The vote is usually not close, and that is the problem. Three landscape bids sit in the board packet. They are written three different ways, so nobody can compare them line by line. One of them is the cheapest by a visible amount. Somebody asks what happens if the board picks a more expensive vendor and a resident complains about the assessment. The room goes quiet, and the low bid wins.
Most boards believe Florida law pushes them toward the lowest bid. It does not. The statutes that require associations to bid large contracts also say, in plain words, that the association does not have to take the lowest one. This article walks through what the law actually requires, why boards keep choosing on price anyway, and how a board can choose on quality and still have a record it can defend to every owner in the community.
This article explains the statutes in plain language. It is not legal advice. Your association’s counsel should confirm how they apply to your documents and your budget.
What Florida Law Requires
Two sections of the Florida Statutes govern competitive bidding for community associations.
Condominium associations, section 718.3026. When the association’s payments for a contract for materials, equipment or services will exceed 5 percent of the association’s total annual budget, including reserves, the association must obtain competitive bids. All contracts for services must be in writing.
Homeowners associations, section 720.3055. The same rule applies to HOAs, with a threshold of 10 percent of the total annual budget, including reserves.
Both sections list exemptions. Contracts with the association’s own employees are exempt, and so are attorney, accountant, architect, community association manager, engineering and landscape architect services. Emergencies are exempt, and so is a vendor that is the only source of supply in the county.
Notice what is not on that list. Landscape architecture is exempt. Landscape maintenance is not. If your grounds contract is large enough to cross the threshold, and for many associations it is the largest service contract they sign, it has to be bid.
For HOAs there is one more detail worth knowing. Under 720.3055, if a contract was awarded through competitive bidding, a renewal of that contract does not have to be bid again, as long as the contract lets the board cancel on 30 days’ notice. A board that bids once, picks well and keeps a 30 day cancellation clause in the contract does not have to repeat the whole exercise every year.
The Sentence Nobody Quotes
Both sections end with nearly identical language. Section 720.3055 reads: “Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to require the association to accept the lowest bid.” Section 718.3026 says the same thing for condominiums.
That sentence is the board’s legal cover for choosing on quality. The law asks the board to collect bids so it can see the market. It does not ask the board to buy the cheapest option it finds. A board that picks the second or third bid, for documented reasons, is doing exactly what the statute allows.
Why Boards Pick the Low Bid Anyway
If the law does not require it, why does the low bid win so often? In our experience it comes down to 3 things.
The bids cannot be compared. One vendor quotes weekly mowing with 4 detail visits. Another quotes 42 visits a year with “seasonal color as needed.” A third leaves irrigation out entirely. When the scopes do not match, the only number that looks comparable is the total, so the total decides.
Volunteers are worried about their neighbors. Board members live next to the people who pay the assessments. A cheaper number is easy to defend at the pool. A better vendor is harder to explain if nobody wrote down why it was better.
The cost of the cheap bid shows up later, in other budget lines. Dead plants get replaced as extras. Irrigation repairs come in as separate invoices. Storm cleanup is billed by the hour. None of that is in the bid, so none of it is in the comparison.
What It Costs to Choose on Price
Our guide for boards, The Ultimate Guide to Selecting a Landscaper for Your HOA, includes a 5 year cost model for 2 identical communities. It is an illustrative model, not a specific client, and it is built to show how the costs move rather than to predict your number.
Community A takes the lowest bid. Its annual contract starts at $40,000. Over 5 years, reactive repairs, plant replacement, wasted water, emergency work and a vendor change in year 5 push its total cost to $344,500.
Community B hires a value landscaper at a higher annual price and pays for proactive care. Its total over the same 5 years is $270,730.
The low bid community spends $73,770 more, even though it saved money in the first years. The gap does not appear in any single bid. It appears in the invoices that follow.
The pattern holds outside associations too. In a 2014 survey of 248 commercial property managers and building owners, almost three quarters said they had fired a landscape contractor over incomplete or improperly done work. Only 4 percent named high prices as the reason they changed vendors. Those respondents were commercial managers, not board members, but the lesson carries over. People rarely regret paying more for a vendor that does the work. They regret the vendor that did not.
How to Make the Bids Comparable
A board can only choose on quality if it can see quality on paper. Before the bids go out, send every vendor the same scope and ask them to price it in the same format. At a minimum, the request should define:
- Visit frequency by season. How many mowing visits, how many detail visits, and what happens during the summer growth months.
- What is included and what is extra. Ask each vendor to list named exclusions. A bid that lists none is not cheaper, it is vague.
- Irrigation responsibility. Who inspects the system, how often, and who pays for repairs.
- Plant replacement terms. What the warranty covers, for how long, and what voids it.
- Reporting. What the manager receives after each visit, and in what format.
- Storm response. What is included before and after a named storm, and how cleanup is billed.
- Contact and escalation. Who the manager calls, and how fast that person answers.
Our HOA guide includes a 1 page RFP template and vendor scorecards built around these points. Using the same template for every vendor is what turns 3 different proposals into 3 comparable ones.
How to Document a Decision Not Based on Price
The board’s protection is the record. If the minutes show that the board compared bids against written criteria and chose the vendor that scored best, the decision stands on its own, whatever the price.
- Agree on the criteria before the bids arrive. Price is one criterion. So are scope completeness, reporting, warranty terms, references from similar communities and response time.
- Weight them. A simple 100 point scale works. Price might carry 25 points, scope and exclusions 20, reporting 15, warranty 15, references 15 and response time 10. The exact weights matter less than agreeing on them in advance.
- Score every bid the same way. Have 2 or 3 board members score independently and average the results.
- Put the scorecard in the minutes. Note the scores, the vendor selected and the reason in 1 or 2 sentences.
- Keep a 30 day cancellation clause. It protects the association if the vendor underperforms, and for HOAs it keeps a future renewal out of the bid requirement.
When a resident later asks why the board did not take the cheapest bid, the answer is already written down, and the statute supports it.
What We Do About It
Green Image writes every proposal in the same format, with a named scope and named exclusions, so a board can put it next to any other bid and compare it line by line. After every visit, the manager receives photos and a short written note on what was done and what needs attention next. When Green Image runs the full program on a property, covering maintenance, irrigation, and fertilization and pest control, every plant and tree we install and maintain is warranted for life. If one dies, we replace it.
If your landscape contract is coming up for bid, download the free HOA guide for the RFP template and scorecards, or get a quote. We will walk the property and send you a written proposal within 72 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my association have to accept the lowest landscape bid?
No. Sections 718.3026 and 720.3055 both state that nothing in the section requires the association to accept the lowest bid.
When does a condominium association have to bid a landscape contract?
When payments under the contract will exceed 5 percent of the association’s total annual budget, including reserves, under section 718.3026.
When does an HOA have to bid a landscape contract?
When payments will exceed 10 percent of the total annual budget, including reserves, under section 720.3055.
Is landscape maintenance exempt from competitive bidding?
No. Landscape architect services are exempt. Landscape maintenance is not.
Does an HOA have to rebid every renewal?
Not if the original contract was competitively bid and lets the board cancel on 30 days’ notice, under section 720.3055. Confirm with your association’s counsel.
