Condo Media - March 2012 - 32

COVER STORY

PAPERWORK
“I have signed a lot of contracts in my time, and at some time I probably knew what the contracts meant, but six months later everything had grown dim and I could be certain of only two things: One, I didn't sign any contract. Two, the contract means the opposite of what it says.” — Mark Twain h, contracts. Can’t live with them — at least, not always happily — but definitely can’t live without them, as community association board members and managers know all too well. A well-drafted contract increases the likelihood that a vendor or contractor will provide the services or perform the work the association has requested, and establishes a foundation for legal recourse if that’s not the case. A poorly drawn contract ends up in a space no one wants to occupy. Associations negotiate contracts of all kinds and of varied sizes, for ongoing services (such as association management, equipment maintenance and snow removal) and for stand-alone projects, ranging from small-scale repairs to multi-million dollar renovations. Construction contracts, by their nature, are particularly challenging, partly because of their size (a major renovation can involve several hundred thousand dollars or more) but also because the issues are complex and probably unfamiliar to most volunteer board members. Board members negotiate some contracts annually, but unless they serve for a very long time, are extremely unlucky, or mess up badly the first time, they will probably see a $500,000 roof replacement contract only once. “There's never enough time to do it right the first time, but there's always enough time to go back and do it again.” — Anonymous es the likelihood that the project will succeed. “Any project can be estimated accurately — after it’s completed.” — Anonymous

Construction Contracts are Complicated, Sometimes Contentious — and Always Essential

RFP: Essential Detail
Behind every successful construction project you will find a well-drafted contract. And behind a well-drafted contract, you will find an extremely well-drafted request for proposal (RFP), anchored by a set of detailed project specifications, best prepared, Moskowitz and Galvin suggest, by the consulting engineer. The RFP should define the scope of the project, describing precisely what the board expects the contractors to do, the materials you expect them to use, and the standards you expect them to meet, down to the size of the shingles they are to use, the type of siding and even the size of the nails. “You want to make sure everyone bidding on a contract knows exactly what they are bidding on,” Galvin says. “Otherwise, their prices don’t mean much.” Lack of clarity in the RFP will create confusion at the start of the project and virtually guarantee cost overruns at the end of it. The quality of the specifications the engineer drafts will depend a lot on the information the board and manager provide. For that reason, Moskowitz says, “It’s important to communicate any problems of which they are aware.” The specs for a building envelope pro-

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Essential Advice
The biggest mistake most boards make in planning a construction project, according to industry professionals, is failing to get the advice that would enable them to “do it right” the first time. That advice should come primarily from an attorney (who should draft the contract, or at least review and revise it before the board signs it) and from an independent consultant — preferably an engineer, who, on a project of any size, should work with the board from the beginning of the project through its completion. The engineer is an indispensable member of a community association’s construction planning team, Sandy Moskowitz and Robert Galvin, shareholders in Boston-based Davis Malm & D’Agostine PC, believe. “There are so many issues and so much language boards don’t understand on a construction project,” Moskowitz says. “They need an independent consultant or an engineer on whom they can rely to help [guide] them through the thicket.” Some board members balk at that suggestion because it adds to the cost, he notes. But an engineer’s input from the beginning also significantly increas-

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CONDO MEDIA • MARCH 2012
Condo Media - March 2012

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