asking about the sidewalk edging. Sidewalk edging? Who asks about sidewalk edging?
I scrambled through the papers looking for the maintenance specs, then through my files. I called my assistant and asked her for the contract, but nobody had found it yet.
The contractor finally called me back at 3:00 PM. He didn’t think the pruning had been due yet. The edging might have been kind of done using a weed whip, he didn’t know. As for the sprinklers, how was he supposed to know? He said “I’ll get my irrigation subcontractor out there in the next week”. A week? Oh no.
At 5:45 PM, I left the office, never finding the specifications. I emailed the Vice President before I left and told her I was working on it, but didn’t feel like I had made a lot of headway.
Tuesday morning. Another email about wasting precious water due to the fountain sprinkler heads asking if I cared about the environment, if I worked for BP and asked if I was going to pay the water bill next month. I get a phone message from an angry resident about one of their bird baths being damaged by the mowers last week. With the edging and pruning questions still fresh on my mind, we did a full press search for the specifications. Voila, we found them. My assistant has saved us!
Well, saved might be a strong word. I start to read through it. Hmmm, I’ve never seen specs like these before, they’re only a couple of pages long, should be a piece of cake.
Let’s see here, mowing; “Contractor not responsible for damage to personal items left in common areas”. I don’t remember seeing that. I hope the birdbath was inside the sidewalk, but it’s not likely. I’m not looking forward to that visit and phone call. Ah, here’s edging. “Edging shall be completed once annually”. Well, no end date, so I guess they have until Halloween to finish. I’m sure they won’t wait that long, but when?
Then I found pruning. Pruning shall be completed twice annually, but after shrubs have flowered. What does that mean I wondered? Surely some shrubs have finished flowering, it’s July for Pete’s sake. Have they done any of it? OK, one more question, irrigation, let’s see if that’s any better. Irrigation: “Lawn Sprinklers will be started up in the spring and blown out in the fall. If adjustments or repairs are necessary, it is the responsibility of client to notify contractor.”
So, I feel good that I found the contract and specs, but I still don’t have a single answer to give to the association.
This story happens hundreds if not thousands of times in Minnesota each year in one form or another. The problem arises because there are no standardized specifications for grounds maintenance. The specs could’ve come from a book, or more likely, they’re using a contractors specifications. I’ve run the largest landscape maintenance business here in the distant past and I can tell you that 20% of the language in contracts being passed around is language I wrote in 2000, and I am not an attorney!
In the past the board probably took 3 bids with 3 sets of specifications and accepted one. If they were one of the lucky ones, they kept using the same specs even after the contract ran out. If not, when the bid was up again, they asked for 3 more bids and got 3 different sets of specs to try to compare and had a new board to re-learn everything all over again.
So, what’s the solution? Whether you’re non-managed, a managed association, or a management company, you need to come up with your own set of specs and standardize as much of it as possible. To me, NOT having grounds maintenance specs for one of the biggest budget items and complaint items is just like trying to run an association without having MCIOA as a backstop!
There are only a couple of large management companies that have their own specs and they have a big competitive advantage over all the others. Their property managers already know what’s required at each site, why and when. They have deadlines for pruning and edging and they’re the same date, so on July 15th, sidewalk edging had better be done at every site. 80% of the thinking and brain damage of the board and property managers has already been eliminated. Just mark it in your Outlook calendar in February: First edging to be completed July 15th. You’ll see July 15th coming up so you can contact the vendor 2 weeks in advance with a reminder if you wish. The standardized specification makes less work for the manager, and in turn makes the manager and the board more efficient, and that translates into a happier association.
So, how do you go about making standardized specs? Since 90% of the horticultural items apply to all sites, standardize as many dates and descriptions as possible. For those few items that have to be customized, put them on as an addendum WITH DATES.
Grab 2-4 of your current landscape contracts and setup a meeting with me 1-2 of your property managers with 2-4 of their current grounds maintenance/snow contracts and optionally 1-2 respected board members. Send the documents out ahead of time and ask all to comment. Then, buy them lunch to come up with best parts of all contracts. Have them combine the specs into two sets. One for very small associations and one for larger associations. Run these by your accounting and legal departments and start using the “ABC Grounds Maintenance Specifications” as your own competitive advantage. Once done, 90% will always be done. You can tweak it over the years but you can have a new competitive advantage in a couple of weeks.
Steve Hoogenakker
Concierge Landscape Environments
Steve@Landscape.Pro
763-213-2410
Monday, May 24, 2010
Emerald Ash Borer and Property Managers. What's next?
TO BE PUBLISHED JUNE 15, 2010
Emerald Ash Borer’s effect on common interest communities
By Steve Hoogenakker and the MDA
Why should I care about EAB?
All ash trees are susceptible to EAB and millions of ash trees have been killed in infested areas already. It’s estimated that townhome associations may have as many as 40% of their trees as ash trees. Minnesota has one of the highest volumes of ash on forestland in the U.S. with an estimated 867 million forestland ash trees and ash is a prominent component of our urban forests as well.
How many trees do you have in your association? If you have 200 units and there’s two trees per unit including common areas, that could mean 160 ash trees. The potential economic and environmental impacts of losing these trees is substantial. The cost of removing and replacing a single tree can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. In any case, knowing the number and size of ash trees will be helpful and setting reserves aside now for future tree replacements or treatments is a good idea.
How do I prepare for EAB affecting my association? You have two choices. You can learn to spot EAB on your own using the links below. The information also includes insecticide information that will teach someone in your association to treat the trees or contact a reputable tree/landscape company especially if there are any large ash trees. Some companies will perform an Ash Tree audit to see how many ashes you have. The three options available for your ash trees are
1. Remove the Ash trees now and replace with a different tree so the landscape can continue to mature.
2. Treat the ash trees using an insecticide. The treatments may have to take place for the remainder of the tree’s life. This is probably too expensive for your entire association, but if you have large ash trees in prominent areas, these can’t really be replaced and treatments might be the best option.
3. Wait until the ash trees die, dispose of properly and replace later.
Emerald Ash Borer is in Minnesota
On May 14, 2009, Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) was confirmed as present in the South Saint Anthony Park neighborhood in St. Paul. EAB is a serious invasive tree pest, and consequently a quarantine has been placed on Ramsey, Hennepin, and Houston counties to help slow the spread of EAB to other areas. >>See Quarantine Information
What is EAB?
EAB is an insect that attacks and kills ash trees. The adults are small, iridescent green beetles that live outside of trees during the summer months. The larvae are grub or worm-like and live underneath the bark of ash trees. Trees are killed by the tunneling of the larvae under the tree's bark.
Where is EAB?
EAB is native to eastern Asia but was discovered in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario in 2002. Indications are it may have been introduced to this area as early 1990. EAB has been spread in ash firewood, nursery stock and possibly other ash materials to a number of new areas
“Dealing with emerald ash borer is a new challenge for most Minnesotans,” said MDA Plant Protection Director Geir Friisoe. “In some cases people may not know when it makes sense to treat their trees and when it doesn’t, or what kind of treatment will work best for their situation. With so many options out there and so many factors to consider, we thought it would be helpful to provide homeowners with all the relevant information in one small package.”
“It’s not just a matter of picking the most effective option for your trees,” Friisoe said. “There are potential water quality and human health concerns with some of these products if they are not used properly. We’re doing our best to get that information into the hands of homeowners, but ultimately the responsibility is theirs to read, understand and follow the label requirements.”
Available to download on MDA’s Web site at http://www.mda.state.mn.us/eab, the guide recommends that homeowners consider the following factors before moving forward with an insecticide treatment: Also on the right side of the website, there are links to an EAB treatment guide, FAQ’s and how to determine if I have EAB.
Identify if EAB is near: Treatments are only advised for trees within about 15 miles of known infestations.
Consider removing and replacing small and struggling ash tree: The cost of replacing these trees may be less than the cost of repeated treatments over the years.
Check the calendar: Treatments are most effective from mid-April through June.
Have a professional treat large ash trees: Do-it-yourself products are generally less effective on trees larger than 48 inches in circumference or 15 inches in diameter.
Contact a certified arborist or city forester before treating your trees: Some communities have special restrictions or requirements.
Steve Hoogenakker, STeve@Landscape.pro, 763-213-2410
Concierge Landscape Environments, CAI, CAI Minnesota, MHA, CICMidwest
Emerald Ash Borer’s effect on common interest communities
By Steve Hoogenakker and the MDA
Why should I care about EAB?
