Condo Preventative Maintenance That Will Save You From Emergency Repairs

The goal of any building’s maintenance processes should be preventative instead of reactive maintenance. The cost-savings in preventative maintenance can increase the lifespan of the particular item, whether it’s an elevator, drain, or roof. Yet another added benefit is eliminating the need to dip into the condo board’s emergency reserve fund to fix big problems that could have been prevented.

Buildings, especially ageing buildings, need more attention and upkeep in order to maintain a functioning and comfortable environment for your residents. Regular cleaning and monitoring of all the buildings common areas and general structural integrity is important to ensure that any damage or degradation is taken care of immediately.

CondoInformation.ca has collected letters from condo residents since 2009 stating issues with everything involving condo living. A total of 39% of these complaints include maintenance issues that were never addressed. Feeling overwhelmed by repairs and upkeep is just one of the things that hiring a property management company can assist with.

While certain things such as the roof, exterior walls, concrete, and asphalt are all costly repairs that may only need to be taken care of once in a while, more common maintenance issues such as the ones below need to be regularly addressed.

Elevators

Elevators are the most used piece of equipment in any high-rise building as most residents will use the elevator an average of four times a day. While many elevators come with a 20-year life expectancy, regular upkeep is important to guarantee that your building doesn’t experience any elevator related accidents.

Elevators are required to meet certain specifications set out by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), including yearly inspections. While these inspections can cost approximately $500 per elevator, per inspection, it’s integral to ensure that a certified elevator technician is the one signing off on inspection logs.

Property management companies have built relationships with vendors such as elevator repair companies in order to ensure a thorough inspection, and timely repair if an elevator needs repair. While priority is given to service buildings such as hospitals, it is not unreasonable to demand that your elevators are repaired within a 48-hour timeframe.

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Electrical

Wiring throughout buildings needs to be monitored closely to ensure that they don’t become a fire hazard. According to Mike Holmes, faulty wiring is the No. 1 cause of electrical fires. Just like everything else, wires can wear out; nothing lasts forever.

Regular use can cause conductors to expand and contract, eventually loosening the connection, allowing for an electric arc. That arc could result in electrical fires.

Maintaining that all of your electrical wirings throughout the entire building is up to code and follows the strict Ontario Electrical Safety Code is the job of a certified electrician to regularly inspect.

Plumbing

Plumbing is always a major concern for both tenants and condo boards as maintenance, repairs, or renovations can affect multiple units at a time and can cause extensive damage to the units.

It’s important that your tenants are aware of proper drainage policies, so as not to unnecessarily cause pipe decay by disposing of materials down the drain. Items such as grease, fat, food particles, and a number of other materials can cause full or partial blockages that could eventually deteriorate pipes.

It is recommended that every building undergo what’s called drain stack cleaning or inspection at least once a year to flush any debris from the drains and prevent moldy, stagnant water from forming in pipes.

Since pipes and valves are so close together in condo units, specialized knowledge of condo drain stack cleaning is required to minimize damage to both the pipes and units. Property management companies understand all of the necessary requirements that condominiums require when it comes to complicated plumbing systems and understanding the tenant’s responsibilities versus the board’s responsibilities.

HVAC

There are numerous parts to a buildings heating and cooling systems, and as such can requires constant monitoring to run properly.

Faulty wiring, electrical problems, inaccurate thermostat readings, and poor airflow can all directly impact heating and cooling systems in individual units as well as throughout the building. Ensuring that you can pinpoint the problem and fix it will prevent further costs down the road. Whether it’s repaired to the furnace, water heater, air ducts, or fireplaces, implementing the correct preventative maintenance procedures prevents leaving your tenants out in the cold.

While you want to ensure that the systems are running properly, an added bonus is that cleaning and inspecting HVAC equipment parts can reduce the system’s energy costs by up to 50%.

Repairs to Common Areas

According to a recent study, 60% of problems are in condo buildings in common areas. This means that special attention must always be given to upkeep in shared spaces. Ensuring that all of the above issues are attended to in common areas, plus proper cleaning and maintenance of furniture is important to ensuring a harmonious living space for all your tenants.

Is the washing machines broken? Light out in the hallway on the third floor? You’re going to hear about it if those repairs aren’t attended to immediately.

On top of all of the regular maintenance that is required to satisfactory keep a building running, there are always personal requests from residents and bigger projects that need to be addressed that the entire process can be overwhelming. Researching and hiring property management companies can guarantee that someone is always aware of and looking out for those little things that make the biggest impact on tenant happiness.

ICC^® Property Management Ltd.. has spent time curating and developing a list of the best contractors in the GTA to offer the best rates and service for your buildings repairs. Just one of the benefits of working with an established property management company such as ICC^® is our quick response to repairs and relationships with top-notch contractors.

Learn More:

• Changes to Condo Law in Ontario’s Property Management Regulations
• Checklist for New Condo Owners
• Important Facts To Know About Your Condo Board Of Directors