Condominium communities across North America are experiencing a myriad of financial challenges. The cost of everything, including insurance, water, electricity, and labor, is up by a lot.
Furthermore, new legislation regarding reserve funding and energy use is adding additional pressure on U.S. condominiums.
In order to keep up, boards and managers are exploring several options to mitigate costs or augment property values, and technology is becoming increasingly valuable to high-rise buildings.
Table of contents
From improving the resident experience, to shrinking energy bills, to reducing workloads for staff, condo technology is proving to be an essential component of effective condominium operations.
Find out what solutions communities are employing to keep owners happy and manage rising costs.
1. Package management
Concierge
Even though condo owners and residents generally have less space than single-family homeowners, they have been known to do more online shopping. People living in a walkable neighborhood may not own a vehicle, but without a car, it’s a lot harder to transport bulky items, which is why they have them delivered to their condo instead.
A building with 250 units will easily receive 100+ packages a day, but complexes with 400 or 500 units could get as many as 250 boxes and envelopes every day, and that’s before the winter holidays hit.
It simply isn’t feasible for one or two concierge staff to try and manage hundreds of packages each day. Not only does this task take up hours of their valuable time, but if a delivery goes missing, owners usually blame them first.
Parcel lockers make it possible for package deliveries to occur successfully without staff intervention. Couriers can ask them for assistance if they need it, but in most cases, they can use the lockers on their own and ensure every parcel ends up in the right hands.
Storage and retrieval
Residents become very angry and upset when the $200 anniversary gift or new laptop that was dropped off in the condo lobby goes missing. You would be angry too if that happened to you.
Parcel lockers drastically reduce the issue of package theft or misplacement. Residents are notified via email or text as soon as a courier logs the delivery into the parcel locker’s computer system. They can retrieve their packages using a unique barcode or passcode, day or night.
Most locker systems have oversized lockers and temperature-controlled compartments so that large items or groceries can be secured too.
Package lockers are so important to residents that some buyers will no longer move into a building without one. They have become essential features, and we expect to see more and more of them since online purchasing behavior continues to trend upward.
2. Amenities
Reservations
It takes 5 to 10 minutes to complete an amenity booking when it’s done through a condo management software system or similar program. Conversely, it can take several days to complete a booking when everything has to be done in person.
If a resident has to obtain a certified check from a bank, get paper forms from management, and return those forms once they are filled out, they may decide that booking a guest suite or party room is simply too much work. Plus, that’s a lot of admin work for staff.
Booking software allows most or all of the process to be completed online. Not only are residents more likely to use paid amenities when they can reserve them online, but the condo ends up bringing in more revenue.
Maintenance
Condo staff are enjoying smart maintenance tools such as pool monitoring systems and robotic cleaners. The system’s cloud-based technology allows for remote monitoring, adjustment, and alerts.
Not only does this tech save staff daily trips to the pool, but it helps to keep the water safe for residents.
3. Safety and security
Fire prevention
A fire can be devastating to condo owners. Even if a fire starts on a balcony where a candle was left unattended, it can spread quickly and demolish several homes in a matter of minutes. Similarly, fires that burn through common areas can end up costing a high-rise thousands of dollars in repairs.
The good news is that there are sophisticated fire detection and suppression systems for condo buildings.
Regular maintenance and inspection of fire systems is still recommended, but remote inspections, self-testing detectors, and cloud-based inspection tools, can help building managers save money while taking meaningful steps to prevent fires from occurring.
Access control
Access control systems are a pillar of condominium safety. As technology has developed, more sophisticated biometric systems have come to market in addition to the traditional key-fob-based solutions. Most communities won’t install fingerprint scanners anytime soon, but the option is there.
Regardless of what system the board selects, it will be more useful if the system is easy to customize. For example, some residents will require parking and some won’t. By limiting garage access via fobs, there will be fewer parking problems for staff to resolve.
Security cameras
Condo corporations and associations are moving away from more archaic analog systems to nimble digital IP systems. These systems send the data over ethernet cables and have the capacity for better picture quality, more flexibility, and more useful video analytics.
Cameras are also getting better at detecting movement. This significantly reduces the time staff spend reviewing footage to see if an event was captured.
When it comes to vehicles and access control, some camera systems can read license plates. Advanced systems that work with software have the ability to run the plate against its internal database to determine if access should be granted to the driver trying to enter the garage. While this solution can be very effective, it isn’t without controversy.
4. Sustainability initiatives
Climate and lighting
Smart lighting, climate controls, and occupancy sensors can reduce electricity costs and augment the resident experience.
While installing auto detectors is a more expensive upgrade, switching old light bulbs for LED bulbs is cheap, and it can reduce energy consumption by up to 80%.
Water conservation
Low-flow toilets, efficient irrigation systems, and smart water meters are helping residents and high-rise buildings to reduce water consumption.
Most new condo buildings will come equipped with water-saving features, but it’s possible for older buildings to make changes to improve water usage as well.
One such building was able to reduce water charges by $6,000 per month after installing a water meter and realizing that too much water was going through the meter during off hours. The corporation installed low-flow faucet aerators, low-flow shower heads and water-saving toilets. They also replaced washer valves.
Within two months, their water bill dropped from over 1,000,000 gallons per month to 700,000 gallons per month.
Electrification
Electrification is the process of switching from fossil fuel-powered boilers and appliances to electrically powered building infrastructure. Electrification helps to reduce carbon emissions from buildings.
New York condos and co-ops will be very familiar with this as Local Law 97 is requiring large buildings to drastically reduce emissions.
Electrification is great for the environment, but it is expensive. If it is something that your community is considering, it’s best to start making a detailed plan now. Explore financing options, and see if there are any incentive programs available in your area.
5. Pest control
Prevention
While we all would prefer not to think about mice and roaches, pests do create issues for condo communities from time to time. Pest issues must be addressed immediately because they can spread from one unit to another in no time.
Advances in technology have allowed for more efficient monitoring and control of pests. There are remote sensing devices, thermal cameras, smart traps, and data analytics that can track pest activity and optimize control strategies.
Conclusion
Condo technology has become ubiquitous. While futuristic tech like smart units is available, these solutions simplify life for individual residents. We have examined solutions that help high-rise buildings as a whole.
Technology will remain a critical tool for condominiums that need to reduce costs while improving the owner experience. Bundling tech solutions will help communities reach their individual goals while staying within their budgets.