3 Things that Will Keep Your Building Standing for a Long Time

3 Things that Will Keep Your Building Standing for a Long Time

Keeping up your commercial building is an important part of keeping your business going strong. When your buildings are well taken care of and looking good, they can last for years into the future and make good impressions on clients and competitors. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to make sure your building stands strong for years to come.

Roof Inspections

One of the most important parts of any building is the roof, and because the roof takes a lot of stress from weather and the elements in general, it needs care from time to time. Investing in roof inspections helps you to ensure that your roof is in good shape and that it will continue to protect the interior of your building from the elements. Wear and tear, blistering, sagging, or leaks, are all good indicators that your roof may need repair. A roofer can come in and do the inspection so you can take care of any issues before they cause too many problems.

Sealing

Sealing and insulating your building inside and out can help you save on utility costs and prevent damage to the building itself. Sealing will prevent both cosmetic and functional damage to your building exterior. Sealing and waterproofing your building’s exterior can help you to ensure that your building is in good shape no matter what weather comes your way. Keeping your building looking and working well will have major benefits for the life of your building and ensure that your investment is well taken care of, now and in the future.

Regular Upkeep

When you have people regularly keeping up and taking care of your building, it is far more likely to experience any issues in the future. Hiring maintenance and cleaning staff can be a small expense that will pay off in the long run as these employees will be able to catch any problems early and take care of them before they become a real danger to your building. Taking care of maintenance and general cleaning tasks regularly and always being aware of what is going on in your building will help your building stay in good shape.

Taking care of your building is an essential part of building ownership. The longer your building stays in good condition, the more profitable the building will be for you and your business.

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Qualities You Should Be Looking for in a Project Manager

Qualities You Should Be Looking for in a Project Manager

Searching for a project manager is complex, and everybody has preconceived notions from managers they have previously enjoyed or have seen in the media. This can cause mistakes in choosing new management. What qualities should your managers have to best fit your needs and brand? What makes a great manager?

Experience in Your Specialty

Obviously, it is critical that your project manager have experience in your field’s specialty. However, experience in the work involved is not the only tool needed. An excellent manager will have experience collaborating with others, as well as having excellent interpersonal communication. Those things take hard work to develop, and an experienced manager will have both. A manager’s field of knowledge must include these as well as the skills of the project itself.

Adherence to Protocol

Safety is of critical importance, so having someone who is a stickler for details is crucial. A good manager is someone who balances between being precise and not being punitive. You need your team to follow the instructions and protocols given. Safety protocols should be in line with best practices for keeping employees safe as they go about their duties. However, overly punitive managers will punish for things which are not protocol and safety based. This is destructive to team morale. Finding someone with the excellent communication skills to balance these two needs is crucial.

Look Beyond Your Comfort Zone

If you want your business to soar, you want someone who loves their job and is brilliant at the work. It’s important to define what technical and intrapersonal needs are necessary in advance. In order to look beyond your comfort zone, you need to know what you’re looking for in personality and temperament to fit your team. This doesn’t come in just one gender, race, or physical ability level! Knowing what qualities you’re searching to find will help you locate the human best to lead your team, not a clone of who you remember from teams you’ve known in the past.

Your business will skyrocket only if your project management is a great fit for your team’s needs, and for what you are working to achieve. Finding the most skilled individual, who follows safety protocols, and has great interpersonal communication, can be a high order but is completely possible! Pretty soon, your team will have the organized mediator they need to work more efficiently than ever.

Read this next: Issues That Property Managers Need to Be Aware of This Winter

Exterior Work That Can Save You on Commercial Building Costs

Exterior Work That Can Save You on Commercial Building Costs

Commercial construction projects can be expensive and learning how to run them as efficiently and cost effectively as possible can help you ensure your bottom line. Completing professional projects on budget is all about finding the balance between the cost and quality of materials and the work that needs to be done.

