Transcript:

Corner where you ask the
0:02
questions we answer them live
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right here on Facebook. Got a
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doozy submitted in one of the
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private Facebook groups. Um so
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I thought I’d answer this
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question here via video. Um
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says an HOA snow ice client,
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snow removal, almost four
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months is seeing our four
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months afterwards is seeing our
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plows damaged their speed bombs
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and we need to pay the repairs
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estimated between five and
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6thousand dollars. Our winter
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contract does not say anything
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about not being liable for the
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curbs and the speed bump The
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HOL HOA also let this
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contractor go sometime in March
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because they felt that
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potentially their prices are
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too expensive. They did in fact
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pay the invoices in full for
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the contractor which is a win.
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What would you do about the
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speed bumps? Uh several
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comments in here. Uh they have
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no proof and if they are no
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longer a client, shouldn’t
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Roane damage be covered by the
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city. In fact, most HOA roads,
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if you’re plowing them, you
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know, are private roads and
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owned and maintain by the HOA.
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Reason being you have to have a
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contractor Um go in there and
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some other people commented
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that they are worried about a
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lawsuit. Um it could leave
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damaging reviews. So, after
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about twenty-six, 27 years in
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snow and ice removal in Upstate
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New York, Rochester, New York
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to be particularly the third
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largest snowfall market in the
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whole United States averaging
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about a hundred and 30 to about
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125 inches of snow. Lakeside,
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this is near and dear to my
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heart. So, the contractor
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unknowingly probably should
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have reached out to a legal
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entity such as a lawyer to
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actually have some hold
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harmless information in there.
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So, my take on this is you’ve
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got a bit of a gray area.
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Technically, you are liable for
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the damages caused to road, the
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speed bumps, and potentially
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the curves if it’s not in your
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contract. Now, the contract is
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ended. They’ve paid you in
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full. So, I would suggest
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sitting down and actually
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having a conversation with the
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HOA if reasonable to see if you
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can actually meet somewhere in
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the middle. You are correct.
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Yes, damaging reviews from not
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only just the HOA but all the
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people in the HOA so you can
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have multiple Facebook, Google,
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Yelp reviews. It could spiral
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into a really downward, ugly
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situation for you. Now,
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hopefully, we do have an
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insurance coverage and that
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will be covered. So, maybe a
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payment four to 500 or a
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thousand as a deductible. We’ll
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cover you. That’s probably the
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road I would go through and let
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your insurance company handle
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it after at least having a
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conversation. Don’t emit any
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fault or guilt because you
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could get yourself trouble
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right off the bat. Um but
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technically my my opinion on
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this one and we’ve been there
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is that you are probably on the
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hook. That’s why we have
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insurance. But the lesson to be
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learned here is we really need
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to go out and protect ourselves
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as contractors. And be upfront
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with our bidding process. So
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I’m going to show an example of
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a residential contract that we
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use in our company. Some of the
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verbiage was pretty much
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identical for commercial snow
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removal. It was actually a
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little more lengthy. I
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literally just read this and
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I’ve gotta hop on, believe it
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or not my lawyer in five or 6
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minutes to update some
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contracts. So, I was like, let
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me answer this in the next five
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or 6 minutes but if you can’t
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see this here, the area that I
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highlighted is, well, actually,
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I’m going to read through all
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of it ‘cuz it actually, you
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need to go in whether it’s
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residential or commercial. Like
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I said, the commercial contract
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is a little more lengthy and
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more detailed but these are the
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main things you need in any
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snow removal contract in my
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opinion. The driveway will be
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plowed. When the snow falls and
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accumulates from the sky on the
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driveway with a total
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accumulation of three inches in
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non-obstructed areas. Sounds
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obvious to us but we are not
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plowing under cars. We are not
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coming back after the cars are
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moved. Unobstructed areas. Now,
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in a commercial situation, we
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need to define, are we coming
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back to plow the parking lots
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that have cars in them? What is
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the time span that we’re
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actually doing this in and what
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is the length of time we’re
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willing to wait? If any, to
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hurt people to move their cars
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because you could have a 15 to
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20-minute cleanup run for some
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parking spots in an HOA or
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general parking area that could
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turn into a to five-hour
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ordeal. Complete with honking
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and people running into your
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truck or each other. So, those
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are things I would recommend in
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the commercial end that we add
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into that. In addition,
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highlighted area, the company,
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Callahan’s Lawn Care is not
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responsible and will be held
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harmless for any previous
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driveway damage and or any that
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may occur since all driveways
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or pavement conditions are not
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the same. And we also included
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inside that contract in the
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commercial end that to the fact
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that we couldn’t see the
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conditions on a nightly basis
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or daily basis underneath the
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snow. We were not able to
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actually monitor some of the
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conditions throughout the snow
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event. So if damage happened,
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we were not taking
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responsibility that. Callahan’s
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will also be held harmless for
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any slip and fall on your
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property or damages to siding
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or fences directly next to the
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plow area. All equipment is new
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and properly maintained to
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avoid damage. So we’ve held
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ourselves harmless. So, we if
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we went and got sued, this
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alleviated is from slip and
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fall liabilities, any damage to
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the property. Now, the big
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thing you’re going to see with
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property management companies
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is they’re going to try to
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force you to sign their
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contract which eliminates any
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of the rights you may have. I’m
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going to highly recommend it.
