The short answer: which contracts the law reaches is a question for your association's attorney. From the project side, a competitive bid is never the wrong move when the money is significant for your community, and the patterns below are how project costs sneak past what boards expect.
Why "we're small" doesn't change the math
Project cost tracks the size of the contract, not the size of the association. A 16-unit townhome association replacing its roofs writes checks on the same scale as a big community, a full reroof on even a small property routinely runs six figures. And a smaller budget makes each of those dollars matter more, not less.
That is the squeeze small self-managed boards feel: big-community projects without big-community staff. Most of the fix is process discipline, and process is learnable.
The three ways project costs sneak up on boards
- Multi-year contracts that add up. A "small" $15,000-a-year landscaping or maintenance contract that renews for four years is a $60,000 relationship. Look at the total relationship value, not the annual line.
- Change orders that grow the job. A $45,000 project that takes a $10,000 change order mid-job was never really a $45,000 project. Thin scopes rarely shrink, a complete scope up front is the best defense.
- Splitting one project into pieces. Turning one $80,000 roofing project into two $40,000 "phases" saves nothing and costs plenty: two mobilizations, two rounds of access, and a record that reads poorly to an owner asking questions later. If the work is really one project, scope it and bid it as one project.
What to do this month
You don't need to solve this in one meeting. You need three things moving:
- One list of every contract the association has, amount, term, renewal date. It's the master document for seeing where the money goes.
- Your attorney's read on which of those contracts Minnesota's new law reaches.
- Renewal dates on the board calendar, a contract the board wants to re-bid at renewal shouldn't ambush you thirty days out.
When a significant project is on the horizon, start with the scope, then take it to market through a clean competitive bid.
Who runs the bid matters too
Boards also ask who should run the bid. Our answer is about process, not law: a bid is most credible when the party running it has no stake in the outcome. Bids come to us sealed, openings are recorded, and our advisory fee never changes based on which contractor wins. That is what an independent bid administrator is for.
We work alongside your association's attorney. Back to the SF 1750 overview →