Just a Thought 3...

Looking for a Foolproof Maintenance... not in this life. That's what I can say about building maintenance/management service providers.

After 51 years of independent, we are proud that we can stand tall with others developing nations in building beautiful buildings and skyscrapers. But in term of maintenance, we are miles away behind them. And, most of the time it is “chicken and egg” situation. – developer/maintenance service provider blame the residents because not paying the maintenance fee. Residents blame the developer/maintenance and said why pay when they did not do a good job of maintaining the building. End of the day, the maintenance fund left high and dry; and residents suffer.

Nevertheless, putting the blame entirely to the maintenance service providers will not solve any problem. Its only makes us terminating and appointing from one service provider to another. Here are some pointers that we can consider to improve the situation.

1. Look for a credential and experienced maintenance service provider. It may be a bit expensive but will ease our worries about the level of services provided by them. There are quit few number of services provider (although not 100% foolproof) that residents can depend too.

2. Properly inked their scope of works. Don’t leave any stone unturned. Once appointed, ask for their work schedule. If there is none, sit down with Building Manager (BM) and work-out one. List of every maintenance activities and prioritize them i.e.:
a) Gen-set – system check & test every month or two months. System services every six moths.
b) Lifts – system check every month. System services every quarterly.
c) Water pump – system check every month. System services every quarterly or bi-yearly.
And the list continues … (fire alarm system, lights, roads, parking system, building roof etc, etc, etc).

3. JMB/JMC can have a joint inspection with the BM every quarterly. Use the Work Schedule a guide during the joint inspection. This is to ensure that JMB/JMC also understands with all the common facilities and how they work.

4. As residents (meaning owners), we must educate ourselves regarding stratified living. If we decided to purchase a condo/apartment, we must know what are the contents of the Sales & Purchase Agreement (S&P) are. Living in a condo/apartment is slightly different from living in a landed property. Most of stratified livings are guided by their own House Rules. And, talking about House Rules, I think most of us have forgotten about is or that we have one (for Idaman Sutera it is A5 size in blue colour book). The House Rules are applicable to every resident (including tenant, owner and lawful occupiers of the unit/parcel).
The purpose of having a House Rules is to promote and encourage common sense and courtesy in its members’ action and attitudes. It is not intended to limit reasonable conduct but rather to protect our common interest in the property, to provide an avenue of relief for problems, and to serve as guidelines for a harmonious community.

5. Regarding the Maintenance fee/sinking fund, once we sign the S&P, we a bound to pay the fees regardless either we are staying in the condo or not. Failing which, a (legal) action can be taken against us by the developer or the JM/JMC.
Nevertheless, poor collection is always a bugging problem faced by any developer/JMB/JMC. It is important to take note that most of the facilities such as lifts, swimming pool, gym, security guard, tennis court, electricity etc are expensive to maintain. We must know does the amount we pay (and especially when only 60% residents pay their fee) sufficient enough to cover all the common facilities within the condo.
It is also important that every resident understand and know what the maintenance fund is used for. Transparency is the key word. Lets the residents know where do their money goes to and how they being spent.

6. We also must educate the residents to take part in managing the condo. The task does not lie solely on JMB/JMC shoulder. It is everybody responsibility. Group together and act together… if we can work as one, we will be a force to reckon especially by the errant residents or event the maintenance service provider.

7. Security issues have also been one of a major problem in a condo. Security guards not doing their job or “curi tulang”, caught sleeping on the job, guards with discipline problem etc have also being the case. Maybe one way to tackle this issue is requesting the security company submit details of the security personnel to JMB/JMC and carbon copy it to the nearest police station. At least this will ensure the company will not simply hire any Tom, Dick and Harry to safe guarded our condo.