Academy/Community Management Companies
Management RFPs
The board's request for proposal, not the vendors' pitch decks, decides whether you can compare candidates fairly.
The strongest management RFP starts with a scope of work the board writes itself, not a form supplied by a candidate. Send the identical scope to every firm, ask each to price it using the same structure, and request current client references. A proposal that ignores your scope and reads like a marketing brochure is the clearest early warning sign.
Write the scope of work before you ask anyone for a proposal
If the board simply asks candidates to "send a proposal," each firm defines the job differently and you end up comparing three unlike things. The fix is to draft the scope yourself first.
"Draft your own statement of work (SOW) and distribute it to your management candidates."
Source: Tips for Evaluating a Management Proposal, Keystone Property Management
The RFP should list the services you actually need: financial reporting, meeting support, maintenance oversight, violation letters, and whatever else applies to your community. Send that same document, unchanged, to every candidate.
Ask every candidate to answer the same specific questions
Beyond the scope of work, put the same short list of questions in front of every firm so you can line up the answers side by side: current license status where required, the name and background of the manager they would assign, and a fee quote broken into the same structure. Pricing model matters here, because firms describe it differently:
| Fee model | How it works |
|---|---|
| Per door / per unit | Flat monthly rate for each home; the most common model |
| Flat monthly fee | One price regardless of how many units the association has |
| Percentage of budget | Fee calculated as a share of total assessments collected |
| Tiered or packaged | Bundled service levels ranging from basic to full service |
| Base plus a la carte | Low base fee, individual pricing for each extra service |
Ask each candidate to also itemize likely extras, such as mailing costs, per-violation charges, and resale document fees, against the same list, not just quote a headline number. Whether your state requires a manager or firm to hold a license at all, and what threshold triggers it, is state-specific; confirm current status directly with each candidate rather than assuming.
What separates a real proposal from boilerplate
Once responses come in, read them against your scope of work, not against each other's marketing copy.
"the management company asks YOU questions"
Source: Tips for Evaluating a Management Proposal, Keystone Property Management
That is the green flag. The red flag is the opposite: a firm that "issues a boilerplate proposal" instead of responding to your specific scope. Also confirm you are evaluating the firm, not just the person pitching you.
"you are hiring the property management company, not that particular manager"
Source: Tips for Evaluating a Management Proposal, Keystone Property Management
Ask each finalist about the assigned manager's account load, and speak directly with the firm's current clients before signing anything.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A board sent three candidates a request for "a management proposal" with no other detail. Each proposal bundles different services, so comparing prices is nearly impossible. What should the board have done first?
A candidate's proposal restates generic marketing language and never references the specific services listed in the board's own scope of work. What is this response signaling?
The manager named on a winning proposal leaves the firm two months after the contract is signed. What should the board have already confirmed before hiring, according to RFP best practice?
Sources
- Tips for Evaluating a Management Proposal, Keystone Property Management
- HOA Management Fees: Cost, Inclusions and Extra Charges, RowCal
Related elsewhere in the Academy
Community Management Companies
Shortlisted your candidates? Next, turn the strongest proposals into structured interviews.
Typical fee ranges, license requirements for management firms, and standard contract notice periods vary by state and by market. Confirm current figures directly with each candidate rather than assuming a benchmark.