Preventive Maintenance is not as sexy as constructing a new building; it’s more like the ongoing care you devote to keep a marriage going. Making something last longer by taking care of it saves money, keeps things valuable and enables you to rest easy knowing that it won’t shut down or spontaneously break up with you…. pun intended. As with relationships, building components start out new and nice to look at, and then over the years they can get a little run down and start to not work as well as they used to. I’m not saying that every building component is going to put on weight and become lazy — but they will start to run themselves down if not given their scheduled tune up and maybe some flowers now and again. There’s something to be said about an old furnace that works day in and day out and doesn’t cost you anything, except your attention.

To avoid the relationship rut between you and your building equipment, here are some easy tips to keep things spicy and working the way they should:

1. Consider All of Your Building’s Systems and Their Needs

Whether you are coming into a brand new building or a building that has seen better days, the same premise follows: all building systems need attention. For every building system there is a suggested maintenance schedule that is usually provided with the warranty information. If you can’t find the system information because it has been lost in the shuffle, then start fresh today. Bring in the necessary maintenance staff or contractor who will provide a service to maintain the system. Knowing what you know now, start building the relationship between you and your HVAC system, your chiller and your fire alarm system and everything else in your building; you will be surprised what you get back when you nurture your building relationships.

2. Commit to a Preventive Maintenance Plan

Starting a preventive maintenance plan is the responsible thing to do for you, your tenants and your building. With everything else going on with the building, it is essential that you write down and regularly update the schedules checking off inspections and maintenance completion. This will provide you with a record for your reference. This comes in handy if you are fixing the equipment prematurely or are having a continual problem. This documentation can provide due diligence to have the equipment replaced or fixed at no cost to the building or at the very least it will provide an accurate history. Having all your maintenance records stored in the same place also helps when transitioning a new piece of equipment or even a new staff person. When your records are organized, you’ll be better prepared when training new people coming into your workplace.

3. Stay Faithful and Reap the Rewards of a Healthy Relationship

To keep everyone happy and healthy, maintaining building systems allows tenants and staff to live and work in a comfortable environment. There is nothing worse than having the heating system not work in the middle of winter. Having hot water to take a shower and heat in the winter are all apart of maintaining the building standards. The tenant’s quality of living is affected by the building systems. When tenants are happy, your life is easier. There are fewer complaints and less maintenance calls. If you start being proactive with a preventive maintenance plan instead of being reactive, than you can better manage your time and keep the tenants smiling and paying rent. You also avoid spending money on costly emergencies when equipment breaks down.

Cultivating a happy, healthy relationship with your building is the right thing to do for you, the tenants and your building. Using these tips will help you control costs better, invest your capital reserves more effectively and avoid unhappy surprises. Remember: if you ignore your building and don’t treat it right, don’t be surprise if something breaks up or down on you the Friday before a long weekend!

Preventive Maintenance Resources

Through SHSC Technical Services, housing providers in Ontario have access to services that support their preventive maintenance plans, including:

• General appraisals of your building’s physical condition
• Reviewing and interpreting of Building Condition Audits and Energy Audits
• Arranging new Building Condition Audits and Energy Audits
• Priority setting of capital work
• Establishing capital plans

The Asset Management Centre also offers a Preventive Maintenance workshop. To find out more about these offerings, contact SHSC Customer Care at 1-877-733-7472 or customercare@shscorp.ca

When it comes to planning what you are wearing, where you are going for dinner or what time you are going to gym, you may find it easy to make these decisions. When it comes to planning for your future, understanding your investments, or thinking what the next thirty years will look like, you may become over whelmed and quickly focus back on your dinner plans. I think we all do this in some shape or form, but can we allow this pattern to continue when it comes to managing our properties?

Planning for the Future

Planning for the future in social housing is difficult; however, utilizing practical software programs that forecast the future by mapping out needs and funding availability can make the task easier. This is not to say that miracles happen and funding will magically appear… but it does give you an accurate and true picture of the reality of your properties.

As portfolios age, housing providers and service managers are making tough decisions to regenerate, redevelop and rebuild structures. Maintenance plans and capital repairs are being completed to keep our buildings safe and standing for years to come. All of these actions fall under the umbrella of “Capital Planning”.

“Capital Planning” is the New Black

Housing providers everywhere are looking at their buildings and saying, “Am I going to have enough money to maintain the current living conditions?”, or “Is it worth putting money into this building, or how many years are we going to get if we fund x, y, and z?” As these questions echo across the province, we need to say, “Yes” to capital planning and “Yes” to capital planning software programs.

