Guides · BR-06

Board Package PDF Assembly: Building Order, Divider Pages & Bookmarks

This page is for the people who produce the final PDF — or the physical sets — for managing-agent submission: buyer's agents, transaction coordinators, and attorneys. Buyers who scan and name files can follow the naming and legibility notes. It is not a document checklist and it is not a Local Law 58 memo.

Completeness includes findability. Managing agents screen mechanically (the completeness gate). Order and navigation are part of that screen. A complete-but- scrambled dump of files is still a bad submit.

BoardReady outputs one PDF in the building's order, with divider pages. Bookmarks are industry practice for long PDFs — recommended alongside dividers — not a homepage product claim. Follow thisbuilding's written instructions either way.

This is not legal, financial, or tax advice. Confirm digital versus physical format, copy count, and binding with the managing agent on this deal.

Why order and navigation matter to managing agents

Agents check boxes against the building checklist. Wrong order or missing section labels slow the review and invite a bounce. Yeo stresses tabbed sections in the required order. Nacmias is why the screen cares about the checklist in the first place.

Volunteer boards, when they receive sets, need fast jumps to the financial statement, the statements, and the references. StreetEasy best-practices talk about a cover, a table of contents, and colored tabs for that reason. Presentation is not fluff. A single organized PDF is a recurring theme in buyer-facing notes too.

Format is not fluff

If the reviewer cannot find the employment letter without hunting, the file is not assembled. Completeness and findability travel together. That is why this page exists as its own step after checklist extract and QC — not as a styling afterthought.

Follow the building's section order — not a blog TOC

The authoritative order is the application / transfer-requirements packet. How to get that packet is extract the real checklist. Format and submission instructions live in that packet when the building wrote them down.

A common pattern — illustrative only, not authoritative— looks like:

Cover and table of contents
Building application forms
Contract
Financial statement
Income documents
Asset statements
References
IDs, fees, acknowledgments
Financing / recognition, if applicable

If the building orders those differently, the building wins. Hauseit publishes a sample TOC — fine as an example, not as law. Tie the financial-statement section out before you lock the PDF (tie-out method).

Digital PDF best practices

When the agent wants a PDF, or a PDF alongside a portal:

One primary PDF when instructed — or follow portal slot-by-slot rules. Do not invent a hybrid the agent did not ask for.
Cover page: building address, unit, applicant names, submission date, agent and attorney contacts as practice allows (Hauseit's agent-cover tip).
Table of contents matching section order.
Divider / section pages between major sections. BoardReady's product language is divider pages in the building's order.
Bookmarks aligned to the TOC and dividers — industry practice for a long PDF (Gina Sabio; Skybrizdiscusses bookmarks matching the TOC). BoardReady's homepage claims divider pages and building order, not a bookmark feature. Add bookmarks in your PDF tool if the agent wants them.
Legibility: straight scans, readable balances and names. Ask the agent what is acceptable to redact (redaction caution).
File naming if you upload more than one file: consistent, section-prefixed. Avoid scan0007.pdf chaos.

Portals

Some buildings use BoardPackager or a similar portal: upload per requirement slot. Still keep an ordered master PDF for team QC. Reconfirm the submission method with the transfer agent each deal. BoardReady is assembly and QC. The homepage does not claim it submits to a portal.

Physical copies — still ask, don't assume

Some agents still want collated paper sets and/or originals. Recognition agreements are a frequent hard-copy item even when a digital package exists — Hauseit's agent page notes the pattern. Verify with the current agent for this deal.

Tabs, dividers, and colored sections, plus a cover and TOC, show up in StreetEasy and Hauseit assembly notes. Compiled PDF plus physical sets is a common pairing, not a rule.

Binding: ask the agent. Permanent binding can prevent reshuffling during agent review. Many prefer clips or a binder over irreversible binding — that is a Hauseit-style prompt, not a citywide rule. Copy count: ask. Do not invent "always three to five."

Common order and format mistakes

Assembly errors — not financial rejection. The bounce taxonomy is why packages get bounced.

Ignoring the building's order / checklist sequence.
No table of contents or bookmarks in a long PDF.
Missing divider labels so the financial statement and the statements blur together.
Split uploads with opaque filenames.
Missing statement pages inside an otherwise pretty PDF.
Over-redaction.
Binding or format the agent did not ask for.
Forgetting originals where required.

How BoardReady produces an ordered PDF with divider pages

Product claims below match the homepage — nothing more.

Upload requirements. BoardReady reads the checklist from the building packet.
Classify client documents. Missing items stay visible.
Output one PDF in the building's order, with divider pages. Balances are tied to the financial statement first.

Documents are encrypted so storage cannot read them. Models do not keep a copy. Details live on how BoardReady handles tax returns and bank statements.

That helps a team stop hand-merging unordered scans. Divider pages support managing-agent navigation. Add PDF bookmarks in your editor if this agent wants them. BoardReady does not submit to BoardPackager or eApply, and it does not guarantee the agent will accept the file.

One PDF, in this building's order

Ready to stop merging scans by hand? Generate one PDF in the building's order with divider pages on BoardReady.

NYC co-op & condo board package software →·Walk through the demo

FAQ

What order should board package documents be in?

The building's stated order — the application or transfer-requirements checklist sequence. A blog table of contents is a pattern, not the list.

Do I need a table of contents and bookmarks?

Best practice for a long PDF. Follow the agent's instructions. A cover plus TOC is widely recommended. Bookmarks that match the TOC help a reviewer jump; they are industry practice, not a BoardReady homepage feature.

What are divider pages?

Section separators so a reviewer can jump to the financial statement, the statements, the references, and the rest. BoardReady outputs divider pages in the building's order.

PDF or paper?

Whatever the managing agent requires. Confirm each deal. Hybrids — a portal plus a master PDF, or a digital package plus originals — are common.

Should I bind the package?

Ask the agent. Reshuffling during review matters. Do not treat "always bind" or "never bind" as a citywide rule.

How many copies?

Ask. Do not guess, and do not recycle a copy count you read on a blog as a BoardReady or citywide rule.

Can software build the ordered PDF?

BoardReady outputs one PDF in the building's order with divider pages. Humans confirm agent format rules, physical sets, and whether to add bookmarks in a PDF editor.

The deliverable, once

Use this building's section order — not a blog TOC.
Cover, table of contents, and divider pages so the file is findable.
Bookmarks as industry practice on long PDFs; confirm digital vs paper with the agent.
Do not invent copy counts or binding rules.

Assemble the file first (workflow), from the building packet, then QC the completeness gate. Prefer software? BoardReady builds the ordered PDF with divider pages. It will not guarantee acceptance or approval.

Not legal, financial, or tax advice. Building requirements and counsel control the deal.

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