All ash trees are susceptible to EAB and millions of ash trees have been killed in infested areas already. It’s estimated that townhome associations may have as many as 40% of their trees as ash trees. Minnesota has one of the highest volumes of ash on forestland in the U.S. with an estimated 867 million forestland ash trees and ash is a prominent component of our urban forests as well.
How many trees do you have in your association? If you have 200 units and there’s two trees per unit including common areas, that could mean 160 ash trees. The potential economic and environmental impacts of losing these trees is substantial. The cost of removing and replacing a single tree can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. In any case, knowing the number and size of ash trees will be helpful and setting reserves aside now for future tree replacements or treatments is a good idea.
How do I prepare for EAB affecting my association? You have two choices. You can learn to spot EAB on your own using the links below. The information also includes insecticide information that will teach someone in your association to treat the trees or contact a reputable tree/landscape company especially if there are any large ash trees. Some companies will perform an Ash Tree audit to see how many ashes you have. The three options available for your ash trees are
1. Remove the Ash trees now and replace with a different tree so the landscape can continue to mature.
2. Treat the ash trees using an insecticide. The treatments may have to take place for the remainder of the tree’s life. This is probably too expensive for your entire association, but if you have large ash trees in prominent areas, these can’t really be replaced and treatments might be the best option.
3. Wait until the ash trees die, dispose of properly and replace later.
Emerald Ash Borer is in Minnesota
On May 14, 2009, Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) was confirmed as present in the South Saint Anthony Park neighborhood in St. Paul. EAB is a serious invasive tree pest, and consequently a quarantine has been placed on Ramsey, Hennepin, and Houston counties to help slow the spread of EAB to other areas. >>See Quarantine Information
What is EAB?
EAB is an insect that attacks and kills ash trees. The adults are small, iridescent green beetles that live outside of trees during the summer months. The larvae are grub or worm-like and live underneath the bark of ash trees. Trees are killed by the tunneling of the larvae under the tree's bark.
Where is EAB?
EAB is native to eastern Asia but was discovered in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario in 2002. Indications are it may have been introduced to this area as early 1990. EAB has been spread in ash firewood, nursery stock and possibly other ash materials to a number of new areas
“Dealing with emerald ash borer is a new challenge for most Minnesotans,” said MDA Plant Protection Director Geir Friisoe. “In some cases people may not know when it makes sense to treat their trees and when it doesn’t, or what kind of treatment will work best for their situation. With so many options out there and so many factors to consider, we thought it would be helpful to provide homeowners with all the relevant information in one small package.”
“It’s not just a matter of picking the most effective option for your trees,” Friisoe said. “There are potential water quality and human health concerns with some of these products if they are not used properly. We’re doing our best to get that information into the hands of homeowners, but ultimately the responsibility is theirs to read, understand and follow the label requirements.”
Available to download on MDA’s Web site at http://www.mda.state.mn.us/eab, the guide recommends that homeowners consider the following factors before moving forward with an insecticide treatment: Also on the right side of the website, there are links to an EAB treatment guide, FAQ’s and how to determine if I have EAB.
Identify if EAB is near: Treatments are only advised for trees within about 15 miles of known infestations.
Consider removing and replacing small and struggling ash tree: The cost of replacing these trees may be less than the cost of repeated treatments over the years.
Check the calendar: Treatments are most effective from mid-April through June.
Have a professional treat large ash trees: Do-it-yourself products are generally less effective on trees larger than 48 inches in circumference or 15 inches in diameter.
Contact a certified arborist or city forester before treating your trees: Some communities have special restrictions or requirements.
Steve Hoogenakker, STeve@Landscape.pro, 763-213-2410
Concierge Landscape Environments, CAI, CAI Minnesota, MHA, CICMidwest
Saturday, May 22, 2010
CAI Community Associations Institute and LinkedIn for property managers
&
By Steve Hoogenakker Concierge Landscape Environments
LinkedIn and CAI – The link to the top professionals in the CAI Community
What is LinkedIn and why is it so important to property managers & HOA’s? First of all, it’s the best way to post your questions and have them answered by your peers. Second, there are members of groups like CAI and CAI Minnesota that you can join for free and get timely articles and discussions on topics you care the most about.
LinkedIn is not a passing fad, it’s here to stay and it’s your free tool for important information.
The average LinkedIN user is a college educated 43 year old making $107,000 per year. Where else can you connect to this level of professionals in your industry? There were 17 million visitors in February. Who is visiting? Your customers, your employers, your employees, your vendors, your fellow homeowners and your peers.
This isn’t your “facebook for adults”, and this isn’t a short “tweet”. This is a free, powerful tool to manage your professional life and career, even if you aren’t looking for a new one.
Recently, Accenture’s head of global recruiting , John Campagnino, announced that he is hiring for 50,000 positions. 40% of those he expects to get through social media, particularly LinkedIn, so if you’re not using social media for your benefit, you’re missing out.
You Google other people, don’t you think they Google you? Of course they do. LinkedIn organizes your life’s work and interests, so if people search for you, it’s all presented in a clear, concise manner.
Here’s an example of LinkedIn’s value:
Nishar was trying to decide whether his daughter, who was 12 at the time, should spend her summer at a program offered by Johns Hopkins University. He posted the question to his status update on both Facebook and LinkedIn. While he received more comments on Facebook, they were casual and congratulatory. Only four of his LinkedIn contacts wrote him, but they offered a rich analysis, describing experiences with the Johns Hopkins program that left them better off academically; they persuaded him to enroll his daughter. "People are in a different context and mindset when they're in a professional network," he says.
CAI and LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is even more important to members of CAI. The most powerful aspect of LinkedIn is it’s groups. There are 4 groups available as of this writing; Community Associations Institute, CAI Minnesota, CAI – CT, and CIC and Townhome Mastermind Group.
These groups are made of your peers. There are relevant discussions there that can help you with your business or association. You can post your own discussion, or even ask a question. The members of these groups have been very supportive, and calls for help are almost always answered. We’ll tell you how to find these groups a little later.
So, how do you get started?
If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, go to www.linkedin.com, and setup an account. It’s free. There’s no need to use the paid version. It will take maybe a half hour to two hours to enter the information. If you’ve been a professional for awhile, you don’t need to enter in irrelevant information like grade school, or even high school information.
Your typical profile might have your current position and company on top with previous employment underneath, Then you might decide to list your goals. Also on your profile, you can have LinkedIn automatically grab your blog entries, twitter, facebook entries and articles you’ve written. You can also list things like the groups you belong to, your reading list, people you’ve recommended, and people who have recommended you.
After you’ve done the original profile and joined a few groups, you might want to spend 30 minutes every 6 months or so updating your profile and inviting others to join your network. I encourage you to join the groups I mentioned earlier. Post a thought, or pose a question and get involved with your peers.
After the original setup, look for the CAI groups listed above and ask to join. Use the searchbar in the upper right and change the search from people to groups. Besides the CAI groups, look for other interests that are not based in business, like bird watchers, executive weightlifters, speakers and panelists, gardeners, whatever. For every interest you have, there are probably already 5 groups or more to possibly join. If you’re really passionate about an issue, it’s very easy to start your own group, like I did with CIC and Townhome Mastermind.
So get LinkedIn, join a few groups, and share this article with friends and famly. I hope your life can be enriched a little like mine has.
Steve Hoogenakker, Concierge Landscape Environments
By Steve Hoogenakker Concierge Landscape Environments
LinkedIn and CAI – The link to the top professionals in the CAI Community
What is LinkedIn and why is it so important to property managers & HOA’s? First of all, it’s the best way to post your questions and have them answered by your peers. Second, there are members of groups like CAI and CAI Minnesota that you can join for free and get timely articles and discussions on topics you care the most about.
LinkedIn is not a passing fad, it’s here to stay and it’s your free tool for important information.
The average LinkedIN user is a college educated 43 year old making $107,000 per year. Where else can you connect to this level of professionals in your industry? There were 17 million visitors in February. Who is visiting? Your customers, your employers, your employees, your vendors, your fellow homeowners and your peers.
This isn’t your “facebook for adults”, and this isn’t a short “tweet”. This is a free, powerful tool to manage your professional life and career, even if you aren’t looking for a new one.
Recently, Accenture’s head of global recruiting , John Campagnino, announced that he is hiring for 50,000 positions. 40% of those he expects to get through social media, particularly LinkedIn, so if you’re not using social media for your benefit, you’re missing out.