It is no secret that there is a major shortfall in social housing funding, however the question is: “How much does the sector need and what needs are a priority to be funded?” This question has been plaguing us for years and many numbers have been thrown around with no real data to support the claims. The best we can do is guestimate based on what we think is needed and go from there. Wouldn’t it be great if we knew what needed to be funded and where the money should be spent?  Wouldn’t it make sense if we were able to say to the government: “This is the current condition and this is where we are heading?” These questions can be answered, but we would all need to drink the capital planning kool-aid and get on board.

New Software Developed for Capital Planning

SHSC has partnered with Ameresco, a company who delivers energy management solutions, to help get these questions answered. They have developed a software program called Asset Planner that incorporates capital planning for all types of housing and is user friendly to boot. This software program can roll up the needs of thousands of buildings and accurately communicate where the needs are, and how much funding is needed for many years to come. The only hiccup is…..housing providers need to collectively use the software so that their information is available for this data collection.

Can you imagine, SHSC being able to tell the government: “We need 600 million dollars in roofing over the next ten years, and the majority of the money is needed in Northern Ontario.” Or can you imagine SHSC being able to say: “We have 300 buildings in critical repair, and here is the business case communicating the redevelopment strategy to tear down and build again using green savings from the new build.” The possibilities are endless when information is shared and this is the time to do it.

Asset Planner is one of the most efficient and most affordable capital planning software programs on the market and it is being used across the province. From my opinion, it makes sense. It is a solution to a problem, and an opportunity to take advantage of. Social housing is a very complex business, and we need to think of it as any other business. We need to protect and plan for our investments and that includes our buildings.

To find out more, and to arrange a free presentation on the Asset Planner, contact SHSC Customer Care at 1-877-733-7472 or email customercare@shscorp.ca

It’s been a productive day:  You re-lamped the fixtures in both stairwells and the laundry room, replaced a broken lens cover, re-ballasted four fixtures in the office and common room, and switched-out one receptacle that has been heating up and giving its users problems.  It’s now time to go home.  Or is it?

Are you sure that you did everything correctly?  Are you sure that you have no bare or crimped wires and that there are no loose connections?  Did you record or log your actions in your electrical service book?  Did you call the Electrical Safety Authority to apply for the appropriate permits and ask them to inspect your work? If not, you may have compromised your building’s electrical safety and you could be held responsible should something terrible happen.

“Electricity is core to our society. With it, we can do amazing things. Misuse it and it becomes extremely dangerous and a silent killer. Work safe, play safe, be safe – respect the commodity and always work to maximize electrical safety. We all benefit when we do this”

Gerry Lichty, Director, SHSC Technical Services

We all can agree on the need to protect residents as well as the need to ensure that each development operates at maximum safety levels.  But who is the Electrical Safety Authority?  What rights do they have and why should you not only ask them to inspect your work, but to pay for that privilege as well?

The Electrical Safety Authority: Who They Are and What They Do

The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) was established as a stand-alone, not-for-profit organization on April 1, 1999.  ESA assumed the responsibilities of the former Ontario Hydro Electrical Inspection Division and was designated by the Province of Ontario as the sole authority responsible for electrical safety.

Their responsibilities include:

• Enforcing the Electricity Act 1998 and associated regulations including the Ontario Electrical Safety Code
• Responding to fatalities, injuries, and fire losses associated with electrical safety
• Promoting the safe use of electricity
• Increasing public awareness of the dangers of electricity and the requirements for ensuring safe electrical applications and use
• Increasing public awareness of the requirement to have all electrical safety work inspected in accordance with the Ontario Electrical Safety Code

What it Means to You

As the only legal authority in Ontario certified to make regulations about electrical safety, appoint inspectors and prescribe fees, ESA requires that:

1. You keep a record of every electrical task undertaken in your development, including what was done, when it was done, and who did it.
2. You must apply and pay for an electrical permit for each and every electrical job completed on your property, including both capital and maintenance work.
3. ESA has the right to review your log book, inspect your electrical work at their discretion, and require you to make repairs should they decide that the work is sub-standard.

Helping You Lower Costs

From an operational perspective, these requirements are problematic in that the cost of the permit and allowing their inspectors access to the completed work is often far more costly than the value of the work itself.  Recognizing this as a major issue, ESA created their Continuous Safety Services (CSS) program which allows providers to forego the typical permit requirements. Providers can now pay an annual fee, keep the log book up-to-date, and work with ESA inspectors to examine a portion of the completed work once a year. Further, the cost of this program for providers with a portfolio size of 1,000 units or less, has been reduced through a negotiated partnership between SHSC and ESA.

For more information about ESA’s CSS program, contact SHSC Customer Care at 416-594-9325 or 1-877-733-SHSC (7472), or e-mail customercare@shscorp.ca.

You can also visit ESA’s CSS webpages.