Who did you tip this year? Who did you leave out?

[canuk-gal]

Hi Smit,

Speaking only for myself, I don't feel our building's maintenance person has any sort of amazing package... but I do find it very fair. He's paid a salary, and doesn't pay rent. There are also some other aspects of the arrangement that seem to work well for everybody involved.

Totally agree this is a crucial role. And our co-op's maintenance person is great. I've been told he's been here ten years, I hope he continues to choose to stay.

Anne

Just curious Anne--how many apartments in your building? Are they all the same size?

 

[t-c]

Hi,

I want to point out that the cushy job that the super has is not so cushy. He doesn't own the apartment, that is purchased really for the benefit of the residents. He is on call 24 hrs a day for emergencies, even if he has a day off. Day and night he is available to the residents.

A building is complicated to run. He is the most important member of the staff to see that everything maintenance wise is kept in tip top shape. He"s crucial to the building. And he won't have an apartment to sell on his retirement.

Annette

It’s a pretty cushy job in our building so far: he has a maintenance staff of 3 people in a new building. If my apartment is any indication, there’s not much to do besides change lightbulbs. Yearly systems (ac/heat/window cleaning/etc) maintenance is contracted out. Outside workers are called when anything more complicated comes up. Rent for an equivalent apartment in our building is easily $3000 - 4000 a month (he’s not in the basement; his apartment is on the upper floor, lots of light, and has private outdoor space equipped with a gas grill), and his base salary is just below 6 figures. I appreciate what he does (and building staff, in general), but there are worse situations to be in.

 

[anne_h]

Hi Canuk-gal,

I'm relatively new in the building... I believe there were originally ~32 units, but we have some owners who purchased 2 adjacent units and converted them to super large apartments.

Definitely the units here are not all the same size. I believe the smallest are 1-bedrooms, while many are 2-bedrooms of various floor plans. Then there are a few giant units with more bedrooms as mentioned earlier. There are no studios here to my knowledge, but I could be wrong. I believe we have ~8 indoor parking spaces (I have one!) and ~10 externally. Everyone else parks on the street.

Anne

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I admit I wasn't thinking about a new building, which should be easier. I am curious if you have individual heating and airconditioning in the units. That also makes it easier. In older buildings with a central heating for the entire building it does take a good deal of knowledge to keep it going even if you have those backup contracts. Yrs ago I managed a 540 unit high rise on Lake Shore Drive and know you need that engineer(we call it that in Chicago. He is unionized as well. Your guy does very well although I have lost touch with salaries, but I think NY would be high.. Your point is taken T_C.

Annette