Report to Summerhouse Board of Directors on Owner Questionnaire - 2011
Submitted by: Bob Ford with a grateful acknowledgement of both Keith and Marie’s help in assembling and calculating the data below.
The purpose of this report is to offer a summary of this year’s Owner Questionnaire responses. It is divided into two parts. The first part is a discussion of the open ended questions and the second part is a presentation and analysis of the data from the forced choice questions. The total number of individuals submitting responses is 118 (the calculated totals for averages below has a larger number due to duplicate submissions). The split was 55 renters and 63 non rental owners with 13 of these non rental owners using it exclusively themselves.
Open – ended questions discussion
This year we asked owners to identify themselves as either owners who primarily rent their units or owners who primarily use their condo themselves or share it with their friends. Moreover many put their names on their responses which should be useful for direct contact by rental and Summerhouse Board in follow-ups or clarifications. Of the 118 surveys returned, 54 (85%) of the 63 non rental owners (and all but one of the exclusive users) and 49 (89%) of the 55 rental owners responding wrote something on their survey to questions 1, 2 or 3. This is a remarkably high level of participation and an indication of the pride that Summerhouse owners have in their property and association. In the narrative below, I have largely combined the responses from the two groups unless there was a marked difference in their answers. Moreover, question 3 was specifically directed towards rental owners and will be discussed separately. My categorizations are necessarily arbitrary so those who wish greater detail should read the individual responses. Please also remember that open ended questions can vary in detail and clarity with many writing “I’m happy” or its equivalent as the only written comment while others wrote nothing at all.
Overall, the owners are very happy with what is happening at Summerhouse. Many mention the excellent condition of the grounds, the friendliness of the staff, the level of security, enforcement of rules, pool hours, and the professionalism of the operation’ management. There is a general sense that Summerhouse is in as good a shape as it has ever been and owners are happy. There were fewer complaints about anything this year than last and that is especially true for office staff and the general manager.
Question 1: What things do you think are especially good about Summerhouse?
By far the most frequently mentioned item was grounds and overall appearance (52 mentions), followed by maintenance/office staff (24), and general manager (20). Rental owners listed location/beach more often than non rental owners by 16 to 8 mention margin. Pools were mentioned 12 times, atmosphere 5, amenities 4, and the wifi, grassy areas, and the business center 3 times each. A variety of other items were mentioned once or twice including nite manager, parking, picnic pavilion, boat storage, the board, and tennis courts.
Question 2: What things do you think need to be fixed or done differently?
There were about 50 separate items listed as responses to this question that ranged over a wide variety of topics and issues. Since many had names associated with them, these should be individually addressed by the general manager wherever possible. Many would be relatively simple to address while others are more complicated but in any event our owners have done a superb job of identifying issues that need attention and we should listen. In general, the more frequently mentioned issues (2 plus times) are wifi quality, front/storm doors appearance, recycling, lighting (same issue as last year), non office hour access to exercise room, cable TV, pool temperatures, walkover repair, dirty landings/stairs, bushes in front of oceanfront views, lack of storage, and repair/eliminate racquetball courts. The rental owners had serious concerns (15 mentions) with housekeeping quality and their inventorying procedures. In general, these comments focused on not conducting a thorough enough inventory before returning deposits and the quality of the cleaning. In addition, there were a multitude of great ideas or issues to address expressed by one of our owners that is worth reading. One owner took the time to type an entire page of suggestions while two others wrote a back page full. We as board members should show our appreciation for these efforts by reading them. I have listed specific ideas/comments in an appendix to this report and noted the questionnaire numbers with extensive written comments.
Question 3: If you are part of the rental program, what things do you think need to be fixed or done differently?
In general, rental owners are happy but have concerns and suggestions that are specific to their economic interests. Besides the many mentions of housekeeping discussed above, they specifically mentioned the following two or more times; concern over equity of assigning rentals (4), allowing people to reserve pool seating with towels draped over unoccupied chairs (3), evaluation criteria/decisions too critical (3), drop land line requirement (2), buy better towels/sheets (2), and why does web site access always display 100 numbered units first? (2). Beyond these, there were other issues mentioned that the rental board might wish to review as many seemed as if they could be easily addressed. Some suggestions are added to the appendix to this report as ideas to consider.
Question 4: Are you satisfied with Summerhouse’s rules and regulations and their enforcement?
The owners are, by an overwhelming margin, satisfied with Summerhouse’s rules and regulations and their enforcement. Of those responding, 22 non rental owners and 31 renting owners are happy with the ways things are being done. Of those with concerns, the items with two or more mentions are enforce the stopping of people walking up from beach (3), unauthorized parking (4), BBQ grille ban on patios (2), pool noise/after hour pool use (3), too many/non owner pets (5), too many people in units (2).
Question 5: Are you satisfied with these hours (7-11) or do you believe they should be changed and, if so, to what?
Again Summerhouse owners (47 rental owners & 38 non rental owners) are overwhelmingly satisfied with current pool hours. Of those seeking different hours the most frequently mentioned was closing at 10pm (8), with only one rental owner noting this. The other alternatives mentioned were about opening the pools either earlier or later in the morning (e.g., 8am-11pm (3 responses)).
Forced choice questions data presentation and discussion
Below is a table with three columns. The first column reports the average response for those owners responding to each item assessing the quality of a feature at Summerhouse (with higher numbers indicating higher levels of assessment of quality). The second column reports the percentage of times that item was given a “top box” score of “5” on quality. The third column reports the average response of those responding to each item assessing their use of that feature at Summerhouse. All three columns represent the opinions or perceptions of the responding owners.