Use Low-Maintenance Materials

By using low maintenance building materials, you can cut costs up front and in the long run. Materials that look good and require very little in the way of care can make a project affordable and long lasting. Materials like clay tiles, concrete tiles, and slate can last for over a hundred years and keep your commercial building looking good well into the future.

Another low maintenance material is steel. Steel provides a strong frame that can last with little to no maintenance while also being a good choice in the case of fire, as it doesn’t burn. This is especially important in commercial buildings with higher chances of a fire breaking out.

Paint for Efficiency

Paint can add efficiency to your commercial property by insulating the building and preventing energy loss. The key to an efficient coat of paint is to spread it as much as you can over your walls. Reflective paint on the exterior of a building can help keep the interior cooler, even when the sun is out, and the outside temperature is especially high. These paints can also keep moisture out of your property which can prevent additional damage and expenses in the future. This can also create additional value in the property which saves money.

Consider Location and Layout

When designing commercial properties, it is important to balance the appeal of the property with its cost effectiveness, and to consider the effects that the location may have on your overall costs. Even simple things like the orientation of the building can affect the cost and the efficiency of the building. An effective layout can help you maximize on efficiency as you place high use areas in less sunny parts of the building. Consider what sides of the building will be getting the bulk of the sunlight and use that to help you plan out the space.

Effective planning can help make commercial building as economical as possible. Take advantage of your location and low maintenance and energy efficient materials to maximize the efficiency of your buildings and lower costs all around.

We can build you a commercial property that’s cost effective and high quality. Contact us to get started!

Issues That Property Managers Need to Be Aware of This Winter

Issues That Property Managers Need to Be Aware of This Winter

With the winter weather comes more work for property managers and homeowners alike. There are many things that you can do to make sure that things run smoothly for the properties you manage this winter. The following are just a few issues to be aware of in the next few months.

Heating Inefficiency

Heating inefficiencies are common in many homes, but they can be a source of discomfort or even danger in some cases. If your property is in a very cold place, having the heater go out or not working properly can be very inconvenient. You will need to make sure that heaters and thermostats are working and that the air filters are clean and unobstructed. If filters and vents aren’t cleaned, they run the risk of starting fires or not properly functioning. Both of these can be costly to repair.

Water Damage

Water damage is common in the winter. If you live in a state that has high rainfall or snow levels, you will want to be extra careful of water leaking down to the basement and flooding. A sump pump can help you manage flooding in basements.

It’s important to make sure that if a basement does flood, you get the water out as soon as possible to avoid extensive damage and bigger costs. Using a pump will help you to remove the water and check for water damage in the foundation and in the wood framing.

Anti-Icing

Snow removal and anti-icing are important parts of property management. Before the cold weather hits, decide what kinds of options for dealing with snow and ice you’d like to use. Anti-icing and de-icing are two of the most important things for properties in areas that deal with snow and colder temperatures.

Not only will they help keep people safer from accidents and falls, but it will also help to avoid damage to the property. Whether you choose to use a service or do it yourself, you’ll need to decide and make a plan for de-icing and anti-icing your properties for the winter.

From heating to snow removal, there are many things that you need to check before winter hits. Depending on your area, you may need to do more extensive prep or repair work once it gets cold. Pay special attention to the things above so your properties and tenants can be safe this winter.

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How You Can Take the Lead in Environmentally Sustainable Construction

How You Can Take the Lead in Environmentally Sustainable Construction

With so many natural disasters in the world today, it feels more pressing than ever to make an effort to make our communities more environmentally sustainable. But when it comes to analyzing your construction company’s methods, it can be difficult to know where to start. This article will walk you through a few different things you can do to take the lead in environmentally sustainable construction.

Green Building Standards

When figuring out where to start when taking the initiative to be more sustainable, consulting green building standards is one of the first things you should do. Green building standards vary across states, but generally, the process for attaining the green stamp of approval is the same.

