This one is for me....

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Not sure how it is in Cali but your HOA should actually be run by a Board of Trustees and they can then delegate day-to-day management to an outside company. The Board can only be composed of Homeowners as you are the legally recognized members of the community. As well, the ARC should be composed of homeowners too. Final sign off typically comes from the ARC or the Board. Sure, the management company and outside architect can be royal pains, but the Board is the final authority....so maybe you should start greasing the skids with a neighborhood cookout, get to know the board members, offer some free Lula Roe wardrobe make-overs and then run for the Board president yourself ;) Then you can declare yourself “el Presidente por vida!!” and do whatever you want....

HOA’s are a double edge sword - you love them when you need to get your neighbor to take care of his weeds growing out front but you hate them when they ding you for a trash can fine.....
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Not sure how it is in Cali but your HOA should actually be run by a Board of Trustees and they can then delegate day-to-day management to an outside company. The Board can only be composed of Homeowners as you are the legally recognized members of the community. As well, the ARC should be composed of homeowners too. Final sign off typically comes from the ARC or the Board. Sure, the management company and outside architect can be royal pains, but the Board is the final authority....so maybe you should start greasing the skids with a neighborhood cookout, get to know the board members, offer some free Lula Roe wardrobe make-overs and then run for the Board president yourself ;) Then you can declare yourself “el Presidente por vida!!” and do whatever you want....

HOA’s are a double edge sword - you love them when you need to get your neighbor to take care of his weeds growing out front but you hate them when they ding you for a trash can fine.....
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Well welcome to the party :party:

I keep calling it an HOA but its actually a Maintenance Corporation. Either way I need to be running it ASAP :laughblue:
 
bdavis466 said:
Well welcome to the party :party:

I keep calling it an HOA but its actually a Maintenance Corporation. Either way I need to be running it ASAP :laughblue:
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Not sure how I missed the original post as I have some serious corrections to your plans with respect materials. Much more faux-“leather”, “velvet” wall paper and deep shag rugs need to be incorporated into the design. Pea green, yellow & brown make a fabulous color palette as a throw back to a Neo-70’s design style....don’t worry, I’ll send you details soon.

:fro:
 
My wife first saw the HOA rules, when we were buying our house and she was appalled. I suggested she think of all the horrible things that a bad neighbor could do, and reread the rules as this what they are prevented from doing. Suddenly the rules looked more reasonable.

In fact, she just finished five years as HOA president, and now serves on the board as treasurer. I’ve been on the ARC for about seven or eight years. Everyone wants the HOA to enforce all the rules when they apply to a neighbor, but hates the HOA when a rule applies to them. HOAs are only as good as the people who volunteer to serve. If you don’t like your HOA, get involved. Attend the meetings, volunteer for a committee, run for the board.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Not sure how I missed the original post as I have some serious corrections to your plans with respect materials. Much more faux-“leather”, “velvet” wall paper and deep shag rugs need to be incorporated into the design. Pea green, yellow & brown make a fabulous color palette as a throw back to a Neo-70’s design style....don’t worry, I’ll send you details soon.

:fro:
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That would be a fun conversation with the architect... the plan review fee was $400 :shock: and that's just for the HOA approval.

chiefwej said:
My wife first saw the HOA rules, when we were buying our house and she was appalled. I suggested she think of all the horrible things that a bad neighbor could do, and reread the rules as this what they are prevented from doing. Suddenly the rules looked more reasonable.

In fact, she just finished five years as HOA president, and now serves on the board as treasurer. I’ve been on the ARC for about seven or eight years. Everyone wants the HOA to enforce all the rules when they apply to a neighbor, but hates the HOA when a rule applies to them. HOAs are only as good as the people who volunteer to serve. If you don’t like your HOA, get involved. Attend the meetings, volunteer for a committee, run for the board.
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I think I would enjoy it. I pay enough to live there - I might as well have a say in what goes on
 
chiefwej said:
My wife first saw the HOA rules, when we were buying our house and she was appalled. I suggested she think of all the horrible things that a bad neighbor could do, and reread the rules as this what they are prevented from doing. Suddenly the rules looked more reasonable.

