IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF SUMMER MAINTENANCE

Posted August 30, 2011

If you have stayed on top of your spring checklist, items that should include HVAC maintenance, landscape cleanup, and exterior touchup, then the hot days of summer will not bring a deluge of angry calls from tenants who are overheated in their offices or concerned about the appearance of their building. To be sure, storms and power problems will occur, and there will be situations that you will have to work your vendors hard to resolve, but you will be ready if you are prepared. During the summer and the winter are the times when your knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of your properties is key to your success with tenants and landlords.

Even if you have a regular landscape maintenance program in place, drought can turn the grounds of a building into a desert pretty quickly. Irrigation systems are expensive to install and maintain, but if you have an expanse of grass, they can be effective if they are set to water in the early morning.  If your community invokes water restrictions, then you will have to comply. It is better to keep commercial landscaping to a basic combination of well mulched, hardy trees and shrubs, so that tenants are not greeted with dying plants and landlords have not invested in a failure to thrive. Weeds will grow in rain or drought, and must be kept in check, so even if you aren’t mowing as much, the crews have to weed regularly. Conversely, if the summer is wet, then you are going to be spending some serious money to keep the vegetation under control with additional visits by the landscape crews.

During the summer, you will be concerned with the regulation of temperature inside your buildings. Don’t be surprised if you receive many complaints from tenants who are too cold. People working at a computer station are more likely to stay in a seated position for long periods of time without moving around, so they will feel cooler. Most desk chairs, especially if a woman is sitting in it, have a sweater or jacket across the back. If you manage an older building, you will be asking your HVAC vendor to adjust the thermostat up and down fairly often. Thunderstorms can play havoc with a/c delivery. Lightning strikes if your equipment is located on the roof can do their damage overnight or on the weekend, and you will have a big problem when people arrive the next day and walk into a hot, stuffy building. At times like these, a good relationship with your vendor is money in the bank.

One last issue that comes up over and over again in the summer, and can cause a lot of problems, is the problem of water that appears where it is not supposed to be. Usually this is a result of a heavy deluge of rain in a short period of time. Runoff can cause problems in the parking lot with flowing water, puddles and soil or gravel washouts that may prevent a tenant access to the building or a vehicle. Runoff can deface a landscape design with displacement of mulch or plants, and undermine walkways and steps. Runoff can find its way inside a building from the roof and windows, and cause ceiling tiles to fill and collapse, and, if not detected, cause mold to grow. Your attention to roof and exterior maintenance in the spring before summer weather conditions are the norm will go a long way towards making these situations much easier to resolve quickly. That said, there will be times when even the best preparation is no match for Mother Nature. Then you will have to rely on your vendors at a time when they will be overwhelmed with calls. If you have a solid relationship, they will be there for you.