Houses are rated for their sustainability based on a series of criteria. When they meet certain criteria, they receive points. The number of points you get determines the rank of your home’s sustainability. Some of the criteria include resource, energy, and water efficiency.

Being aware of these criteria will help you have your radar up for opportunities to make the homes you build more environmentally friendly. Sometimes, the environmentally friendly decision is the same cost as the non-environmentally friendly option.

Reduce Emissions

Reducing emissions is one of the main ways that you can make a positive difference in making your business more environmentally stable. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), resource extraction and processing account for more than 90 percent of global biodiversity loss.

One initial action you can take to reduce your emissions is choosing low-carbon concrete mixes. Because each project typically uses a lot of concrete, the relatively small ratio of carbon in the concrete becomes a significant amount. Choosing lower-carbon alternatives can make a big impact in how you reduce your own carbon footprint.

Recycled Materials

Recycled materials can contribute to more sustainable development. When it comes to purchasing these materials, you may be wondering where you go to find them. The answer might surprise you. If you’re working on a smaller project, starting with Craigslist might actually be a really good idea.

Lots of people post their extra building materials like brick, lumber, and sometimes granite. Not only is this environmentally friendly, but purchasing building materials off Craigslist could actually save you big money in the long run.  

If you’re working on a bigger construction project, you should also consider looking at websites that are dedicated to providing you with sustainable materials. You’ll be surprised at some of the beautiful materials you can find.

Waste Disposal

Changing your waste disposal method is perhaps one of the biggest opportunities that you have to be more environmentally conscious. There are a variety of ways to make your waste disposal more efficient. For starters, you could change the way you house waste during the actual construction job. In fact, bottom dump hoppers are more efficient than conventional hoppers and help with waste disposal.

In addition to making your disposal method more efficient, you should also consider being more conscious about recycling materials. Concrete tends to be one of the most frequently wasted materials. Making efforts to recycle any extra concrete can make a big difference.

Be Precise about Materials

 In addition to being deliberate about your waste disposal, you should also be precise when you cut your materials. The most effective way to eliminate waste when cutting your materials is to use prefabrication. Prefabrication is the method by which building parts are built offsite and then delivered to the building location ready to be assembled.

This allows you to only use the materials that you need. You won’t need to fill any dumpsters with waste.

Be Efficient with Equipment

When it comes to sustainable construction, it’s easy to forget about the impact of the machines you are using. But in reality, between equipment like bulldozers and backhoes, you can actually end up using a lot of energy. Having large machines like this running idly can end up being quite wasteful.

If you only have machines turned on for the time when they are actually in use, you could end up saving both a lot of energy, but also money. In addition, limiting the time that heavy equipment is in use can also help prevent potential injuries that could occur when using that heavy-duty equipment.

Standardize Building Procedures

Another effective method to reduce your carbon footprint is to standardize your building procedures. It may not initially seem obvious how this would affect your sustainability. But in reality, a lot of energy and resources are wasted when you change your building procedures from project to project.

If you have to retrain workers on different equipment and different methods, you’ll inevitably have some bumps at the beginning that generally bring with them some inefficiency.

And besides, finding a way to standardize your building procedures will not only increase your overall efficiency, but it will also save you money. When you can train your workers on less techniques that they learn to master, you’ll be able to get more done in less time.

Work with Local Suppliers

Working with local suppliers can make a big difference in increasing sustainability. Shipping and handling for bigger pieces like cabinets or countertops can result in not only expensive shipping rates but also in a greater carbon footprint.

Do your research to find local suppliers that can provide you with the right materials you consistently need. Not only will this allow you to develop more sustainable business practices and support local businesses, but you may also be able to negotiate better deals between you and the supplier.

If you can commit to the supplier that you will bring them a large amount of your business, they may be willing to lower prices for the materials you need to purchase.

Making your company more environmentally friendly can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Start with some of these suggestions and see where they take you. Even small changes can make a big difference.

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