How To Launch A New Building
Welcome to the Real Estate Espresso Podcast… your morning shot of what’s new in the world of real estate investing. I’m your host, Victor Menasce, coming to you live from Mont-Tremblant ski resort, about an hour north of Montreal.
We have a project that we’re commissioning right now, and this is opening weekend. We have about 50 residents moving in all at once within the span of a couple of days. On today’s show, I’m going to break down some of the systems and processes that we developed to handle 50 move-ins all at once.
It starts with organizing the team. There’s several different teams that are required to work hand-in-glove during this frenetic process. It starts with building readiness. This is where we’ve developed extensive checklists to perform quality assurance on the units themselves, make sure that everything is as it should be, or if not, at least the deficiencies are documented so that they can be addressed post move-in. If they’re gating items, then obviously those move-ins will have to be delayed, or a unit change will have to occur.
Everything in this entire process is checklist-based, so we have one team of folks focusing on the punch list for the unit readiness, working closely with the general contractor to make sure those deficiencies are addressed.
Then there’s the leasing team. They’re providing information as to which units are going to be occupied first, and when those move-ins are scheduled. That scheduling is vital.
Next, it’s the operations teams. They have their processes that have to take information from the leasing team into property management. In our case, these units are being delivered fully furnished. That means delivering all the smallwares, things like dishes, forks and knives, glasses. There’s over 6,000 items to be placed in each individual unit over the course of this weekend.
This first launch is two out of six buildings. So, in total, over the entire project, that’s almost 18,000 items that need to be placed in the individual units. This all has to be checklist-based because there’s no way you can keep all of that in your head. Nobody can do that.
There are numerous smart building systems that need to be integrated, tested, assigned individual authentications, assigned for each incoming tenant.
The main carrier, who was scheduled to be supplying internet, is not ready. They’re about a month behind schedule. As a result, we needed to develop a temporary internet solution. That meant taking internet access from the construction trailer. That internet access had been put in place primarily for security cameras. We’re now sharing it amongst the first 50 residents of this project.
That involves setting up a temporary wireless antenna to beam the signal over from the construction trailer to the building, and then installing temporary routers in each of the apartments. Those will be replaced in about a month, once the main carrier gets their act together.
In this particular instance, the equipment only arrived on site for the temporary internet solution 12 hours before tenants were due to move in. The team thankfully worked through the night, and by 7 a.m. that morning there was fully functioning internet in all of the apartments.
Then there’s one final readiness check. So there’s a team dedicated to performing that last check prior to tenants moving in. It involves collecting extra keys, making sure that all of the extra keys are cataloged, put in the right place.
And then when the tenants show up for their appointed time, there’s a complete walkthrough of all of the systems with the individual tenant, including photographing the condition of the units, photographing any deficiencies, making sure that all of that gets properly cataloged. It’s a tremendous amount of attention to detail.
Now, the leadership team is absolutely involved in this first move-in. We want to observe the process. We want to make sure that the right questions are being asked, not just that problems are being solved as they come up, but that they’re being solved systemically, meaning they’re not going to repeat themselves.
For example, in the very first move-ins, one tenant had a physical key for their apartment. They locked themselves out within minutes of receiving the key. The property management team had accidentally given them both keys, but did not retain a key for themselves, and the only solution was to drill out that lock and then replace the lock.
This operation happened at midnight. There’s no way you’re going to get a locksmith to come out to a property at midnight, and if you do, it’s going to be incredibly expensive. All of these little learnings go into the process, making sure that these little mistakes don’t repeat themselves.
It also requires the details to be documented in a user manual for the building. That document is being updated live over the first week before being finally published as a complete document.
The entire move-in team for this first wave of move-ins of 50 residents involved 9 people and a massive cleaning staff. Because we’re releasing the first out of six buildings, residents will be working on what amounts to a construction site, and it’s important to segregate the resident traffic from the construction traffic, make sure that there’s no conflicts there.
And then finally, the last step is to put signs on all the occupied units so the contractors and subcontractors don’t accidentally enter an occupied unit.
This gives you a little bit of a glimpse of how we commission a brand new project that ultimately will have 250 residents in it. And as you think about that, have an awesome rest of your day. Go make some great things happen. And we’ll talk again tomorrow.
Stay connected and discover more about my work in real estate and by visiting and following me on various platforms:
Real Estate Espresso Podcast:
- 🎧 Spotify: The Real Estate Espresso Podcast
- 🌐 Website: www.victorjm.com
- 💼 LinkedIn: Victor Menasce
- 📺 YouTube: The Real Estate Espresso Podcast
- 📘 Facebook: www.facebook.com/realestateespresso
- 📧 Email: podcast@victorjm.com
Y Street Capital:
- 🌐 Website: www.ystreetcapital.com
- 📘 Facebook: www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital
- 📸 Instagram: @ystreetcapital
