Building & Facilities Operations

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 four days into the new year. Maybe you’ve already made  your resolutions, maybe you’ve already broken them, maybe the only resolution you care about is measured in pixels. Regardless, here’s one for business-sakes it would pay to heed: Improving responsiveness to tenant requests.

Here’s why:

Tenant Service is Elastic.

Service response time plays a key role in determining the involvement tenants have with a building manager. Longer waits and slower responses lead to an overall negative experience and vice versa. Being the most controllable aspect of any building, the speed of service with which a building manager can successfully complete required tasks, could make or break a tenant relationship.

This stems directly from two things. First, the rate at which an owner must charge a tenant more or less cannot be changed. Second, the location of the building will not change no matter how much you may want it to. This leaves one major, elastic characteristic tenants consider when looking for space to rent: the service provided.

Why do Tenants Choose to Stay?

Here’s How:

Be Effective, B-E- Effective (Automate)

Service must be provided efficiently and effectively. One of the major issues today with responsiveness falls back to the owner. Whether the tenant cannot get in touch with the building manager, or the building manager has not made available an effective means of solving issues, the tenant rarely is the one at fault. See if your company is putting its best face forward with effective customer service.

Allowing tenants the ability to submit work orders easily only quickens the response time. Automation, therefore, becomes crucial. Implementing a system where tenants have the ability to electronically submit service requests allows them to save time, which subsequently leads to a better experience.

Don’t Just Have a System, Use It!

Many things can be fixed quickly, and consequently should. Requiring someone to call the maintenance office every time a light bulb goes out never proves to be an efficient way of handling a situation. Automation is great, but it does not work if no one knows about it. Tenants need to be informed about the utilities they have access to in order to make the most of them. Simply having an online system is not enough if no one uses it. In order to effectively and efficiently vanquish service requests, the tools available to tenants must be used.

Find Out How Your Service Stacks Up

Know where your service level stands compared to that of your peers and industry top performers. What are other property owners and managers offering that you could adopt? What response times and service performance are standard? Take Building Engines Service Responsiveness Benchmark Survey for a compilation report identifying Best Practices you may want to consider.

Want more? Read about How to Rock Occupancy with Technology!

This season we are revving our engines for 2012, including a great plan to continue to build new features and functionality into the application. On December 22nd, we will introduce a new module! (hint: it rhymes with “schminpections”)

A theme you will see throughout the year, however, is technology-enabled best practices for building operations. For unlimited access to our operations best practices content, live and archived webinars, demonstrations, and more, you can join the Building Engines Inner Circle for free! We will ramp up our scouring of industry experts to gather more statistics, trends and best practices in property operations and workflow management than ever.

One major focus for the new year will be making data visible and actionable. You know all that data you’ve been collecting in your closet? Well, it’s time to make sense of it all! We will continue to evolve our analytics model and further develop the Building Health Quotient concept that we released in the latter half of 2011.

As we evolve the model, we will introduce functionalities including the ability to set your own benchmarks and targets, and then report against them. Over time, you will be able to use this data to create meaningul reports that reveal trends and reflect your progress in relation to set goals.

We are very excited for our plans in 2012, and we look forward to providing you with more visibility after the New Year.

“The best way to spread holiday cheer is singing loud for all to hear” ~Buddy the Elf

Since Thanksgiving the airwaves have been filled with the usual archaic holiday tunes. To switch up the routine a bit, Building Engines’ presents a Holiday Playlist you can relate to! For your listening pleasure, we’ve assembled our favorite property management classics for the most wonderful time of the year!

In our last survey, only 22% of respondents reported occupancy levels above 90%. Odds are, most property managers and owners could use a lesson on the components of tenant retention and attraction. In the age of echo-boomers, digital natives and social media mavens, the strategic application of technology is a key component to maintaining and raising occupancy levels.

While the primary factors of location and price are significant, they are not as easy to control as service and technology. For most CRE firms and properties, there are some essential technological tools that will aid their ability to  retain and attract tenants.

