NEW YORK CITY

Last week, we took a look at the bid proposals that come back from the companies you reach out to. In this third installment of a multi-part series we will be taking a look at the vendors. Before any bids are submitted, the board, its managing agent, and its architect or engineer will meet with the vendors at the job site. This is to show vendors the physical location and answer questions they may have. It also allows the board to go over job specifics and clarify any issues. Finally, the board can see samples of materials.

Temperatures are finally starting to climb, and we're thawing out at last. Condo owners and co-op shareholders with terraces may be getting ready to dust off their barbecue grills. Now is a good time for boards to review their policies on grilling, so they can keep all building residents up to speed on the rules. Some condos and co-ops prohibit grilling on the terrace, while others allow it with a few caveats – and let's face it, it may be disruptive to neighbors above, below, and next door. Regardless of where your building stands, however, it's still in a board's interests to remind building residents that they must firstly, comply with the building's rules, and secondly, comply with the safety standards outlined in the NYC Fuel Gas Code and NYC Fire Code. 

Early last week we told you about design-build — a time-saving and money-saving approach wherein a board hires an engineer to prepare job specifications for a given capital improvement project. But rather than send out requests for proposals to a number of contractors, who in turn, submit sealed bids for the job, in the design-build approach, an engineer functions as the contractor on the job. It worked for the Neptune, but is design-build for everybody? Here, we examine its downsides.

Co-ops and condos with garages can take their security for granted. They hand out door openers to the residents and that's about it. But an unsecured garage can be the entry point for a burglar — not only to get into the garage and swipe someone's car, but also to gain access to the rest of the building and potentially do something worse. From the simple to the high-tech, there are a number of security measures boards can institute to prevent thieves from sneaking in the back door.

Board members who complain that meetings are too long are right to be annoyed. Although it's normal for a meeting about a major capital improvement or the annual budget to run long, there's no reason for them all to feel like endless marathons. If long meetings are causing qualified board members to quit, it can be a warning sign that something is very wrong. It can be a sign that someone on the board has become a problem or, more seriously, that the board can't make decisions or is working with professionals who fail to follow up. 

Don’t mention this to the kids but sometimes it does pay to watch television. As Peter Goldfinger — board president at Contello Towers 2 in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn — recalls, it was through TV commercials that residents were alerted about a way for their building to save money on heating bills.

Those TV ads – for subsidized heating oil from CITGO and Boston-based Citizens Energy — set off a chain reaction: shareholders informed the board, the board informed building management, and building management looked into the grant program.

Say you live in a rent-stabilized apartment, but you want to make an investment. Can you purchase share of a co-op elsewhere — with the intention of renovating and flipping it — without ticking off the landlord? That's the question Ronda Kaysen fields in this week's Ask Real Estate column in The New York Times. "Can the owner of the rent-stabilized apartment start eviction proceedings against me? Separately, am I permitted to own the co-op unit without actually living in it?" he asks. Kaysen explains that it's perfectly acceptable for tenants of rent-stabilized apartments to own property elsewhere — as long as that rent-stabilized unit is the primary residence. "Where you run into trouble is if you live in that second home for more than half the year," Kaysen explains. It should be no problem for this particular potential investor, since he has no intention of living in the co-op unit he's interested in purchasing. The actual pickle, of course, is that co-op boards tend to require shareholders to live in the units they purchase; that is, the purchased unit has to be the primary residence. "A board would not be likely to allow a purchase by a buyer who did not plan to live in the building," says Kaysen. So what's a guy to do? Try investing in a condo instead. Condo rules are typically more flexible.

A READER ASKS: I'm the board president of a large condo in Westchester. We had a pool, but we had to close it a few years ago, after it fell into disrepair. My fellow board members and I think we have enough money to make necessary repairs, and believe we can have the pool open by Memorial Day next year. One board member, however, raised a question we hadn't yet considered. Should we hire a pool manager, which can be expensive, or should we manage the pool ourselves, which can be very time-consuming? What are our options? Do you have any tips?  

Mayor Bill de Blasio is passionate about affordable housing, and — considering that even financially well-off folks are getting priced out of the likes of Brooklyn and "settling" for Manhattan — that's a good thing. But it goes to show that sometimes even those who have the best of intentions either don't think their plans all the way through. The New York Times reported that "when New York City planners unveiled maps charting a 73-block area in the Bronx to be developed with housing, they called it 'Cromwell-Jerome.' But no one in that area seemed to know where that was." Whoops. So is the mayor a little out of touch? Well, let's take a look: "The plan, which calls for 80,000 new apartments, mostly for households with annual income of less than $69,000, requires an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, even with the mayor's allies. Neighborhood groups and their City Council representatives, who must sign off on any rezoning, are anxious about taller buildings, more people and gentrification. Labor unions want assurances that they will have a bigger role in construction, even though it drives up costs." But some affordable-housing advocates are concerned that "new homes that are designated as affordable" will go to a mix of income levels, rather than to the poorest residents, which puts current residents at risk for being displaced "as people with higher incomes move into the neighborhood and make it more upscale." 

A roof deck can be a cherished amenity and a great way to reclaim some precious outdoor space from a dense urban landscape. But the roof is already one of the more delicate and damage-prone parts of a building. An improperly installed deck, compounding the roof's natural vulnerability to leaks, can quickly become a source of constant sorrow. Here's some advice on how to best create a recreational roofing surface, and how to install a deck safely, so you don't damage the roof.