You Google other people, don’t you think they Google you? Of course they do. LinkedIn organizes your life’s work and interests, so if people search for you, it’s all presented in a clear, concise manner.
Here’s an example of LinkedIn’s value:
Nishar was trying to decide whether his daughter, who was 12 at the time, should spend her summer at a program offered by Johns Hopkins University. He posted the question to his status update on both Facebook and LinkedIn. While he received more comments on Facebook, they were casual and congratulatory. Only four of his LinkedIn contacts wrote him, but they offered a rich analysis, describing experiences with the Johns Hopkins program that left them better off academically; they persuaded him to enroll his daughter. "People are in a different context and mindset when they're in a professional network," he says.
CAI and LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is even more important to members of CAI. The most powerful aspect of LinkedIn is it’s groups. There are 4 groups available as of this writing; Community Associations Institute, CAI Minnesota, CAI – CT, and CIC and Townhome Mastermind Group.
These groups are made of your peers. There are relevant discussions there that can help you with your business or association. You can post your own discussion, or even ask a question. The members of these groups have been very supportive, and calls for help are almost always answered. We’ll tell you how to find these groups a little later.
So, how do you get started?
If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, go to www.linkedin.com, and setup an account. It’s free. There’s no need to use the paid version. It will take maybe a half hour to two hours to enter the information. If you’ve been a professional for awhile, you don’t need to enter in irrelevant information like grade school, or even high school information.
Your typical profile might have your current position and company on top with previous employment underneath, Then you might decide to list your goals. Also on your profile, you can have LinkedIn automatically grab your blog entries, twitter, facebook entries and articles you’ve written. You can also list things like the groups you belong to, your reading list, people you’ve recommended, and people who have recommended you.
After you’ve done the original profile and joined a few groups, you might want to spend 30 minutes every 6 months or so updating your profile and inviting others to join your network. I encourage you to join the groups I mentioned earlier. Post a thought, or pose a question and get involved with your peers.
After the original setup, look for the CAI groups listed above and ask to join. Use the searchbar in the upper right and change the search from people to groups. Besides the CAI groups, look for other interests that are not based in business, like bird watchers, executive weightlifters, speakers and panelists, gardeners, whatever. For every interest you have, there are probably already 5 groups or more to possibly join. If you’re really passionate about an issue, it’s very easy to start your own group, like I did with CIC and Townhome Mastermind.
So get LinkedIn, join a few groups, and share this article with friends and famly. I hope your life can be enriched a little like mine has.
Steve Hoogenakker, Concierge Landscape Environments
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The case of the missing specs
The Case of the Missing Contract
By Steve Hoogenakker
It was a hot Monday afternoon in July and the humidity made it feel like an Indian sweat lodge. The air conditioner was refusing to work through another day, much like the temp that was hired here last week. My desk, looking like it belonged to Andy Rooney was strewn with paperwork facing every direction.
Emails had come in over the weekend about sprinkler heads shooting fountains 15 feet in the air, and I’d received 2 calls from the Vice President of the board asking when the pruning was going to be done. I even got an email asking about the sidewalk edging. Sidewalk edging? Who asks about sidewalk edging?
I scrambled through the papers looking for the maintenance specs, then through my files. I called my assistant and asked her for the contract, but nobody had found it yet.
The contractor finally called me back at 3:00 PM. He didn’t think the pruning had been due yet.The edging might have been kind of done using a weed whip, he didn’t know. As for the sprinklers, how was he supposed to know? He said “I’ll get my irrigation subcontractor out there in the next week”. A week? Oh no.
At 5:45 PM, I left the office, never finding the specifications. I emailed the Vice President before I left and told her I was working on it, but didn’t feel like I had made a lot of headway.
Tuesday morning. Another email about wasting precious water due to the fountain sprinkler heads asking if I cared about the environment and if I was going to pay the water bill next month. I get a phone message from an angry resident about one of their bird baths being damaged by the mowers last week. With the edging and pruning questions still fresh on my mind, we did a full press search for the specifications. Voila, my assistant has saved us!
Well, saved might be a strong word. I start to read through it. Hmmm, I’ve never seen specs like these before, they’re only a couple of pages long, should be a piece of cake.
Let’s see here, mowing; “Contractor not responsible for damage to personal items left in common areas”. I don’t remember seeing that. I hope the birdbath was inside the sidewalk, but it’s not likely. I’m not looking forward to that visit and phone call. Ah, here’s edging. “Edging shall be completed once annually”. Well, no end date, so I guess they have until Halloween to finish. I’m sure they won’t wait that long, but when?
Then I found pruning. Pruning shall be completed twice annually, but after shrubs have flowered. What does that mean I wondered? Surely some shrubs have finished flowering, it’s July for Pete’s sake. Have they done any of it? OK, one more question, irrigation, let’s see if that’s any better. Irrigation: “Lawn Sprinklers will be started up in the spring and blown out in the fall. If adjustments or repairs are necessary, it is the responsibility of client to notify contractor.”
So, I feel good that I found the contract and specs, but I still don’t have a single answer to give to the association.
This story happens hundreds if not thousands of times in Minnesota each year in one form or another. The problem arises because there is no standardized specifications for grounds maintenance. The specs could’ve come from a book, or more likely, they’re using a contractors specifications. I’ve run the largest landscape maintenance business here through the 1990’s and I can tell you that 20% of the language in contracts being passed around is language I wrote in 1999, and I am not an attorney!
In the past the board probably took 3 bids with 3 sets of specifications and accepted one. If they were one of the lucky ones, they kept using the same specs even after the contract ran out. If not, when the bid was up again, they asked for 3 more bids and got 3 different sets of specs to try to compare and had a new board to re-learn everything all over again.
So, what’s the solution? Whether you’re non-managed, a managed association, or a management company, you need to come up with your own set of specs and standardize as much of it as possible. To me, NOT having grounds maintenance specs for one of the biggest budget items and complaint items is just like trying to run an association without having MCIOA as a backstop!
There are only a couple of large management companies that have their own specs and they have a big competitive advantage over all the others. Their property managers already know what’s required at each site, why and when. They have deadlines for pruning and edging and they’re the same date, so on July 15th, sidewalk edging had better be done at every site. 80% of the thinking and brain damage of the board and property managers has already been eliminated. Just mark it in your Outlook calendar in February: First edging to be completed July 15th. You’ll see July 15th coming up so you can contact the vendor 2 weeks in advance with a reminder if you wish. The standardized specification makes less work for the manager, and in turn makes the manager and the board more efficient, and that translates into a happier association.
So, how do you go about making standardized specs? Since 90% of the horticultural items apply to all sites, standardize as many dates and descriptions as possible. For those few items that have to be customized, put them on as an addendum WITH DATES.
Grab 2-4 of your current landscape contracts and setup a meeting with 1-2 landscape contractors (with their current contracts), 1-2 of your property managers and optionally 1-2 respected board members. Send the documents out ahead of time and ask all to comment. Then, buy them lunch to come up with best parts of all contracts. Have them combine the specs into two sets. One for very small associations and one for larger associations. Run these by your accounting and legal departments and start using the “ABC Grounds Maintenance Specifications” as your own competitive advantage. Once done, 90% will always be done. You can tweak it over the years, but as the great philosopher Susan Powter says, “Stop the Insanity”!
Steve Hoogenakker
Concierge Landscape Environments
Steve@Landscape.Pro
763-213-2410
By Steve Hoogenakker
It was a hot Monday afternoon in July and the humidity made it feel like an Indian sweat lodge. The air conditioner was refusing to work through another day, much like the temp that was hired here last week. My desk, looking like it belonged to Andy Rooney was strewn with paperwork facing every direction.
Emails had come in over the weekend about sprinkler heads shooting fountains 15 feet in the air, and I’d received 2 calls from the Vice President of the board asking when the pruning was going to be done. I even got an email asking about the sidewalk edging. Sidewalk edging? Who asks about sidewalk edging?
I scrambled through the papers looking for the maintenance specs, then through my files. I called my assistant and asked her for the contract, but nobody had found it yet.
The contractor finally called me back at 3:00 PM. He didn’t think the pruning had been due yet.The edging might have been kind of done using a weed whip, he didn’t know. As for the sprinklers, how was he supposed to know? He said “I’ll get my irrigation subcontractor out there in the next week”. A week? Oh no.
At 5:45 PM, I left the office, never finding the specifications. I emailed the Vice President before I left and told her I was working on it, but didn’t feel like I had made a lot of headway.
