How to Become a Reliable Building Manager?

By Yuni Ayuningsih | Published On: 10 January 2023
How to Become a Reliable Building Manager?

As we have discussed in the previous article about Building Management, of course there will be someone who oversees the activities in the building management itself which is referred to as the Building Manager.


In a building, almost everything is under the responsibility of a building manager, both in terms of rooms and offices in the building. Without a building manager it will be difficult to ensure the smooth daily operations of several commercial properties such as office buildings, hotels and resorts, warehouses, shopping malls, restaurants and health facilities. This article will discuss more about the Building Manager, his duties and responsibilities and how to become a reliable building manager.


What is Building Manager?

According to Indeed, a Building Manager is someone who oversees the operation and maintenance of properties and yards. A building manager will have a complex and diverse workload that includes strategic planning and managing day-to-day property operations.


Furthermore, according to Wikipedia, a Building Manager or Building Manager is someone who oversees physical or soft services on a newly constructed structure. Building manager positions are classified as either residential or commercial. A building manager’s main responsibility is to manage all processes in a building or construction site and is fully responsible for all work in a project.

 

Building Manager Duties

Building managers may act as client representatives and share duties with property managers and facilities managers. In some cases, the building manager serves as site manager, project manager, or construction manager, but more often than not, they are in charge of post-construction activities related to property or property management.

The duties, roles, responsibilities, and duties of a building manager vary depending on the type of building under supervision, but may include:

  1. Maintaining a safe environment with proper lighting, signage, and accessibility.
  2. Develop and update emergency plans and evacuation procedures.
  3. Supervise security, fire prevention and other safety systems.
  4. Schedule routine building maintenance and operational services.
  5. Contract professionals for repairs as needed.
  6. Ensuring that occupants are provided with proper utilities.
  7. Monitoring the building maintenance budget.
  8. Organize building repairs.
  9. Supervise contractors and inspect work that has been completed.
  10. Supervise field staff.
  11. Provide training for building employees as needed.
  12. Evaluate employee performance and provide direction, correction, or additional training to ensure proper building maintenance.
  13. Scheduling jobs
  14. Resolving complaints, problems, and requests from residents.
  15. Help with emergency response and evacuation.
  16. Maintain occupant records.
  17. Periodically inspect buildings for signs of damage.

 

Building Manager Functions

The Building Manager oversees the daily operations and maintenance of commercial, industrial or residential properties. They liaise with tenants and landlords, coordinate and manage maintenance, housekeeping, and security activities, and ensure facilities meet regulatory standards and codes.

The presence of a skilled building manager has a good function in a building, including:

  1. Help maintain the property’s value in the market
  2. Improve reputation and customer trust
  3. Increase the service life of the building
  4. Create a safe space for the public.

 

Responsibilities of the Building Manager

A building manager usually has a variety of responsibilities, which can include:

Safety Procedures & Emergency Plans

Emergency situations always happen unannounced and can range from natural disasters to flooding, fire, security intrusions and critical system failures. These situations could endanger the public, the tenants and the workers in a building. That’s why building managers make a major contribution by ensuring frequent building inspections, adequate lighting, signs, disabled access, fire safety systems, and oversight of safety processes.

It is not enough to have a safe building. Real estate agents must also develop and update rescue plans and evacuation procedures. It is also important to train employees in safety so they can assist in emergencies and evacuations to prevent situations from getting out of control.

Manage Building Maintenance and Repair Activities

Managing building maintenance and repair activities can be divided into three processes; planning, procurement and inspection. These three processes are under the responsibility of a building manager, in addition to their duties to monitor the building maintenance budget and arrange building repairs. With efficient strategies for each of these processes, the chances of unplanned downtime or of having one piece of equipment go offline is drastically reduced leading to increased output and productivity of the entire space.

