Property Managers and Control

Property Managers: Do you like having control of your life?

Everyone likes to think they have some sort of control over what they do each day. What clothes to wear, what food to buy, which friends to hang out with. Yet there are many things in our lives that we do not have control over and may not even know it.

With the rising costs of electricity and water, do you know how much you use everyday? The average Canadian uses 250-300 litres of water per day!* That is more than the average person in the United States or Europe. Do you try and control how much water you use or is it just a free for all in your home because you don’t see the bill every month?

Residents in condominium and multi-residential buildings should be responsible for paying for their water and electricity usage. The only fair way to allocate utility costs is by initializing a suite metering program. Property management gains control of the buildings budget and residents take control of their usage when suite metering is in place.

Get Control

Getting to the bottom of your to-do list as a property manager can be a huge challenge. There are endless interruptions into your daily list of tasks from residents, contractors, deliveries and emergencies that need your immediate attention.

Focus your control on structuring the most efficient path through your priorities.

Your sense of control can toughen you to think on your feet and be decisive–giving you a huge competitive advantage. Respect is won by being a good leader and decision maker as a property manager.

Innovative and technological prowess will boost your property management capabilities and reputation.

Keeping up to date on advances in the industry, attending trade shows and networking with vendors and suppliers is a good habit to get into. Condominiums and multi-residential buildings will always need improvements, maintenance and renovations; make your life easier and take control of the relationships that the building management has with all internal and external players. Once you know who to call in an emergency, or when an issue arises, you will be able to control the situation quickly.

Take Action

If you’re building is not currently suite metered, check out some of the benefits here: https://prioritymeter.com/ca/property-managers-developers/suite-metering-multi-residential-commercial/

As a property manager, your budget and building are run similar to a business. Water and electricity costs make up a huge percentage of the annual budget. By including utility fees in the maintenance fees for residents, there is no incentive for residents to reduce their utility usage. Residents often think, ‘It’s all included’ means use as much as they want. With water costs rising every year and the water usage by residents uncontrollable, how will the budget balance properly?

Daniel Perexz-Arteaga is an RCM with FirstService Residential and he states that “expenses such as utilities and general expenses (not contracted) are the ones to look out for”. [Condominium Manager magazine Fall 2019 pg. 35]

There is another way

As mentioned, suite metering is the solution to reducing utility costs, gaining control of maintenance fees and ensuring residents are mindful of their usage. If residents choose to use endless amounts of water, they will see the result of their behavioural choices on their next bill.

To start gaining control over unpredictable utility costs, review previous budgets and actual expenses to recognize spending trends. There is always opportunity for diligent management to avoid a deficit. Residents do not want to see their maintenance fees climb higher and higher nor the rent increase. Therefore, taking action to ensure a controlled budget will foster happy resident-manager relationships.

Consider obtaining new quotes from contractors and negotiating with vendors further to reduce expenses. Always allocate funds for unexpected and unanticipated repairs. With four seasons in Canada, the weather can take a mighty toll on building infrastructure and systems like HVAC.

To learn more about implementing a suite metering program for your building call 1-866-836-3837 ext 2 and speak to a Sales Representative today about your needs.

*https://www.watercanada.net/statistics-canada-reports-on-canadas-renewable-freshwater-and-water-use/