our building staff to keep up with, not to mention the beating the vacuums will take and the complaints from owners to deal with. Let ’ s go the other way and think about the damage that salt causes to our concrete and the discomfort it can cause to our little fury friends. Enter ice - melter. This product will be more expensive than salt, but is not as harsh to hardscapes, softscapes and paws. Ice - melter also has a lower de - icing temperature than salt which will typically stop working around - 7C. Have a heated ramp? A parking deck with a special coating that you don ’ t want damaged? Access doors that need to be cleared by a certain time? Build these needs into your contracts. Developing a proper scope of work, whether spring, summer, fall or winter is key for your community! As you can see, whether it ’ s summer or winter, every community will have variables to be aware of before we seek out pricing. Term of contract I believe in multiyear contracts with proper termination clauses of 30, 60 or 90 days. Only use these clauses when you have tried to fix the relationship and cannot, and for no other reason than that. Many of us already know and trust our contractors and will continue to support and lock them into a two or three - year contract. Not only will this assist us in setting the condominium budgets over the coming years with this one known cost, it will also let the contractor know that we want to keep them around to keep the community in tip - top shape for years to come. Good luck predicting the incoming master insurance policy premium for the corporation. Taking the contract/scope of work to market We ’ ve recognized the needs of our community, we ’ ve set the term of the contract we are happy with, now let ’ s go to market. Of course, invite your current supplier to the dance, but who else? Do we know directors in other communities with other suppliers they are happy with? Have you seen a nice clean landscape truck with well uniformed staff working on a property? Have we taken to social media to see what ’ s going on? Have we checked our CCI London Chapter Professional and Business Partner Directory for
contractors? Your condominium manager most likely has a short list of contractors they would be happy to work with and trust. Don ’ t go wild and invite everyone. Make sure you at least vet the contractors first. Contractors talk. If it ’ s known that many, many companies are bidding some may shy away and some may provide hail - marry pricing which is not fair to anyone involved in the bid process. Narrow it down – but don ’ t race to the bottom Far too often it ’ s a race to the bottom when it comes to pricing. Cheaper does not mean better. Yes, could one contractor be using wider blades and thus cutting down on plowing time or have better purchasing power when it comes to salt, absolutely. Ask the top couple of bidding contractors how many labour hours they see are needed to weed the gardens, cut the lawn and clear the roads in a typical snow event. They should all be relatively close if they understand their
CCI Review 2021/2022 —November 2021 - 15
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