I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to technology working in your home, office, or common areas of an association I manage. That said, when I read about nest's thermostat and smoke detector I was immediately engaged. I'm not sure how it all came together, and I decided to look into the product, but I'm pretty sure I saw a glimpse here and there on social media, or a news article and I kept thinking, "what is nest." I let the thought leave my mind quickly, and continued mindlessly scrolling the headlines of my news feeds. Finally, I saw a news article that nest was purchased by google, and for some reason I think google has a big idea of taking over every aspect of how technology engages with us, "the humans." I can't help but think, "why is google buying nest, and what is their master plan to take over the in-home tech space, and how will it make me ever so happy in the process?" So, I started in on the google machine and began my research. First thing I pull up is Tony Fadell and bang, he's "one of the fathers of the iPod." Uh oh, my thirst for research must continue. It must.
I land on the website and feel refreshed and overjoyed by it's simplicity. Just to side step a bit, I'm a little neurotic when it comes to alleviating clutter and streamlining everything in my life. It sounds odd but I like the idea of the fire department coming to my house, telling me I have an hour to pack everything, and knowing I can accomplish the task in less time than they provide. Interestingly enough, nest's smoke alarm, my neurosis of eliminating clutter, teamed with the hypothetical of leaving my house in an emergency are, without a doubt, a match made in heaven that was birthed by cupid himself. I can imagine being in a room, receiving a text from nest about a potential fire, calling the fire department and then taking all my valuables before any damage to the rest of the house occurs. I win. The only problem I foresee is explaining to my insurance company that every valuable in the house was successful taken away, but the entire structure was burned down ...
How the nest smoke alarm works for me:
1) It tells me where the problem is in the house/building. Not by beeping but by saying, "there is smoke in the living room," or by sending a message to my tablet or smart phone. Brilliant!
2) It tells me when the batteries are running low via smartphone or tablet. Awesome, no beeping.
3) If the alarm goes off and it's not an emergency, then I can simply wave my hand in front of it and it will silence. No piercing noise, no annoyance, just a calm voice alerting you of a problem. I'm overjoyed.
Alright, that's perfect for at home, but now my mind wonders to my place of business. My office is in an older building, no fire spinklers, no centrally monitored smoke alarms and as far as I can tell, no way to dispatch the fire department. What ever do I do? Install nest in my office, get notifications of any potential fires on my phone, and save my entire office complex. I'm a hero, everybody loves me and, yes, I win property manager of the year even though I don't manage my office complex.
Okay, I'm not sold on nest yet (totally lying to myself), what's up with the nest thermostat? Well, it's the sexiest thermostat I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. And you can definitely see and feel the father of the iPod resemblance here. I'll keep this portion short and hopefully by now you'll look into this for yourself.
How the nest thermostat works for me ... And maybe you.
1) It is always learning. Always. Every time you adjust the temperature it takes note.
2) You can adjust the temperature from your smartphone or tablet. Ever forget to turn off the heater and you leave for awhile?
3) You save on energy costs because you can monitor, and you have the nest looking out for you, and monitoring your habits.
In conclusion, I love nest and really want to know how it can go to work for me in a commercial management atmosphere. I plan on pitching the idea to some clients, but a couple things are coming to mind as possible concerns.
1) Theft.
2) Upfront cost and realized savings.
3) My clients may become suspicious of google taking over the in-home tech space, and wonder how it will make them ever so happy in the process.
Showing posts with label Association Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Association Management. Show all posts
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Monday, December 19, 2011
Community Association Management
As a property manager, searching the weather is just part of the job. A few days ago it was wind that I worried about, and today we have rain in the forecast. One way or another mother nature always finds a way to affect the world of property management. I'll list a few topics that come to mind when I think of rain, but will focus on the topic of concrete walls leaking water into a building.
1)Window leaks
2)Leaks through slabs of concrete buildings
3)Water intrusion through roll up doors and building entrance doors
4)Sump pumps breaking down
5)Bio-swales turning into rivers and lakes
6)Retaining walls starting to fail
7)Roof leaks
8)Leaks through vent pipes
9)Storm drain filters falling apart due to over-fill of trash
10)Landscape lights shorting
11)Dirt lots flooding into parking lots
12)Unsealed roof penetrations appearing after a tenant improvement
13)Landscape flooding due to lack of drainage
When thinking about concrete tilt up walls, the first thing you need to remember is that concrete is porous, permeable and needs waterproofing. During the huge rains we experienced last year in Southern California, I received calls from buildings in Irvine, Ontario, Murrieta, Temecula, and Rancho Cucamonga about water intrusion coming miraculously through the exterior wall and damaging carpet and drywall. The problem usually occurred where landscape and dirt sit right against the concrete surface of the building. The thought process for this common problem goes something like this:
1)Is the water coming through a window that is not properly sealed?
