Condo & HOA boards
You are volunteers with a fiduciary duty and a reserve study that says the roof is due. We give you a defensible process and a recommendation the whole board can stand behind at the next meeting.
LongbowAdvisory Group
Independent Owner's Representatives · Pennsylvania
Before you sign anything — talk to us.
Independent project advisors for property owners and boards. We work for you — never the contractor.
Serving Lancaster, Chester, and Delaware counties.
The problem
A seven-figure decision, made in a trade you don't work in.
Volunteer boards and busy owners sign six- and seven-figure construction contracts every year — roofing, siding, paving, HVAC — in trades they have never worked in.
The decision usually comes down to gut feel, or the one retired guy on the board who did a roof in 1975. Three bids come in and none of them match. One is half the price of another and nobody at the table can say why. Everyone wants to do right by the community. Nobody has leveled a bid, written a scope, or watched a change order get drafted on a tailgate.
What is an owner's representative?
An owner's representative is a professional who sits on your side of the table for a construction project. Not the contractor's side. Yours.
We vet the contractors. We make the bids comparable line by line so you are judging the same scope at the same price. We cut the fluff out of the proposals. Then we hand you one clear, written recommendation you can defend to your members, your congregation, or your partners.
The owner pays us. Contractors never do. That is the entire point: we are the only party in the room whose interest is your interest.
Who we serve
Owners and boards who answer to someone.
If you are spending other people's money on a building, we are built for you.
Churches & private schools
Building committees turn over, budgets are tight, and the stakes are a congregation's or a school's trust. We bring the construction knowledge the committee does not have in-house.
Small commercial owners
You run a business, not a construction company. We handle the bidding and the oversight so a capital project does not become your second job.
Property management companies
We make capital projects stop being your problem. Hand us the project. You keep the client relationship and the credit for getting it done right.
Services & fees
Three tiers. Plain pricing. Set the day you sign.
Start where your project is. Most boards come to us with bids already in hand; some want us from the first conversation.
| Service | Fee | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1Bid Review | $1,500–$2,500 flat | We level the bids you have already collected, line by line, and deliver a written recommendation your board can act on. |
| Tier 2Full Representation | 2.5–3% of the awarded contract, locked at signing | We write the scope, bring vetted contractors, run the bids, and present one recommendation to your board. |
| Tier 3Production Oversight | Additional points; final point held to completion | Milestone checks, change-order review, and the buffer between your board and the foreman from the first delivery to the final walk. |
| Capital Plan RetainerStanding advisor | $750–$1,250 / month | A standing advisor for your board or portfolio — on call for capital planning and the next project, before it becomes urgent. |
“Our fee is set the day you sign. Change orders never raise it — we're the only party in the room with no reason to let your project balloon.”
The independence pledge
No contractor pays us anything. Ever.
Independence is not a slogan here. It is how the firm is paid, and it is in writing.
- I.
No contractor pays us anything, ever. No referral fees, no commissions, no finder's fees. Our only client is the owner.
- II.
Contractors earn a place on our vetted list through licenses, insurance, and inspected work — never by paying.
- III.
Any board may add its own bidder. Bring the contractor your neighbor swears by. We will level their bid alongside the rest, the same way.
- IV.
Our fee is fixed at signing. It does not rise with change orders, so we have no reason to let your project grow.
Portrait · Joe Lesher
The founder
Joe Lesher
Joe spent more than a decade running contracting companies in Pennsylvania. He has been on the other side of your bid table more than a thousand times.
“I know where the games are played because I watched them get played. I closed my contracting company to sit on your side of the table.”
- 10+ years running contracting companies in Pennsylvania
- 1,100+ completed projects as a contractor
- U.S. Army veteran (Iraq)
Free guide for board members
The Board Member's Guide to Not Getting Screwed on Your Next Capital Project
Enter your email and we will send the guide. Nothing else follows unless you ask for it.
Questions boards ask us
Frequently asked questions
A construction professional who works for the property owner, not the contractor. We translate the trade, vet the bidders, level the bids so you compare the same scope, review change orders, and give you one written recommendation. Think of it as hiring your own expert so the only expert in the room is not the one selling the job.
A bid review is a flat fee of $1,500–$2,500. Full representation is 2.5–3% of the awarded contract, locked at signing. Production oversight adds points on top, with the final point held until the project is complete. A capital plan retainer runs $750–$1,250 per month. In every case the fee is set the day you sign and never increases with change orders.
No. Ever. Not a referral fee, not a commission, not a percentage. Contractors earn a place on our vetted list through licenses, insurance, and inspected work. If a contractor ever offered to pay us, they would come off the list.
No. Any board may add its own bidder. We level every bid the same way, whether the contractor came from our list or from a member's recommendation.
Full representation and oversight make the most sense on projects of roughly $100,000 and up — roofing, siding, paving, HVAC, and similar capital work. Bid reviews are available at any size.
Owner's representative services cover Lancaster, Chester, and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania. Our land advisory work for landowners approached by solar, gas, forestry, and mineral developers is available statewide.
Contact
Get a free 30-minute bid review.
Tell us about the project. If you already have bids, say so — we will look at them with you on the first call.
- info@longbowadvisorygroup.com
- Phone
- (717) 000-0000
- Service area
- Lancaster, Chester, and Delaware counties, Pennsylvania
- Landowners
- Approached about a solar, gas, forestry, or mineral lease? See our land advisory page.