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All costs and you do not sign
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it and if you do have to sign
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it, have your lawyer review it
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and add amendments to it that
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are attached and signed to it
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to get you off the hook for
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some of these things. Uh we got
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sued for an HOA where gentleman
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from a garbage this company
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slipped and fell on the
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driveway of one of the homes in
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the HOA are only responsible
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for salting the main roadways.
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So, we add an addendment to
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that particular contract that
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we were not responsible to any
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of the non-salted areas for
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slip and fall liabilities such
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as the sidewalks and driveways
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that we did not maintain. In
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addition to actually still
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being held harmless for the
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main driveways. We will not
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guarantee an exact time the
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driveways plowed you the way
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the snow may accumulate. You
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may be locked into some really
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stringent timelines but if it
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starts snowing at three, four
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in the morning, Um it doesn’t
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hit the trigger till six and
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everybody rolls out at 6thirty.
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You can’t be there on that
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timeline. Just impossible. So
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set the cadence and
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expectations upfront. Also not
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responsible for snow drifts.
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Snow plowed by the town part
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trucks on sidewalk or apron if
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snow prevents entrance into the
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driveway or maybe damaging the
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vehicle. It may be plowed out
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at your request which we charge
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an additional fee. In addition,
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down here at the bottom, I
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want to bring kind of to this
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because this is going to happen
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snow market eventually if it
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hasn’t. So, in 2014, Upstate
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New York, Buffalo. Buffalo had
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snow, no joke, literally up to
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the gutters of the first-story
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homes. Uh City went into a
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state of emergency for probably
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about a week but we wanted to
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put a contingency in there. In
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the event of a snow emergency
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where a one-ton truck cannot
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plow the driveway, load of
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services available at an
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additional charge at market
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rate, several feet of snow in a
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24-hour period similar to the
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2014 snow storm in Buffalo, New
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York that was absolutely
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paramount and it did save us
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because we did have a couple
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massive storms where it at
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least bought us some more time.
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We didn’t need to bring the
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loader but if we did, we were
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able to charge for it legally.
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So, my suggestion here is talk
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to the HOA, see if they’re
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reasonable, don’t necessarily
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commit to anything. If you can
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have a somewhere in the middle
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agreement that’s amicable, that
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saves you some insurance,
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great. If not, have your
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insurance come in, pay for it
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but by all means add these
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things into your contract, talk
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to a lawyer each year, put them
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on a retainer for a couple
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hundred dollars, a 000 a year,
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and have them review this as
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the laws change. So, those are
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the things, unfortunately, I
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think you probably are on the
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hook for this, you know, but
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that’s why we have insurance
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but do your due diligence and
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make sure that we’ve got these
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and if you are forced to sign
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the HOA contract, have your
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lawyer review it and add some
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amendments that are attached to
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it. So, hopefully, protect you
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as the contractor and
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potentially protect your client
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as well from different slip and
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fall liabilities because if
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somebody goes down in that HOA,
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they’re not only suing the
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contractor but they’re suing
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the HOA and probably whoever
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owns the unit if they go down
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to that unit. So, by doing
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this, you can protect yourself,
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the HOA, and the management
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group because they’re going to
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get wrapped up into that
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lawsuit as well. So, Callahan’s
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Corner s, you ask the
8:24
questions, we answer them live
8:25
right here on Facebook.