John
That's a well-thought through, detailed, and I'm sure effective business strategy. Congratulations on developing and executing it so well.
Over the past twenty years of carrying out façade inspections on buildings, both heritage and modern, I've contemplated the '5-year call' on a number of occasions, and for various reasons, never really got it working.
There is, however, no doubt in my mind that even the owners of modern high-rise office blocks will rise to the temptation of such a strategy - one of my previous colleagues developed a very successful programme with a major asset manager involving annual inspections of the facades of the properties in the portfolio - about 12-15 buildings in all - as a result of the ongoing relationship.
But the main reason for this reply was a story about the best case of outsourced institutional memory relating to a building I've experienced ...
... in 2003, my colleague and I were asked to undertake a 'due diligence' inspection on a high-rise office block built in the late 1980s. This type of inspection was common-place - it was typically based on 1-2 drops in the window cleaning basket, a review of the drawings and maintenance files (if they existed), and a brief report identifying the general condition, any major issues, and forecasting indicative capital & maintenance works in the next 5-10 years. Risky, but quick turnround work - and a great entrée into a longer-term relationship with the building owner in some cases.
... the building in question had a glass curtain-wall, and the glass was held in place solely by structural silicone (4-sided structural silicone glazing) with no captive or mechanical glazing beads. At the time of construction, the local authority had approved this, but soon after, in 1990, they became concerned about the technique, and introduced retrospective requirements for inspection and monitoring of all buildings with 4-sided structural silicone glazing. My colleague and I had been heavily involved in working with the local authority (to reduce their onerous demands) at the time, and had actually completed the inspection and monitoring plan for this particular building. We had referred to the requirements and documentation in our 2003 'due diligence' report, but as there were no issues, even after completion of the 10 year monitoring cycle (and our experience had shown us that up to then, the main issues were factory faults rather than in-service problems), we had not highlighted it in our summary.
... we were participating in the 'wrap-up' meeting of the due diligence consultants, when the code compliance consultant raised a critical issue. There was, he stated, an outstanding order with the local authority relating to the entire façade of the building. Quiet descended over the room. The potential purchaser (and all 15-20 of the other consultants) turned their gaze to us. "Why didn't you know about this?", we were asked. We sought further information. The code compliance consultant stated that an order from 1990 was outstanding, relating to something about silicone glazing.
We smiled, and said that this wouldn't be an issue - clearly the local authority had failed to close out their own order. The potential purchaser asked us how we could be so confident. We explained that (working for a different firm of consultants) we had undertaken a complete inspection, prepared a monitoring plan, and subsequently completed two scheduled monitoring inspections, all of which had been submitted to council and accepted. And we knew this because WE HAD DONE IT. Whilst there was nothing in the building records, and clearly, the local authority records were not in good order, the institutional memory was alive and well in our bodies.
Trouble is, as John points out, without the relationships (which we weren't always good at maintaining), the institutional memory was lost. This is one of the reasons why I have a detailed curriculum vitae listing many of the buildings I have worked on, and why it is downloadable from my website. I get at least 1-2 calls per year from people who have found my CV through a search, and want to find out more information about an aspect of their own building! So there is another plank in the marketing process - list the buildings you've worked on, and what you did, on your website. Doesn't need to be fancy with lots of pictures, nor very detailed. Just get the right words that will come up in a search result.
Cheers
David West
Executive Director
internationalconservationservices
T: +61 (2) 9417 3311
M: +61 (411) 692 696
sustaining your heritage
-----Original Message-----
From: The listserv where the buildings do the talking [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Leeke
Sent: Sunday, 13 December 2009 5:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [BP] Decay, Maintenance & Marketing
Ken observes:
>>Real good points. Though I think in order for it to work there needs to
be the institutional memory... a place where that ticking away in the
subconscious can happen.
My experience in the NYC market is that no individual that was involved
in a project will still be involved a few years later.
And often on the 'contractors' end we never really know who is involved
in any sort of decision capacity in the background.
