As a member of a homeowner association (HOA), you likely value a beautiful neighborhood and home. One of the best parts of your membership is that you usually have minimal landscaping responsibilities while being able to enjoy all the benefits of expert maintenance.

Instead of you having to go out and mow the lawn, contractors hired out by your HOA community manager and board bear the brunt of lawn and garden upkeep. Because the landscape is one of the first things you notice when entering any community, it’s crucial that the community manager has the right priorities when it comes to hiring professional landscaping contractors. The role of a community manager should be like conducting an orchestra not playing an instrument. The community manager must understand the needs of the landscape in order to find the right instrument to play the “Landscape”. 

Determining Community Needs

Your community manager is ultimately responsible for enforcing decisions made by your HOA board, as long as they are in line with community bylaws and policies. This means that as soon as the board is in agreement with what their landscaping priorities are, your manager should seek out professional contractors to fulfill these priorities quickly and successfully. 

Landscaping contractors can have a wide range of diverse responsibilities that may change with the seasons. Some key duties of professional landscaping include tree maintenance and emergency tree removal (in times of extreme weather), water and irrigation system management, lawn mowing, pruning, weeding, and general maintenance.

A great way for your community manager to determine the direction for the landscape is to distribute a survey to all members of the community. Your HOA board members may develop a questionnaire that includes questions to determine what homeowners want and need more of, what they can live without, and how important landscaping is in relation to their overall community satisfaction.

Hiring Professional Landscaping Contractors

Once your HOA community manager understands what the residents want and need and is in full agreement with the board members, they should begin to search for contractors. There are many things to keep in mind when searching for highly rated, top quality landscaping maintenance. Your manager should go into each search with prepared questions; how a contractor answers the prioritized questions will quickly determine if they are worth the pre-determined HOA landscaping budget.

“What value can your landscaping company bring to my community?”

This is an important but often overlooked point to be discussed when hiring contractors. In addition to their advertised services such as the standard watering, pruning, and mowing, contracting companies should be able to provide other services that will increase the market value of an HOA neighborhood. Examples include offering regular landscape checkups to determine existing issues and then recommending cost-effective solutions. It’s one thing to maintain the flower beds, but if a contractor can determine which plants would thrive better in your community and make a plan to implement them, your HOA gets an added value and a little extra curb appeal.

“Do you hire subcontractors? What, if any, background checks do you conduct for potential employees?”

Again, this is a question that your HOA manager should be asking any potential landscaping company. It will save time and hassle in the long run if your board is aware that their main contractor hires out various subcontractors for specialized projects. Being aware of main contacts and who to address concerns to, especially if there is a problem with work performed by a subcontractor, will almost always ensure a faster response and more thorough solution.

It’s also important to know if those subcontractors are subjected to the same background checks and/or drug testing that the main landscaping contractors go through. No matter what the process is, having an understanding of it establishes a certain level of trust between HOA members and any contractors working on the property. If the faces aren’t always familiar because there are instances where subcontractors are needed for one-time or specialized projects, it’s reassuring to know that they are trusted and qualified professionals.

Ask Why

Overall, your HOA community manager is responsible for ensuring the assets in the community are managed correctly.

Ask contractors “Why” rather than “How.” 

Why did you choose this field? Why do you want to work with us? This question gets to the heart of that matter and cuts out the marketing material. You want a contractor that knows why they would serve you best not just how. 

This sounds like a lot of work!

Fortunately, there are helpful resources for ensuring this process goes as smoothly as possible. Monarch Environmental works with your HOA community manager and board members to assist in all aspects of hiring landscaping contractors. Monarch understands that quality landscape design has a huge impact on overall community satisfaction, market value, and curb appeal. We strive to ensure that every landscaping priority is met in a timely fashion, well within your community’s budget, and performed in 100% compliance with all HOA bylaws and policies. From pest control to irrigation, Monarch will audit any landscaping work performed by designated contractors to make sure it is complete, safe, and always at the right price.

Call Monarch Environmental at (949) 207-3770 for more information on our quality services, or send us a message on our contact page.