Following our recent spot as a panelist in Realcomm’s recent webinar Tenants, Tenants, Tenants – Using Technology to Maximize Occupancy, we decided to share a summary of recommendations for using web-based tools to fill a building. With the time-sensitive professional in mind, we compiled the webinar’s highlights into an Executive Summary!

Executive Summary (1:34)

Using Technology to Maximize Occupancy

As one of Realcomm’s panelists, Building Engines’ Scott Sidman summarizes his recommendations for using technology to maximize occupancy:

For your Tenant Retention Efforts:

1. Automate as many of your day-to-day operational practices as you can through web-based tools.

2. Apply a strategic objective to their use. One possible goal: tenant retention through responsive service.

3. Set clear targets and use your tools to measure performance against those targets.

4. Make that information easily accessible organization-wide and transparent to your tenants. The culture of service and accountability will pay tremendous dividends.

5. Use communications and data collection tools like Surveys and CRM applications to aid in meeting preparation and data driven decisions based on real tenant need.

For your Tenant Attraction Efforts:

1. Develop a social media and content strategy. Align brokerage and management through managed use of LinkedIn and blogging.

2. Re-think your website, or build one. It is an external and internal sales tool. Make it interactive, engaging and consistent with clear messaging.

3. Create new positions (e.g. content manager or social media strategist) or distribute tasks. This will require an acceptance of change management.

4. Foster a top-down organizational commitment to leveraging technology effectively.

5. Start with objectives, create the strategy and measure everything you can.

For more tenant retention see the steps in our Tenant Retention Strategy!

I’ve been told, “If you’re looking for answers, they’re not going to just fall into your lap!” Well, if you post the right question, they just may fall into your LinkedIn lap. Following a Building Engines webinar on LEED EBOM certification, I wanted to open up the discussion to other property and energy management and professionals.

LinkedIn, specifically the BOMA International Group, proved to be a fruitful forum for my question: What are some tips around the greening of existing buildings? Here are some of the discussion’s responses:

Since lighting represents about 30% of our energy bill upgrading to LED lighting saved us from 74 – 90%! We have tried several different LED lamps, however, we found that the ones offered at www.lightingatlanta.org are some of the best available.

You could also add motion sensors and wire them with the light switches so after 5 minutes of no movement, the lights will automatically go off.

There are many low-cost/no-cost measures you can take to green your facilities: (1) adjusting thermostats for seasonal comfort and programming in night set-backs; (2) reducing ventilation to unoccupied spaces and for nighttime operation; (3) replacing air handler filters, and (4) other basic O&M practices to tune up energy equipment performance

You can go further by periodically conducting Level 1 audits and follow-up retro-commissioning on key systems such as the controls or boilers/chillers/air handlers.

Relative to HVAC system energy savings, if the building’s systems utilize a building automation system, a comprehensive review of the sequences of operation in comparison to actual setpoints and schedules is a great method to save operational dollars and energy. Often, over many years, changes are made by operators and unintentionally the intended energy savings design features of the HVAC systems are lost.

The building envelope is a good place to start to realize energy savings. Before upgrading HVAC equipment, it makes sense to seal up energy leaks at the roof and facade, to avoid over-spending on heating or cooling.

Do not source a lighting solution which uses products available only from one manufacturing source.

Reducing your outdoor watering costs. Most landscapers do not know how to properly set the sprinkler systems, and often just defer to over watering, since you will only notice on your water bill.

Make sure that any intelligent lighting solution is native to the building management/automation system so there is seamless access to any available data from the lamps at any time. Further this allows you to easily share information between lighting and other systems for even more potential efficiency savings.

Read more on using lighting to conserve energy!

Q: Why do technological things never work?

A: Because there’s “no logic” in it!

Buhdum Che! OK, so bad joke, and an even worse perspective to adopt when it comes to property and tenant management. Technolgoical tools have been essential in the drive for efficiency and business process re-engineering in property management companies. Owners and operators today face more management demands than ever, and are often asked to accomplish more with fewer resources.

