Scott Hammond appoints longtime employee Mike Palmer to lead proudly local business
By Carli Johnson SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
After 28 years of specialized property management services, Scott Hammond, owner and operations manager of Hammond Property Management, has sold the business to dedicated employee Mike Palmer. In an interview with EBS, both Hammond and Palmer expressed their pride in keeping the company locally owned and operated.
“After 28 years in the business, I was looking for a transition myself,” Hammond said. “Mike has just kept moving up and kept proving that he is dedicated to the community, staff and customers and got to a point where he started showing interest in acquisition.”
Palmer said the team of 22 employees is amazing.
“Almost everybody that works for Hammond lives in Big Sky, so we’re a locally based team, which has been part of the reason I wanted to eventually be the owner of the organization,” Palmer said.
Palmer was hired by Hammond in 2012 to provide lawn maintenance for HPM clients. As he worked his way through different positions in the company, he became general manager in 2019, and as of August 2025 Palmer now runs the show.
Laying the groundwork for his role with Hammond, Palmer’s formal education is in community and environmental planning. “Over the years, I’ve held almost darn near every kind of position within the company, from the bottom up,” Palmer said.
Both Hammond and Palmer emphasized their appreciation of commitment from both staff and clients. Through the company’s efforts of maintaining lasting relationships and personalizing their services, Hammond has been able to keep his first client on the books.
“The client that hired me in ’97 has passed away, but his family still owns properties in Big Sky, and we still work for them, which is something I’m really proud of,” Hammond said. “We’ve got decades of commitment from both staff and clientele.”
Over the course of the years, the company has done nearly everything in the property management space, according to Hammond. In the late 2000s, they began focusing on community association management and now operate over 30 HOAs and similar associations.
“When you say the word ‘property management,’ that can mean a lot of things. It can mean vacation rental, it can mean home management, it could mean Airbnb. But to us, what it means is taking care of these community associations,” Hammond said.
Whether it’s supporting employees’ goals, maintaining HPM’s long-term stability or preserving clients’ property values, Palmer emphasized that helping to enhance the community was a driving force in wanting to move the business forward.
As for Hammond, he has plans for more real estate and commercial development work in the Big Sky area. He also plans to spend more time skiing, biking and travelling.