Tuesday morning. Another email about wasting precious water due to the fountain sprinkler heads asking if I cared about the environment and if I was going to pay the water bill next month. I get a phone message from an angry resident about one of their bird baths being damaged by the mowers last week. With the edging and pruning questions still fresh on my mind, we did a full press search for the specifications. Voila, my assistant has saved us!
Well, saved might be a strong word. I start to read through it. Hmmm, I’ve never seen specs like these before, they’re only a couple of pages long, should be a piece of cake.
Let’s see here, mowing; “Contractor not responsible for damage to personal items left in common areas”. I don’t remember seeing that. I hope the birdbath was inside the sidewalk, but it’s not likely. I’m not looking forward to that visit and phone call. Ah, here’s edging. “Edging shall be completed once annually”. Well, no end date, so I guess they have until Halloween to finish. I’m sure they won’t wait that long, but when?
Then I found pruning. Pruning shall be completed twice annually, but after shrubs have flowered. What does that mean I wondered? Surely some shrubs have finished flowering, it’s July for Pete’s sake. Have they done any of it? OK, one more question, irrigation, let’s see if that’s any better. Irrigation: “Lawn Sprinklers will be started up in the spring and blown out in the fall. If adjustments or repairs are necessary, it is the responsibility of client to notify contractor.”
So, I feel good that I found the contract and specs, but I still don’t have a single answer to give to the association.
This story happens hundreds if not thousands of times in Minnesota each year in one form or another. The problem arises because there is no standardized specifications for grounds maintenance. The specs could’ve come from a book, or more likely, they’re using a contractors specifications. I’ve run the largest landscape maintenance business here through the 1990’s and I can tell you that 20% of the language in contracts being passed around is language I wrote in 1999, and I am not an attorney!
In the past the board probably took 3 bids with 3 sets of specifications and accepted one. If they were one of the lucky ones, they kept using the same specs even after the contract ran out. If not, when the bid was up again, they asked for 3 more bids and got 3 different sets of specs to try to compare and had a new board to re-learn everything all over again.
So, what’s the solution? Whether you’re non-managed, a managed association, or a management company, you need to come up with your own set of specs and standardize as much of it as possible. To me, NOT having grounds maintenance specs for one of the biggest budget items and complaint items is just like trying to run an association without having MCIOA as a backstop!
There are only a couple of large management companies that have their own specs and they have a big competitive advantage over all the others. Their property managers already know what’s required at each site, why and when. They have deadlines for pruning and edging and they’re the same date, so on July 15th, sidewalk edging had better be done at every site. 80% of the thinking and brain damage of the board and property managers has already been eliminated. Just mark it in your Outlook calendar in February: First edging to be completed July 15th. You’ll see July 15th coming up so you can contact the vendor 2 weeks in advance with a reminder if you wish. The standardized specification makes less work for the manager, and in turn makes the manager and the board more efficient, and that translates into a happier association.
So, how do you go about making standardized specs? Since 90% of the horticultural items apply to all sites, standardize as many dates and descriptions as possible. For those few items that have to be customized, put them on as an addendum WITH DATES.
Grab 2-4 of your current landscape contracts and setup a meeting with 1-2 landscape contractors (with their current contracts), 1-2 of your property managers and optionally 1-2 respected board members. Send the documents out ahead of time and ask all to comment. Then, buy them lunch to come up with best parts of all contracts. Have them combine the specs into two sets. One for very small associations and one for larger associations. Run these by your accounting and legal departments and start using the “ABC Grounds Maintenance Specifications” as your own competitive advantage. Once done, 90% will always be done. You can tweak it over the years, but as the great philosopher Susan Powter says, “Stop the Insanity”!
Steve Hoogenakker
Concierge Landscape Environments
Steve@Landscape.Pro
763-213-2410
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
LEADERSHIP and THE BOARD: A Story for board members and company owners:
By Steve Hoogenakker
There comes a point in time in every leaders time when he or she is tired of
spearheading every initiative and dragging and cajoling the other members to help.
At that point, they look to take their board or company to another level, either to create more energy, creativity or create more balance in their life, or possibly all of the above. When they find themselves in this situation, they must become a leader working “on” the business of managing a board instead of “in” it.
The first rule of a great board leader is that the team can never be completely dependent upon any one individual.
One of the more common mistakes made is that the president of the board fails to let go of certain activities and therefore stunts the growth of the team as a whole.
The next important point to remember is that as a leader, part of their job is to build a team of decision
makers. This can only be done by observing, directing and training them to be inter-dependent with each other. There are 3 stages of dependency;
1. Dependent: Unable to make decisions or to sustain a high level of accomplishments without prodding or constant oversight. It takes at least one additional competent individual to monitor this person. Using fuzzy math this equation would look like (1+1)= 1
2.Independent: Able to successfully perform complete projects required by the board in their entirety without oversight. Independents will often take over the entire task even if it was handed out to a subcommittee of 4 people. Independents like to think of themselves as the highest order of individual as I used to believe. Independents don’t require someone to watch over them, but they don’t add people to the process either. Fuzzy math might be 1=1 or a really good independent might be able to perform the work of 3 people or 1=3
3. Inter-dependent: This individual can complete the project on their own, but seek out ideas and input from others. They have good communication skills and are somewhat empathetic, (not sympathetic)!
When a project is given to an interdependent person, they PULL people into the project, creating synergy and energy. Because their very nature is to look at each issue as it affects all members, the fuzzy math might look like 1+4=30, with 1 being the interdependent person, 4 being the input and ideas brought in by other people and 30 being the number of residents who are on board because the group nailed the mission and tapped into the energy of the association.
In the Garth Brooks song, Standing Outside the Fire, people want to be “cool” and “strong” and face the problems alone, but the real answer is to be strong, but just “weak” enough to let others in and help create the future.
We call them cool
Those hearts that have no scars to show
The ones that never do let go
And risk it the tables being turned
We call them strong
Those who can face this world alone
Who seem to get by on their own
Those who will never take the fall
We call them weak
Who are unable to resist
The slightest chance (that) might exist
And for that forsake it all
They're so hell bent on giving, walking a wire
Convinced it's not living if you stand outside the fire
So what’s the plan?
As a leader you are responsible for the focus of your board and the needs of all residents. The clearer the vision of the leader, the more people will follow. When building your team, as the chief, you must lead by example.
Each board must have a Visionary and a Manager. A single person should not hold these positions. In many cases, one person tries to fill both roles. This is the classic case of a workaholic. This is the type of person who puts in 60 or 70 hours a week and has no balance in their life. You must let go of this attitude if you wish to achieve success in building a strong team and surround yourself with supporters. Surround yourself with people whom you can trust, and whom you know will get the job done. You must engage yourself with people who will follow your lead.
You are the quarterback of your team, and as such, you must have people around you (like Michael Oher in “The Blind Side”) who will protect you and block for you. Make sure that your association’s environment is enjoyable and satisfying. If this is not a satisfying, gratifying and enjoyable place, how can you expect your board to flourish?
With this in mind, make sure you avoid the temptation of micromanaging. While delegating is a critical part of your role as the Manager or Visionary, keeping too close an eye on your board makes them feel untrusted and hesitant. Let them know you expect them to make some mistakes, but that you trust them to excel at their work without you hounding them or watching their every move. You'll be grateful for a board member who isn't afraid to use their own initiative, and get some balance back in life while accomplishing more than ever before
By Steve Hoogenakker
There comes a point in time in every leaders time when he or she is tired of
spearheading every initiative and dragging and cajoling the other members to help.
At that point, they look to take their board or company to another level, either to create more energy, creativity or create more balance in their life, or possibly all of the above. When they find themselves in this situation, they must become a leader working “on” the business of managing a board instead of “in” it.
The first rule of a great board leader is that the team can never be completely dependent upon any one individual.
One of the more common mistakes made is that the president of the board fails to let go of certain activities and therefore stunts the growth of the team as a whole.
The next important point to remember is that as a leader, part of their job is to build a team of decision
makers. This can only be done by observing, directing and training them to be inter-dependent with each other. There are 3 stages of dependency;
1. Dependent: Unable to make decisions or to sustain a high level of accomplishments without prodding or constant oversight. It takes at least one additional competent individual to monitor this person. Using fuzzy math this equation would look like (1+1)= 1
2.Independent: Able to successfully perform complete projects required by the board in their entirety without oversight. Independents will often take over the entire task even if it was handed out to a subcommittee of 4 people. Independents like to think of themselves as the highest order of individual as I used to believe. Independents don’t require someone to watch over them, but they don’t add people to the process either. Fuzzy math might be 1=1 or a really good independent might be able to perform the work of 3 people or 1=3
3. Inter-dependent: This individual can complete the project on their own, but seek out ideas and input from others. They have good communication skills and are somewhat empathetic, (not sympathetic)!
