Creating a High-Rise Maintenance Checklist
Mike LaCount | Sopra Communities
High-rise buildings come with their own unique set of problems and issues, and having a maintenance checklist will help the management team run a successful community. Since few managers have years of experience working on the maintenance side of things, it is helpful to have a checklist that will keep you focused on the many moving parts within a high-rise community. Boilers, cooling towers, circulation pumps, booster pumps, and sewage ejection pits are just a few of the systems that you may encounter at the building. Your list can serve as a blueprint for you and your staff to assist in the successful operation of the building. Your residents will always appreciate minimal disruptions to their daily routines with scheduled repairs, as opposed to emergency shutdowns that may take time to find replacement parts.
Know Your Components: A reserve study is a great place to start your list and will help you examine all the different parts of the property. A comprehensive reserve study will list all common area mechanical equipment within your community that requires regular inspection. If you don’t have a study, you can still ask your trusted service providers to help you locate all of the equipment in the building. This includes the heating and cooling components, elevator machine room(s), plumbing stacks, roof, and fire/life safety components. Knowing how all of this equipment works together is also a big help and will aid you when a service provider (or the Fire Department) starts talking to you as if from another planet, trying to explain the system to you.
Create Your Checklist: Now that you have your equipment list, you can start adding what type of preventative maintenance is required for each component and/or system. The second step is to develop a schedule of when items need to be checked. Some components may not have any maintenance requirements other than to check it periodically to make sure that it is turned on or set to the correct temperature for the season. Other items may require regular filter changes, frequent monitoring, and even daily temperature logging to ensure the HVAC system is functioning properly. (Let’s face it, nobody wants that midnight phone call saying the heat is out in the middle of a snowstorm.)
Create Your Schedule: Now that you have your equipment list and an itinerary of tasks to be completed, you can organize them into a schedule. This can be daily, quarterly, semi-annually, monthly, or yearly. Give some thought to the scheduling, as chillers and boilers will need to be in operation for your vendor to perform proper maintenance on them. Don’t schedule boiler annuals in the middle of summer, or chiller annuals in the middle of winter. Instead, schedule service as the season is beginning. Use your list as a reminder and calendar to track items to turn on and off with the change of seasons. Remember to turn on those stairwell heaters in the fall and to turn them off in the spring. Also, periodically check them to ensure they are performing as intended. Nothing is worse than displacing three floors of residents after a frozen fire line burst and floods the building, all because a heater quit working and nobody checked on it.
No Two Buildings are the Same: Your list and schedule will be organic and unique to that particular community. Don’t be afraid to use it as a template for another high-rise that you may have the privilege to manage. Over the last twenty years, I have had the privilege of operating many of the historic and modern high-rise communities in downtown Denver. The one thing I have learned is that no two buildings are alike, and will always have some oddities about how they operate throughout the year. Use your maintenance list to help guide you through the multitude of items at your property, and operating the high-rise community will become a much more organized and manageable task. I am always learning something new about both new and older properties, and I am never afraid to ask a trusted vendor questions from their viewpoint and experiences.
Age is a Factor: The older the community, the more important it is to maintain it properly. Most mechanical contractors are happy to provide quarterly inspections and routine maintenance. However, seldom does a piece of equipment magically stops working while they are there. Take the time to review maintenance requests for mechanical items that are being more problematic than normal. This may be a good indicator that it is time for a replacement. Look at everything, such as drain lines and water supply lines; nothing is designed to last forever, and many mechanical companies may tell you a twenty-year life span is about normal. Well, we all know that twenty years is a drop in the bucket for an HOA community.
The more a manager knows about their community and its daily operations, the better prepared they will be when it comes time to explain to the board why a certain piece of equipment needs to be replaced or rebuilt. Deferred or undone maintenance is far from ideal for any community, because that can make it challenging to get and stay caught up. You may end up wasting time on putting out fires instead of working through your organized and systematic building checklist.
Mike LaCount is the Director of Engineering and CXO of Sopra Communities. He is passionate about the core of all buildings, in particular the intricacies of high-rises old and new.
When Boards Overstep
It’s tough to be a volunteer HOA board member in Colorado these days. Just last night, I was watching a PBS show called “The Trouble with HOAs”, and depending on who was being interviewed, the board was doing too much or caring too little. It’s no wonder that sometimes boards are accused of overstepping their duties and authorities, as most volunteers wish to be helpful and they may not know where to draw a line.
It’s tough to be a volunteer HOA board member in Colorado these days. Just last night, I was watching a PBS show called “The Trouble with HOAs”, and depending on who was being interviewed, the board was doing too much or caring too little. It’s no wonder that sometimes boards are accused of overstepping their duties and authorities, as most volunteers wish to be helpful and they may not know where to draw a line.
What Makes a Successful HOA Budget?
To begin, a budget’s purpose is to plan out what is needed for cash flow for a period of time. It can also function as a planning tool, depending on the template used. Some associations function on a calendar year (January - December), and some function on a fiscal year, which is any twelve month period, such as June 1st to May 31st.
To begin, a budget’s purpose is to plan out what is needed for cash flow for a period of time. It can also function as a planning tool, depending on the template used. Some associations function on a calendar year (January - December), and some function on a fiscal year, which is any twelve month period, such as June 1st to May 31st.
Announcing the recipients of the 2024 Colorado Titan 100
Titan CEO and headline sponsor Wipfli LLP are pleased to announce Elizabeth Caswell Dyer, Sopra Communities, Inc. as a 2024 Colorado Titan 100. The Titan 100 program recognizes Colorado’s Top 100 CEOs & C-level executives. They are the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry using criteria that include demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision, and passion. Collectively the 2024 Colorado Titan 100 and their companies employ over 74,000 individuals and generate over $43 billion in annual revenues. This year’s honorees will be published in a limited-edition Titan 100 book and profiled exclusively online. They will be honored at an awards ceremony on May 30th, 2024, and will be given the opportunity to interact and connect multiple times throughout the year with their fellow Titans.
