Although condo property management is a licenced profession, many condo boards seek property managers with supporting MBAs. While you need to run your condo corporation like a business, the one critical skill that makes more sense in property management focuses on a different area of expertise: Engineering. Here’s why property managers with an engineering background have the one critical skill that sets them apart from the rest.

Condo Management is All About the Structure

Although an MBA provides business insights, property management training and licencing provides specific property management and business skills, including:

• Law  
• Relationship Building 
• Building Operations and Maintenance 
• Financials 
• Operational Quality  

Where both MBAs and CMRAO licencing falls short, is a lack of understanding of the mechanical and structural aspects of a building. This gap can prove disastrous when it comes to meeting the fiduciary and residential safety duties of a manager. However, a background in engineering fills this missing skills gap. 

Engineering knowledge empowers managers to predict structural and system issues before they become a problem. This insight provides a higher and more effective level of operational and fiscal management. As a result, engineering experience facilitates both the proposal and implementation of sound solutions that help improve reserve fund planning and overall property management. 

Holistic Planning through Engineering

The holistic approach ensures decisions are never made based on separate mechanical systems. The whole building approach considers all systems, how they work together, and how malfunctions in one area can impact overall performance. As a result, long-term planning is based on expected system performance balanced with cost-saving factors such as energy efficiency, water usage, and predicted system failures. 

Structural and mechanical understanding is critical for effective preventative maintenance strategies but also contributes to the “whys” behind system failures. Therefore, your board improves future performance and adopts predictive planning. 

Engineers also introduce ongoing inspections to implement cost-benefit planning and to secure financial health through reduced risk of special assessments.

Improved Sustainability

Optimizing performance requires an understanding of mechanical systems, building materials and installation processes that can improve sustainability. Based on your building’s lifecycle, a keen understanding of building condition assessments helps inform your reserve fund planning decisions. 

Through analysis of reserve fund studies, engineering experience creates a more sustainable replacement schedule and budget, supported by environmentally conscious principles to improve energy efficiency. Hence, your board can see substantial operational cost savings as well as improved target setting to meet zero emissions deadlines. 

Financial Responsibility

Engineering expertise ensures you realize the full cost implications of the scope of work for projects including delays, errors, and inefficiencies that impact your bottom line. 

With an engineering background, property managers can manage capital projects, leveraging their understanding to assess drawings and specifications to ensure they meet project objectives. 

Experience in project budgeting also ensures contractors remain more transparent with costs not just in materials, but effective designs, systems, and components at a granular level. This facilitates improved efficacy throughout the entire project, and ultimately, the entire structure, including:

• Restoration of concrete structure of buildings
• Garages
• Balconies
• Window replacement
• Mechanical projects
• Boiler installation
• Hardscape remediation 
• Waterproofing  

A holistic approach also ensures logical upgrades are made to save time and money. By understanding building life stages, essential functions for equipment life expectancy, and predictive maintenance practices, the manager helps extend life. As a result, you can time replacements to optimize reserve fund allotment. 

Cost-Effective Knowledge

When you consider the cost of engineering consultations, having an inside resource with an engineering background makes good business sense. This critical skill allows you to develop and implement maintenance, reserve fund and budget planning to improve overall performance and maintain financial health.

The condo experts at CPO Management Inc, a full-service property management company in Toronto and the GTA, has the experience you need to fill a licensed Condo Manager’s role with an engineer’s structural and mechanical systems knowledge. They can implement expert modifications and strategies resulting in cost savings for your corporation. Reach out to us today to learn more about our condo services.