Cross Creek Village HOA - Learn the Truth. Share Ideas!: Playa Del Rey Condo

The lack of the accountability is shocking in this case of waist!

We are unhappy to see design modification Ron Culver made on our Cross Creek Village HOA"F/A Staircase". His design fetures unecessary enclosures of two sides, reduced amount of daylight on the steps and "SLAPDASH" patch up work done on our ratted beams and posts, for which we need to pay two times (2X) the market cost!

Doing this in god times is ridiculous. Doing this in this economy borders criminal and warrants the FRAUD INVESTIGATION.
Do we have the right to protest? ABSOLUTELY, it’s our money being wasted! We want to know why is the Board silent about such shoddy work? Click on ALL the pictures below to believe your eyes. Review the pictures to confirm what quality of work we'll get for whooping $56,000 for construction, after Ron Culver took $19,000 for design. The project will cost us in the end about $75,000 in time when the necessary restoration work could have been done foir $30,000 or $45,000 cheaper if the Board did not refus three separate and credible $30,000 bids!

<=== LOOK AT THE QUALITY OF THE OVERPAID WORK !!!!

THE COMMON PRACTICE: approved list of vendors for EVERY JOB OVER $2,500.00 TO AVOID THE KNOWN "REFERRAL KICKBACK" FRAUD SCHEME, which seems to be chronically going on in this complex (click above to read the article). Prudent HOA Board avoids soliciting and accepting bids from related vendors and those with conflicts of interest (e.a. Architect should not be allowed to bring in his choice of contractors).

As a result of not following this common business practice a job that could have been finished for only $30,000 will be paid $80,000.00. In this (or any other)economy this is fiscally very irresponsible and we demand some answers!

THIS IS WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT STAIRCASE "F/A" JOB : It was reported recently that David McGrath took initiative and brought in yet ANOTHER of his preferred vendors, Architect Ron Culver. To avoid appearing as someone who is making money bringing in his contractors, David reportedly suggested his vendor Architect should be allowed to manage other construction vendors and projects. - How convenient! - Let the vendor you brought in handle all the large construction work and just seat back, relax and wait for the share of the overage. If this is not true, why was the $26,000 higher bid selected for this quality of work? Why is David McGrath actively HARASSING everyone who speaks up about this wasteful practice? - David McGrath is welcomed to provide his feedback. In the mean time, while we awaiting David's comments, he rumor and the logic has it that David made arrangement with Ron Culver to bring in ccontractors he chooses for as long as he gets in the end his cut of the collected overage.

THE CONSEQUENCES: Because the CCV Board solicited no "2nd Opinion" about Ron Culver's "design" which called for keeping vs. removing the unnecessary "moment frame" installed to support staircase when the wood was bad, $20,000 more was spent for construction and $19,000 was spent on Ron Culver's creation of "design" that cost more to complete.

Instead of looking for an easy way to return the staircase to its original look and condition, which would also match the rest of the HOA's staircases, Ron Culver, in our opinion, took advantage of the HOA by presenting the (1) alliteration of the original look, and (2) about $39,000 higher cost for this project as best solution. To us, this sounds as self motivated decision. Such approach made Ron Culver more money on expense of the homeowners whos interest should be protected by the Board of Directors. Since their decision cost HOA $39,000 more, which is a pure waste of founds, we must conclude that this Board has failed our trust test by failing to utilized these $39,000 for other overdue projects!

DUTY OF CARE: The HOA has the legal obligation to maintain the common area. The Board Members has duty of care to select the best company for the job at the most reasonable price. This was not done by the current Board and we want to know WHY? To protect our interest, we the homeowners now kindly demand Board's FULL EXPLANATION!

SUCH GROSS OVER PAYMENT of $46,000 ($20K design + $26K construction overpayment) could have paid a yearly salary of an employee or could have been spent MUCH better TO FIX OTHER OVERDUE PROJECTS!

LET'S BE REAL! WOULD YOU SPEND YOUR OWN MONEY IN SUCH MANNER? Lets suppose you have three bids to remodel your unit for about $30,000; Would you pay $56,000 to complete the job?

