2012 March
Focus on... Exterior Maintenance

 As a co-op or condominium board member, you rely on a long list of service  professionals for work ranging from HVAC maintenance to parking lot sealing.  Finding the right person for the right job, though, can be a challenge.    In…

More often than not, when boards or associations broach the issue of their buildings “going green,” images of bamboo flooring, hemp drapes, or solar panels on the roof suddenly spring to mind. The impression seems to be that in a condo,…

 The roof is the uppermost part of any residential building, serving as the first  line of defense against whatever the skies throw at its inhabitants. In many  New York co-op and condo buildings, the roof is also a social space, complete …

As recently as the 1930’s, only 68 percent of American homes had electricity. By the middle of the last century however, most Americans enjoyed well-lit homes, and the light had started to spread outdoors as well. Initially, yards and g…

In New York City, urban high-rises with sidewalk frontage and outer-borough HOAs with walking paths, parking lots, and service roads are reliant on their paved surfaces and therefore need to regularly inspect and maintain their concrete…

Walking down the streets of New York City, the zig-zag iron work of fire escapes immediately evoke romantic images of a simpler time, having been immortalized in books, songs and plays from West Side Story to Rent. With some fire escape…

 As the old saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first  impression, and for co-op and condo homebuyers, that first impression is almost  always the view from the street. No matter how deluxe the accommodations inside, if th…

 Whether it is redesigning light fixtures in a common space or replacing a roof,  repair jobs and capital improvement projects are like death and taxes, they are  inevitable. Whereas a building administrator or a managing agent most often …

 It’s no secret these days that co-op and condo operating costs are going through  the roof, so to speak, and boards and managers are all looking for effective  ways to generate cost savings. Building management looks at fuel and energy  u…

 Unless it's a thoughtful gift or a party in their honor, nobody likes surprises.  That's especially true when it comes to sudden, serious, or non-negotiable  repairs to a co-op or condo building. A building community must have enough  mon…

With its plethora of major cultural and educational institutions like Lincoln Center, the Museum of Natural History, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Grant’s Tomb, Barnard College, Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University…

Concrete is the most prevalent building material in existence today, though most people probably don’t notice how widely used the material is until it begins to break up in front of their homes, or falls off of their buildings, roads an…

Q I serve on the board of a Brooklyn co-op which is only 52 percent shareholder  owned. Shareholders now have the simple majority on the board. Our sponsor owns  the management company (which is non-responsive), has a relationship with ou…