Back to work.

And Bam just like that I’m back in my office Studio
very excited to have my first day back at work.
And  I want to come to you today
with a video about contractors.
Contractors this one’s specifically for you!
Boards, you may want to take this into consideration
Community Association managers, you know this pain.
I received an email from a contractor.
I have no idea who this person is,
but they had sent an invoice
and I tell him thank you, that I forwarded it
and he will get his payment shortly.
The next Email was irate.
I mean this guy was completely out of control.
He's threatening lawsuits and demands
and saying we don't run an appropriate outfit
and just going crazy.
I'm like, wow, hold on a second.
I don't know who you are—
for one
and number two,
We don't need to have a conversation the way that you're having it.
So one of our core values is to seek to better understand.
So I take it upon myself to try and do that
and I give this gentleman to call
trying to break down the fundamentals of of HOA management
and what it is
the boards are ultimately responsible for the finances.
We have processes where we get an invoice,
We put it into our system,
It goes through an approval process,
the AP clerk approves it
then the manager approves it
then it goes to the board
for their approval.
And so there's a lot of eyes and
in Community Association Management
It takes a while.
All of our vendors that we work with on a consistent basis love our processes.
They understand that they're working for a homeowner association,
but they also really enjoy the fact that we cut checks twice a month.
But for this particular guy,
he was the type of vendor that does a job today
and needs to be paid tomorrow.
that vendor probably does not want to be working in Community Association Management.
So vendors out there
Please be aware that if you're working with the Community Association
that management companies are not going to pay you the day after the job is done.
Okay?
Managers, it's really important that any time you hire a contractor
that payment terms are something that is in writing.
You probably have a group of contractors that you call in for work orders
that normally don't have anything in writing
but your management company
has probably worked with a set of vendors that they do have something in writing with
to make sure that they understand the payment processes.
When either board decides that they want to hire somebody because it's a friend
or they found them on Craigslist for less expensive.
Whatever it is.
There are so many things involved
in that that really complicate the process.
If it's over a certain dollar amount we have to 1099 them
which also means that we're not going to issue them their check
until after we get there W9 in
so that way we have it for your end.
So we don't have to go chasing that contractor later on down the road
and for communities that do this with a lot of different vendors through the year
the amount of work that you put on your management company
is just incredible.
So that's another thing that this gentleman didn't like is that we were requiring a W-9
and even though it took his office I think 2/3 weeks to get it to us
he was, You know,  really trying to go over our heads
to the boards
and if we weren't doing what we're supposed to
when absolutely we  were.
Contractors know your client.
Know if you're getting into the HOA space
that cash flow is something that you really need to be aware of
because some Community Association Management Companies only cut checks once a month.
So if you’ve done a job,
early in the month,
you may be waiting until the 30th
until that check even gets through
and processed to be mailed.
So be very cognizant of who Your customer is.
make sure if you're working for a management company
you’re not going to have those cash flow issues.
And if you are—
then most Community Association Management Companies, like ourselves
have a rush check request,
but that's an additional fee.
And if you want to pay that fee, that's fine.
But don't expect the management company to drop everything they're doing to
work on your problem
at no additional cost.
So really today's education is about: know your customer
know who it is you're working for
and unlike the gentleman that I had to work with
be kind to the management company.
That guy probably lost out on a huge opportunity.
He may not have known that we're management company
that could have sent him out on a lot of other jobs
because the volume that we have and we really could have seen him be more successful.
But because he came in attacking and demanding
and being rude and unkind those are not the people we want to work with.
So we are going to we did everything we could to be professional make sure that he got his check.
We went through the appropriate processes, but we will not use some of the future.
So if you are a contractor Is working with the management company don't burn your Bridge
because you may get a lot more opportunity from them.
So anyway with that—
James Phifer
very glad to be back in my office
and I'll be bringing you more additional content soon!