Managing Home Maintenance Costs

Building management training courses are well worth the effort it takes to study and pass the courses. After all if you are going to be looking after a building that is worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and this is a huge responsibility. Many investors, tenants as well as guests and people working at the building depend on you doing your job properly, being able to deal with routine issues as well as any emergencies that may occur. This is an important job and requires a person who takes responsibility seriously and will keep their building looking it’s best.

Training courses will cover everything from real estate services, to professional ethics to professional liability. There actually are so many items to cover that the course we reviewed was over 16 pages in length just for the table of contents. It is important for property managers to understand the different laws that apply to commercial buildings, to condominiums, to co-operatives and residential buildings. Owners have rights as do the tenants of the building. The local bylaws may also vary by town and city even in the same site.

Building Management Training as a Diplomat

Often the property manager is caught between the owners and the tenants in many issues. They must be able to keep both parties satisfied. While staying within the local laws that protect tenants as well as owners. They have to strike the right balance and know the laws. Also when to push back to keep both sides working in a fair manner. They also must be able to manage the expenses and stay within the budget set by the owners of the building. In addition they must have the expertise to know how to deal with emergencies and manage the cost of repairs.

There are also laws that deal with renters. How you need to manage situations involving rent increases, vacancies, renting units, expelling units and collections. As a property manager, particularly if you are managing a large building, there may be multiple people in your organization each managing an element of the overall job. There could be a rental manager for example. While another person looks after maintenance etc. Each will be an expert in their particular field. However someone must be able to cover for them while they are on vacation or away on training.

Ultimately there is one person responsible for everything. This person must also ensure that all of the people in the organization receives the appropriate building management training to allow them to do their jobs properly and legally.Time management, people management, relationship management, are just some of the soft skills that property management teams must take into account in order to be successful. Leadership skills, communications skills and writing skills are also important. These skills help ensure that these managers not only know their subjects, but they can also communicate what they need to when reviewing a dispute for example.

Training Updates

Property managers who have been on the job for some time can also benefit from training. These people have a great deal of experience and can be relied on to do a good job. However they need training updates from time to time on changing laws. Also technology changes and perhaps computer courses to adapt to new software programs.  Most people will appreciate the value of keeping up to date.

This training is well worth the effort and money it takes. On the job experience is also very important. You can learn from the experts and from managers who have been in the business for some time. Set up a weekly review meeting to go over issues, concerns you may have and to discuss general guidelines for your property. In creasing communication can only help you when you are responsible for large buildings.

For more about building management training and services, click here.

It is winter time and many people will resort to some kind of space heater to keep a room warm without the need to heat the rest of the home. For example you  can be very comfortable in your family room with a space heater running in that room while the remainder of the home is kept cooler and saving you money on the heating cost.

There are various types of space heaters. We talked about two types in the title, the infrared and the regular space heater. We will explain the difference in a moment. There is at least one more type of space heater and really that is the fireplace that can be used to keep one room warmer than another. We will first talk about the different types and them discuss the efficiency of each type.

Space Heater Types

Fireplaces – typically are built into a room and cannot be moved around. They may be either wood burning or they may have gas fired fireplaces inserted to avoid having the trouble of carting in wood and lighting fires etc.

Space heaters – generate heat by converting electricity to heat. They heat the elements of the space heater which in turn transmit heat to the air around the space heater. Some come with fans which will circulate this heated air around the room and speed up the process of warming the room. These space heaters can become quite hot and both adults and children need to be careful around them to avoid touching them and burning their hands.

Infrared Space Heaters – generate heat in the infrared spectrum. They do not heat the air around them at all. The infrared spectrum will heat a surface with the light waves encounter a surface such as a person. Aimed properly a person can sit in a cold room and be quite comfortable as long as the infrared rays are hitting the person. There is no danger from anything hot, although some people may find the light a bit bright especially for sleeping.

