Condo Media - December 2020 - 22

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LASTING
Ways the Pandemic is Impacting
the Condominium Industry

THE PANDEMIC IS LEAVING ITS
IMPRINT not just on how associations
manage their finances (see feature
article on page 18) but on the challenges association managers face and
how managers and other industry professionals operate their businesses.
On the first issue (challenges for managers), the ability to work from home
has ensured continued employment for
many condominium owners, avoiding
the job losses that might otherwise
have boosted association delinquency
rates. But having large numbers of
residents working from home has also
increased the demands on managers -
and tried their patience. Residents who
used to spend eight hours or more at
work every day are now spending the
majority of their time in their homes,
focusing more intently on how the
community is being managed and
maintained, and noticing details they
wouldn't have noticed in the past.
" Everyone is micromanaging now, "
Scott Wolf, CMCA, AMS, PCAM,
managing partner at Brigs, LLC, AAMC,
says. " The volume of phone calls and
emails managers are getting is off the
charts. I had 20 email messages when
I left the house today, " he noted.
" When I got home two hours later,
I had 90 messages. " Managers have
been struggling for some time with the
challenges created by electronic communications, especially the expectation
that recipients will respond immediately
to the email messages they receive. The
pandemic, Wolf says, has accelerated
the trend and intensified the pressure.
A BETTER WAY
Jack Carr, P.E., RS, LEED-AP, a consulting engineer recently retired from

22

CONDOMEDIA December 2020

Criterium Engineers, has also seen
and experienced first-hand the challenges the pandemic has created for
condominium associations and the
professionals who work with them.
But he thinks the turmoil evident
when the pandemic struck in the
spring has settled down considerably.
" Six months ago, everyone was in
a big panic, " he says.
" No one knew how
they could run their
business safely, or how
to comply with all the
rules and regulations.
Now, I think people
understand a lot more
about how to adapt
their operations.
They have a lot more
confidence; they know
what they can and can't
do and how to operate
safely. " Many of the
changes required to
adjust to the pandemic have proven
to be beneficial for his business, and in
some cases, long overdue, Carr says.
Pre-pandemic, the association manager, a facilities manager, or a board
member would accompany him when
he inspected a condominium building;
on a recent inspection, Carr reports,
" I never saw the manager or a facilities manager on site. I spoke to them
on the phone before the inspection
and during it, when I had questions. "
The client provided the building plans
and other documentation in advance,
Carr says, " so I had a good idea what
I was going to see before I got to the
site. And because I didn't have guides
dragging me around, showing me what
they thought I should see, I didn't have

to stop taking notes to explain what
I was doing. I just did it. " As a result,
Carr says, a recent inspection that
would have taken him two hours
took half the time. " Time is money, "
he notes, " for me and my clients.
If I can get on and off a site more
quickly, everyone wins. " The pandemic, he says, " has taught us

" I don't know which changes
will become permanent and
what additional changes will
be required. " But Wolf is
certain of one thing: " I'm sure
we're going to figure it out. "
how to do our business better. "
Wolf says his business has also benefited from the pandemic experience.
" It has been horrible, " he says, " but
it hasn't been all bad. " The positive
changes he's seen have included the
rapid embrace of technology by associations that had been moving slowly,
if at all, in that direction. Remote meetings and electronic voting - necessities
during the pandemic - are becoming
the preferred method of operating
for many boards, which are shifting to
Zoom for at least some of their meetings, if not for all of them. That means
fewer night meetings for managers,
" and that is awesome, " Wolf says.
" It's much better for managers and
for our industry. "
Condo Media - December 2020

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