State law, verified by the City of Pompano Beach, states that we must submit our recertification compliance report within 90 days of receiving the recertification letter. Given we may receive that letter between June and September 2024 (but could be later), our building and garage recertification project would then need to be completed three months thereafter or not later than December 2024. There is no way to accomplish this unless we started our 12–15-month project in advance of receipt of the letter. The Pompano Beach City Building Inspector told us that starting any later than we did would have compromised getting the project done on time and would have increased the risk of obtaining our building occupancy certification.

The board is being proactive, rather than reactive, in an effort to ensure the building and all owners are cared for properly.

There have been several accusation and misunderstandings of duplicate and/or unnecessary line-item charges within PBC 50-year certification contract. There are no duplicate or unnecessary line items. Below, we've provided an explanation of several of the line items that seem to be causing confusion.

If you have additional questions or would like a deeper explanation, please contact Bill Hanks, our Owners' Representative for the 50 Year Certification Construction Project. Bill will be happy to walk you through the bid sheet and answer any questions you may have.

You can call Bill at (754) 233-0722 or email him at pbcownersrep@gmail.com.

Please note that this phone does not accept text messages.

Line Item 4 - Full Slab Repair (25% of balconies)

Line Item 5 - Partial Slab Repair (75% of balconies)

These line items represent the slab repair to the balconies. While line items #4 & #5 were included in alternate balcony design options #16 & #17 that was not the case for the "as-is" balcony design for line #15.

Line Item 9 - Beam Repair

Line Item 10 - Column Repair

These are the additional beams and columns throughout the building, not related to the balconies.

Line Item 11 - 8" Block Wall Demolition

Line Item 12 - 8" Block Wall Construction

It has been presumed that these are balcony walls, that is not the case. The balconies are constructed with 4 &6" block as well as poured concrete. The 8" block demolition and repair represents the area outside of balcony repair.

Yes. All contractors were sent the exact same bid package. There’s been some miscommunication on this from multiple owners, but the bid packages sent to all contractors were identical. Owners can visually verify this by making an appointment at the office to see the bid packages and communications.

FBS will repair each balcony based on the scope of work provided by the Engineer. FBS was provided a scope of work for each unit (like you can see on the boards in the lobby). If additional work is required, the Engineer will inspect and confirm the requested work and provide an updated scope of work for that unit with no additional charge to the Association.

The railings on all balconies are being replaced with new ones that are code-compliant.

The work we are doing is structural in nature, thus we need to identify if there’s deterioration behind the shutters and under the tiles. Thus far, there’s evidence in some units of significant deterioration behind shutters and under tiles. In one case the rebar was completely rusted out and will need to be replaced. We’ll be posting photos here later this week.

The contractor cannot perform the balcony repairs with the shutters in-place. Therefore, the shutters must be removed. When the balcony concrete slab is repaired, re-sloped to keep water away from the building walls, and resurfaced, it is highly unlikely the old shutter will still fit the new space.

For those wanting to attempt to have their shutters re-installed, the original shutters must have been permitted with City approvals and the Owner must store and reinstall the shutters at their own expense, they must be compliant with Association shutter directives, and pass the building engineer inspection.

Regarding the concrete walls being intact, no one can make this assessment visually without a structural inspection.

We believe the cost benefit for choosing railings was made quite clear by the Board Officers who sponsored four (4) vote opportunities for owners to lower your assessment.

Instead, owners chose either to keep walls for personal preferences or listen to the three Directors who provided incorrect & misleading information and encouraged people to vote no for railings.

As this 50-year contract is on a short 12-month schedule, the contractor has already made material purchases needed, so the benefit of switching to the railing & pickets no longer provides a reduction in cost.

We didn’t opt for the most expensive company. In fact, we selected the lower costs for items of all bidders and then lowered the prices further to create a negotiation price sheet. This low-price sheet resulted in the negotiated prices we have with FBS.

There was an analysis of the bids done by an owner, which was subsequently shared with other owners, however those data and assumptions are incorrect.

We will publish the correct bid analysis demonstrating that we negotiated based on lowest bids and achieved the lowest cost possible for this project. In the meantime, please contact any of the Unified Board members for an explanation or fill out the form below to request a personal walk-through of the numbers.

The Board has contractual authority to modify or cancel a contract for cause according to the terms of the contract. Simply wishing to cancel the contract is not considered “cause”.

Given that our 50-recertification date is July, 2024, and our best-effort completion date of January 2025, any action that slows our preparation puts all owners at risk.

Here are some possible consequences to a contract modification at the stage of the project:

1. Due to the fast-track schedule pressure, any non-act of God or sanctioned delay will cause financial penalties to either Contractor or the Association. For the Association, it's $3,000 per day.

2. If the project is descoped to a lower contract amount that results in a non-compliant 50-year recertification, the Association risks building closure and owners would be forced to move-out.

3. If the contract is terminated, it must be terminated for cause. If that were to occur, it is very likely that the Owners would end up paying higher costs to complete the repairs due to inflation of material costs and lack of similar knowledge level for the new contractor. In addition, our building would likely not satisfy the recertification readiness schedule, creating a risk of building closure subject to decision by the court.

This board has worked hard to negotiate the best and most predictable outcome for this project in an effort to ensure we meet our legal deadlines and protect Owners from financial burden due to extenuating circumstances once the construction project is underway.