In fact, she just finished five years as HOA president, and now serves on the board as treasurer. I’ve been on the ARC for about seven or eight years. Everyone wants the HOA to enforce all the rules when they apply to a neighbor, but hates the HOA when a rule applies to them. HOAs are only as good as the people who volunteer to serve. If you don’t like your HOA, get involved. Attend the meetings, volunteer for a committee, run for the board.
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Well said. I am completing my 4th year on the board and I am stepping down. Our community is a bit odd because it’s only 12 homes and we have a full-fledged HOA so it’s really hard to do everything “by the book” as we have one property that is rented and several folks that don’t want to serve. If you apply the 80/20 Pareto principle (20% of the people in an organization do 80% of the work), then it’s only 2 to 3 of us that do most of the work. Our monthly fees are small so we really don’t have the cash flow to pay for a management company and, given how many people complain about the poor service they get from their companies, I’m not sure that’s a road to go down. Honestly there are days that I wish we would just tear down the entry gate, disband the HOA and not have to deal with it. Then again, I feel A LOT better about where I live precisely because it is gated and there are rules.....

bdavis466 said:
That would be a fun conversation with the architect... the plan review fee was $400 :shock: and that's just for the HOA approval.




I think I would enjoy it. I pay enough to live there - I might as well have a say in what goes on
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Yeesh! Given that our ARC review consists mostly of “designs” on bar napkins (still slightly wet with beer spillage), you’d love us.....

...you want a pool?? Ok, just make sure the giant 86’ water slide runs through a minimum of two lots so your neighbors can enjoy it as well....

...oh, you need to rock your front yard and the landscape material company only had crushed pink stones, meh, no worries, just make sure they’re at least 1/2” or larger...

...lemonsicle is really not an appropriate color choice for your exterior paint BUUUUUUUT since you’re halfway finished and waiting for your next paycheck so you can buy a few more gallons... eh, why not....
 
:goodpost:

Our HOA is just about like yours - we are only 8 parcels with 7 homes (1 empty lot). Our biggest issue is the potential of putting up a gate - half of us don't want it half do. I am not sure the city will even allow it. The only real reason we are an HOA is so our road could be built smaller and without sidewalks - which made the lots bigger and keeps the city off the hook for maintenance. We have a association manager who charges us a very small fee to run our meetings, do our banking, file all of our taxes and state mandated forms. We barely have meetings - really one formal one per year and the others are "official meetings" while the dogs are chasing balls in the empty lot...

I think I am the only one who has come to the HOA for approval of any "improvements" - everyone else just does what they want. I figure I better get approval in writing since I am the pres-o-dent...
 
I was treasurer of our old HOA which was 22 units, I did all the banking and the accounting, which was the bulk of the work. We would only get people at meetings if we were discussing dues :rolleyes: now I live in a HOA with close to 2,000 homes and meeting attendance is probably less as a percentage than it was back there!
 
Our HOA might be just a bit more work since we have 1,326 homes in it. The ARC reviews about 25-30 applications each month.
 
santacruzpool said:
:goodpost:

Our HOA is just about like yours - we are only 8 parcels with 7 homes (1 empty lot). Our biggest issue is the potential of putting up a gate - half of us don't want it half do. I am not sure the city will even allow it. The only real reason we are an HOA is so our road could be built smaller and without sidewalks - which made the lots bigger and keeps the city off the hook for maintenance. We have a association manager who charges us a very small fee to run our meetings, do our banking, file all of our taxes and state mandated forms. We barely have meetings - really one formal one per year and the others are "official meetings" while the dogs are chasing balls in the empty lot...

