If you are interested in doing business with Newcastle Manor Homeowners Association, please read and comply with all of the following.

Registration and Documentation Requirements

To visit the site and make a bid only, or to do work that does not require a license from CSLB or a permit from LADBS, prior to your first visit, you must provide proof of liability insurance and workers compensation insurance along with identifying information confirming that the insurance documents apply to you. If you are self-employed and do not have a workers compensation insurance policy because you have declined to insure yourself, you must provide a written statement to that effect, and you may not bring employees or helpers. You must still carry liability insurance, however.

If you do work that requires a license by the CSLB or a permit from LADBS, you must have, prior to starting work, a City of Los Angeles Business Tax Registration Certificate, a license from CSLB under your name as an individual or under the corporation that will be invoicing us and for whom you work as an employee and which applies to the work you will do, and proper liability and workers compensation insurance (or a statement of no workers compensation insurance if you are self-employed and will work alone).

Contact our managing agent, LB Property Management (LBPM), to submit the above information.

Insurance

Workers compensation insurance, if required (see above), shall include:

1. At least the minimum coverage required by California law, and
2. An agreement to waive subrogation against Newcastle Manor Homeowners Association and LB Property Management, Inc.

General liability insurance shall:

1. Name Newcastle Manor Homeowners Association, c/o LB Property Management, 4645 Van Nuys Blvd., Ste. 201, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403, as a certificate holder;
2. Name both Newcastle Manor Homeowners Association and LB Property Management, Inc. as additional insureds on a separate endorsement page;
3. Provide minimum coverage of one million dollars ($1,000,000) per occurence; and
4. Include "completed operations" coverage.

Building Permits

The Association requires contractors to acquire permits from LADBS where required for the given repair task, and for an employee of the contractor to be present for inspections, including final inspections. The City does not allow Association officers, agents, or employees to pull permits, as none of us have a CSLB license. You may add the cost of the permit to your invoice, plus reasonable reimbursement for additional time spent attending inspections (but not for additional work done for fixing code violations in your work found by city inspectors).

Unit Owners and Residents

When planning work inside or close to a dwelling unit by request of the Association, you may contact the owner or resident only in order to schedule unit access where necessary.

Please do not otherwise communicate with the affected unit owner or resident, and don't include them on emails to Association agents. This helps prevent confusion, complication, and the confidentiality of your bids. Unit owners are not authorized to receive information about your findings, recommended specifications, or bids, nor should they give directives, authorize work, or otherwise make decisions on the direction of the project. Association agents are responsible for keeping the unit owners and residents informed on the progress of the project, and they will do so. If an owner or resident contacts you with questions or requests, please advise them to contact the managing agent of the Association.

Customer Accounts and Owners vs. Association Responsibility

If your company contracts directly with individual condo owners to do work inside their dwelling units, it is very important you keep completely separate accounts for each such owner, and from the Association. Owners must not receive bids or invoices for work the Association has ordered, which can happen if contact information is mixed up under the same account.

Sometimes the Association manages work inside a dwelling unit. If an agent of the Association contacts you for work inside a dwelling unit, that means the Association will be responsible for the bill, the task should be registered under the Association's account in your system, and you must send your estimates and invoices only to the Association. The estimates and invoices should show the Association as the customer, and may show the building/unit number where the work is to be performed as a reference.

If a unit owner contacts you for work, then all estimates and invoices must go to the owner only, and the owner will be solely responsible for paying your bills. This includes work done by order of the owner outside the owner's unit (such as connecting to common pipes or utilities).

Bidding

Bids and contract proposals must specify Newcastle Manor Homeowners Association as the customer. Do not put individuals' names on them, or the name of our managing agent or property supervisor.

The mailing/billing address shown on the bid for the Association will be Newcastle Manor Homeowners Association, c/o LB Property Management, 4645 Van Nuys Blvd., Ste. 201, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.

For the site and job information, you must identify the building number (we have four), and clearly identify the unit number, section of the building, and/or mechnical component the job relates to.  Examples:

WRONG:  Replace 10 feet of pipe

CORRECT:  Replace 10 feet of hot water supply pipe in building 5349 directly underneath Unit 4

WRONG:  Recondition electrical panel

CORRECT:  Recondition electrical panel feeding chiller, located in the southeast corner of the chiller room on the roof of building 5400

Each bid should have a unique job number as well. If you update your bid during the process, then you must update the date and revision number on the bid so it can be distinguished from the prior document.

The Association manages all bidding in an ethical fashion. Information or recommendations you provide will not be used to create instructions or give hints to others to create their bids, unless you were advised of the Association's intended use of your report prior to your providing it. Details of your bid will not be revealed to competitors. All matters relating to the formation of contracts, including job specifications, budgeting, and bid reviews, are handled by the Board of Directors only in executive session. The general membership of the Association is not allowed to attend nor review minutes of executive session meetings.

Notifications

The Association has strict rules prohibiting posting of notices on the doors of individual units. If you are an existing provider for the Association and need to provide service information to all residents, contact the Association's Facilities Supervisor and provide a copy of your notice in PDF format. All notices must include:

1. Your company name at the top.
2. A statement that your notification and/or actions are authorized and/or directed by Newcastle Manor Homeowners Association, as appropriate.
3. Date of the notice, and effective date or date range of the information in the notice.
4. The information you need to convey, or actions residents need to take. You may not order the residents to do anything or specify penalties, unless explicitly authorized by an agent or employee of the Association beforehand.
5. Name and contact information of the responsible party or person to contact for information, as appropriate. This may be an agent or employee of the Association, so long as that person has agreed to it.

Notices must have correct spelling, grammar, and a professional presentation.

The Association has bulletin boards placed at every entrance to every building for the purpose of posting notices that require high visibility, and your notices will be posted there. For notices where a resident needs a copy in hand, we can place a pile on the table in each lobby. We can post the notice on our website as well, and enter any scheduled events in our calendar.

Working On-Site

There is no guest parking on the property. For urgent service calls, you may have nowhere to park except in the driveways of the parking lots. The Association does not have the right to prevent parking space owners from towing cars blocking their spots, so if your truck is blocking any spaces, you should take whatever measures are necessary to be able to find out promptly if someone needs to come or go, so you can move your vehicle. All parking is done at your own risk.

You may prop open doors only when necessary and only so long as necessary.

When working on-site, homeowners and tenants are not allowed to demand information from you or provide directives, and you are not to indulge them. You may only take directives from employees of Newcastle Manor Homeowners Association or the managing agent, LBPM. If anyone else asks for information or complains about your work, say nothing except to advise them that the Association is responsible for all maintenance, and complaints should be directed to the Association through its managing agent, LBPM. Failure on your part to cooperate in this regard will lead to confusion and dissatisfaction among all involved. The Association will not disparage you or your work in response to resident complaints.

If a homeowner or tenant harasses you or your employees or impedes your work in any way, advise the Association promptly through your designated point of contact so action may be taken against them.

Billing

Submit all invoices by email to LBPM at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Do not send them to Association officers, employees, or agents, unless that individual has advised he or she will pay with credit card.

If there were a bid or a contract signed, clearly specify the bid or contract the invoice relates to (by job number or otherwise). If not, specify the nature and location of the work explicitly, as described above in the section on Bidding.

If there is an error on an invoice, do not simply edit the invoice and send it again. You must create a new invoice, with the current date and a new invoice number, and indicate whether the prior invoice is voided, or whether the new invoice is issued in addition to the prior one.