You know the scenario: A couple days before laundry day, you start buying lots of gum and other sundries to start collecting quarters in your change — quarters you have to haul in a heavy bag and feed into washers and dryers. But increasingly, laundry rooms equipped with smart cards and coinless systems are making quarters as obsolete as subway tokens. Is such high-tech sudsing worth the agitation involved in refurbishing your building's laundry room and changing your residents' long-term habits? Aside from removing the gotta-get-quarters shuffle, what's the advantage? Read More »

When the superintendent of the co-op at 200 East 16th Street started forgetting to do basic duties, turning away plumbers and others who arrived to perform work "without" appointments, and even forgetting he'd ever visited the basement in which he lived and had an office, the board found itself facing a tragic dilemma: What do you do when your super becomes disabled? How do you balance compassion with building safety? What are your rights and their rights under the law, and, if they're union, under the contract?

As these two case studies show, even the most seemingly clear-cut situations may not be easily resolved. Read More »

Oct. 10, 2008 — A 14-story supported scaffold collapsed at 215 Park Avenue South in October 2001, killing five masonry workers and seriously injuring another four. Nearly two years later, Philip Minucci, owner of Tri-State Scaffold and Equipment Supplies of Deer Park, Long Island, pled guilty to second-degree reckless manslaughter after admitting he had erected the 130-foot scaffolding without consulting an engineer or an architect. Building codes require one of these professionals to design any supported scaffolding taller than 75 feet.

Scaffolding and sidewalk sheds may be temporary, but their consequences can be long-term consequences. Here's what boards need to know to preserve life, limb and property. Read More »

If your co-op or condo hasn't been able to "clean up" with laundry-room revenue, you might not have negotiated the best contract. Right-of-first-refusal clauses, for instance, might be keeping you contractually tied to the same company for years despite poor service or a poor split of revenue. But in today's aggressive climate, "Deals have gotten better," says Andrew Posner, senior account executive at Century Management. "It's a lot easier to put together a better package right now." Many companies provide extensive laundry room remodeling to win a contract; some even pay a signing bonus as an incentive for you to that switch laundry providers.

If your contract is up, or even if it's in mid-cycle, here’s what you need to know to get the most from your laundry room. Read More »

There's no way to completely "winterize" a building, but that doesn't mean you can't make sure everything is watertight and in operating order before the cold sets in. Winter is particularly hard on buildings that suffer from water penetration, because trapped water expands as it freezes, causing bricks and masonry to crack and loosen.

Even if you follow a year-round maintenance program — the best prevention — you should still attend to your building's exterior envelope and address key elements of the mechanical systems before the onset of winter. Here's how, in a step-by-step checklist for prepping your indoor and outdoor mechanical systems and your general building exterior. Read More »

It may sound like some accessory from your childhood Micronauts, but there's nothing kid-stuff about a microturbine — a gas-powered, on-site device that actually creates electricity for your building and even produces heat you can use for some of your building's hot-water needs. Read More »

While it doesn't rate as high as terrorism or other safety and security concerns on the hot topics list of most boards and their managers, some think that co-ops and condos should be concerned about their early morning paper deliveries. "These delivery people obviously have a key, but nobody in our building knows how they got it or what the arrangement is," says the president of one Upper West Side co-op board. "They get in very early in the morning — these people we know very little about — and have access to the whole building. They can do anything they like, basically. Just think about what they could be doing." Read More »

Gerard J. Picaso has been managing New York City co-ops and condos for over 30 years, and prides himself on his business acumen. So when it comes to greening the 48 buildings in his portfolio, Picaso says his motivation is as much common sense as it is dollars and cents. Read More »

A new monthly column by HABITAT's editorial director.

“The building is overrun by rats,” Ellen Kornfeld, vice president of The Lovett Group, said to me at a recent meeting, and as she was speaking I had a fleeting image of a scene out of Willard or Ben, the rats-are-out-to-get-you horror flicks of the 1970s. “I’m in the throes of dealing with it.” she said, citing an 80-unit Upper West Side building she had recently begun managing Read More »

A fire escape on your building is in bad shape. Steps, slats and railings are wobbly — some are even missing. Several of the anchorages into the building are loose, and the metal is severely rusted throughout. Aside from it being a visual eyesore, it's a safety hazard.

Is it possible to repair the fire escape without replacing the whole, expensive assembly? It is — here's how. Read More »