Complaint Review: Tolley Community Management - Woodstock Georgia

As the Board President for the community mentioned in this report I wanted to file a response to the issues at hand and let everyone know the excellent service we have received from Tolley Management. Mike Tolley, the owner of the veteran-owned company, is extremely knowledgeable and adept at property management. They did not “jack up” our property management fees from $5000 - $9000. When I was elected to the board over a year ago it was evident that the community had suffered from lack of direction for several years from the previous board.  If you analyze the figures, $5000 yearly equates to about $400 per month. Based on the number of projects and management tasks performed monthly the new board unanimously voted to increase the property management fees to bring them into acceptable range based on the level of service requested. In reality, we offered the increase effective immediately to Tolley and the property management but they declined and stated they would include the proper numbers for the next budget cycle. Mind you we communicated this at our annual meeting. Pause for a second.. would you work for $400 a month and deal with all of this?

When we were elected there was no current and accurate Reserve study so the previous board had no true insight to ascertain if dues were properly funding the Reserve.  We immediately contracted ZumBrunnen for an updated, proper Reserve study and then, and only then, could we project future dues for the Community. Homeowner investments are not “ruined.” Values in this community are up over 24% from over a year and a half ago and the current estimated price/sq foot per recent appraisal (as of July 2016) is $302 sq/foot. The dues were increased from $186 to $207 – and the property is now fully funded. When I started we had about $70K in Reserves and we spent about $35K on items that needed to be addressed like the pressure reducing valve described below. Currently, a year and a half later, we have $150K in Reserves and are extremely healthy.   Constantly this individuals sometimes to spew that the association and Tolley are wasting money, but in reality, the association is more financially stable than ever before.

It is funny to me how this individual who posted the “report”, continues to say “Tolley hired” and “Tolley” brings in shoddy contractors.  Let me be clear: Tolley works at the direction of the Board of Directors. In reference to the deck staining, the board requested three bids for deck staining. Trinity came in about $7000 under the other bids so we opted to go with this vendor. In reference to the quality of deck staining, we have told this homeowner NUMEROUS times this will be addressed by the board with a walkthrough with the vendor and our property manager. We will make the vendor resolve any staining issues found before full payment is released.

Now let’s talk about the plumber. Some background here: When our pipes were installed something installed on the pipes seems to suffer from a quality issue and/or the incorrect part was used. As a result, this community was suffering from sometimes monthly water leaks resulting in $4-5K  in either association and/or homeowner repairs. We did a couple of things about 9 months ago:

1. Installed a pressure reducing value into the community to reduce the water pressure.

2. Informed all residents they should purchase a $54 annual Service Water line warranty to assist with these types of issues.

As a result of the pressure reduction value, the number of pipe breaks have been reduced significantly. We had one homeowner who has suffered from 4 pipe breaks. This is just the worst luck possible and as their neighbor I feel awful this happened. Each time it seemed to be something different. The most recent two were completely separate causes unlike the claim in this e-mail. In the report, the individuals claims “Tolley hires the same plumber over and over to fix the same external water line leaks over and over and keeps paying him to do the same work that wasn't done right the first, second, or third time.” Let me be clear: The homeowner was responsible for this water break, they hired the plumber, and scheduled the concrete repair. Several weeks after the break, the same company mentioned, had to come out again for the water break. The plumber, of the goodness of his heart told the homeowners it would be completely covered 100%. It was not “warranty” work but yet another issue. Yes we did get some mud on the pavement, which you often do digging up concrete. Keep in mind this individual mentioned in this e-mail sends multiple “sarcastic” and just like week, if it is the same individual, stated “they were like an old married couple” referring to the home owner and Tolley.

During one of the repairs, the board received an e-mail that Tolley was a “complete failure” and “… truly want that part addressed.” This was in reference to a “incorrect’ concrete repair.  This has NOTHING to do with Tolley--- this was a repair paid for and hired by the homeowner. The same “evil plumber” that Tolley continues to get to do shabby work… LOL. Again more “claims” in Tolley’s performance that was out of their control.

                The $15,000 to clear up wasps.. let me give you some additional facts. This was not to clear up wasps on home owner decks but wasps that were nesting in the roof-tops of the townhomes due to incorrectly installed flashing. We received again 3-bids and had the flashing installed. I’m sure wasps can still be found on the decks but it has been significantly reduced. This again, was communicated, via a letter sent to all residents and explained in detail during a homeowner meeting. This was also in response from a lot of resident complaints about a large number of wasps in the community.

As for the door staining, we broke the staining up into two phases for several reasons:

1. Some doors did not need to be stained.

2. Homeowners were not home when they were scheduled to be stained.

The stain vendor we used was AWESOME, coming back time and time again to work with home owner schedules and did an EXCELLENT job. This was a “Tolley” recommended vendor.

Lastly I want to address our board meeting and communication structure. We told “open” board meetings every two months. Unlike most association meetings, we allow the residents to speak and we respond to homeowner association issues. What we do not allow are “agenda” items like “Tolley sucks” or complaints related to specific homeowner complaints like waving a late fee. These items are not discussed in a public forum, nor should they be. We encourage any homeowner who has an issue to discuss with the board during executive session. Most associations only allow members to “attend” but we have opted for an open dialog-based homeowner association meeting. When someone wants to discuss individual items it will not be done in a public forum.

Our board consists of two additional very laid back individuals, including a MD, who is exhausted in dealing with this homeowner.  This is truly an individual that cannot get along with others.

In conclusion, every property management company has issues from time to time – every business relationship does. I have been very pleased with the level of service received from this company and the level of knowledge the owner possesses in property management is pretty impressive. I’m so impressed I am actually having them bid on another property I own.