I think I am the only one who has come to the HOA for approval of any "improvements" - everyone else just does what they want. I figure I better get approval in writing since I am the pres-o-dent...
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Regarding the gate . . . Build half a gate and bill the half that want it. The other half that don’t want a gate can just drive around it. Sometimes you have to think outside the box on these things. :)
 

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JoyfulNoise said:
Well said. I am completing my 4th year on the board and I am stepping down. Our community is a bit odd because it’s only 12 homes and we have a full-fledged HOA so it’s really hard to do everything “by the book” as we have one property that is rented and several folks that don’t want to serve. If you apply the 80/20 Pareto principle (20% of the people in an organization do 80% of the work), then it’s only 2 to 3 of us that do most of the work. Our monthly fees are small so we really don’t have the cash flow to pay for a management company and, given how many people complain about the poor service they get from their companies, I’m not sure that’s a road to go down. Honestly there are days that I wish we would just tear down the entry gate, disband the HOA and not have to deal with it. Then again, I feel A LOT better about where I live precisely because it is gated and there are rules.....



Yeesh! Given that our ARC review consists mostly of “designs” on bar napkins (still slightly wet with beer spillage), you’d love us.....

...you want a pool?? Ok, just make sure the giant 86’ water slide runs through a minimum of two lots so your neighbors can enjoy it as well....

...oh, you need to rock your front yard and the landscape material company only had crushed pink stones, meh, no worries, just make sure they’re at least 1/2” or larger...

...lemonsicle is really not an appropriate color choice for your exterior paint BUUUUUUUT since you’re halfway finished and waiting for your next paycheck so you can buy a few more gallons... eh, why not....
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Sounds more like you live in Key West then Tucson.

BigEinAZ said:
Regarding the gate . . . Build half a gate and bill the half that want it. The other half that don’t want a gate can just drive around it. Sometimes you have to think outside the box on these things. :)
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That’s good stuff right there! :mrgreen:
 
So I had a meeting with the new engineer today and he seemed pretty confident that there would be no issues and should probably have the engineering done sometime next week.

I brought up using helical piles and his eyes lit up...He said they're a great option but I would have trouble because they don't have the moment resistance that I need for the weight of the structure. He said if I chose to use them I would need three of them at each post - one vertical and two at 90 degrees from eachother drilled at 45 degree angles then welded to the center one. Each pile probably costs $750-$1000 engineered/installed.

His suggestion was concrete piles 16-20" wide X 48" deep. He said that should give both the lateral and moment resistance needed, and still allow for the use of wood posts :party:

I should hear back from the HOA/ARC soon. I believe the meeting is tonight and I turned the plans in 45 days ago at the deadline :roll:
 
I heard back from the HOA/ARC and the plans were approved...now I'm waiting on the engineer. He keeps telling saying my project is next but I imagine it gets pushed off to the side as the bigger jobs cycle through.

He did say that I'll need to use steel posts - that's not going to be fun for me or the wallet.
 
YippeeSkippy said:
Well what'dya expect from a structural engineer?! In rought numbers what is the difference in price between steel posts and......whatever aren't steel posts?? Are they harder to work with??

Maddie :flower:
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I need 4 posts - A moment post base and wood 6x6 post is about $200 so about $1000 total

A steel post and flange is about $1000. It needs to get cut and welded, the welder needs to be certified and the weld needs to be inspected. There will be 2 welds at two different times on each post. Probably in the neighborhood of $5,000....just for posts :brickwall:

I'm hoping I can get away with welding it myself and hopefully the inspector will appreciate my safety gear: shirtless, shorts, and flip flops and the ladder in 3' deep in the pool. I'll have a pool noodle keeping the 220v extension cord out of the water. I can probably clip the ground clamp onto one of my nipple rings :laughblue:

Check out my skillz!

2nh2iv7.jpg
 
B, oh you are certified alright but I am willing to bet it is NOT the kind they are looking for :roll:

Has he said WHY he wants steel instead of wood?

Will you be using that neat foam stuff on your ceiling like you did on the build you just did?

Kim:kim:
 

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