Category: Association Operations

The most important aspect of managing a building is keeping it, its residents, and their property safe. In days past, 'safety technology' consisted mostly of well-lit exits, the installation of panic bars and glow-in-the-dark stripping on e…

Northeasterners are a tough breed, but even they have to deal with dark days and nights—and they need an action plan in case of a blackout. This was evidenced by the blackout of 2003. In August of that year, a series of power failures overl…

There is always work to be done on a building, whether it’s a simple lobby repair or a major capital improvement, and finding the right contractor for the job takes some work. If the vetting process is not done properly, the results could b…

Building amenities such as elevator systems are often taken for granted. But, elevators are for more than just avoiding a workout and creating awkward silences between neighbors; they accommodate residents unable to climb stairs and are cri…

If you think about it, a multifamily building isn’t that much different than the human body. Both house important complex operating systems and organ-like pieces of vital equipment, both take in fuel, produce waste, and both require regular…

As long as there have been residential buildings, there has been maintenance personnel—be that a superintendent, a chief engineer, or a collection of reliable individuals. They're charged with the all-important task of ensuring that operati…

While ice damming on roofs is nothing new, the record-breaking snowfall of the 2014-15 winter was especially devastating in terms of ice dams. An ice dam is a ridge of ice that forms at the edge of a roof and prevents melting snow from drai…

It's a truism that's been phrased many ways by many wise people: “A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.” That's the case in any number of situations, but it's especially applicable to the administration …

While high-rise residential buildings put many people and families in very close proximity to one another, living side-by-side doesn’t automatically turn a group of people into a community—sometimes it even has the opposite effect.  Lives …

These days, as the summers get hotter, the storms get bigger and climate change is finding its way into more headlines than ever before, more attention is being paid to the environment and how the average citizen can do his or her part to s…