Category: Building Operations

A fire breaks out in an apartment building; A broken water pipe floods several floors; A resident collapses in the lobby with a heart attack; An intruder roams the premises, possibly with criminal intent. In each case, fire rescue and poli…

It’s often said that safety starts at home—and while many HOAs spend lots of money on sophisticated security and access control systems to protect residents and their property, others opt for lower-tech solutions to neighborhood security…

While September 11th probably stands as the biggest emergency New Yorkers have faced to date, many other, less-catastrophic crises arise in the city every day, from fires to water main breaks to building collapses. And whereas residents ha…

Legal issues, maintenance challenges and the ever-present Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and Department of Buildings (DOB) compliance requirements are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the obstacles condo and co-op boards, a…

Workers' compensation as we know it today—the insurance system that provides medical care and other benefits for workers who become sick or injured in the course of doing their jobs—grew out of the European labor movement in the late 19th …

Though the last couple of winters have been unusually mild, New York City does in fact get slammed with the occasional blizzard or ice storm—and when it does, the heavy snow and freezing temperatures inflict lots of wear-and-tear on co-op …

Big or small, disasters often strike out of the blue. They catch us unaware, flatfooted and feeling helpless at their impact. This is especially true when these events hit us at home or within our shared communities. When fire, flood, hurr…

Property managers know that whether they're running a small, contained walk-up building, a multi-unit high rise, or a sprawling condo development in the suburbs, materials, capital and personnel all fall under their administrative jurisdic…

Of all the modern conveniences we take for granted, perhaps none is as profoundly basic—and indispensable—as indoor plumbing. Carrying fresh water into our homes and taking waste water away, the pipes in our condo or co-op buildings are th…

The rarely stated—but all too well understood—Murphy’s Law for Boilers—asserts that if your boiler quits working, it will do so on Christmas or New Year’s Eve, or at 4:45 p.m. on the coldest day of the year. With some planning, though, tha…