Table: Average Assessment of Quality, Percent of Top Scores, and Average Assessment of Use/Importance to Summerhouse Owners
The following table reports averages for quality and use. Importance rankings were not calculated for this report as less than half of the owners ranked any of the features. In a quick calculation of the number 1 rankings the features that are most used are generally also the items that are most important. It should also be noted that “cleaning service” was inadvertently included twice in the listing. The final questionnaire inadvertently failed to include a “turn page to more on back” instruction and many owners did not respond to those questions on the back side of the first page.
The responses below show a high level of satisfaction with quality for the features that are most heavily used. Leading off the quality assessment is the general manager followed by pools and grounds. What is noteworthy in this listing is the high assessments of the quality of our people. This is supported by the large number of owners that also ranked these personnel items high in usage. I calculated the top box ratings as a useful measure of how strong our owners feel about the features that they would give a “5” on the item and that they responded (note variation in number of people responding). It is clear that we have a solid management team doing a solid job for Summerhouse’s owners who both recognize and appreciate their work.
FEATURE / Average AssessmentOf QUALITY / Percent of Top Box (“5”’s) Responses (number responding) / Average Assessment
Of USE (rank)
General manager / 4.56 / 69% (90) / 4.07 (10)
Swimming Pool / 4.49 / 61% (93) / 4.19 (7)
Grounds Appearance / 4.48 / 53% (118) / 4.44 (5)
Entrance Appearance / 4.41 / 47% (116) / 4.53 (4)
Night manager / 4.40 / 58 %(78) / 3.07 (19)
Rental manager / 4.31 / 57 %(74) / 3.32 (16)
Parking / 4.29 / 47% (116) / 4.62 (1)
Office staff / 4.29 / 45% (92) / 4.02 (11)
Maintenance staff / 4.28 / 43% (111) / 3.61 (14)
Water temperature / 4.28 / 52% (89) / 4.25 (6)
Pool area/furniture / 4.24 / 40% (100) / 4.18 (8)
Office appearance / 4.20 / 37% (117) / 3.85 (13)
SH Board of Directors / 4.13 / 41% (97) / 3.31 (17)
SH Board minutes / 4.09 / 42% (91) / 3.55 (15)
Newsletter / 4.09 / 37 %(86) / 4.10 (9)
Buildings appearance / 4.08 / 28 %(115) / 4.54 (3)
Club house room / 4.07 / 33% (72) / 2.26 (27)
Playground / 4.03 / 36% (58) / 2.11 (28)
Walkovers / 3.96 / 32 %(117) / 4.57 (2)
Owner’s page on web / 3.95 / 32% (60) / 2.98 (20)
Tennis courts / 3.91 / 22% (60) / 2.47 (24)
Website / 3.87 / 18% (76) / 3.15 (18)
Business center / 3.86 / 23% (70) / 2.73 (22)
Rental board / 3.84 / 29% (77) / 2.61 (23)
Picnic area(s) / 3.77 / 25 %(60) / 1.71 (34)
Library / 3.71 / 25% (62) / 2.42 (25)
Dog walk areas / 3.52 / 18% (50) / 2.28 (26)
Exercise room / 3.51 / 15% (65) / 2.09 (29)
Shuffleboard / 3.50 / 12% (50) / 1.44 (35)
Wireless service / 3.49 / 21% (84) / 3.98 (12)
Cleaning service / 3.43 / 16% (79) / 2.87 (21)
Basketball court / 3.39 / 12% (56) / 1.81 (30)
Boat storage / 3.33 / 17% (48) / 1.73 (32)
Racquetball courts / 3.25 / 5% (59) / 1.81 (30)
Laundry / 3.10 / 4% (49) / 1.72 (33)
Summary
Overall, these data and open ended comments represent an assessment of what our owners collectively think about Summerhouse and its look and feel. It seems fair to conclude that overall Summerhouse owners are very happy with the management, the board and the overall appearance but sincerely want to make it even better with their many comments and suggestions. These comments have rich information in them and should be considered by the board and the long range planning committee in their decisions. I would also encourage board members to compare this year’s results with last year’s. While the surveys are not completely comparable there are enough similarities to allow useful insights into progress and change.
Appendix: Selected comments/suggestions submitted by individual owners
1. Add recycle program
2. Make Summerhouse smoke free
3. Unfriendly office staff
4. Condo fee too high
5. Insurance coverage unclear
6. Sprinklers facing wrong direction
7. Remove bayonet plants as they are law suit waiting to happen
8. Put reflective tape on walkover steps for improved nighttime vision
9. Higher fencing around basketball courts to stop balls
10. Replace non working outside faucets
11. Add BBQ grilles for unserved phases
12. Spray for bugs on consistent basis like we used to
13. See typed suggestions of Jack Thompson and response # 98
14. Full time residents should have two designated parking spots
15. Do more to get owners proactive in reporting violations to office
16. My board member is uninterested in my views
17. Power wash mildew
18. Fix deteriorating window moldings
19. Add service to wash town house windows that are too high to reach
20. Email minutes to owners
21. Take unnecessary steps out of walkovers
22. Add Jacuzzi to each pool
23. Get board members to work together
Rental Owner comments
24. Have rental bicycles available for renters
25. Put more rental owners on rental board
26. Have current board recruit new board members to replace them
27. Add a golf putting green
28. Offer direct deposit for rental revenues due owners
29. Advertise in Atlanta
30. Update web site
31. Put oven in club house
32. Response # 111 & 118 contains many specific suggestions
33. Get sand spurs out of dog walk areas
34. Hard to get certified mail for meeting announcements