2)Are there any small cracks on the exterior wall of the building that are allowing water to come through?
3)Is the landscape being property drained or is the water pooling and sitting against the wall?
4)Was the waterproofing properly applied to the concrete surface of the tilt-up that the landscape sits against?
5)How much money do I have to address this problem without issuing a special assessment?
6)Is this an association problem or an owner problem?
7)Is a pipe leaking (let's rule this out since we're focusing on tilt up wall water intrusion)
Just for the sake of fixing this wall, and assuming we have plenty of money in the association's bank account; I'll address how to solve the phone call below.
Phone call: Luke, you'll never believe it, I have water all over my carpet and soaking my drywall, and the problem looks to be coming in from the landscape straight into the building.
As an association manager the first step would be determining if this is an owner issue or association. Let's assume there is no gray area, this is a condo building that the association is responsible for the exterior walls, and every bit of the problem is for the property manager to handle. The best way to handle this would be to take the following steps:
1)Look for cracks in the wall. If you notice any cracks then have a water-proofer grind them down, fill in with an epoxy, and re-paint the area to the original color.
2)Remove the dirt that sits against building about 2' down. Apply a waterproof membrane along the foundation of the building. Infill the area with gravel and top off with dirt.
3)Make sure the landscape drainage is working properly, and/or install landscape drainage to properly drain the landscape.
4)If a window sits on the ground near the landscape, have a window leak specialist re-caulk and address any problems where water could potentially seep through.
The four-step process above has fixed the problem 100% of the time in my experience. However, this expense can easily get over a couple grand in the blink of an eye.
1)Window leaks
2)Leaks through slabs of concrete buildings
3)Water intrusion through roll up doors and building entrance doors
4)Sump pumps breaking down
5)Bio-swales turning into rivers and lakes
6)Retaining walls starting to fail
7)Roof leaks
8)Leaks through vent pipes
9)Storm drain filters falling apart due to over-fill of trash
10)Landscape lights shorting
11)Dirt lots flooding into parking lots
12)Unsealed roof penetrations appearing after a tenant improvement
13)Landscape flooding due to lack of drainage
When thinking about concrete tilt up walls, the first thing you need to remember is that concrete is porous, permeable and needs waterproofing. During the huge rains we experienced last year in Southern California, I received calls from buildings in Irvine, Ontario, Murrieta, Temecula, and Rancho Cucamonga about water intrusion coming miraculously through the exterior wall and damaging carpet and drywall. The problem usually occurred where landscape and dirt sit right against the concrete surface of the building. The thought process for this common problem goes something like this:
1)Is the water coming through a window that is not properly sealed?
2)Are there any small cracks on the exterior wall of the building that are allowing water to come through?
3)Is the landscape being property drained or is the water pooling and sitting against the wall?
4)Was the waterproofing properly applied to the concrete surface of the tilt-up that the landscape sits against?
5)How much money do I have to address this problem without issuing a special assessment?
6)Is this an association problem or an owner problem?
7)Is a pipe leaking (let's rule this out since we're focusing on tilt up wall water intrusion)
Just for the sake of fixing this wall, and assuming we have plenty of money in the association's bank account; I'll address how to solve the phone call below.
Phone call: Luke, you'll never believe it, I have water all over my carpet and soaking my drywall, and the problem looks to be coming in from the landscape straight into the building.
As an association manager the first step would be determining if this is an owner issue or association. Let's assume there is no gray area, this is a condo building that the association is responsible for the exterior walls, and every bit of the problem is for the property manager to handle. The best way to handle this would be to take the following steps:
1)Look for cracks in the wall. If you notice any cracks then have a water-proofer grind them down, fill in with an epoxy, and re-paint the area to the original color.
2)Remove the dirt that sits against building about 2' down. Apply a waterproof membrane along the foundation of the building. Infill the area with gravel and top off with dirt.
3)Make sure the landscape drainage is working properly, and/or install landscape drainage to properly drain the landscape.
4)If a window sits on the ground near the landscape, have a window leak specialist re-caulk and address any problems where water could potentially seep through.
The four-step process above has fixed the problem 100% of the time in my experience. However, this expense can easily get over a couple grand in the blink of an eye.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)