When a project is given to an interdependent person, they PULL people into the project, creating synergy and energy. Because their very nature is to look at each issue as it affects all members, the fuzzy math might look like 1+4=30, with 1 being the interdependent person, 4 being the input and ideas brought in by other people and 30 being the number of residents who are on board because the group nailed the mission and tapped into the energy of the association.
In the Garth Brooks song, Standing Outside the Fire, people want to be “cool” and “strong” and face the problems alone, but the real answer is to be strong, but just “weak” enough to let others in and help create the future.
We call them cool
Those hearts that have no scars to show
The ones that never do let go
And risk it the tables being turned
We call them strong
Those who can face this world alone
Who seem to get by on their own
Those who will never take the fall
We call them weak
Who are unable to resist
The slightest chance (that) might exist
And for that forsake it all
They're so hell bent on giving, walking a wire
Convinced it's not living if you stand outside the fire
So what’s the plan?
As a leader you are responsible for the focus of your board and the needs of all residents. The clearer the vision of the leader, the more people will follow. When building your team, as the chief, you must lead by example.
Each board must have a Visionary and a Manager. A single person should not hold these positions. In many cases, one person tries to fill both roles. This is the classic case of a workaholic. This is the type of person who puts in 60 or 70 hours a week and has no balance in their life. You must let go of this attitude if you wish to achieve success in building a strong team and surround yourself with supporters. Surround yourself with people whom you can trust, and whom you know will get the job done. You must engage yourself with people who will follow your lead.
You are the quarterback of your team, and as such, you must have people around you (like Michael Oher in “The Blind Side”) who will protect you and block for you. Make sure that your association’s environment is enjoyable and satisfying. If this is not a satisfying, gratifying and enjoyable place, how can you expect your board to flourish?
With this in mind, make sure you avoid the temptation of micromanaging. While delegating is a critical part of your role as the Manager or Visionary, keeping too close an eye on your board makes them feel untrusted and hesitant. Let them know you expect them to make some mistakes, but that you trust them to excel at their work without you hounding them or watching their every move. You'll be grateful for a board member who isn't afraid to use their own initiative, and get some balance back in life while accomplishing more than ever before
Friday, April 2, 2010
Property Mangers a way to cut back phone calls and emails
Property Managers, a FREE method to cut your workload, phone calls while making customers even happier.
By Steve Hoogenakker
As I was cleaning out emails from 2009, I noticed I had about 100 emails from a multi-family townhome customer from this summers’ service. Wow, I thought, I didn’t realize we had as many back and forth communications. Besides, this didn’t count the 40-50 phone calls over the 7 month period or my attendance at a few meetings. In addition, when I looked through a few of the emails, it wasn’t uncommon to find that 3-5 people had been in the loop on each email!
An example might be a request to fix a downspout that was crushed. The process started with a client or resident with a call to the president, to the property manager, to me, I would write up our work order, it would come back completed, then I’d email back to the property manager again, he’d contact the homeowner or the client. The inefficiency of this madness is amazing once you think about it, but what can we do?
If it were possible to cut out 1/4 of the emails and time from beginning to end, it would be a fantastic creation, but I’ve found a way to cut out over half, and it’s free (for now).
To do this, we’d have to have a single place where the information resides. A single place accessible by the property manager, the contractor and (optionally) the client or board. We developed a method that works today and it’s free!
1. A spreadsheet is created for a commercial site. The spreadsheet would have 6-7 COLUMNS listed across the top 1. ASSOCIATION NAME 2. WORK ORDER #,3. DATE, 4.SERVICE REQUEST DESCRIPTION, 5.WORK ORDER RECEIVED (by contractor) 6.WORK ORDER COMPLETED, and 7.COMPLETION NOTES.
2. The file is uploaded and converted into Google Docs (free). You can then share it with whomever you wish. It’s easily done by inviting people to join using email addresses. Maybe the head of the grounds maintenance committee, president, property manager and contractor. If you want it available to the clients or the whole board, you can easily set permissions that allow the primary people to edit and update it, or just to view it.
3. You can set up notifications so that anytime a change is made you can be notified once a day or immediately. It works like this:
a. The property manager enters in the work order request using your internal work order #. The notification automatically goes to contractor.
b. Worst case, our office prints up the work order, marks the spreadsheet so everyone else knows that the work order was received with the date and sends it out to the field the next day. When completed, the office can enter it in as complete the following day, automatically updating everyone, or the same day if the crew calls it in. Best case scenario is if my operation manager or foreman has a mini-laptop in his truck, he can enter in the completion the minute it’s done! We can immediately markup the spreadsheet, along with any notes. Instead of the client or homeowner calling the pres to the property manager, prop mgr to me, they can view it on the web, and it’s not 9 to 5. It’s 24/7.
c. Everyone can view that the work order was sent, received, date done (or not) and any information. No phone calls were made, no emails were sent. A complete record of all work orders can be kept all year long, although that would be a pretty long spreadsheet.
We saved all of the emails and phone calls. If I have mobile computing, I probably got the work order out into the field and the completion back 1-4 days sooner, and again it’s your favorite price, it’s FREE!
It’s a V-8 slap in the forehead moment. Why hasn’t this been done before?
Google Docs is just releasing a method to upload all kinds of documents. Instead of a spreadsheet, maybe the property manager has an electronic work order. It might be uploaded, shared and updated by me, the contractor the same way as a spreadsheet . As property managers start to customize this idea, I’d love to hear from you and collaborate a method to really tweak this solution to meet your needs. Call me at 763-213-2410 or email me at Steve@Landscape.Pro.
Steve Hoogenakker
Concierge Landscape Environments
7150 Madison Ave
Golden Valley, MN 55427
By Steve Hoogenakker
As I was cleaning out emails from 2009, I noticed I had about 100 emails from a multi-family townhome customer from this summers’ service. Wow, I thought, I didn’t realize we had as many back and forth communications. Besides, this didn’t count the 40-50 phone calls over the 7 month period or my attendance at a few meetings. In addition, when I looked through a few of the emails, it wasn’t uncommon to find that 3-5 people had been in the loop on each email!
An example might be a request to fix a downspout that was crushed. The process started with a client or resident with a call to the president, to the property manager, to me, I would write up our work order, it would come back completed, then I’d email back to the property manager again, he’d contact the homeowner or the client. The inefficiency of this madness is amazing once you think about it, but what can we do?
If it were possible to cut out 1/4 of the emails and time from beginning to end, it would be a fantastic creation, but I’ve found a way to cut out over half, and it’s free (for now).
To do this, we’d have to have a single place where the information resides. A single place accessible by the property manager, the contractor and (optionally) the client or board. We developed a method that works today and it’s free!
1. A spreadsheet is created for a commercial site. The spreadsheet would have 6-7 COLUMNS listed across the top 1. ASSOCIATION NAME 2. WORK ORDER #,3. DATE, 4.SERVICE REQUEST DESCRIPTION, 5.WORK ORDER RECEIVED (by contractor) 6.WORK ORDER COMPLETED, and 7.COMPLETION NOTES.
2. The file is uploaded and converted into Google Docs (free). You can then share it with whomever you wish. It’s easily done by inviting people to join using email addresses. Maybe the head of the grounds maintenance committee, president, property manager and contractor. If you want it available to the clients or the whole board, you can easily set permissions that allow the primary people to edit and update it, or just to view it.
3. You can set up notifications so that anytime a change is made you can be notified once a day or immediately. It works like this:
a. The property manager enters in the work order request using your internal work order #. The notification automatically goes to contractor.
b. Worst case, our office prints up the work order, marks the spreadsheet so everyone else knows that the work order was received with the date and sends it out to the field the next day. When completed, the office can enter it in as complete the following day, automatically updating everyone, or the same day if the crew calls it in. Best case scenario is if my operation manager or foreman has a mini-laptop in his truck, he can enter in the completion the minute it’s done! We can immediately markup the spreadsheet, along with any notes. Instead of the client or homeowner calling the pres to the property manager, prop mgr to me, they can view it on the web, and it’s not 9 to 5. It’s 24/7.
c. Everyone can view that the work order was sent, received, date done (or not) and any information. No phone calls were made, no emails were sent. A complete record of all work orders can be kept all year long, although that would be a pretty long spreadsheet.
