4 minute read
The Waiting Game
By Hamlet Vazquez, MCAM-HR
Do you remember the days when contractors were clamoring for work, materials were readily available, and the work force was actually hungry to work? It seems like another world now.
Just the other day I had a waterproofing contractor call me to get the number of another waterproofing contractor since his project schedule is filled up for the year, and he needed to refer out a job! This same contractor has lost workers to other contractors paying more, and he has found it impossible to find skilled workers who actually want to work.
While his company is still thriving on the jobs he does have, what this means to your association is that you’ve had to adapt to the waiting game. It is not uncommon for me to sit at my desk and look at a long list of projects, all of which are on hold due to the contractor not being able to fit us in, the delay for parts, or in some cases, the months it takes for the city’s permitting department to issue a permit. The pain is real. Point made. What do we do?
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that will get your projects completed quickly, but there are two simple things that you can do to help manage the delay headache.
First, you need to set the right expectations with your boards and membership. While it can be tempting to report that such and such project will be done by the end of summer, ask yourself if you are being realistic. Remember that even during ‘normal’ times contractors tend to over-promise, so be careful when communicating a completion date to your boards and membership.
If you expect that a project will be completed by the end of summer, maybe it’s better to tell the board that the project will be completed by the end of the year. I know that can sound extreme, but what’s the worst that can happen? The project is completed by the end of summer as the contractor had indicated, and the board is happy that it was completed “early!”
Alternately, if the project doesn’t get completed until December, then the expectations that you’ve communicated are still met! Never underestimate the power of exceeding or even simply meeting expectations and the potential stain on your reputation if you constantly fail to deliver “on time!”
The second thing you can do is simply to plan ahead. Every manager should become very familiar with the reserve studies of their respective association or associations. In particular, look for items that have 1-2 years left of useful life (Hint: 0-year useful life items should be done by now.)
Is there an air handler or water pump with 1-2 years of life left? You better start planning now since it may take a year to even get the parts! If you have ever managed a high-rise (or even if
you haven’t), you can imagine what would happen if, all of a sudden, domestic water no longer reaches past the 6th floor in a 30-story high rise.
No amount of expectation setting will help you there. Have frank discussions with your contractors, so you can have a realistic sense of how long parts will take and what their staffing looks like. Give yourself enough time to secure proposals, get them approved, and engage the contractor with enough time to have the work completed no later than before the end of the useful life of what you’re trying to replace. Realistically, you are looking at 1-2 years for some of these projects to get completed, so you better start planning now.
At the end of the day, if you have planned ahead, way ahead, and communicated realistic expectations to your boards and membership, there’s no reason why you can’t come out of this looking like the great manager that you really are. Now, to reviewing that reserve study!
Hamlet Vazquez, MCAM-HR
Hamlet Vazquez, MCAM-HR, is the General Manager with Action Property Management, Inc., ACMC in Long Beach.
