Co-op/Condo Board members and shareholders alike - Don't be suckered!
Read all of the on-line reviews and be forewarned. Andrea Bunis Management says all the right things to secure your business, and then demands total control of your building. There will be increasingly less collaboration with your Board as time goes on.
G-d help your Board if you disagree with any recommendations, proposed budgets, or do anything that Andrea perceives to be you crossing her!
Anything other than total agreement will be viewed as a personal attack against Andrea herself and she will let you know it in no uncertain terms.
The insults, the cussing and swearing and aggressiveness that your building will be subjected to, will absolutely astound you.
If you already have hired them, ask yourself why she insists that 1 of her 3 contractors perform ALL major work projects on your building? Geiger, Deschamps and P&P United are the only vendors who we ever saw proposals from for each and every project.
We have learned that nearly all of Andrea Bunis Management's buildings use the same vendors; hand-picked and approved by Andrea.
Watch what happens if your Board chooses to work with an insurance broker other than her recommendation - Mackoul Associates. Try to move away from BP Elevator - watch what happens. It won't be pretty, I assure you!
When various Board members recommended truly 'independent contractors' they were berated mercilessly, and told bluntly to stay out of the day to day management of our building.
They told us every imaginable story to convince us that Board members should not be involved in the bidding process - that this was an exclusive function of management.
We found licensed and insured, reputable contractors who were substantially less costly than Andrea's picks but we were told that if we had problems with their work, we would essentially be on our own; that Andrea Bunis Management wouldn't get involved to resolve any problems that might arise, thus intimidating our Board members into choosing her vendors based on fear.
If you have any issue with the accounting department, keep it to yourself or you and your shareholders will be in for quite a tongue lashing - it's gets nasty. How she is still in business amazes me!
The Property Manager we worked with was wonderful, level headed and pleasant, but she was clearly under great pressure to comply with Andrea's mandates and unable to reason with Andrea on any single issue.
And finally, if you choose not to renew your contract, be prepared to have no cooperation, no access to your bank accounts, no communication from anyone in their office and no access to your property manager from the moment you put them on notice onward.
Be sure to prepare your new property management company for this as well.
Your bank accounts will be transferred to your Board within two or three months after your new management company begins.
To avoid this, have at least three Board members added to each and every bank account Andrea Bunis Management has access to. We learned the hard way and our money was 'held hostage' so to speak, for far too long.
When this happens, bills, mortgages, insurance premiums, payroll etc... Won't get paid.
Horrible, traumatic, exhausting experience.
You've been warned.
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