We saved all of the emails and phone calls. If I have mobile computing, I probably got the work order out into the field and the completion back 1-4 days sooner, and again it’s your favorite price, it’s FREE!
It’s a V-8 slap in the forehead moment. Why hasn’t this been done before?
Google Docs is just releasing a method to upload all kinds of documents. Instead of a spreadsheet, maybe the property manager has an electronic work order. It might be uploaded, shared and updated by me, the contractor the same way as a spreadsheet . As property managers start to customize this idea, I’d love to hear from you and collaborate a method to really tweak this solution to meet your needs. Call me at 763-213-2410 or email me at Steve@Landscape.Pro.
Steve Hoogenakker
Concierge Landscape Environments
7150 Madison Ave
Golden Valley, MN 55427
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Fraudsters Beware, State Proposes Condo Cops
Could this happen in your state?) A new police force could soon be deputized to monitor the operations of thousands of Florida condominium associations, some of which are victims of fraud. Florida State Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, and his counterpart Florida State Sen. Rudy Garcia, R-Hialeah, have filed companion bills in the state legislature to create a four-person police force to be based in Fort Lauderdale to "investigate, enforce and prosecute" violators of five statutes that govern condominiums, homeowners associations, cooperatives, mobile home parks and timeshares, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "We are getting so many cases of potential fraud that most local police departments are too overwhelmed to deal with them," Robaina told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "And most often they are low priorities for police who must worry about robberies and murders. So, nothing happens. But all this police force will do is condo fraud cases." Currently, evidence of potential fraud at a condominium association must be collected and presented to police in order to initiate an investigation. This type of initiative is what led to two cases - both in Broward County - where police arrested board members and maintenance workers in connection to service contracts that were inflated or where the work was never completed. The condominium police force would be funded from Florida's $10.5 million Condominium Trust Fund, which is supported by a $4 annual fee collected from every unit in Florida. Peter Zalewski is a principal with the consulting company Condo Vultures® LLC and a licensed real estate broker with Condo Vultures® Realty LLC. Peter can be reached
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Is it time to ask vendors to cut rates?
The short answer is Yes, kind of, When Dan Greenstein brought the subject up yesterday about freezing contractor prices for 1-3 years or doing an outright cut, there were nervous coughs from the vendors in the audience. Can I afford a bidding war this year? No, Will my service come in as low bid most of the time, No. Do I make a ton of money, No, so there's no room to cut, right? My cost for fuel, tires, fertilizer, salt all doubled last year, but there was no room to double the prices. Here are 2 areas where cuts could be made. I'll focus on lawn and snow because it's the biggest part of your budget, but it could apply to anything. Here are 3 quick areas that you could look at: 1. Cutting services in your contract. We talked to a large office park last year that needed cuts. We already had a contract in place, but we went through the specs and cut out an edging, pruning and one application of fert and weed control. 2. Standard bid specs. I'm the #1 advocate for standardized bid specs. (If you don't have them, I'll send you one) Here are a few specs that can be cut that will have minimal effects on quality and minimal impacts on contractor profits. 1. Apply much around all trees (whether it's needed or not) Too much mulch is BAD for trees 2. Rough Cut 7 times per year. There's a site I'm looking at now, where I can save them $4000 if I cut it 4 times per year. There is a segment of the market that will likelyy either put off landscape care or reduce their maintenance programs. We are working closely with all our clients to prioritize the work that cannot be put off, and giving them a program tailored to their budget. It's important to maintain open, honest communications with each other. Someday we'll talk about hybrid snow contracts.
Half the room, all the assessment in Roseville
By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune Last update: January 25, 2009 - 10:48 PM what you do not know What was not in the article, there are 47 units of the 47 five are small, about half the size as the larger units. The Board members all … read more live in the large units. Many of the large unit owners have been here for 40 years. I am an owner in a small unit and I did read and understand the documents, however, when this project began the Board decided to change the documents and with 42 large units, they shepherded thru the change in documents to cut their costs. The Board was responsible to keep up the housing units and now want the small units to subsidize their large units which they have neglected, and are asking Roseville to subsidize the larger more expensive units at a great financial loss for the less expensive units owned by the elderly. One of the members of the HRA (who is recommending this project) lives in Westwood Village 1 in a larger unit. The homeowners in the larger units also knew what the Declarations said when they bought. Her 796-square-foot home was assessed at $32,000 for roofing and siding improvements -- the same amount as her neighbors with more space, she said. She also doesn't understand why Roseville has declared her middle-class condo building a "housing improvement area'' and given it a $1.5 million loan for the exterior repairs. "If the city is lending them $1.5 million, you'd think there would be some kind of oversight for fairness,'' said Dalnes, who will take her case to the City Council tonight. A growing effort As Twin Cities suburbs work to maintain quality housing, older condos and townhouses are showing up on their radar screen. Dalnes' experience points to one financial option that many suburbs are tapping to repair those buildings -- and raising questions about what the law intended. DISCUSS IT HERE, and Read the rest of the article at: http://townhomeassociation.blogspot.com/
truthseeker said... What was failed to be mentioned in this article is that all town homes in Westwood Village 1 are approximately the same foundation size of around 800 square feet. The difference in size as it refers to this project is the number of VERTICAL levels. Under the new declaration, in order take the difference in the number of stories into account, the cost for each town home for the siding project is calculated in square footage for the front and backs. Sides, garages, etc are calculated 1/47th (47 units in association)for each unit. Maureen Dalnes has been trying for 3 years to make a case of unfairness when the board members and other residents have gone to great lengths to make changes in the declaration to account for the differences in town home sizes. Her own attorney even agreed to the new calculation but later reneged on his word when she heard about it and wanted an unreasonable discount for her unit. She failed to disclose for this article that her town home is currently listed for sale for $229,400 and described as 1592 finished square feet. Prices for what she refers to as the larger homes with double the square footage (as stated on the tax statements) are not marketed or sold for twice that amount! So using the method of square footage on tax statements (in this case 796 square feet for her unit)as Maureen Dalnes wants to do to calculate for a project such as this, is woefully inaccurate. Fortunately, the mayor of Roseville and four of the council members (Amy Ihlan dissenting,as expected) agreed that the way the declaration correctly calculated the cost of the project for each resident. Bravo to them as they did their homework and listened to reason! Maureen's continued efforts to delay this project is just adding additional costs to the project for all residents. January 28, 2009 9:11 PM
VACANCIES SPIKE, PRICES PLUMMET
For renters with leases about to expire, it's time to negotiate. Landlords are working extra hard these days to keep units filled. More from BusinessWeek.com : • Rents Drop Nationwide as Vacancies Spike • The Best and Worst Housing Markets of 2008 • How Much Home You Can Buy for $500,000 Of course, your ability to hold on to an apartment—especially a luxury unit—depends on how secure you feel about your own job. Americans lost about 2.6 million jobs in 2008 (mostly in the final quarter of the year) and are likely to lose millions more this year. They are losing money on stocks and other investments and are cutting back on costs by downsizing and moving in with family members or roommates as they hunker down for a deep recession. Landlords, as a result, are forced to offer discounts to fill vacancies. Apartment vacancies spiked in September after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the eruption of the financial crisis. Go for a Long Lease "If you've got job, it's a great time to be a renter and to sign the longest lease possible," said Ron Johnsey, president of Axiometrics.com , a Dallas apartment data company. BusinessWeek.com worked with Axiometrics to come up with a list of 25 large metros where rent declines accelerated most at the end of 2008. In Salt Lake City, where the economy had been holding up better than most cities, effective rents (including landlord concessions) fell 2.3% in the fourth quarter compared with the previous quarter. By comparison, rents were climbing 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2007. The New York metro area, including New York City and its New York and northern New Jersey suburbs, saw a 3.7% drop-off in effective rents in the fourth quarter (compared with a 0.5% increase in the fourth quarter of 2007), according to Axiometrics, which surveys landlords across the nation once a month
Monday, February 9, 2009
Free Help from KARE 11 if you're afraid of foreclosure
Foreclosure Prevention Telephone seminar, KARE-11 News provide two chances for worried homeowners to seek help this week
This week, homeowners will have two opportunities to have their questions answered from the comfort and convenience of their home. On Tuesday, the Minnesota Home Ownership Center is offering the first of its 2009 series of telephone seminars. The following evening, KARE-11 will feature a phone bank of housing counselors during its 10 pm newscast.