In that volatility it is difficult to maintain a relationship with a
building, let alone be able to re-visit w/ maintenance w/out having to
start an introduction all anew.<<
I hear you about the building-people disconnect in the city, and have
noticed it in your other stories and experienced it myself on the one
one project I was on in NYC, the Carnegie Hall windows.
The one reason I think this works is because I provide the institutional
memory via the marketing/maintenance-program. I'm providing the memory
if the institution doesn't. Some institutions know enough to talk about
"institutional memory" and a few actually do it. One time I got a call
from the new (volunteer) director of a local house museum. She had found
my website, and knew she needed a building conditions assessment to get
up to speed quick. I had done one just 3 years earlier, but didn't
mention it on the phone. I stopped by to meet her, and as we sat down
and she began our discussion with what she though the building needed
and that she didn't have much money to hire me. I noticed my past report
on a shelf. As she talked I walked over and pulled down the binder, and
opened it up to the page of prioritized summary of building needs and
handed it to her. Here eyes bugged out as she read over the page, then
when she turned to the front cover and saw my byline she laughed out
loud. That's Institutional Memory in action! We walked through the
building with the maintenance volunteer and had the report updated in
about an hour.
Several of my marketing/maintenance programs have carried through 2 or 3
building owners, and 6 managers over two decades with one local house
museum . It is a relationship with the building as much as the people.
As Twybil says, yearly visits to the building helps--keeping up that
relationship. Just like buildings, relationships have to be maintained.
Along with this I do the "self-documenting building." For example, with
paint I usually use a contrasting color of primer, rather that tinting
the primer to match the top coat color, usually white primer for colored
top coats, etc. This way, when the paint fails by peeling or weathering
the primer coat shows up, visually standing out, attracting notice and
documenting the paint failure and it's exact location. Other
self-documenting building techniques include drilling a hole in the
gutter right over the back door so when the outlets are clogged and need
to be cleaned out it drips down the back of the neck of everyone using
that door until the gutters are cleaned out. Another is stuffing copies
of key pages from our maintenance recommendations in various nooks and
crannies throughout the building, so they will be found when needed by
new owners, maintenance workers and managers. Of course, my contact info
is on every page. Reconnecting with the current people, right when needed.
Twybil says,
>>While I applaud your ardor and business acumen, I'm thinking perhaps
that
some of your clients must be on Fantasy Island. The two projects that I had
in mind when I made the statement were both under-funded historic house
museums in two of the poorer neighborhoods <<
Actually the marketing/maintenance-program approach developed in rural
Maine in the 1980s while I was working mainly for lower-middle income
working class homeowners who are pretty well grounded in reality, and
local house museums with little or no money. Neither type of customer
could pay for maintenance management services, so I took on that
activity as part of my overhead by doing it as part of my marketing.
>>Clearly, granting agencies should take a more holistic approach to
handing
out cash. <<
I agree, these agencies need to recognize ongoing maintenance. They did
not (and sometimes specifically excluded it). That was the case
throughout the 1970s 80s and 90s with grants I worked under. the past 5
or 8 years this seems to be changing with some support for maintenance
programming and ongoing maintenance costs.
>>But until such a time should we turn down projects from clients
who have a onetime windfall of grant money if we know they are not
going to
follow up?<<
Of course, use the grant money when it's available. In my
marketing/maintenance-program scheme, the big project with plenty of
funding is what pays the overhead for future
marketing/maintenance-programming.
>> No amount of good intention leads to work getting done if there
are no resources to finance it. <<
But it has to begin with intention. And, include recognition of all
kinds of resources, dollar sure, but also, volunteer effort, in-house
knowledge, etc., can all be valuable usable resources to get work done.
Even the passage of time can be a resource--waiting for the right time
for things to happen, ready to jump when the moment is right, etc.
There were quite a few preservation projects that we not done in 2007-8
but sprang to life in 2009 because they we're "shovel-ready" for
surprise economic recovery funds.
John
--
**Please remember to trim posts, as requested in the Terms of Service**
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
--
**Please remember to trim posts, as requested in the Terms of Service**
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
|