Efficiency of these Space Heaters

Efficiency is difficult to measure for many devices, so we will indicate averages that may be available from various space heaters.

The wood fireplace is probably the most inefficient. Since most of the hot air goes up the chimney. In fact it draws warm air from your home into the fireplace which then goes up the chimney. All wood burning chimneys must have a source of fresh air. Otherwise they will not burn properly and may even cause smoke to come into your home instead of going up the chimney. Modern wood burning fireplaces will have a fresh air intake installed around the fireplace. This reduces the amount of air extracted from the home and provide a source of fresh air.

The gas fireplace has it owns source of fresh air and in fact is a self contained unit. They are much more efficient than wood burning fireplaces. Older models were approximately 70% efficient without a fan and close to 80% efficient with a fan. The fan blows the warm air around the fireplace into the rest of the home. Never the less these gas fireplaces perform well and will keep a small room like a family room very comfortable. You can allow the rest of the home to be quite cool while you remain comfortable in the room were the gas fireplace is located.

Infrared and regular Space Heaters claim to be 100% efficient. While they are very close to being 100%, they are actually a bit less than 100% since some electrical energy is lost in the transmission of the electricity and if there is a fan, some energy will be lost in the operation of the fan. They are so close that many people just consider them to be 100% efficient for marketing purposes.

Summary

Never the less these small space heaters are an inexpensive alternative to keeping your entire home warm. When all you need is the room where you spend most of your time to be kept warm. Some space heaters will also have timers on them. This allows the owner to set them to coincide with rates that are lower during the day usually in the evening.

Consumers can really save a lot of money with tires sales. There are times during the year when all of the tire companies will have sales on for tires. They tend to coincide with the seasons. In the fall for example, winter tires will go on sale in the October period. They want to drive up sales before the real rush that begins with the first snow fall. They can increase sales during the lull before the storm. Most drivers tend to wait until that first snow fall. Then head off to get new tires or have their snow tires installed.

Many people will buy an extra set of steel rims for their snow tires so they can change their own tires if they want to. With an extra set of rims you also avoid potential damage to the rims when you remove and install tires on aluminum rims.

Take Advantage of Tires Sale

Most of us procrastinate and wait until it gets really cold and that first snow comes down. Then there is trouble for everyone. Cars are sliding everywhere, people are trying to get their snow tires installed, and other consumers are trying to buy snow tires and rims even if it is at full price.

Tire shops are working overtime to keep up with all of the rush to purchase snow tires. Couldn’t consumers just do this in advance and have their tires installed when there is not such a rush. In addition you avoid all of these potential accidents.

The other time that tires go on sale is the transition from winter to spring. They go on sale because consumers need new tires and have to remove their snow tires. This is a great time to take advantage of tires for sale.

Sometimes tires go on sale because there is an oversupply. Consumers need to be careful in these situations. Tires on sale like this can be a really good price, however sometimes these tires have been sitting around for many years.

Check Your Tires Age

Before you buy always check the age of the tires and confirm they are no older than 6 years. Rubber looses it’s properties slowly, however you do not want them on your car during a high speed blowout due to age.

Even if you purchase tires on sale from a reputable tire company, do not take it for granted that they are not old tires. Many people just do not realize that sometimes tires sit around for a long time and then are sold at steep discount to get rid of them. When we purchase them at a store, we have no idea how old they are unless we check first. Even reputable stores may sell them when they are old and past their prime. Always have the mechanic check the age of the tires before they are installed. The information is easily found from the tire by looking at the appropriate code on the side of the tire.

Save money but do so with your eyes open and always compare prices with other tire companies as well as tires from different manufacturers before you make a decision. For more tire sales and discounts on tires, click here.

Text messaging marketing is just another form of advertising that consumers just cannot get away from. Companies and advertising organizations send out millions of text messages every day to unsuspecting cell phone users. This is an attempt to garner some business from them. These messages are sent by the millions and are often ignored by consumers receiving them. They just do not hit the mark for many people and irritate a lot of others. At the very least you have to go in and delete them to reduce memory consumption on your phone.

