BSA Management & Construction

If possible I wouldn’t even bother giving this management company a single star. When moving into a property make sure to ask the realtor who the management company is so that you can avoid having to deal with such an incompetent group of people. For starters on moving day our property was not cleaned or inspected prior to the scheduled move in time. It took several days for them to get our apartment cleaned and then several weeks and lots of emails to get critical items in the apartment fixed. In the winter when we discovered our heating system wasn’t functioning properly they neglected to make it a high priority to fix. We were displaced from our apartment for several days due to no heat without any concern from the management company. Also, we weren’t reimbursed for the oil wasted during the time the heating system wasn’t functioning properly. On top of being unresponsive to emails, when replies are received questions are left unanswered constantly.
In the short, this company is incompetent, unresponsive, and does not care for the tenants or give them the respect they deserve. AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!

The worst management company I have ever interacted with. We had heating issues for weeks and they would not reimburse us for the repairs. We spent hours debating this issue. No one would contact us. The only way they communicate is via email. The staff is very unfriendly. Our apartment had countless unresolved issues. In addition we moved in to a disaster. They did not have the apartment cleaned before move in. I would not recommend this place to anyone. Be sure to check to make sure BSA does not manage the property you will be at.

I’d like to share a correspondence with the owner of BSA.
First, here is the email I wrote to their Proprietor (who is a trustee of the condo association. I am not) and the other trustee of our HOA:
From: Roger Carter
May 29 (10 days ago)
to David, Zack
I’m not following you here Dave. How is it not being done properly now? I took it over from Gene once he moved.
Also, what do you mean by dependable? When BSA was doing it, it often didn’t get done, so what has changed?
Nobody else in that alley pays to have their garbage taken out, so why are we?
Since BSA was lucky enough to have the rights to build a parking space back there, and the fact that you are part of the building, and the fact that you use the garbage barrels, don’t you think the neighborly thing to do would be to do it for free?
Thanks,
Roger
All of the below was written by the major owner of BSA. Please note that I have two graduate degrees and would never write to anyone with all of these grammatical mistakes. PLEASE DON’T THINK I WROTE THIS BELOW. BSA DID.
Zack and Rodger,
I would first like to address a few comments from Rodgers earlier email.
1. «No body else pay’s to have there garbage taken out» This is a completely false statement. There are obviously hundreds of brownstones in the south end that have to deal with this issue. The fact’s are that many of the single families and two family brownstones do take out and bring in there own trash and singles and two unit properties probably make up the majority of the buildings however they are many other buildings that have maintenance staff or staff from there management company take the responsibility of putting out and taking back the barrels I walk back and forth to my condo many times and see it being done on a regular basis.
I don’t think anyone in our building should carry the responsibility of have to take out and put back the barrels 16 times a months for an 8 unit building this is not fair to anyone. I don’t think Rodger should be doing it, I didn’t think Gene should have been doing it and I think it is just an issue of people being cheap.
2. to suggest that I should take on this type of responsibility as a «neighborly thing to do» it just ridiculous. If the person or company that was paid to do it was sick one day and I had to take care of it that day I would not have problem with that as a «neighborly thing to do» but to take out and put back an 8 unit buildings trash 4 times a week is asking to much for any one person.
3. I have been here for almost 6 years and now all of a sudden I can’t get to my parking space 8 days out of the month.
3. Rodger In your email you stated I am «lucky enough to have the parking spaces» this show a complete ignorance on your part and was the most infuriating of you comments. Nobody acquires, condo’s, parking spaces, roof deck etc through luck we buy and pay for them period.
I was kind enough to offer to have my staff do the work and take this responsibility for $ 100/​month That fact that some of you can’t see that this is a more than fair cost to eliminate anyone from having to deal with the trash barrels is incomprehensible to me.
Roger– I would have much prefer to discuss this in person rather then send a less than pleasant email but: I find it very ironic that you are ‘to busy” for a 15 minute conversation or to be trustee but you expect me to have time to be the buildings trash man.
Dave Schwartz
cc: Mike @ Urban property management

BSA strikes again. Automatically debited my last month’s rent despite having already paid it on moving in. Not mention more heat failures since my last post. Steer clear people!

