Perplexed maybe?

So, I quote this 5 bldg. HOA re-roof, through a GC, who was hired by a property mngnt co., to create a spec, solicit bids and supervise the project.

That blows-up

To shorten things up a bit; One of the HOA board members drags up some yay-hoo to "bid" the project.....And they give it to him!

I'm contacted by the property mngmt co. to act as an inpector, which evoloved into a "contract administrator", which evloved back, to simply, an observer, of work in progress.

I review the contract....Our co. bid the work for $250K.....The HOA agreed to pay this guy $370K?.....WTH?

So, I investigate; This guy has no credentials, experience, supplier accounts.....nothing-nada-zip. I let the HOA know.....They don't care.

As the kid's grandma says "there's sumpt'm rotten in Denmark"....

I agree egg......At the pre-con meeting, I had to bite my tongue & contain myself.....I darn near told them, (a couple of the HOA board members & property manager), they were on their own, & walk away.

But, I didn't. I've informed the property manager, the HOA president & the attorney, that drew-up their contract with the contractor, that this guy is basically a charlaton.....They just keep moving forward.

My tske on the situation; The HOA was duped into hiring this guy, by one particualar HOA board member, who says his wife, "went to school with him".

One of two things; 1. There's some dirty $ in this, for the one particular board member & possibly others?...or... 2. Just plain ole incompetence/stupidity.

In any scenerio, the bottom line; The homeowners got screw'd & another black eye for public perception of contractors.

There's always the chance that whoever it is is actually really good, or will be highly regarded one day. We all had to start somewhere.

All that aside, it would surprise the heck out of me if this situation is anything more than abject corruption. I wouldn't even want to be a party to it. Hope you are protecting yourself with a paper trail cuz you are now the point man hired to protect the HOA interests and if it goes bad you will be the first target. You've been around the block already and I'm sure you know that, but it still seems risky to me.

Vickie.....AMEN sista'

I feel bad for the HOA president and all the home owners.....They've been had, for not only the $100K +/- over-expense, but also the fact they've got an incompetent pseudo-contractor, with God-knows-who, or what type of gypsie-like pseudo-subs, he's managed to round-up, to do the work.

After a week or so of requesting ins. certs. I finally call his agent & get a WC cert. with initiation date of that day! I checked w/sec of state; His company was formed, just three months, prior to providing his bid to the owners.

At the pre-con meeting, I did my best to expose this guy, but was basically told to pipe-dowm & simply observe.

I suppose they possibly hired me, to somehow, add to the mask, of what's really going on?

Hey Bubba, Over bid this job by about 120k and I will make sure you get the work. Then we can split it 60k each! Whadda ya say it will be easy as pie! :dry:

These people are also among the pickiest there is out there about every single little bitty thing you can imagine.

I won the job on a 35 building HOA condo complex once upon a time but it turned out they only wanted to do one or two UNITS at a time. Not even buildings but UNITS.

At first, I still thought that I had done well to get the job but by the time we worked over there on and off many many different times I ended up wishing I had never seen the place before.

Condo Associations and their friends, hmmmpf. My sister is going through the same thing with her association. Little crooked governments. I will never live in a place with an association. I would rather live next to the neighbors that BBQ in the front yard over a fire log, with their 24 dogs. At least I have freedom!