A “Green” Office SenEarthCo’s intranet system allows clients to access financial data, communicate with their property managers, contact board members and send news to association members online.
“The idea that one can look up account information, communicate with their property management company or make a maintenance work order with a 24-hour guaranteed response is unique,” says Masche. “In addition, it offers direct debit of payments for association dues.” CMI currently is testing the intranet system with some of its clients.
“The web site is fantastic,” says Greenstein. “It makes our job much easier. We are able to communicate with both the association and CMI through the [intranet]. If we have news, we can do it through the web site. Association members can log on and respond to us at their convenience. Plus, we have immediate access to all of our financial information at any time we need it.”
Lofty Goals Clients seek out CMI because of its healthy building initiative, says Carlson. “For some reason, clients believe that we are more trustworthy because of our initiative.” Ironically, while the company is often hired because the client likes what it stands for, more times than not, when the management team suggests using some of the initiatives, the board of directors decides against it, says Carlson. The biggest barrier to getting clients to use the initiatives is a lack of education about the benefits and the costs. “When someone has done something the same way for 50 years, they don’t want to change,” says Carlson.
One of the major differences between managing a standard multifamily property and a common interest community is that you are working for 100 different bosses instead of a single property owner, says Carlson.
That leads directly to another challenge for CMI’s management team: it can’t make property management decisions across the board. Management companies often use the same procedures at every property. Not CMI. “We have to go along with what the client wants,” says Carlson. Not every client is going to use the lawn care products or the energy-efficient light bulbs.
“In a rental property, your client is a business person or large company or partnership. There is no emotional interest in the property – just a financial interest,” explains Broms. “The residents in our case are homeowners. It becomes an emotional experience that we are managing, rather than a business. We are constantly educating them on their role in the association.”
Carlson suspects that there is a 30 percent penetration rate of clients that take advantage of the healthy building management program, but CMI has not calculated the numbers. Part of Carlson’s five-year goal is to develop a system that measures the initiative’s positive impact.