After a named storm crosses Southwest Florida, every landscape vendor in the region is triaging the same impossible list. The properties that get served first are not the ones that call most urgently — they are the ones whose contracts already answer the questions everyone else is arguing about by phone: when does the clock start, what gets cleared first, what does it cost, and who is taking the photos. That set of answers is a storm-response SLA. Most maintenance agreements in Lee County do not have one. Yours should, and this guide is the outline — pair it with the pre-season checklist, because response terms only matter on a property that was hardened first.
Response windows: define the trigger before the window
A "24-hour response" is meaningless without a start time. Roads may be impassable and curfews active long after landfall, and no responsible vendor puts a crew under damaged canopy in 50 mph gusts. The trigger should be objective: when official all-clear is given and access to the property is lawful and physically possible. From that trigger, set two windows — first contact (vendor confirms receipt and dispatch position) and on-site assessment (a walk with documentation, not necessarily full crews).
"Following a named-storm event, Contractor shall contact the Association within 12 hours of official all-clear and lawful access to the property, and shall complete an on-site damage assessment with photo documentation within 48 hours. Contractor shall state the Association's position in its post-storm dispatch queue at first contact. Maintenance-program clients shall receive dispatch priority over non-contract work."
That last sentence is worth negotiating for. Vendors triage after storms whether contracts acknowledge it or not — what a program client is buying, in part, is a stated place in the line. It is a term we put in writing for our own maintenance-program communities.
Debris priority: agree on the order while the sun is out
Post-storm, everything feels urgent, and boards burn their first vendor hours relitigating sequence. Fix the order in the SLA. The defensible sequence is life-safety and access first: blocked roadways and gates, fire hydrants and utility access, egress from occupied buildings, and hanging or leaning material over areas people must use. Structures come second — material against roofs and screens. Amenities third. General debris consolidation last, because scattered fronds cost money but block nothing.
"Post-storm work shall proceed in the following order unless directed otherwise in writing by the Association: (1) clearing of roadways, gates, hydrants, and building egress; (2) removal of hazardous hanging or leaning material over occupied or trafficked areas; (3) debris against structures; (4) amenity areas; (5) general debris consolidation and haul-off. The Association shall designate one authorized representative empowered to redirect priorities during the response."
Note the single authorized representative. Five board members issuing five priority lists to one crew lead is the most common post-storm failure mode in community associations, and it is preventable with one sentence.
Documentation: the photos are half the value
Insurance adjusters and FEMA reimbursement processes want the same things: proof of pre-storm condition, proof of damage, and proof of what the cleanup actually involved. Your SLA should require a pre-season baseline photo set (part of any serious hurricane-prep program), timestamped post-storm photos taken before debris is moved, per-area logs of work performed with crew hours and equipment, and haul tickets for debris volume. Vendors on our programs deliver this by default — the same photo-documented reporting our property manager clients get every ordinary week, pointed at an extraordinary one.
Rates: pre-agree them or pay the surge
Storm work priced "at prevailing market rate" after landfall is priced at the worst market of the decade. The SLA should carry a pre-agreed emergency rate schedule: storm labor per hour by role, equipment rates (chipper, loader, bucket), debris haul per load with disposal passed through at documented cost, and a statement of when normal contract billing suspends and resumes. Emergency rates legitimately run above book rates — night hours, hazard work, and surged demand are real — but the multiple gets agreed at contract signing, not discovered on an invoice. For scale, BCQ's ordinary published maintenance labor rate is $65/hr; any vendor's storm schedule should be an explicit, written step from their ordinary number, not a blank check.
"Storm-response work shall be billed per the Emergency Rate Schedule attached as Exhibit ___, which shall not be amended during an active response. Debris disposal shall be passed through at documented cost with haul tickets provided. No storm-response work beyond the priority-one items in Section ___ shall proceed without written authorization of estimated hours by the Association's designated representative."
What to do with this outline
If your current landscape agreement is silent on storms, send your vendor this outline and ask them to respond to it in writing — it is also one of the questions worth asking every bidder before you sign anything new, and it slots directly into Section 5 of our free RFP template. And if you would rather start with a vendor whose answer is already yes: BCQ writes storm terms — trigger, windows, priority order, rates, and documentation — into its community agreements, with tree and palm crews that handle the hardening in May and the response in September. Request a quote below, or call or text (239) 799-5594.