If you have a text messaging plan on your phone then at least you do not have to pay for the incoming message. Although it is still annoying. You have to read each one and then delete it. Still every once and awhile there are some good deals available. You can save money by taking advantage of them.

Text messaging is actually old technology now. Messaging is becoming available over the internet and sent to your smart phone for free. With a free app on your phone you can send and receive messages to your friends etc without any cost what so ever. We expect that text messaging traffic is going to decline over the coming years as more and more people purchase smart phones.

Text Messaging Marketing – APPs

As these apps become popular there will be text messaging marketing on these new apps as well especially if they make it into a majority of user’s phones. Text messaging is an old technology owned and operated on the mobile phones that are sold by the various carriers. Smart phones are growing by leaps and bounds, so it will not be long before we begin to see a decline.

Most people today will always get a text plan with their phones since sending text messages is actually cheaper than talking over the phone and who wants to talk anyway these days. Most teens just send text messages. A few people we know only have a text plan and a data plan on their phones. They block all phone calls over their phones from the traditional cellular networks to limit voice charges. They can do all of their calling using the data network with Voip on their smart phone and also send text messages. This appears to be the way of the future.

Yet many of our older friends only have cell phones, mobile phones or smart phones only for emergencies and some just take a pay per use plan. They are definitely not into sending or receiving text messages. Still more and more people are gradually getting used to using smart phones and sending text messages. It is an inexpensive and unobtrusive way to communicate.

For more information about text messaging, click here.

The really neat thing about hardwood floors is that you can restore them. The really bad thing is that it takes some work to restore them to their original beauty. Hardwood floors are usually finished with a clear verethane or urethane coating. This finish brings out the grain in the wood and protects it as well. Foot traffic brings in grit from outside brought on shoes. It is ground into the floor, furniture scratches, marks from children’s toys. Also general use all contribute to the gradual decline in the beauty of your floor.  Fortunately, as long as there is still sufficient wood left, the floor can easily be refinished. The original luster can be restored.

Hardwood Floor Restoration Using a Belt Sander

If you have sufficient wood thickness left a belt sander is probably the best tool to use to remove any remaining coating on the wood. Minor gouges and scratches will also be removed since the belt sander will remove some of the wood as well. Each time you sand the floor the thickness of the wood decreases. Once the nails are exposed, no more wood can be removed. Removal of minor scratches can be handled this way quite easily by using a belt sander. Once you are finished sanding, the floor and room needs to be thoroughly vacuumed. Then a tack cloth needs to be used to remove all traces of dust prior to apply a new sealing coat.

Hardwood Floor Restoration When You Cannot Use a belt Sander

Hardwood floor restoration sometimes must be done using a lot of elbow grease. In situations where the wood is too thin, uneven or nails are beginning to show through, consumers will be faced with the job of sanding the floor by hand. It is hard work and expensive if you hire someone to do the work for you. This approach is often less expensive compared to ripping out the existing floor and installing a new floor.

Sanding by hand is just plain hard work and even a small room is going to take several days to complete. Your arms and hands are going to get very tired and sore, so it is best to spread the work out over a few days. A couple of hours every day will make short work of it without taxing your body too much. Having personally sanded a floor in this manner took me three days to sand, another day to clean and then two days to apply two finishing coats with a light sanding in between.

Sanding by hand must be always done with the grain. Never go across the grain since this will leave tiny scratch marks which will show up when you apply verethane to the wood to bring out the grain. Sanding by hand also removes a minimal amount of wood which is a good thing if your floor is getting a bit thin.

Cleaning

Cleaning is done the same way. Make sure you vacuum well and then clean every square inch with a tack cloth to clear any dust away and avoid it marking the floor when you apply the finish.

