Within every condo is a community that thrives on sharing and collaboration. There are also individuals who ensure residents’ concerns and the daily affairs of the building are dealt with in a timely and satisfactory manner. For this reason, each condominium community elects a board of directors to enact and enforce rules and regulations (bylaws) and oversee the organization’s finances, including how much each owner must pay in maintenance fees.

In collaboration with condo managers and the corporation itself, these individuals have laws to follow and enforce; employees and contractors to manage; public property to maintain; and the health and safety of the population to protect – not to mention budgets, schedules, and service partners, to oversee.  They seek stability, peace, and order for the collective group, and yet their needs can sometimes conflict with residents’ desires for autonomy, choice, and respect.

So how does one find a balance? By implementing efficient practices and programs that will make life easier for the property management team, the condo board and especially the residents.

Here are some examples:

• On-demand service. Implementing an online condo page or public website can make communication between you and your residents easy and accessible. It can also provide a forum through which individual concerns can be logged, monitored, and addressed in a convenient and efficient way.

• Access for all. Accessibility is one of the core components of property management in 2018. It’s about making information easier for you and your residents to share and upholding their need for autonomy. One example is installing digital screens in the elevators and common areas to ensure all residents are reading important announcements. Another option is to add keyless doors with biometric fingerprint technology for both added convenience and added security. This negates the need to hand out copied keys to workers, visitors, family, or friends, as keyless locks let residents add and delete users themselves. Property managers are also saved the hassle of being called at late hours to help residents who have lost their keys.

• Eye see you. Some condominiums are opting for enhanced digital security; this includes cameras that monitor who comes through the door, in turn, allowing residents to react in real-time by viewing their guests before they let them in.

• Bright(er) ideas. Consider installing motion sensor LED domes in the parking garage and hallways. New retrofit lighting systems reduce your carbon footprint, increase security and save money on the electricity bill.

• Suite metering. With a suite metering program in place, property management no longer has to spend hours of time and energy on utility billing, and usage calculations. A monthly snapshot of common area electricity usage is provided. Furthermore, an in-house customer service team will provide managers and condo boards with peace of mind knowing that all residents are receiving first class treatment. Take the first steps by contacting a sales expert at Priority Submetering Solutions to discuss suite metering solutions for your building and experience top notch customer service firsthand. This practice puts positive responsibility and decision making in the hands of the resident. It also appeals to the eco-friendly community living environment that more residents are expecting.

Combining the technology above with a suite metering program into your condominium will ensure you have accurate measurements of how much money and energy you are saving. This, in turn, can provide the level of ownership, fairness, and autonomy residents require while protecting the health of everyone’s investment.

Hannah Tough is with Priority Submetering Solutions, a licensed, full-service utility Suite Metering and billing company serving multi-unit buildings across North America. For more, visit www.prioritymeter.com.