Telephone seminar offers homeowners chance to ask questions, find out what to do if worried about mortgage
Telephone seminars provide a convenient, private access point to information for homeowners who are worried about their mortgage and are just beginning to ask questions about their situation as well as those facing foreclosure. The telephone seminar allows people to phone in and participate anonymously from the privacy of their home, work or car. The seminar format is similar to a radio call-in show, including informational segments and questions from callers.
The telephone seminar will take place on:
Tuesday, February 10 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.
Call in number: (888) 886-6603
Those interested in participating can call in anytime between 7:00 and 8:00 pm
Housing counselors available during KARE-11 news
On Wednesday, February 11, housing counselors will be taking calls during the 10 pm newscast of KARE-11. Phone lines will be open during the entire broadcast. The phone number will be announced throughout the newscast, which will also feature a segment about a homeowner who successfully averted foreclosure by working with one of the Minnesota Home Ownership Center's counseling agencies.
For more information about the telephone seminar or KARE-11 segment, call 651-659-9336 or visit www.hocmn.org.
This week, homeowners will have two opportunities to have their questions answered from the comfort and convenience of their home. On Tuesday, the Minnesota Home Ownership Center is offering the first of its 2009 series of telephone seminars. The following evening, KARE-11 will feature a phone bank of housing counselors during its 10 pm newscast.
Telephone seminar offers homeowners chance to ask questions, find out what to do if worried about mortgage
Telephone seminars provide a convenient, private access point to information for homeowners who are worried about their mortgage and are just beginning to ask questions about their situation as well as those facing foreclosure. The telephone seminar allows people to phone in and participate anonymously from the privacy of their home, work or car. The seminar format is similar to a radio call-in show, including informational segments and questions from callers.
The telephone seminar will take place on:
Tuesday, February 10 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.
Call in number: (888) 886-6603
Those interested in participating can call in anytime between 7:00 and 8:00 pm
Housing counselors available during KARE-11 news
On Wednesday, February 11, housing counselors will be taking calls during the 10 pm newscast of KARE-11. Phone lines will be open during the entire broadcast. The phone number will be announced throughout the newscast, which will also feature a segment about a homeowner who successfully averted foreclosure by working with one of the Minnesota Home Ownership Center's counseling agencies.
For more information about the telephone seminar or KARE-11 segment, call 651-659-9336 or visit www.hocmn.org.
JOIN LINKEDIN. It's Free and it's great for business
The CIC industry has need for a lot of knowledge and a lot of contacts.
Joining LinkedIn is free. Sign up at the site, then lookup Steve Hoogenakker and link with me. You can look through my list of other property managers, and link with them.
You can also go to groups. There are 3 groups that serve your community.
1 Townhome and CIC site, THIS SITE IS YOURS
2. CAI - Minnesota
3. CAI - National
At least link to 1 and 2. You can post questions, or solutions online for free.
Joining LinkedIn is free. Sign up at the site, then lookup Steve Hoogenakker and link with me. You can look through my list of other property managers, and link with them.
You can also go to groups. There are 3 groups that serve your community.
1 Townhome and CIC site, THIS SITE IS YOURS
2. CAI - Minnesota
3. CAI - National
At least link to 1 and 2. You can post questions, or solutions online for free.
Metro Extension Agent Phone numbers
Anoka
Yard and Garden Line 763-767-2891General Info 763-755-1280 Leave message.Calls returned. Note: Your phone line must be able to receive blocked calls
Bunker Hills Activity Ctr 550 Bunker Lake Blvd NW Andover, MN 55304
Carver
MG Yard and Garden Line 952-466-5308Leave message 24/7. MG will return call.
11360 Highway 212 W Ste 4Cologne, MN 55322
Dakota
651-480-7700Leave message. MG will return call.
Suite 1014100 220th St WFarmington, MN 55024
Hennepin
612-596-2118Leave message 24/7. MG will return call within 48 hours.
479 Prairie Center Drive Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Ramsey
Yard and Garden Line 651-704-2071Leave message. MG will return call. Note: Your phone line must be able to receive blocked calls.
2020 White Bear Ave. Maplewood, MN 55109
Scott
Yard and Garden Line 952-466-5308Leave detailed message 24/7. MG will return call.
7151 190th St WSuite 100Jordan, MN 55352
Washington
Yard and Garden Line 651-704-2071Leave message. MG will return call. Note: Your phone line must be able to receive blocked calls.
14949 62nd St. N.Stillwater, MN 55082
Wright
763-682-7394Calls referred to MG. Response within 48 hrs.
10 2nd St. NW Buffalo, MN 55313
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Links and articles for the CAI February Luncheon
Here are the links you'll want for future lawn and landscape information. There are also many articles below this posting that apply only to Common Interest Communities
Feel free to read, comment and "share".
www.cai-mn.com
For the homeowner session coming up February 25th
Taylor Made Landscape website
link for University of Minnesota Extension site (Trees and Shrubs)
http://www.extension.umn.edu/info-u/environment/BD565.html
http://www.extension.umn.edu/topics.html?topic=5 link for Lawn and Garden information
Feel free to read, comment and "share".
www.cai-mn.com
For the homeowner session coming up February 25th
Taylor Made Landscape website
link for University of Minnesota Extension site (Trees and Shrubs)
http://www.extension.umn.edu/info-u/environment/BD565.html
http://www.extension.umn.edu/topics.html?topic=5 link for Lawn and Garden information
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Half the room, all the assessment in Roseville
Half the room, all the assessment in Roseville
A Roseville townhouse owner is questioning the fairness of a city "housing improvement" plan that lends townhouse associations cash for renovations but doesn't assure balanced assessments.
By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune
Last update: January 25, 2009 - 10:48 PM
Featured comment
what you do not know
What was not in the article, there are 47 units of the 47 five are small, about half the size as the larger units. The Board members all … read more live in the large units. Many of the large unit owners have been here for 40 years. I am an owner in a small unit and I did read and understand the documents, however, when this project began the Board decided to change the documents and with 42 large units, they shepherded thru the change in documents to cut their costs. The Board was responsible to keep up the housing units and now want the small units to subsidize their large units which they have neglected, and are asking Roseville to subsidize the larger more expensive units at a great financial loss for the less expensive units owned by the elderly. One of the members of the HRA (who is recommending this project) lives in Westwood Village 1 in a larger unit. The homeowners in the larger units also knew what the Declarations said when they bought.
Maureen Dalnes says it's just not fair: Under a city loan program soon to be revisited by the Legislature, she is expected to pay as much for repairs to her Roseville townhouse as neighbors who have twice the space.
Her 796-square-foot home was assessed at $32,000 for roofing and siding improvements -- the same amount as her neighbors with more space, she said. She also doesn't understand why Roseville has declared her middle-class condo building a "housing improvement area'' and given it a $1.5 million loan for the exterior repairs.
"If the city is lending them $1.5 million, you'd think there would be some kind of oversight for fairness,'' said Dalnes, who will take her case to the City Council tonight.
A growing effort
As Twin Cities suburbs work to maintain quality housing, older condos and townhouses are showing up on their radar screen. Dalnes' experience points to one financial option that many suburbs are tapping to repair those buildings -- and raising questions about what the law intended.
At least a half-dozen suburbs have declared a condominium or townhouse -- or a cluster of them -- "housing improvement areas'' eligible for city-backed loans. The designation is from a 1996 law to help cities prevent these high-profile buildings from deteriorating, as well as to give homeowners a longer-term loan to repay than a big one-time assessment.
Suburbs such as Hopkins and St. Louis Park said their assessment fees have generally varied by unit size or other factors. But Roseville officials say they can't recommend a different assessment formula to help the six small units such as the one Dalnes owns, which are half the size of the standard 1,600-square-foot units, because the formula is based on the governing rules of her Westwood Village I homeowners association.
"We're not going to try to come up with a perfect formula,'' said Pat Trudgeon, Roseville's community development director. "If [the homeowners association agrees] as a board, that's the way it is. There's nothing we can do about it.''
A sympathetic response
City Council Member Amy Ihlan disagrees. "The council's job is to make sure assessments are fair, just like what they do for private property,'' she said. "When we assess for street improvements, we don't let homeowners on the block get together and decide how the assessments should be allocated.''
