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The Budget Is Not a Bag of Groceries
It is Saturday morning, and I am dicing celery and carrots. Not because I particularly enjoy dicing celery and carrots. I am doing it for Tuesday Victoria. Saturday Victoria has a little time. Tuesday Victoria will be back at work, staring at a fiscal 2027 budget, wondering what happened to…
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Manager’s Log
Starlog 2609.01 06:47 — Manager’s Log Coffee. Laptop. Buildium. Managemate. Email. Wondering why everything in property management needs its own password. September is here, and Hamilton Kaye has a brand-new notebook. Crisp pages, straight lines, no coffee rings, or phone numbers written sideways. A fresh start. I give it until…
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When Condo Governance Gets Personal
Good governance requires disagreement. the trouble begins when the disagreement becomes about the people instead of the decisions. Condominium boards aren’t supposed to agree on everything. In fact, they probably shouldn’t. Put three, five or seven people around a table and ask them to make decisions about money, maintenance, rules,…
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What Was vs. What Should Be
Respecting a building’s past doesn’t mean rebuilding it forever. Every condominium eventually faces the same deceptively simple question: Do we put back what was there? A walkway fails. A pipe reaches the end of its life. Exterior materials deteriorate. Windows, mechanical systems and electrical components eventually need renewal. The easiest…
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Is Your Building Still Wearing Its 1980s Winter Coat?
Buildings age. Building science doesn’t stand still. Remember winter coats from the 1980s? Heavy. Puffy. Maybe wool. Maybe down. Add the boots, scarf, mittens and snow pants, and getting out the door could feel like an engineering project. They worked. But we don’t dress that way anymore. Today’s winter clothing…
