SPS Expertise and Experience Adds Value at The Greens
Think your association’s next capital improvement project is ambitious? Wonder how you’ll get everything done on time and on budget? That’s the kind of challenge on which Schernecker Property Services has built its reputation as a full-service contractor specializing in large, complex capital improvement projects for New England community associations.
In 2005, the trustees at The Greens, a luxury golf community in North Reading, Mass., put that reputation to the test with a massive, self-managed roofing and vinyl siding renovation project covering the association’s 87 buildings. SPS was also tasked with painting decks and lampposts and repairing chimneys.
SPS was hired because of their experience, resources, and team-based approach to project management, says Board Chairman Jeff Lamb. “On a project of this scale, we didn’t want to waste time or energy dealing with separate contractors. We were looking for a single point of accountability from a single contractor who could do it all — and do it right — and that gave us a real advantage.”
More Than Labor and Materials
The Board soon discovered that SPS provided much more than labor and materials. In fact, SPS worked with the Board as a fully-involved partner, providing expert advice on specs and logistics, as well as creating a solution that allowed the Board to upgrade the quality of their shingles.
Under The Greens old roofing policy, the association had completed layover roofs on half of their buildings. But water penetration problems continued. The problem, according to an engineering assessment, was lack of ice and water shield under the original roof. The official roofing recommendation: Strip everything and start over. “We had already contracted a full inventory of basic asphalt shingles to do the remaining roofs,” says Lamb. “They did nothing to enhance the market appeal of our community, and we would have been stuck with them if SPS hadn’t intervened.”
SPS offered to buy back all of the Association’s unused asphalt shingles and apply the credit against the purchase of new architectural shingles. “That’s when we began to understand how committed SPS was to doing the job right,” says Lamb. “SPS’s flexibility allowed us to upgrade to a style of shingle that has significantly improved the appearance of our community.”
Doing the Job Right
Starting in early August 2005, SPS crews stripped and replaced roofing and above-roof siding on all 87 buildings in just five months. “Our goal was to give homeowners a leak-free winter,” says SPS President Fred Schernecker. “To do the job right, we flashed the roofing and above-roof siding at the same time. Otherwise, you risk water penetration at the transitions.”
The following Spring, SPS crews stripped all the remaining vertical cedar siding and installed vinyl siding, which was insulated for energy savings. “The pace of work was relentless,” says Lamb. “I cannot say enough about the professionalism of the SPS crews. They worked dawn to dusk.”
If a relentless work ethic and efficiency is a hallmark of SPS crews, quality control is an obsession. As part of SPS’s commitment to doing the job right the first time, each SPS jobsite follows a rigorous weekly punch list inspection process.
Every week, SPS Business Managers complete a punch list form for each crew. The foreman is responsible for completing items on that punch list before the following week’s inspection. Weekly inspections continue until the project is finished. Any problems are corrected on the spot — avoiding a backlog of punch-list items at the final walk-through. Crew incentives, which have always been linked to customer satisfaction, are also tied to the completion of weekly punch list items.
Keeping Homeowners Happy
Production meetings were another weekly event at The Greens. Constant communication between SPS and the Board was crucial to the project’s success. Every Thursday morning, the project team met with the Board’s project team to review progress, solve problems, and adjust the work plan to keep the project on schedule and on budget.
Reports from these weekly meetings were also used to brief homeowners about progress and next steps. “The trustees excelled at preparation, communication and administration,” says SPS’s Schernecker. “The system they set up made it easy for our crews to work with homeowners, which was particularly valuable when we closed out work on each building.”
As the project neared completion, residents were invited to submit their own punch list items to the Board for review. “This is where you really appreciate SPS’s expertise working with condominium associations,” says Lamb. “If there was the slightest possibility that SPS scratched a door or tore a screen, they took care of it without hesitation. When SPS says they want your homeowners to be happy, they aren’t kidding.”
