Building & Facilities Operations

Do you know the Fiery Five? No, they don’t occupy an attractive, elite table in cafeteria, but checking them out will be much more rewarding. They represent our latest and greatest in educational resources to help you properly assess and optimize your Fire & Life Safety systems. Not lighting your fire? The importance of Fire & Life Safety improvements can be summed up in four words: property loss and occupant injury.

The Fiery 5 in Fire & Life Safety:

1. Video (1:38)

3 Must-Do Fire & Life Safety Activities

Peter Harrod of RJA outlines three important steps to take when assessing your Fire & Life safety system, features and compliance.

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2. Microsite

Assessing the Condition of Your Fire & Life Safety Systems

View the complete Conquering the Code webinar presentation, bonus videos, a sample Fire & Life Safety Assessment Report, resource links, and more Risk Management tools!

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3. Video (2:07)

Potential Costs of Not Following FLS Best Practices

Peter Harrod of RJA speaks to the risk involved when fire life safety due diligence isn’t achieved.

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4. Blog Post

10 Biggest Mistakes People Make with Fire & Life Safety Systems… And How to Avoid Them

Fire & Life Safety systems are in place because unplanned incidents and mistakes happen. Those mistakes shouldn’t be the way you use your system. See if you’re guilty of the 10 common mistakes building owners and managers make with their Fire & Life Safety systems.

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5. On-Demand Webinar (35:40):

Conquering the Code with Peter Harrod, Fire Protection Engineer at RJA

This complimentary webinar will share how to recognize deficiencies in your equipment, identify code violations, and plan the retroactive and forward thinking changes that will attract and retain tenants, mitigate risk and positively position your property for resale.

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Manage fire & life safety, visitor access, incidents, certificates of insurance and more with Building Engines Risk Management Tools.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

When occupancy is down,

So are you.

Feeling a little lonely in your building this Valentine’s Day? Not quite the tenant magnet you’d like to be? Experiencing unrequited love for your customers?

This Valentine’s Day, spend some time examining how to woo tenants into your building and build a deep and meaningful relationship with them. (Cue Tony Bennett music)

1. Look Online

Today’s tech-savvy tenants expect an online option to interact with building management. You should assume ALL your tenants are online, and that is where they like to do their research and get things done. According to Sirius Decisions, 70% of all B2B buying decisions are researched and made online before a company representative is ever involved. Tenant expectations have changed.   They expect property management to provide them with modern, online communication tools that mirror the way they do business- online and in real-time.

Additionally, you can and should control your online brand.  When prospective tenants search for your building online what do they see? Good reviews? Bad reviews? An out of date services listing?  CRE firms will help themselves  in the battle to attract tenants and keep them by embracing technology that enables them to find you, as well as following and controlling their brand online.  The brokerage side of the business has embraced this, and management should too – taking care to align information, messaging and tools between the two.

LinkedIn and Twitter are the eHarmony of property management. Tweets, status updates, and group discussions can position you as an industry expert and create another venue for tenants to reach you. Make a company LinkedIn page and encourage your employees to create a profile. Provide an internal process document that governs language to use on profiles so that they are consistent with the corporate page. Identify groups employees should belong to and the conversations they should monitor. Personal accounts on Twitter and LinkedIn create a more accessible and humanized image than a corporate profile alone.

Blogging is another way to attract and retain tenants.  While 40% of all companies utilize blogs, CRE has been much slower to adopt. Don’t count blogging out- it is a powerful tool to get in front of prospects, demonstrate your knowledge, build your brand, and give customers some lovin’.

2. Meet Their Expectations- Real-Time Access to Information and Service On-Demand

Don’t be a wallflower! Get yourself out there – be visible, transparent, and informative. We’ve already established that tenants are online, and that they expect to control access to information and make value judgments before ever picking up the phone to speak to you. Some of those value judgments are going to be related to how “tech savvy” you are as an organization and building/management team. Tenants also expect the option to interact with building management in real-time. The elements and tools you should have in place to help influence those judgments include:

