What Panama City HOA boards should require in a pet-waste vendor
By Kyle D. & Oscar M.
If your Panama City HOA is evaluating pet-waste vendors, the hard part is comparing apples to apples — most proposals hide the per-station math. Here is what a board should require before signing, and the questions that separate a real vendor from a guess.
1. A published, per-station rate card
Ask for the per-station rate in writing, on a tier. Volume should lower the per-unit price: our published HOA card runs $20 for one station, $16 each for two, $14 each for three to nine, and $12 each for ten or more, per visit. If a vendor won't put per-station pricing on paper, you can't compare bids fairly.
Common-area scooping (dog parks, walking paths, green space) should be priced by square footage — ours is a $50 per 1,000 sq ft weekly baseline, locked in writing after a walk-through.
2. Per-visit reporting with photo proof
Boards get complaints when residents think a station was skipped. Require photo-verified completion reports emailed to the property manager after each visit. That single requirement ends most "did they actually come?" disputes.
3. Fair terms — no long lock-ins
A confident vendor will offer month-to-month service. We do, with an optional 5% discount for an annual agreement and a simple 30-day cancellation. Be wary of multi-year contracts with steep early-termination penalties.
Bonus: ask whether residents get anything. We give any homeowner inside an HOA we serve 10% off residential subscriptions, and we promote it on the board’s behalf.
4. Local Bay County coverage and references
Confirm the vendor actually runs routes in your area weekly, not just on paper. A local crew that already services nearby Bay County communities can usually onboard a new property within about a week — property walk, rate finalized by station count, then the route starts.