The best management firms have responded by accelerating their adoption of information collection and reporting tools through Software as a Service (SaaS) technologies. These SaaSy companies typically see improved service levels, tenant retention, asset protection and risk management, but there are also some less advertised perks:

Differentiation for Your Company

Top companies see the effective use of technology as a way to create differentiation despite operating in a tenant-perceived sea of sameness. Ultimately, they see it making them more profitable.

No Reliance on In-House Techies

At the same time, technology advances have made sophisticated technologies accessible to property and tenant management organizations of all sizes. The Software as a Service business and technology model has eliminated the need for in-house technology staff to acquire, deploy and maintain online information and operation systems.

Get Lost, Costs!

The SaaS model has dramatically lowered both initial costs and total application costs. Applications are easily aligned to each organization’s workflow, or introduce and reinforce industry best-practices. Software with intuitive interface design can remove user barriers and the need for intensive training.

Read here for The Keys to Enterprise Level Software Acceptance!

The Einstein Principle:

Accomplish More By Doing Less

Einstein’s theory of relativity was born from a work ethic principled on narrowing one’s focus (for him this unfortunately left out distractions like hygiene, social decorum and his wife). Property owners and managers should take a page from his book (no, not The Evolution of Physics). They should re-engineer their processes to allow them to focus their attention on select meaningful and productive pursuits.

Today, even the best property managers and owners likely aren’t developing one of the greatest achievements of the past century, but they are being more selective with with their endeavors. OK, so they don’t want to spend their time juggling, but what to do with the other balls?

The most successful organizations select a technology partner to provide the critical information, systems, and support competencies that are not central to a property management organization. Enabling technologies help companies accomplish more with fewer resources, improve service levels, attract and retain tenants, manage assets more effectively, and lower business and financial risk.

The adoption of information collection and reporting tools allows managers the time to apply their skill and experience to more meaningful tenant interactions, decision making, outreach, and brand management. Just don’t pull an Einstein and forget to wear socks.

Tenants, Tenants, Tenants

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Scott Sidman, VP Sales & Marketing

At the intersection of Commercial Real Estate, Corporate Real Estate, automation and technology, is Realcomm, showing CRE professionals how and why to integrate technology into their business. A proud panelist on Realcomm’s next webinar, Building Engines’ Scott Sidman, VP Sales & Marketing, will show examples of how technology can help attract new tenants, and keep the ones you’ve got.

WEBINAR DESCRIPTION:

With the real estate market problems far from being over, operators around the globe have been reintroduced to the concept of tight management. While decreasing expenses is important, keeping your space occupied takes on an even higher priority. Real estate companies are quickly learning that automation can play a key role in effectively managing and retaining existing tenants and can also be a success factor when competing for new tenants. Join us as Realcomm’s panelists discuss using technology to maximize occupancy!

BlueGreen is one of my favorite colors clients. A world-class resort, BlueGreen (NYSE: BXG) operates a little differently than our core of Corporate Real Estate clients. Their idea of tenant satisfaction is installing a 75,000 square-foot pool oasis.

BlueGreen’s specialized industry of leisure and tropical escape required a flexible approach. You see, rigidity and structural confinement are generally seen as antithetical to the resort culture, especially when their slogan is “Colorful Places to Live and Play.” The resort’s unique needs prompted us to rethink our platform’s capabilities.

A client of ours since November 2009, BlueGreen has worked with us to develop a creative property management solution. Here are some of the ways they have optimized the flexibility of the platform:

They have thought outside the sand box in terms of their “Buildings.” In their account, a pool, playground, grill area, or any common area is considered a building, with its own work orders and scheduled PMs. This helps them gain accurate reporting around where the highest demands are. (They are generally wherever the highest concentration of New Jersey vacationers are.)

“Tenants” are essentially room numbers. They have a very specific work order issue list that they use to gain accurate reporting as to the types of issues being reported in their rooms. E.g. “Too much foam in my chocolate hazelccino” or “There is an alligator in my villa.”

Given the size of the resort, the mobile application has become crucial to improving productivity and time management across 54 acres of serene setting. The engineers in the field are able to track, comment, and close work orders without having to return to a computer and spend time closing out the work they have done. More time for the H2O arcade and bar.

You know, I think it’s time for an on-property meeting…