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Saturday, Jul 18, 2009
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Care beyond construction

Nandhini Sundar

Apartment complexes need a dedicated maintenance team

While apartment complexes have become increasingly classy over the years, so has their upkeep, involving a lot more than just housekeeping and cursory maintenance. Far from being confined to plumbing and electrical work, maintenance of these complexes extends to include a host of items that require a fully functional office and maintenance staff on call round-the-clock.

Given the need for professional approach and the significant business opportunity in this segment, quite a few developers have opted to have a separate wing that offers maintenance service in their completed projects for an extended period.

Such a service not only includes housekeeping and round-the-clock emergency maintenance but also beautification and maintenance of gardens and common areas, security, to name a few. The service is typically managed by a manager and office personnel complete with a wireless network to track field staff.

Booming business?

With apartments increasingly becoming larger in size and requiring a lot more of such professionally managed services, is this segment going to see booming business in the future? After all, we are talking of mega bucks here what with some top-end apartments charging a mind-boggling monthly maintenance fees of Rs. 50,000.

Developers, however, seem to think differently. Says Snehal Mantri, Director-Marketing, Mantri Developers, “While we extend the facility of lifetime maintenance, it is certainly not because it is an added business opportunity but merely to ensure the development is well taken care of.”

According to her, apartment maintenance is more of a bother than money earner. Nevertheless, she contends the services rendered are professional, ensuring quick redress of issues.

Agrees Indira, Vice-President-Marketing, Brigade Group, “Maintenance of apartments does not afford a business opportunity. We extend this facility only during the first year or till such time the association is formed, purely on a no-profit no loss basis. The corpus collected is accounted for and the remaining funds handed back to the association for relevant maintenance activities.”

Headache to be endured

While developers may declare this to be more of a headache to be endured than an attractive business proposition, would future associations prefer to use their services on a long-term basis? For, forming an association that successfully irons out differences in views and ensures the complex is well maintained is certainly not easy especially if the complex is large, requiring professional services.

Says Amul Atri, President, Prestige Acropolis Association, “It is certainly possible for the association to take care of maintenance without sacrificing quality of service by simply contracting different activities to professional vendors. This works out to be cheaper than the developer taking care of the entire maintenance.” Incidentally, Prestige Property Management Services is one of the vendors used by the association for taking care of specific maintenance activities.

Agrees Parthasarathy, Treasurer, Brigade Gardenia Association, “It is not necessary to use the developer’s services to ensure professional maintenance. The same can be achieved by hiring professional vendors and having an efficient management in place.” He further adds that while providing this service may serve as a good business proposition for developers given the margins involved, it is much less expensive for the association to take over the activity.

The Brigade Gardenia Association has opted for the use of software called OneSolution to manage the building maintenance.

The software enables quick and easy access to registering complaints, allowing immediate address of issues besides providing a host of facilities, making the job of maintenance totally hi-tech and professional.

Personal touch

Sums up Sunil Shetty, Treasurer, Landsdowne Apartments Association, an older yet excellently maintained apartment complex, “It boils down to having personal interest in the apartment complex and this may not be the case if it is assigned to a third party. While members of the association do need to come to a common understanding to resolve issues, owners getting directly involved in the maintenance ensures better communication and personal touch.”

Professional service and maintenance can always be achieved by hiring good vendors, he avers.

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