The 1996 law that allowed cities to use this funding option is scheduled to sunset this year, but the League of Minnesota Cities is lobbying to maintain it. The law was based on a request from Hopkins officials, who were worried about housing deterioration in that city's Westbrooke neighborhood, said Kersten Elverum, city planning and economic development director.
About 17 percent of the city's housing was in that neighborhood, she said, but conditions had declined in some properties to the point where lenders didn't want to give mortgages. Hopkins tried unsuccessfully to pull together private and government loans, she said, then turned to the "housing improvement area'' option to repair 1,040 units in three projects. She considers the loan arrangement a success.
The Westwood Village I building, meanwhile, is a well-kept 47-unit building, nestled among two companion townhouses near the corner of Dale Street and County Road C. The homeowners association asked the city to declare it a housing improvement area and submitted two rejected loan bids from local banks to show it could not get a lender, Trudgeon said.
Sarah Maristuen, the association manager at Westwood Village I, said the designation was a good fit because of the scope of the project and the association's lack of financial reserves. As for assessing every homeowner the same amount, everyone benefits from exterior repairs such as roofing and siding, Maristuen said.
"Townhome living is community living, and you pay for things you don't use,'' she said.
"We're not going to try to come up with a perfect formula,'' said Pat Trudgeon, Roseville's community development director. "If [the homeowners association agrees] as a board, that's the way it is. There's nothing we can do about it.''
A sympathetic response
City Council Member Amy Ihlan disagrees. "The council's job is to make sure assessments are fair, just like what they do for private property,'' she said. "When we assess for street improvements, we don't let homeowners on the block get together and decide how the assessments should be allocated.''
The 1996 law that allowed cities to use this funding option is scheduled to sunset this year, but the League of Minnesota Cities is lobbying to maintain it. The law was based on a request from Hopkins officials, who were worried about housing deterioration in that city's Westbrooke neighborhood, said Kersten Elverum, city planning and economic development director.
About 17 percent of the city's housing was in that neighborhood, she said, but conditions had declined in some properties to the point where lenders didn't want to give mortgages. Hopkins tried unsuccessfully to pull together private and government loans, she said, then turned to the "housing improvement area'' option to repair 1,040 units in three projects. She considers the loan arrangement a success.
The Westwood Village I building, meanwhile, is a well-kept 47-unit building, nestled among two companion townhouses near the corner of Dale Street and County Road C. The homeowners association asked the city to declare it a housing improvement area and submitted two rejected loan bids from local banks to show it could not get a lender, Trudgeon said.
Sarah Maristuen, the association manager at Westwood Village I, said the designation was a good fit because of the scope of the project and the association's lack of financial reserves. As for assessing every homeowner the same amount, everyone benefits from exterior repairs such as roofing and siding, Maristuen said.
"Townhome living is community living, and you pay for things you don't use,'' she said.
The original Star Tribune article is linked here:
A Roseville townhouse owner is questioning the fairness of a city "housing improvement" plan that lends townhouse associations cash for renovations but doesn't assure balanced assessments.
By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune
Last update: January 25, 2009 - 10:48 PM
Featured comment
what you do not know
What was not in the article, there are 47 units of the 47 five are small, about half the size as the larger units. The Board members all … read more live in the large units. Many of the large unit owners have been here for 40 years. I am an owner in a small unit and I did read and understand the documents, however, when this project began the Board decided to change the documents and with 42 large units, they shepherded thru the change in documents to cut their costs. The Board was responsible to keep up the housing units and now want the small units to subsidize their large units which they have neglected, and are asking Roseville to subsidize the larger more expensive units at a great financial loss for the less expensive units owned by the elderly. One of the members of the HRA (who is recommending this project) lives in Westwood Village 1 in a larger unit. The homeowners in the larger units also knew what the Declarations said when they bought.
Maureen Dalnes says it's just not fair: Under a city loan program soon to be revisited by the Legislature, she is expected to pay as much for repairs to her Roseville townhouse as neighbors who have twice the space.
Her 796-square-foot home was assessed at $32,000 for roofing and siding improvements -- the same amount as her neighbors with more space, she said. She also doesn't understand why Roseville has declared her middle-class condo building a "housing improvement area'' and given it a $1.5 million loan for the exterior repairs.
"If the city is lending them $1.5 million, you'd think there would be some kind of oversight for fairness,'' said Dalnes, who will take her case to the City Council tonight.
A growing effort
As Twin Cities suburbs work to maintain quality housing, older condos and townhouses are showing up on their radar screen. Dalnes' experience points to one financial option that many suburbs are tapping to repair those buildings -- and raising questions about what the law intended.
At least a half-dozen suburbs have declared a condominium or townhouse -- or a cluster of them -- "housing improvement areas'' eligible for city-backed loans. The designation is from a 1996 law to help cities prevent these high-profile buildings from deteriorating, as well as to give homeowners a longer-term loan to repay than a big one-time assessment.
Suburbs such as Hopkins and St. Louis Park said their assessment fees have generally varied by unit size or other factors. But Roseville officials say they can't recommend a different assessment formula to help the six small units such as the one Dalnes owns, which are half the size of the standard 1,600-square-foot units, because the formula is based on the governing rules of her Westwood Village I homeowners association.
"We're not going to try to come up with a perfect formula,'' said Pat Trudgeon, Roseville's community development director. "If [the homeowners association agrees] as a board, that's the way it is. There's nothing we can do about it.''
A sympathetic response
City Council Member Amy Ihlan disagrees. "The council's job is to make sure assessments are fair, just like what they do for private property,'' she said. "When we assess for street improvements, we don't let homeowners on the block get together and decide how the assessments should be allocated.''
The 1996 law that allowed cities to use this funding option is scheduled to sunset this year, but the League of Minnesota Cities is lobbying to maintain it. The law was based on a request from Hopkins officials, who were worried about housing deterioration in that city's Westbrooke neighborhood, said Kersten Elverum, city planning and economic development director.
About 17 percent of the city's housing was in that neighborhood, she said, but conditions had declined in some properties to the point where lenders didn't want to give mortgages. Hopkins tried unsuccessfully to pull together private and government loans, she said, then turned to the "housing improvement area'' option to repair 1,040 units in three projects. She considers the loan arrangement a success.
The Westwood Village I building, meanwhile, is a well-kept 47-unit building, nestled among two companion townhouses near the corner of Dale Street and County Road C. The homeowners association asked the city to declare it a housing improvement area and submitted two rejected loan bids from local banks to show it could not get a lender, Trudgeon said.
Sarah Maristuen, the association manager at Westwood Village I, said the designation was a good fit because of the scope of the project and the association's lack of financial reserves. As for assessing every homeowner the same amount, everyone benefits from exterior repairs such as roofing and siding, Maristuen said.
"Townhome living is community living, and you pay for things you don't use,'' she said.
"We're not going to try to come up with a perfect formula,'' said Pat Trudgeon, Roseville's community development director. "If [the homeowners association agrees] as a board, that's the way it is. There's nothing we can do about it.''
A sympathetic response
City Council Member Amy Ihlan disagrees. "The council's job is to make sure assessments are fair, just like what they do for private property,'' she said. "When we assess for street improvements, we don't let homeowners on the block get together and decide how the assessments should be allocated.''
The 1996 law that allowed cities to use this funding option is scheduled to sunset this year, but the League of Minnesota Cities is lobbying to maintain it. The law was based on a request from Hopkins officials, who were worried about housing deterioration in that city's Westbrooke neighborhood, said Kersten Elverum, city planning and economic development director.
About 17 percent of the city's housing was in that neighborhood, she said, but conditions had declined in some properties to the point where lenders didn't want to give mortgages. Hopkins tried unsuccessfully to pull together private and government loans, she said, then turned to the "housing improvement area'' option to repair 1,040 units in three projects. She considers the loan arrangement a success.
The Westwood Village I building, meanwhile, is a well-kept 47-unit building, nestled among two companion townhouses near the corner of Dale Street and County Road C. The homeowners association asked the city to declare it a housing improvement area and submitted two rejected loan bids from local banks to show it could not get a lender, Trudgeon said.
Sarah Maristuen, the association manager at Westwood Village I, said the designation was a good fit because of the scope of the project and the association's lack of financial reserves. As for assessing every homeowner the same amount, everyone benefits from exterior repairs such as roofing and siding, Maristuen said.
"Townhome living is community living, and you pay for things you don't use,'' she said.
The original Star Tribune article is linked here:
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