Short answer: there is no single national rule. Three bids is the common habit for big jobs. Florida, Nevada and Texas set rules in state law, each starting once a contract passes a share of the budget or a dollar amount. What binds your board is your governing documents, your state's law, and any purchasing policy the board has adopted. Check all three before the next big project.
This guide covers where to look, what the states with a rule actually require, and when it makes sense to get fewer or more than three. It is general information, checked in October 2026, not legal advice. For a specific contract, ask the association's attorney.
Where the rule for your board comes from
- Your governing documents. The declaration (or CC&Rs) and bylaws sometimes set a bid requirement or a dollar amount above which the board needs owner approval. Search them for "bid", "contract" and "expenditure".
- State law. A few states set competitive bidding rules for associations, among them Florida, Nevada and Texas. Most leave it to the association.
- Board policy. Many boards adopt a purchasing policy, such as three bids for anything over $10,000. If yours did, it binds you until the board changes it.
- Your management contract. Some management agreements say how the manager must gather bids.
States that set a rule
- Florida condominiums and cooperatives: competitive bids for contracts over 5 percent of the total annual budget, including reserves.
- Florida HOAs: competitive bids for contracts over 10 percent of the total annual budget, including reserves.
- Nevada: when the association asks for bids on a project costing 3 percent or more of the annual budget (1 percent in communities of 1,000 units or more), at least three bids whenever reasonably possible, opened and read aloud at a board meeting.
- Texas HOAs: bids or proposals for service contracts over $50,000, and at least two outside bids before hiring a board member or a relative.
Florida condominiums
Florida Statutes section 718.3026 requires a condo association to obtain competitive bids when a contract for materials, equipment or services will cost more than 5 percent of the association's total annual budget, including reserves. The statute does not set a number of bids, and it says the association is not required to accept the lowest bid.
There are exceptions: contracts with association employees; attorneys, accountants, architects, community association managers, engineers and landscape architects; emergencies; and a business that is the only source of supply in the county. Associations with 10 or fewer units can opt out with a two-thirds vote of the unit owners.
Florida cooperatives follow the same 5 percent rule under section 719.3026, with similar exceptions. A cooperative with fewer than 100 units can opt out by a two-thirds vote of the unit owners.
Florida HOAs
For homeowners' associations, Florida Statutes section 720.3055 sets the line at 10 percent of the total annual budget, including reserves. Again, the association is not required to accept the lowest bid. The exceptions are much the same as for condos: employees, the listed professionals, emergencies and a sole source in the county. If the declaration or bylaws set a bidding rule that is at least as strict, the association can follow that instead.
Nevada
Under Nevada's common-interest community law (NRS 116.31086), when an association solicits bids for a project expected to cost 3 percent or more of the annual budget, or 1 percent or more in communities of 1,000 units or more, it must solicit at least three bids whenever reasonably possible. The bids must be opened and read aloud during a board meeting. A project includes repair or replacement of the common elements and professional services such as accounting, engineering and legal work. A 2025 bill (AB 129) would have made three bids mandatory and required the contract to go to the lowest responsive bidder. It did not pass.
Texas HOAs
Texas Property Code section 209.0052 has two rules for property owners' associations. First, an association that plans to contract for services costing more than $50,000 must solicit bids or proposals, using a bid process the association sets up. The law does not say how many. This part has applied since September 1, 2021.
Second, a contract with a current board member, a close relative of one, or a company either of them controls is enforceable only if that person bids and the association gets at least two other bids from unrelated bidders, if they are reasonably available in the community. The board member must not see the other bids or take part in the discussion or vote. The relationship has to be disclosed, and a majority of the other directors must approve the contract and certify by resolution that the rules were followed.
These rules do not apply during the developer period. Chapter 209 covers subdivision HOAs; Texas condominiums fall under different chapters of the Property Code, which do not carry this rule.
Everywhere else
In most other states, and in Canadian provinces, the law leaves bidding to the association. That puts the weight on your declaration, bylaws and any policy the board has adopted. If none of them say anything, three bids on large jobs is still the safe habit, because it shows owners the board looked around.
Check the current text
Statutes change. Florida amends its condo and HOA laws almost every year. Look up the current section on your state legislature's site, or ask your attorney, before relying on a threshold.
When fewer than three is reasonable
- Emergencies. A burst pipe or a storm-damaged roof cannot wait weeks for bids. Fix what stops the damage, document why, and bid the permanent repair if you can.
- Only one qualified contractor. Some equipment (elevators, fire systems) is serviced by one company in the area. Write down why.
- An existing service contract. Work covered by a contract the board already approved may not need fresh bids.
- Nobody else responds. If you invited five and two replied, record who you asked. That record matters more than the count.
When to get more than three
For a special assessment, a full roof or a parking garage, three bids may not be enough. If one bid is far above or below the others, a fourth tells you which is the odd one out. Big projects also benefit from an engineer's written scope, so every contractor prices the same thing.
Three bids are only useful if they compare
Boards often get three bids and then compare three different jobs: one includes permits, one leaves out cleanup, one assumes no rotten decking. The count is satisfied but the decision is not informed. Give every contractor the same scope, then line up what each bid includes, leaves out or does not mention, and put a price on the gaps before comparing totals.