Category: Building Operations

Maintenance Positive Impacts of Local Law 11
2009 March Positive Impacts of Local Law 11

There’s more than enough to worry about living in a major American city without having to worry about being conked on the head by falling debris. That’s the kind of urban hazard Local Law 11 was created to address, requiring all buildin…

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Maintenance Handling Sub-Par Maintenance
2009 Jan Handling Sub-Par Maintenance

In most buildings—even otherwise well-run, well-managed ones—building staff and administration can sometimes get a little bit lax in their day-to-day maintenance duties. Equipment doesn’t get serviced. Paint peels. Dust and dirt accumula…

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Management The Least Popular Decision
2009 Jan The Least Popular Decision

The boards of some co-op and condo buildings pride themselves on not raising their monthly maintenance fees for years at a time. At first glance, this might seem like a good thing—after all, low fees are appreciated by residents and can…

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Security Security Service Integration and Training is Key
2008 Dec Security Service Integration and Training is Key

Push aside old notions of ineffective security officers. The security officer of the future has arrived. Today’s security officer may be navigating tours on a Segway to patrol airports, transit stations, manufacturing facilities, apartm…

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Security Be Safe and Secure In Your Home
2008 Dec Be Safe and Secure In Your Home

The expression “Better safe than sorry” is known by everyone. As apartment dwellers, it is important not to take advantage of the sense of security felt by having a doorman posted at the door or hallways lined with sprinklers and let ou…

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Security Turn Bad Times Into Good Times
2008 Dec Turn Bad Times Into Good Times

To quote Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” but in this case, the reverse is true. When I started my design firm 26 years ago, the idea of a company specializing in designing common areas of…

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Security Hiring the Best for Your Building
2008 Dec Hiring the Best for Your Building

So your condo or co-op’s management company is getting ready to hire a new service employee. It could be a doorman, it could be a maintenance man, it could be a swimming-pool supervisor. Is this a simple process, or a complicated one? A…

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Security A Room with a (Rotating) View
2008 Dec A Room with a (Rotating) View

Buckminster Fuller, a thinker, inventor, artist, mathematician, (the list goes on,) once said, “People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of doing things.” Fuller, most famous f…

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