Since no one is stupid when it comes to money, there is only one logical explanation. Based on the foregoing, it is our opinion that MAJOR OVERPAYMENT increases the chance that kickbacks are and will be involved in this transaction. - But if this is NOT true, we would REALLY like to learn why is the BOARD of educated people approving misguided, double the market bid in time when the Board had three (3) other available bids at about 1/2 of what David’s vendor Ron Culver and David got HOA Board to approve! Again, David's Replay is welcomed!

A NEWSLETTER signed by David McGrath was posted in MARCH 2010 throughout the complex. It suggests he should be given a credit for "good management" and savings, which is in our opinion NOT DUE. The misinformation supports the rational behind it and counts on the idea that homeowners can be played and that homeowners will buy anything that mentions "saving" because they are either stupid, too busy or both. [Damaged wood will be patched and painted to look as it was replaced]

It exploits the fact that homeowners are apathetic and plain out naive to understand WHY would someone who represents himself falsely as “fighter for savings” want to overpay a simple project like this WHOOPING $26,000, after he let his vendor take $19,000 first for unnecessary design work?

Let's review the FACTS, Readers' Comments and what else is David NOT telling us:

OVERPAYMENT OF 50% ++ IS DUE TO RUDE ELIMINATION OF DUE COMPETITION.

According to a report received from a resident who was present at the March 1, 2010 Board Meeting, David McGrath and Ron Culver harassed a member who brought in three bids for the same job, at about the half of the cost Ron Culver's contractor was about to take from us. The bids member brought was to replace ALL EFFECTED BEAMS AND POSTS at about $30,000. Ron Culver took away form the Board all competitively received bids and selected the company that wants whooping $56,000, we was informed, for a patch up work shown above. Do you think this is KOSHER?

It was reported that Ron Culver charge CCV HOA $6,898.00 for Architectural/Design Work on January 15, 2010. Then on the same date he also got another check in the amount of $4,110.00 for more of the DESIGN WORK (two smaller invoices are harder to spot, which points even more that such billing is a SCAM) then on February 10, 2010 he get himself another $7,890.00 check, for a combined value of whooping $18,898.00 - ALL with David’s, Brian Martin's and Jen Meldola's Approval!

BUT WAIT, DID DAVID IN THE MID TIME ALSO GOT SOME OF OUR MONEY DIRECTLY?

- On February 09, 2010 David McGrath got himself $1,196.00 check. We want to see the invoices ASAP!

- On February 10, 2010 David McGrath AGAIN got himself another $1,491.00 check, and then he got himself another checks, for $149.00, which we demand to see records why he took OUR MONEY.

As far as records are concerned, WE THE MEMBERS HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO INSPECT records and this Board is denying us this right! They using the same tricks the previous Board USED TO HIDE BINO & NEDA FIROUZ SCAM!

Let see what our readers think about:

1. [ " Dear CCV Alliance, thank you for all the inputs…. Are they for real? What kind of Monkey Business this is? A full set of plans for a custom home cost $5,000.00 or less! Here we have a staircase that needs no plans for repair we need to do, and we are paying that guy Ron Culver almost $20K... that screams SCAM all the way to the penitentiary]

2. [ "I think this is only thanks to greed of the vendor and the "Trojan horse" we have on the HOA board. Why do we need Architect to bring in contractor?"]

3. [ "This is a SCAM worst then one we endured with BINO and NEDA FIROUZ! BINO used to charge us no more then $44,000 and that was WAY TO MUCH... in this economy this should be less then $30,000! - That guy David McGrath is a CROOK!]

4. [This guy is apparently ripping us off and this Board is not working for us but for their own pockets]!

5. [ People who requested to see records of what was paid was turned off by HOA new manager and was advised to call David McGrath.

The people have spoken…the truth cannot be silenced! This incompetent misappropriation of our funds is hurting us all and we need to START ACTING to prevent more losses!

Did we benefit from allegedly useful “moratoriums of spending” on maintenance? The answer is NO! The 15 acre complex needs CONSTANT MAINTENANCE. Every dollar you “save” today, by deferring the maintenance, will cost you 3 or more down the line. [Click to enlarge the picture to the right.] Dilapidation of real property works like a cavity or gingivitis in your tooth; if you don't FIX it today the filling will be larger down the line and you might even lose your tooth down the road. The same works for HOA "politicians", WHEN YOU SEE THEY LIE TO YOU, REPLACE THEM ASAP !

*All CCV Member's Comments are welcome! Click to learn more about FRAUD IN HOA.