Relationship with Park Manager?

Haven’t posted here in a while so here we go second post of the day.

In our recent value add park acquisition things went smoothly at the beginning, we transitioned the payment method, signed everyone into new lease, sold 5 existing PoHs two month into ownership, etc. previous maintenance guy was paid 3k a month to mow grass so he was let go and new manager works at local county construction, knowledge with repairs, machinery, etc. wife is good at paperwork, communication (not so sure rn).

So everything seemed working well in our favor, we’re envisioning a quick value add then refi cash out / sale play. However it’s getting a bit strange now. What I’d like to call over involvement issue. The managers help out with additional tasks like installing water meters, renovating office spaces, which we made additional payments to them. On top we provide commission on sold PoHs, etc.

The issue is they’re being overly too involved almost to the uncomfortable level, such as pushing us to purchase machinery like skid steer so they can do snow removal, road repairs for potholes, which I understand it’s a good thing… but at the same time numbers are important, even when it makes sense to hire out 3rd party to do it then it feels hard to say no sometimes.

One big concern is having too much skin in the game, aka if we had to change managers in the future then those big purchases not only do not add value but also becomes a liability for the maintenance.

What do you think? And how would you handle it? Guess just trying to rant a little lol

Forget to add, in other stabilized parks our communication with the park manager is minimal, typically they mow the grass, do the meter readings, and post notices when necessary. So dealing with managers like this is beneficial and tiring at the same time.

Certainly a blessing and a curse. You sound like a pro and just needed to vent some steam. You got a good maintenance guy who wants to do good work but he doesn’t and shouldn’t know your ultimate objective and financial goals.

Personally I would put him in a set salary with no add ons for ancillary work. Give them a performance bonus if they keep costs down and below goal. My guy gets 25% of total dollars saved under budget. If he ever asked me to buy a 35k skid steer I would immediately have him take a drug test and not just for me but everyone around him. I don’t do snow removal in my parks as we only get heavy snow two or three times each year. Not plowing roads so you can drive your pos 69 vw bus to your kids tai kwon do practice. Buy snow tires.

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Haha thanks yeah def just need to vent a little.

We ended up getting them a skid steer rental for 3-4 month for the same cost of snow removal, but with the perks of being able to repair some large potholes.

and yes definitely agree they do not and should not know our financial objectives which I think might be part the reason contributing to this because the previous owner owned it for so long so they assumed the same from us and obviously in the long term it saves more.

Update in case anyone is interested / in the same shoes: We did not end up getting the skid steer rental even. We made it clear with the manager that anything above the baseline (mowing, landscaping, post notices) they will provide us bid the same way as a third party would and we will choose whether to use their service or not. We also had some backup managers lined up in case they cause more drama or problems again they will be replaced immediately.

As for the bidding, we ended up with third party for snow removals and road repairs, not only more efficient but ended up actually cost less. The manager actually called in today saying he was not given a fair chance to quote before we already went with someone… And I was like bud if anything I ask you before asking anyone else and you didn’t get back to me before they did… and no you don’t get a first right of refusal or sth and we’re not required to hear your quote before we decide who to proceed with.

Anyway too much drama and headaches we’ll prob replace them in the new year.

Thanks for this post, it helps to see what others do.

Their bid should be much lower than a 3rd party. Since they are your employees, you are also paying their workers’ compensation insurance and their liability insurance.

When this comes up again, say. “Oh, BTW, we need your Certificate of Insurance before we can hire you as a 3rd party again”.

When you get audited by your insurance company, they will ask for COIs from all your vendors. It will cost you significantly more in additional premiums to cover them under your policy than if they had their own policy. Additionally, you may get stuck with more worker’s comp premium.

Since you are paying their insurance premiums their bid should be at least 20% lower than if you hired an outside vendor.

These Quasi-employee agreements can get complicated. Everything is fine until it’s not. ie someone gets hurt or you get audited. Ensure you dot your I’s and cross your T’s.