How it works
The information network for community associations.
Walk the trade-show floor any day of the year.
Common Elements is the platform for the community association industry, centered on the associations themselves: the record of each association, the people and professionals who live in, run, manage, and serve them, and the tools, data, and education they use to work together. It complements the management and accounting software you already use; it does not replace it.
The parts you would recognize from the annual show.
Every association event does four things: people compare notes, boards collect bids, vendors work the hall, and everyone trades cards. Common Elements does all four, in one place, open 24/7.
The Common Area
the lounge
An industry-wide forum where boards, managers, vendors, attorneys, and insurance pros compare what actually works. Public threads are readable by anyone, so they double as a learning resource. Member rooms (CAM Corner, Board Discussions, Vendor Talk, Legal) sit behind sign-in.
Browse the forumThe RFP Hub
the bid room
Post a project once and every proposal comes back on the same typed fields, so a board decides apples-to-apples instead of reading four PDFs four different ways.
See how RFPs workThe vendor directory
the vendor hall
Credential-verified profiles searchable by service line and service area, nationwide. Verification is checked against the right authority per state, never pay-to-play, and reviews are tied to specific completed engagements and the verified member who wrote them.
Explore vendorsPeople and organizations
the badges and booths
Every organization has a public page (verified status, credentials, the associations it serves), and the relationships between them are first-class data. Who manages whom, who carries the policy. Not a buried contact field.
Browse the directoryRFP Hub
Three ways to post
Control exactly who sees your project, including a blind mode most procurement tools do not offer.
Open
Reach every qualifying vendor.
Your RFP is visible to every verified vendor in the trade category and service area. Best when you want the widest competitive field and have no incumbent to protect.
Blind
Most differentiatedShop a replacement without tipping your hand.
The marketplace sees a sanitized teaser; your association's identity is revealed only to the vendor whose request to bid you approve. The industry-standard way to test the market on a contract your current vendor still holds.
Invitation-only
Only the vendors you name.
Invisible to the marketplace. Only vendors you explicitly invite ever see the RFP. For when you already know your shortlist and just want structured, comparable bids.
Structured bid fields
You define the questions. Vendors answer the same ones.
When you post, you add the fields that matter for this project: line-item costs, start window, warranty length, references, insurance limits, yes/no scope items. Each field is typed, so a currency answer is a number you can total and a date is a date you can sort. No more reading four PDFs to find four different ways of saying the same thing.
- Currency, number, date, yes/no, short and long text fields
- Set a budget ceiling so over-budget bids flag themselves
- Mark fields required so vendors cannot skip what matters
From posting to permanent record
A clean trail for the minutes, the file, and the next board.
Post once
Describe the project, set your fields and budget, and choose open, blind, or invitation-only.
Vendors respond
Verified vendors submit proposals against your fields. You are notified as bids arrive.
Compare side by side
The Compare view aligns every bid to the same line items, totals the numbers, and flags over-budget proposals.
Accept and record
Accept in two clicks. The winner and declined vendors are notified automatically, and the decision becomes a permanent record in your board's file.
Associations, management companies, and law firms can all post on behalf of the communities they serve. The RFP Hub adds procurement structure alongside the management stack you already run, it does not replace it.
Get quotes
Not ready for a formal RFP?
Tell us what your board needs and we'll connect you with vetted firms that serve your county and your association type. Free for boards and managers. This is the fast path; the RFP Hub above is the structured one.
Insurance
Master-policy, D&O, and umbrella quotes from Florida-licensed agents who understand post-Surfside coverage, SIRS, and hard-market reality.
Get insurance quotesManagement
Get matched to licensed community-association management firms that serve your county and your association type. You pick; we never see their proposals.
Find a management firmBanking & lending
Operating and reserve accounts, lockbox, and association loans from banks and credit unions built for community associations, not retrofitted to them.
Find association bankingReserve studies
SIRS-ready reserve studies from credentialed Florida firms. Compare scopes and timelines built for SB 4-D, not generic templates.
Get reserve study quotesAccounting & CPA
Audits, reviews, compilations, and tax from CPA firms that actually understand association financials and statutory reporting.
Find a CPA firmFinancials support
Financials-only help for boards that self-manage: bookkeeping, statements, and assessment tracking without a full management contract.
Get financials helpLegal counsel
Find community-association attorneys for collections, covenant enforcement, transitional litigation, and more. You contact them directly; you are never charged.
Find counselCommon Elements connects you with independent, licensed firms. We are not an insurance agent, a law firm, or a CPA, and we do not provide these services ourselves. The information you submit is shared with firms that serve your area so they can contact you. Any agreement is between you and the firm you choose.
How it works
Pick a service
Insurance, management, banking, reserves, accounting, or counsel. Start with what your board needs now.
Tell us about your association
A short form: county, association type, and what you're after. Two minutes, no account required.
Vetted firms reach out
Firms that serve your area and your type of matter respond directly. No auction, no call-center fan-out, no spam.
And the parts a once-a-year show could never offer.
A physical expo closes on Sunday. These run every day.
A free website for the association
Publish a public association site in minutes: documents, calendar, notices, owner logins. Not a ledger or payments portal. No card required.
Get quotes from vetted firms
A services desk that connects you to independent, licensed professionals: insurance, management, banking, reserve studies, accounting, and legal counsel. We make the introduction, the firm you choose is independent, and you are never charged.
Free tools and calculators
Reserve and budget calculators, meeting and quorum helpers, and a document analyzer. Informational, always free.
Statute reference
A plain-language statute library with citations and the exact statutory text side by side. Informational, not legal advice.
Industry data, an API, and CE Insight
Association, compliance, and risk data you can browse, pull through a REST API or MCP endpoint, or surface in your browser with the CE Insight Chrome extension.
Common Elements is the industry layer around the management and accounting software you already run. It does not keep your ledger, process assessments, or run work orders, and it never will.
One login, every hat you wear
A manager who runs five associations, sits on her own condo board, and refers a roofer she trusts has, in most software, five logins. Here she has one. The context switcher at the top of every page flips her between organizations without signing out, and what she can do at any moment is set by the hat she is wearing right now, not by which account she used.
A day on the platform
A board treasurer signs in, sees a Compare view of three roofing proposals her management company shortlisted, accepts one in two clicks, and the platform notifies the winning and declined vendors automatically. The selected vendor’s profile gains a completion record other boards can see. Later that week she reads a CAM Corner thread on reserve-study cadence under her state’s statute, asks a follow-up, and hears back from an attorney whose firm serves three associations in her county.
Live now on iPhone and Android
The same forum, RFPs, directory, and messaging, built for the phone. One account works on the web and in the app.
Pick the hat that fits
Free for boards, managers, and verified vendors. No card required. Create an account as a board member, management company, vendor, attorney, or insurance pro, and each path drops you into a workspace shaped to what your role does.