Manage and Directing Ground Staff Activities

The building manager has a team that helps run the space and monitors the overall condition of the building. The building manager supervises field staff. One of the best ways to ensure maintenance staff is doing their job is to establish clear lines of communication. Having regular updates and a platform to double-check work progress helps to avoid all kinds of discrepancies and miscommunications while keeping the whole team on the same page.

Resolve Tenants or Occupants Issue

Being a building manager can be challenging at times. Many different situations or problems can occur such as leaking pipes in occupant spaces, power surges or other maintenance related issues, physical intrusions, and so on. When dealing with tenants and occupant related issues in particular, the building manager should have a list of tenant records and history (eg rent payments), previously resolved complaints, highlighted issues, and requests. This guarantees that all problems that may arise are handled professionally, resolved quickly and increase customer satisfaction and trust in the building itself.

Manage Insurance Claims

When there is an incident such as a natural disaster, fire accident, water damage, machine failure, injury or emergency, occupants are directly affected and will suffer losses. The first thing that needs to be done is to take a photo of the incident as evidence to help document the loss for submitting an insurance claim to the insurer. The building manager must handle all insurance coverage and compensation claims. Other claims such as health insurance or car insurance claims also need to be handled, depending on the type of building. The building manager works closely with the insurance company to ensure that all relevant parties are notified when a claim is filed.

 

How to Become a Reliable Building Manager?

Building managers are an integral part of the housing development – they are authority figures who can be consulted in times of need, can answer key questions about the building, and can liaise with other teams to expedite tasks as needed.

Financial Transparency

The Building Manager must be able to provide landlords and tenants with specific details regarding expenses for the building, particularly in relation to how their service fees are being spent. A building manager must also be able to provide information on budgeting and monitoring costs.

Ability to Contact

A good building manager needs to be easy to contact, especially in an emergency. Residents and tenants alike should have contact information for their building manager, know what time they will be arriving, and know who to call for after-hours assistance.

Leadership skills

Strong leadership skills make for a trusted and reliable Building Manager to handle complaints and inquiries. In addition, the building manager must have the ability to not only manage the development but also the staff working on it. Building managers must create job convenience, train and supervise staff members who may be part of the security, concierge, maintenance and cleaning teams, and must be able to divide their time effectively to ensure the smooth running of each department.

Problem Solving

Building managers must plan ahead for any inevitability and respond promptly to any issues to find effective and long-lasting solutions. It takes a manager who can solve a problem with the right decision and still consider the tenants, occupants or employees.

Prioritizing Safety

The most important responsibility of a building manager is the safety of residents, visitors and staff. To prioritize their comfort and safety, a building manager must have knowledge of development and related protocols. This includes a comprehensive understanding of fire prevention and escape routes, security systems, and implementation of emergency protocols.

Regular Inspection

The building manager organizes regular inspections and generates detailed condition reports for every aspect of the build. The building manager will then recommend and enforce any protocols in response to condition reports, and update relevant parties based on inspection findings. These reports should be carefully stored for easy retrieval, cataloging records that can be retrieved in the future.

 

Difference between Building Manager and Property Manager

Often the Building Manager is defined as the Property Manager. However, did you know that the two actually have differences? Property management is someone who oversees and controls residential, commercial or industrial real estate (properties) owned by others to achieve a series of results throughout the property or property life cycle. Property types can also be apartments, condominiums, shopping centers and so on. Much of the responsibility for achieving the required results will fall to the property manager who may be an individual or an organization and will act on behalf of the property owner.


In general, the building manager will fall under property management services. The building manager is responsible for the space itself – the physical building shell and rental offices – and is responsible for maintenance to ensure its value is maintained.


In some cases, the building manager may share maintenance responsibilities with the property manager. This includes tasks such as repairing roof leaks, rotting wood, cracks and other movement, mold and other problems which, if left unattended, can result in costly repairs.

However, the property manager may be less involved in the maintenance and management of the physical building and more involved in the business aspects. This may include responsibilities related to securing tenants, creating tenant satisfaction surveys and maintaining tenant retention rates along with financial aspects and other general administrative activities.

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Building Operation

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