Many hardwood floors take a lot of abuse, but they will stand up to this abuse for years and years. Hardwood floors will last longer than a carpet or linoleum. A floor that was installed in the 1920’s was refinished and looks as good as new. Hardwood planks were much thicker then than they are today and this floor has been restored multiple times. There are some small gaps between the planks and a few deeper gouges which can be still seen.

They add character to the floor that goes along with the building. Some boards are cracked or broken and need to be repaired. These can be carefully be lifted out and a new piece inserted. Most people will stain the new wood prior to actually installing the new piece into the floor. Care needs to be taken to make sure there is a good match in terms of color, grain and texture of the new piece with the existing floor. The new section also needs to be at exactly the same height as the existing floor to avoid scuffing marks and causing people to trip over it as they walk over it.

Hardwood floor restoration can be hard work, however the result is a beautiful floor you can appreciate for many years.

Our last post discussed the appliances that consume the most electricity. From this post we can see which appliances use the most electricity and where we can plan on reducing our energy usage by focusing on the larger highest consuming appliances.

Turning the lights off and converting to fluorescent lights is an excellent way of reducing our energy usage. So running any appliance that has a motor, such as the air conditioner, the dryer and water pump less are also great ways of reducing energy usage.

We use energy in other ways as well that may not involve electricity. If you have a water heater that runs on natural gas, you are using energy. Heating your home with natural gas as well consumes a lot of energy as do pool heaters that are gas consumers.

Our cars and transportation are another area that most consumers use a lot of energy and the higher the price goes for gasoline, the more motivation there is to control how much energy we use.

Here are a few ways of reducing energy usage:

• Unplug devices if they are not in use. All electronics consume energy even if they are turned off.
• Set computers to sleep so they are not running and put lap tops on hibernation mode, however it is even better to unplug them
• Turn down your temperature in the winter and up in the summer to reduce heating and air conditioning costs.
• Use your appliances in off peak hours such as cooking, drying your clothes, setting your fridge temperature a little higher, wash full loads in the washing machine and the dishwasher, and keep them all in optimal operating condition.
• Turn out the lights if no  one is in the room
• Convert all lights to fluorescent or LED lights
• Walk to work or take mass transit
• Plan your trips in the car and avoid many short trips for single errands
• Keep your vehicle well tuned and tires at the proper pressure
• Turn down the thermostat when you go away on vacation in the winter
• Turn up the thermostat in the summer when you are away
• Use a programmable thermostat
• Use flashlights that do not need batteries and avoid having to throw out used batteries
• Winterize your home by sealing windows

While this may not be a complete list of reducing energy usage, these will cover the majority for many consumers. Depending on your lifestyle, there may be additional methods and approaches to reducing energy usage. Let us know by leaving comments and we will add them to our list. Our readers will appreciate it.

Additional Energy Usage Reduction Techniques

There are additional steps that can be considered to reduce energy usage which may require additional investment with various pay time frames. These approaches include:

• Upgrade your furnace to a maximum efficiency furnace.
• Upgrade your water heater to maximum efficiency
• Ensure your windows are well sealed or replace them with better insulated windows
• Upgrade your insulation in your attic
• Arrange for a pressure test to identify all potential air leaks in your home
• Install ceiling fans to move the air inside your home
• Consider gas fireplace inserts to heat the most used room in your home

There are many more things that will cost increasing amounts of money to put into place. If you are building a new home there are an entire series of things to consider in terms of upgrades that can improve the efficiency of the home in terms if energy use.

There is a law of diminishing returns. The point at which the investment in energy reducing activity is going to cost more than the potential savings over some number of years. The number of years will be different for every home owner and the amount they are willing to spend. For the writer this number is around seven or eight years. In other words if I cannot recover my investment in that time, then I am not prepared to spend the money to upgrade.

This should be constantly reassessed since prices are constantly changing including the cost of energy as well as the cost of the solutions you may be considering. Reducing energy usage is an ongoing activity and should be constantly monitored.