This is when I lived at 14 Hathaway: I didn’t post at the time for fear of reprisals. I have since moved away. (Note: we did finally track down the owner– a man named Mark Lepler– mission Capitol group)
My review is for BSA as a property manager. I’ve been living at one of the properties they manage for about three months. The place my housemates and I moved in to wasn’t quite finished (having been duped regarding the initial move in date and finding things still not move in ready 10 days later) and so we needed to work with BSA to get these repairs made. That’s when the Orwellian nightmare began. It took six weeks to get our shower to work properly. In that time we had a hole in our living room wall that grew in size. We ran out of pictures long enough to cover. We’re not sure how many random repairmen and contractors have keys to our place. I meet them when they show up unannounced which has happened more than a half dozen times so far. When I call to complain– BSA screens their calls and fails to return them. I get a curt reply email saying they try to give notice.
We’ve not met the property owner yet public records indicate an LLC in the name of our address. Someone does not want to be bothered with the plebs that call his money making machine their home. And so goes the neat scenario that when BSA fails to inform us of something (like jack hammering in our back yard at 8 am) it’s the work of the landlord behind the curtain (who we may never see). Our yard was turned in to parking lot quite literally overnight with no notice (3 dogs call this house home and we all signed on with the yard being a non– negotiable).
There are code issues still not addressed– construction materials still taking over half our porch, no public meter for the shared/​external lights, and a deck that is in disrepair.
When we try to address these and other issues– to the company that is being paid from our astronomical rent– the response ranges from a total lack of communication to outright hostility (Jon P called my housemate who was trying to work from home on jackhammer day– honey or lady and went on to say that he has jack hammers outside his office all the time).
I doubt this review will do much good as these companies care little about customer service as they see the landlord as the customer and the tenant as a nuisance. We’ve already declined to renew our brief lease (at a $ 500 a month increase). While most of my ire is reserved for landlord inc– it can’t be understated how the poor management of our property had us feeling under siege in our own home (for which we are paying far above market rate).

I would search high and wide in this city to have an apartment NOT managed by BSA. Awful experience after awful experience. Bugs in the summer, mice in the winter. Lots of mice. Ask BSA for an exterminator? They will respond 10 days later and leave glue traps on your counter top. Smells like mildew every time it rains, wires have been exposed in our front door since October as they are «installing a new buzzer system». For 9 months? Maintenance requests take at LEAST a week. Heat and AC is a disaster — completely do not work in 2 rooms and work on turbo blast in 2 others. That’s after 2 maintenance requests. I hear the same issues from my classmates in their other buildings. And despite all of this, they try to increase rent! We decided not to re-​sign weeks after we moved in. Bye bye BSA!

I had heard of BSA from previously living in the South End and also seeing their vans. I knew they did property management, but also specialized in quick, affordable renovations for kitchens and baths. I met with Dave O’Malley and got a quote for a total gut of a small master bathroom and had a good feeling. I didn’t get references… normally a huge mistake, but in this case, I went with my gut and was glad I did. As promised, the same two guys came every morning (including Saturday) and worked hard. I’m picky and even I was pleased/​surprised by their attention to detail and skill level. I had a lot of requests and each one was «no problem».
Even when there were plumbing issues (due to my messed up pipes) they made it right and did not charge a fortune to correct it. They brought in plumbing experts and an electrician (all great) and fixed whatever needed to be fixed. Overall, I was extremely pleased with their speed, reliability, quality of work, attention to detail and integrity. The final result exceeded my expectations. I would definitely recommend BSA and will be using them again. I now can’t wait to do my half bath.