DHA
Construction Management

"Sean, my business has been around for 50 years, and we are as solid as can be. Nothing's gonna happen. You have nothing to worry about." I was sitting across the table from the owner of the company, negotiating the contract for a major project at a community I represented. I'd pushed back on terms that put far too much of the risk on the association, and that was his answer. Not a counterargument — a reassurance. Fifty years. Solid as can be. Six months later, my phone rang.

Your contractor just told you the project doesn't need a permit. That one sentence has cost more HOAs more money than almost anything else I see — and the bill always shows up later, at the worst possible time. Last time I wrote about who draws the plans — when your project needs a design professional and when it doesn't. This is what happens to those drawings next. Between design and construction sits a regulatory layer boards routinely skip past, usually because a contracto

We've spent a lot of time in this series on choosing the right contractor — leveling bids, scoring intangibles, and avoiding the risk traps before you sign. But there's a quiet layer of paperwork that sits underneath all of it. Get it right and you'll likely never think about it again. Get it wrong and it's the thing that surfaces the day something goes sideways. Here's what your board should actually be asking for before a contractor sets foot on your property. Insurance: Do

In my last few articles, we've talked about risk mitigators before you sign anything, conservative scheduling, and how to navigate decisions like exterior colors. Today I want to focus on a single document that quietly does more to protect your HOA from financial disaster than almost anything else in the project file. It's called a lien waiver. If your board isn't collecting them — properly, every month, from everyone — your community is exposed in a way most board members do