• Corporate and Property websites: Your property website is the perfect place to make announcements, showcase building services and garner feedback
• Online Resource Scheduling: Enable your tenants to book conference rooms, elevators, and loading docks- freeing you from repetitive scheduling tasks and allowing you to focus on more valuable tenant interactions.
• Tenant Handbook: Bring your handbook and other building documents online. This will increase management visibility and improve occupant safety, service and communication.
• Visitor Access: Tenants in secure buildings expect to quickly and easily pre-authorize visitors for entry into the building and a have a real-time connection to the security guard check-in station in the lobby
• Online Work Order Management: Tenants want to be able to submit requests, access information and receive communications online (from a web browser or mobile device), quickly and easily. The availability of information and insight into progress ensures tenants feel better about the service they receive and professionalism of the property.
• Social Media presence: LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. (these provide an invaluable way to both personally interact with tenants, but also proactively take their pulse). Tools like dlvr.it and Hootsuite allow you to manage, sync and update your social media outlets.
• YouTube: Ever thought about showcasing videos of that fancy new lobby renovation? How about vacant space?

3. Master Communication

Communication is a two-way channel. A communication system includes both tools and philosophy. You need a way for tenants to communicate their issues, including a Tenant Service Request Work Order System. You also need a way to share building information, emergency notifications, and new initiatives or changes.

Here is how you should align your tenant communications with distinct systems and tools:

• Emergencies: Broadcast messaging, Emergency Messaging Systems
• Non-Emergency Events: Tenant Portals (property websites, tenant handbook, online building documents)
• Green Initiatives, Personnel Information, etc.: Blogs, Social Media
• Building Amenities, Instructions, Vacant Space: Video! YouTube

Email is not enough. A phone call two hours after a service request has been made is not enough.

4. Stay Connected – The Honeymoon Isn’t Over

Give your tenants a reason to renew their vows leases.

Proactively Monitor Tenant Satisfaction. Schedule, document and capture all visits and calls with the tenant contact on site and the lease renewal decision maker. All this information should be stored in a single location – a Property and Tenant management system allows for this capability. It is only valuable if it is easily retrieved and web-based.

Do smaller surveys. The annual Kingsley survey is fine, but you should utilize regular surveys to ask your tenants questions regarding service or decisions you are contemplating. Base decisions on data!

Provide outlets for feedback. People prefer to share information in a variety of ways and it’s important to try to accommodate them. Beyond phone calls and emails, think about things like community forums accessible through your corporate or building website, as well as live help or chat links from your website.

Feeling the love? Read more about Using Technology to Maximize Occupancy.

Would you listen to property management professionals who could boast over 90% occupancy in their buildings? We would and we did and we’re here to share our results!

We surveyed top performers in property & tenant management for their general beliefs, current processes and opinions of best practices around service responsiveness. What we found might surprise you!

It was no surprise that the vast majority of top performers consider tenant service and responsiveness a market differentiator – 92% agreed with that statement. Service responsiveness is not only critical to tenant retention and attraction, but also to protection against litigation. A fast response time means fast advice, fast action and fast damage mitigation. You know it’s important, so how do you now improve it?

From our compilation report and inspection of top performers, here are eight best practices demonstrated by the best-in-class buildings:

Get the full Service Responsiveness Benchmark Report for free with industry standards and best practices!

You may also be interested in:

Retaining with Responsiveness, Be Our Guest

Here’s a Resolution: Improve Responsiveness to Tenant Requests

How to Rock Occupancy with Technology

You heard it here first folks, the New England Patriots will win the super bowl this year…at least if historic Commercial Office Vacancy Rates have anything to say about it.

According to Bizmology, Jones Lang LaSalle claims that NFL teams are two-thirds more likely to win the Super Bowl if they are based in cities with a high percentage of empty office space. So while a city’s real estate may be depressed, it’s sports fans won’t be.

Just remember when making your winning pick this Sunday that commercial office vacancy rates are lower and have decreased in greater New York in Q4 2011 compared to the increased rate in Greater Boston. Oh, and I would also factor in Tom Brady’s knack for winning and perfect spiral too!

Go Pats!!

He may be on the sidelines, but he’s caught our attention! Property owners and managers, take note. Here’s 6 reasons why you should be like this ball boy:

1. He keeps all his balls in the air.

2. Talk about preparedness!

3. He has no problem with retention.

4. He’s all about good service and fast responsiveness.

5. He’s improved net operating [income].

6. With over 2 million YouTube hits in a day, he’s a social media marketing maven!

One way you should not emulate the ball boy: leave out the silly hat.

