brought in their own aorneys and vigorously opposed us at every step. Looking back, the board was very fortunate to get such good help from residents and management in selecng high quality professionals. This was no place to try to save money. Our professionals did their jobs guiding us through to the necessary approvals. Our board also helped by engaging the members of the township PC and BOC in helpful discussions. All the township votes went unanimously in our favor.


I, as board president, and our community general manager, Rosy Brophy, had been working closely together on a daily basis for a while. We gave frequent updates to the board and met for regular project reviews. Inevitably, the pace of daily decisions led to conicts over how decisions should be made. For example, picking our general contractor turned out to be unusually divisive. Board members diered on how many and which companies should be asked to bid. We kept our architect involved and eventually asked four companies for their proposals. While we had no obligaon to do so, we did select the low bidder. As they were the smallest of the bidders, we had our architectural rm do a thorough veng.


The bid came in about $0.5 million above our target budget of $2 million. Despite our very clearly dened budget limitaons, the architects would not commit to any esmates. We never really had any idea how much it would cost unl the bids came in. We then had to pay the architects addional money to value engineer the plans. Fortunately, during the course of the project, the builder and our Engineering Commiee proposed many alternaves that saved us a lot of money.


Our major construcon problem was land development and soil condions. With all the regulatory delays, we got a late start and did not break ground unl November. Winter temperatures did not hurt as much as wet soil condions as our soil had too much organic maer to meet engineering specicaons. We needed to bring in about 700 loads of rock and ll at a cost of $200,000 and we had to wait out wet condions. We missed our 2015 pool opening target but we made a deal with the swim club across the street, not the club, and our homeowners were quite sased with the arrangement.


We opened the building in October, about four months later than our target date. The total project cost will be about


$3.5 million. We are doing it without a loan, assessment, or any increase in resident fees. The community room and tness center are huge hits. The pools and tennis courts will be completed this spring. Many of our former crics are enjoying their new amenies. Some board members and past members are less friendly than they used to be. The golf club is ligang against us.


Did we learn anything? You bet! We got a recreaon area and community center far beer than anyone expected. It was incredibly hard and stressful. Feathers were rued and friendships ended. Not long aer opening, we had our rst community happy hour. This was not the rst one in our new building, it was the rst community happy hour in our community since 1994! About 150 people aended. Everyone brought food and wine to share with neighbors. People are excited. Commiees and clubs are forming and scheduling events.


Was it worth it? You bet!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ed Richman is the President of the Blue Bell Country Club Community Associaon Board of Directors and presently serves as a member of CAI’s Board of Directors.


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