Titan CEO and headline sponsor Wipfli LLP are pleased to announce Elizabeth Caswell Dyer, Sopra Communities, Inc. as a 2024 Colorado Titan 100. The Titan 100 program recognizes Colorado’s Top 100 CEOs & C-level executives. They are the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry using criteria that include demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision, and passion. Collectively the 2024 Colorado Titan 100 and their companies employ over 74,000 individuals and generate over $43 billion in annual revenues. This year’s honorees will be published in a limited-edition Titan 100 book and profiled exclusively online. They will be honored at an awards ceremony on May 30th, 2024, and will be given the opportunity to interact and connect multiple times throughout the year with their fellow Titans.
“The Titan 100 are changing the way that business is done in Colorado. These preeminent leaders have built a distinguished reputation that is unrivaled and preeminent in their field. We proudly recognize the Titan 100 for their efforts to shape the future of the Colorado business community. Their achievements create a profound impact that makes an extraordinary difference for their employees and clients across the nation.” says Jaime Zawmon, President of Titan CEO.
“It is an honor to have been included for a second year in a row in this esteemed group of Colorado Business Leaders” ~ Elizabeth Caswell Dyer
The annual Titan 100 awards celebration on May 30th, 2024, will be held at Magness Arena in Denver, CO. The home of champions, Magness Arena is a multi-use venue within the Ritchie Center. This unique cocktail-style awards event will gather 100 Titans of Industry for an evening unlike anything that exists in the Colorado business community.
“On behalf of all the partners and associates at Wipfli we congratulate all the Titan100 winners. It’s an honor to recognize this diverse group of leaders in the Colorado business community. We appreciate the lasting impact each leader has made, and continues to make, in building organizations of significance both here in Colorado and abroad. Your ingenuity and creativity have set you apart, and the honor of being seen as an industry Titan is richly deserved,” says Pete Aden, Partner at Wipfli.
ANNOUNCING THE RECIPIENTS OF THE 2023 COLORADO TITAN 100
Titan CEO and headline sponsor Wipfli LLP are pleased to announce Elizabeth Caswell Dyer as a 2023 Colorado Titan 100. The Titan 100 program recognizes Colorado’s Top 100 CEO’s & C-level executives. They are the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry using criteria that includes demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision, and passion. Collectively the 2023 Colorado Titan 100 and their companies employ upwards of 50,000 individuals and generate over $37 billion dollars in annual revenues. This year’s honorees will be published in a limited-edition Titan 100 book and profiled exclusively online. They will be honored at an awards ceremony on June 1st, 2023, and will be given the opportunity to interact and connect multiple times throughout the year with their fellow Titans.
“The Titan 100 are changing the way that business is done in Colorado. These preeminent leaders have built a distinguished reputation that is unrivaled and preeminent in their field. We proudly recognize the Titan 100 for their efforts to shape the future of the Colorado business community. Their achievements create a profound impact that makes an extraordinary difference for their clients and employees across the nation.” says Jaime Zawmon, President of Titan CEO.
”It is an honor to have been included in this esteemed group of Colorado Business Leaders.”
~ Elizabeth Caswell Dyer
“On behalf of the partners and associates at Wipfli, we congratulate the Titan 100 honorees. From the first year Titans to our new Hall of Fame honorees, we appreciate the lasting impact each leader has made, and continues to make, in building organizations of significance both here in Colorado and abroad. Your ingenuity and creativity have set you apart, and the honor of being seen as a Titan is richly deserved,” says Pete Aden, Partner at Wipfli.
Build Your Future with CAI
Elizabeth Caswell Dyer, CMCA, is CEO of Sopra Communities, Inc. in Denver. In 1994, she began working in related fields including as a legal secretary in a community association law firm and a portfolio manager ans a management company.
Problem-Solving the Manager Hiring Shortage
By Amy Repke, Community Manager
The need for qualified community association managers to assist boards in fulfilling their responsibilities grows every year. Recruiting and retaining talented individuals in the profession requires management company executives to prioritize employee engagement and address challenges that can lead managers to feel unmotivated.
Going Condo at the Office
Wall Street Journal, Deal of the Week by Max Taves
Office condominiums have never taken hold in the U.S. as they have in Europe and Asia, even during periods when rental rates have risen rapidly.
Owning office space can save companies money in the long-term, but buying requires large upfront costs. Most American companies would rather use that money for something else. But many foreign businesses and organizations believe buying is more economical and potential good investment. Read More >
Maintaining historic buildings 'key' to fabric of downtown
Repairing sto
ne on the exterior to the historic Brown Palace Hotel may seem like an inevitability for a building constructed in 1892.
However, to Rhonda Maas, it is work like this that is crucial to the vitality of a downtown.
“Maintaining historic buildings is key to strengthening the fabric of downtown,” said Maas, president of Building Restoration Specialties Inc., which recently was awarded the contract to complete repairs, such as repairing stone on the exterior façade, replacing all stone window sills and modifying existing flashings, where needed, at the Brown Palace Hotel.
“Adaptive reuse is not only inherently more sustainable, green, it’s sexy too today, but it’s also purposeful,” agreed Elizabeth Caswell Dyer, president and chief operating officer of Sopra Communities, which provides property management services in the Denver central business district and surrounding neighborhoods, including The Equitable building. Read Original Article>