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Straight answers for small HOA boards: pricing, fees, insurance, and conflicts of interest
Most boards under 25 units get quoted an "entry rate" built for 50-unit buildings, then discover the real number after the proposal. Below are direct answers to the nine questions small San Francisco Bay Area boards ask us most — including the ones management companies usually avoid.
What is the actual all-in monthly management cost for a small Bay Area 12-unit association?
Our published $49 per door, per month rate applies to buildings of 50+ units, so it is not your number. Small associations are priced on a flat monthly fee, because a 6-unit building takes nearly the same board support, bookkeeping, and vendor coordination as a 20-unit building.
For a standard 12-unit association in the San Francisco Bay area full-service management is $1,069 per month, all-in — that is $89 per door, with a one-time setup fee of $499. Properties under 6 units carry a $500 per month minimum.
Nothing in the list below is billed on top of that fee:
Bookkeeping, monthly financial statements, and reserve tracking
Dues and special assessment collection
Board meeting prep, agendas, meeting attendance, and minutes
Vendor sourcing, screening, bidding, and oversight
Project management
Routine and emergency maintenance coordination
CC&R enforcement support and violation correspondence
Monthly on-site property visit with a written summary
HOA management software, association PO box, and owner portal access
If your building has unusual complexity — active litigation, a major capital project, or a delinquency backlog — we say so in the proposal and quote it before you sign, not after.
What one-time onboarding or setup costs apply?
One flat $499 onboarding fee, charged once. That is the only setup cost, and it is not a percentage, a per-door charge, or an open-ended hourly engagement. It covers the records transfer from your prior manager or self-managing board, chart of accounts setup and opening balance reconciliation, bank account transition, vendor and insurance policy inventory, owner roster and portal setup, and a review of your CC&Rs, bylaws, and most recent reserve study.
The $499 is billed with your first month's invoice. If your books arrive in poor condition — years of unreconciled statements, missing bank records — we will tell you in writing what catch-up bookkeeping requires and get board approval on the scope and cost before any work starts.
Beyond the monthly fee, what is billed separately?
Aside from the one-time $499 onboarding fee and the recurring monthly fee, this is where some proposals are not transparent. Our answers, item by item:
Project management (total cost under $10,00) | Included. No percentage-of-project fee. |
Project management (total cost over $10,00) | 10% management fee only if the Board wants to be completely hand-off |
Vendor markups | None. You pay the vendor's invoice amount. We take no commission, rebate, referral fee, or markup from any contractor. |
After-hours / emergency call-outs | Included. No per-call or after-hours charge for coordination. Vendor labor at emergency rates is an association expense, billed by the vendor. |
Disclosure and escrow/transfer documents for unit sales | Included. |
Violation letters | Non-legal letters written by SNS are included, along with follow-up tracking. No per-letter fee. |
Miscellaneous admin expenses | $100 every 6 months. Covers mailing, postage, fuel for property visits, extra AI creditcs, etc. |
How many associations do you manage, and how many are under 25 units?
We are intentionally boutique. SNS currently manages 10 associations across San Francisco and the Bay Area, primarily 4 to 25 units, and all of them are under 25 units — which is the size band we were built for. Your board would not be an outlier in our portfolio or the smallest account getting the least attention.
Yes, you can speak with references. We will connect you with two sitting board members from associations under 25 units, with contact details provided after they consent. Ask them about responsiveness, financial accuracy, and how we handled something that went wrong.
Does anyone at the firm own a contractor or maintenance business that would work on our building?
No. Neither SNS Management nor any of its principals, employees, or family members holds an ownership interest in any contractor, handyman, janitorial, landscaping, or maintenance company that performs work on client properties. We make money one way: the predictable monthly management fee.
How bids work:
Three independent bids on every project over $1,000, from unaffiliated vendors.
Bids go to the board in full — scope, price, license and insurance status — with our recommendation and the reasoning behind it.
The board selects the vendor. We never award work unilaterally above the board's approved spending threshold.
Any relationship that could look like a conflict — a vendor we have a long history with, a referral-network member — is disclosed in writing in the bid packet. Referral-network vendors pay us nothing for the referral.
If that policy were ever to change, you would get written disclosure and the board would vote on whether the affiliated vendor may bid at all.
Can you confirm your fidelity bond and E&O coverage, and how association bank accounts are titled?
Insurance and bonding. SNS carries professional liability (errors & omissions) coverage and a fidelity bond covering employee dishonesty. We provide current certificates of insurance to your board before signing and at every renewal, and we will name the association as an additional interest or certificate holder on request.
Account titling and access — exactly what you asked for. Every association's funds are held in accounts titled in the association's own name and tax ID, at an FDIC-insured bank. No commingling with SNS funds and no pooled or aggregated trust accounts.
Operating account: titled to the association. SNS has limited authority to pay approved association expenses; board officers retain signing authority and full visibility.
Reserve account: titled to the association, held separately from operating funds. Reserve withdrawals require board authorization and board signatures, consistent with Civil Code §5510, which requires signatures of two directors (or one director and an officer) for reserve withdrawals.
Board visibility: bank login credentials, or direct statement delivery, for every board member who wants it. Members have unlimited access to financial records, bank statements, and invoices in the portal, and accounts are reconciled monthly.
If a manager ever tells you reserves sit in an account titled to the management company, that is your signal to walk.
What does the monthly property visit include, and what does the written summary cover?
A local SNS agent — the same person who knows your building — walks the property every month. It is complimentary, not a billable inspection.
The visit covers common-area condition (entry, lobby, halls, stairs, laundry, garage, roof access where safe, exterior, landscaping), life-safety and code items (lighting, egress, extinguishers, smoke/CO devices in common areas, gates and locks), evidence of water intrusion or deferred maintenance, vendor work verification, trash and recycling compliance, and in-person check-ins with any owners who are around.
The written summary you receive after each visit includes dated photos, new issues found with a recommended action and urgency level, status updates on open items from prior visits, vendor performance notes, anything that should go on the next board agenda, and any item likely to need a reserve expenditure. It becomes part of your permanent records — useful evidence for reserve planning, insurance claims, and disclosure packages.
What are your contract terms and cancellation policy?
Month-to-month, with 30 days' written notice to cancel — by either side. No initial term, no auto-renewal trap, no early termination penalty, no cancellation fee.
On exit, your records are yours: within 30 days we deliver complete financial records, bank statements and reconciliations, owner rosters, vendor contracts, insurance policies, meeting minutes, and governing documents to the board or your new manager at no charge. We keep clients by performing, not by contract language.
Comparing management proposals? Ask every firm these eight questions
Get each answer in writing, then compare. The firm that gives you a real number for your actual unit count, discloses every separately billed item, confirms reserves are titled to the association, and puts its entity number and certificates of insurance in front of you before you sign is the one that will still be transparent in year five.
Talk to us about your association: SNS Management, LLC · 1 Harbor Drive, Suite 300, Sausalito, CA 94965 · (415) 756-6942 · info@snsmanagement.net · See small HOA management cost in the San Francisco Bay Area
This article is general information for California community associations, not legal or accounting advice. Boards should confirm requirements under their own governing documents and the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act with qualified counsel.
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