WEST NEW YORK

New products can be scary if you or your professionals have never used them before. A new product requires more attention to make sure a job gets done correctly. "It's a learning process, not just for us, but for the product developers," says Michael Popeck, senior project manager with the Falcon Group. And so the 36-building, 445-unit Port Imperial Condominium, in West New York, N.J., is about to be the guinea pig for Royal Building Products' Celect, a cellular-PVC interlocking siding that has never before been used on a project this size.

Collections have become an area of increasing concern for condominium associations, as some unit owners struggle to pay their common charges on time and in full. As unit owners' debt continues to rise, associations are left with few options to collect: a lien on the unit and a lawsuit against the individual unit owner. 

Many condo associations have been frustrated in their attempts to collect from a unit owner individually, as judges are often sympathetic to delinquent unit owners, offering extensions, scrutinizing certifications of amounts due and reducing or eliminating the association's ability to collect attorneys' fees.