Watch him steal the spotlight from Nadal and R-Fed:

Fire and Life Safety systems are in place because unplanned incidents and mistakes happen. Those mistakes shouldn’t be the way you use your system. Don’t fall trap to #4 and confront the responsibilities that building owner and managers are liable for! Start dishing on the condition of your system and be wary of the common mistakes below.

The Top Ten  Fire & Life Safety System Mistakes to Avoid:

Continuing to band-aid an outdated system, rather than replace it.

Missing the Big Picture: Have all the little one-off improvements and renovations necessitated a change to the entire system?

Not implementing building and portfolio-wide fire and life safety standards.

Passing the Buck to Service Providers.

Thinking you can catch up later when the market turns around. Codes change. Tenant demands change. New technology is introduced. Don’t fall behind your competition!

Not doing an Assessment of Condition of your Fire & Life Safety systems at each building.

Diving into a Fire & Life Safety overhaul without first outlining and prioritizing baseline requirements and goals.

Choosing the wrong person or team to spearhead the project.

Share is Caring: Making sure that all appropriate building representatives get their hands on the final report.

Neglecting to utilize technology in the process.

If any of the above mistakes sound a little too familiar, register for our free upcoming webinar with speaker Peter Harrod of Rolf Jensen &Associates:

Conquering the Code! Assessing the Condition of Your Fire & Life Safety Systems

Date: Wednesday, January 25th, 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST

Guest Speaker: Peter Harrod, Senior V.P. of Rolf Jensen & Associates, Inc.

Conquering the Code!

Assessing the Condition of Your Fire & Life Safety Systems

Are unknown fire and life safety violations and out-of-date standards putting your property at risk? Can you not only speak confidently, but prove that your building or portfolio is being properly inspected, tested and maintained? Learn More!

In 30 minutes, you will learn how to:

• Implement an Assessment of Condition of your Fire & Life Safety Systems
• Plan the forward thinking changes that will attract and retain tenants
• Avoid the 10 biggest Fire & Life Safety management mistakes
• and more!

“We might feel that we’re passing on the liability to our service provider, but there is still a responsibility as a building manager and/or owner to ensure that we’re testing, inspecting and maintaining our fire life safety systems in accordance with the jurisdiction’s codes and standards.”

-Peter Harrod, Senior VP at Rolf Jensen & Associates

Tailgating is fun, right? Football, food, family, friends… forgive the alliteration, but what’s not to like?

Rewind back to real estate mode and you’ll see that tailgating doesn’t reference weekend football pleasantries, but instead the potentially dangerous outcomes of undocumented building entry. This sounds like it should involve stealthy espionage activity on behalf of the intruder, but undocumented entry can be the result of something as innocent as holding the door open for the person behind you.

There are strategies, though, to protect against undocumented entry. According to an article in Buildings magazine by Jennie Morton (10 Strategies to Prevent Tailgating), there are three categories undocumented building entry can be broken down into:

1. The Problem,
2. The Solution
3. Building the Culture

The Problem is simple to understand. Tailgating can expose your building to things such as domestic violence, theft, sabotage, and terrorism… to name a few. Additionally, think about the areas inside buildings that require restricted access. There are some places where you really do not want intruders such as laboratories, pharmacies, operating suites, equipment rooms, and data centers. Morton explains how you may want to restrict and track who can access valuable equipment, sensitive files, or toxic chemicals.

Still not convinced that tailgating is a problem? Morton says to “consider the security measures you’ve already implemented.” For example, Warren Rosebraugh presents the idea that if you already have a security system installed, you think that the building’s contents are important enough to protect in the first place. So then why would you let people move around the property freely anyway?

The Solution is made to seem simple by Morton as well. Building owners can choose to implement one, or a combination of, these ten security solutions:

1. Smart cards house multiple credentials on one card.
2. Security guards can visually confirm a badge matches the holder.
3. Turnstiles serve as a physical barrier and are good for high-volume traffic.
4. Laser sensors can detect multiple people.
5. Biometrics deter employees from sharing credentials.
6. Long-range readers can be used in parking lots and garages.
7. PIN numbers can be added to card readers.
8. Camera analytics enable remote facial recognition.
9. Visitor badges ensure temporary guests are documented.
10. Man traps or air locks require a double set of identification.

Finally, Building the Culture can be the most difficult category to implement. Installing the most advanced security systems on the market is all well and good, but what if the occupants of your building aren’t on-board with your enhanced security plan? This can detract from every measure in place. Morton says you need to “create a secure building culture.” Use clear expectations and consistent communication in order to shape behavior.  Make sure your occupants are aware of tailgating risks and keep them empowered to challenge any unfamiliar faces.

If you’re looking at all of this and feeling overwhelmed – take a deep breath… Jennie Morton is here to save you again. In another Building’s article (4 Tips for a Corporate Security Plan), Morton gives 4 clear-cut steps to installing or updating a security plan.

1. Provide a Standard. Ensures that a location hasn’t overlooked a security concern.
2. Circumvent Liability. You need documentation in place to prove you’ve taken appropriate action.
3. Avoid Micromanagement. Make sure your plan’s requirements are broad enough so they can be adjusted.
4. Rely on Experts. Don’t forget to take advantage of security professionals who interact directly with your buildings.

Thinking about making your building secure doesn’t have to feel like a heart attack. By following simple steps and implementing plans that your occupants can respect and uphold you’ll be able to keep everything under control and, most importantly, safe. Think about it this way: confusing your building lobby with the parking lot of the “big game” is probably not what you want to happen.

The possibility of a new trend has surfaced in the housing market: the management of college dorms by private companies. Until recently, the job of on-campus housing maintenance fell directly on the university. This could all change.

According to the Wall Street Journal, The University of Kentucky has been discussing the possibility of turning over all on-campus management and maintenance responsibilities to realty group, EDR. Currently, the university wants to increase the size within the next ten years, and would turn all responsibility of this task to EDR. Their responsibilities would include replacing most of the 6,000 beds now a part of Kentucky’s housing program, as well as adding another 3,000 beds over the next ten years. This marks the first time a university would completely turn over housing management and expansion to the private sector.

In order to update the number of beds on campus, EDR would be required to construct new buildings. Normally this would involve erecting new buildings on campus, but EDR has different plans. They intend to tear down existing buildings and replace them with upgraded, larger dormitories. In doing so, the total number of beds on campus would actually  increase each year.

This plays an important role in this new market. Losing beds poses a threat to universities as many schools struggle to house everyone already enrolled. Upgrades would be necessary, and there so would spending money. EDR has already stated that they may spend as much as $500 million on the total renovation project.

Managing all on-campus housing comes with its downsides as well. Universities are in session nine months out of the year. Having students living on campus poses issues to a company attempting to renovate a large number of buildings. This means that management companies would need to find a place to house students while they renovate certain dorms. Considering their plans to start construction on a 600-bed facility sometime in April of this year, EDR seems to have found a way around this dilemma, assuming they win Kentucky’s housing contract.

It’s a new year and new you – with the same needs to enhance operations and customer service. As we shelf 2011 and delve into 2012, here’s a look back at our most popular educational content and resources from the past year.

The top topics enjoyed by your peers:

Checklist: Implementing a Successful Emergency Response Plan

How ready are you for an emergency? How do you track and document incidents? What sort of emergency preparedness training do your employees have? When was the last time you practiced a tabletop exercise? Time to assess your readiness?

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Webinar Executive Summary: From an Owner & Investor- Metrics That Matter

Senior Real Estate Investor, Timothy Donahoe shares his perspective on identifying key areas for metrics and visibility to mitigate risk and enhance investor returns. Watch the full webinar or just the highlights of Donahoe’s insights into quantifiable operational performance metrics. Take measures to measure!

CRE Quick Take: Proving Your Value to Your Manager, Owners, Clients… and Yourself!

This article shows you how to keep all your balls in the air AND prove your value to the owner, interested in the highest return from the property, and your tenants, interested in the best service and value for their money.

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Building Engines Kit: Tenant Retention

Is your tenant retention program building loyalty and increasing retention? Does it accurately document tenant meetings, service requests and other important state-of-the-tenant information:? Download the Building Engines Tenant Retention Kit and start assessing your level of tenant service today!

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Get ready for the year to come!

Register free for the 2012 Real Estate Operations Masters Series and receive automatic registration for webinars, on-demand content, and best practices on a variety of operations topics.