If you’re new to after-hours air conditioning (AHAC), you may find it hard getting started drafting a lease or tenancy notice. AHAC is a complex topic, and each property requires a bespoke solution. However, there are a few basic terms and ideas that appear in most agreements regardless of your circumstance or location. While you should always consult a legal professional when drafting leases, the following tips and topics will help get the ball rolling.
Define “AHAC”
To start, make sure you have a clear and unambiguous definition of after-hours AC. Ensuring accuracy and clarity in your leases not only covers you legally, it helps improve tenant satisfaction. Use a term that’s common for your area. In some markets, after-hours service is referred to as “after-hours HVAC” or “overtime HVAC.” Other times a lease may only refer to it as “after-hours air con” or “AHAC” for short. With a little research, you can locate the preferred name for your situation. But regardless of the moniker used, be consistent to avoid confusing your tenants.
Next, your definition needs to set parameters for when AHAC applies. In most situations, it refers to charges incurred by any tenant who operates the air conditioning system outside of normal operating hours. Therefore, your definition must necessarily include an explanation of “normal” operating hours.
List Normal Hours of Operation
the core operating hours for a property are usually stated within the lease, but it’s a good practice to remind tenants in all your communications. Use a simple table like the following that clearly lists times and days for each floor, tenant and/or zone of the property.
Level 2
Mon-Fri
8:00 am — 6:00 pm
Saturday
8:00 am — 1:00 pm
Level 1
Mon-Fri
8:00 am — 6:00 pm
Saturday
8:00 am — 1:00 pm
Ground
Mon-Fri
9:00 am — 5:00 pm
Saturday
9:00 am — 12:00 pm
Example of table listing core operating hours.
By definition, any HVAC usage outside of normal operating hours is considered AHAC and will be charged as such to the requesting tenant. In contrast, you could list a table showing only times that fall inside the AHAC time slots, if this makes it easier to understand.
Remember to mention any specific days outside the scope of operating hours such as holidays. And if you don’t plan to make AHAC available to all parts of your property, then list those excluded areas in your lease and/or communications with tenants.
Explain Fixed Rate Calculation
Explain how you calculated the energy costs (i.e., fixed energy rate)that factored into your after-hours HVAC fee. If it was based on an average energy cost across the entire property for a specific time, then show how you prorated the amount. Maybe your energy provider calculated the hourly cost for you. If so, briefly explain how this process works. If you estimated the hourly energy based on the equipment involved, then list these HVAC assets for the tenant. Such assets might include chillers, AHUs, VAVs and FCUs.
Yes, your tenants are likely to have little interest in how air handling units work. But they will appreciate that you’ve done your due diligence in calculating the actual energy expenses for which you’re charging them. Such reassurance is beneficial when billing issues surface.
Add Excluded Costs
You may also want to list any excluded HVAC equipment or service costs. These can include anything within your fixed energy rate calculation that you’ve chosen not to include even though it’s an actual operating expense. For example, your chiller uses water for heat rejection, but it may be impractical or impossible to get an accurate measurement. Therefore, you may end up omitting water usage from the fixed rate calculation. Other omitted costs often include electricity for lighting hallways, car parks and powering elevators.
An excluded equipment and services list may seem like overkill, but it does show tenants you’ve chosen to absorb some of the costs. This can help quell future complaints about AHAC increases.
Show Tenants How to Calculate AHAC Charges
Finally, write out the actual formula for calculating the AHAC monthly charge. Examples clear up the process for your tenants. At minimum, your AHAC charge will include the following elements:
Fixed Rate x Number of Operating Hours = AHAC Charges
At this point in the lease, record the amount of the AHAC hourly charge (e.g., “$75 per hour”) Examples here are helpful too: “Tenant A used 10 hours of after-hours HVAC for the month, their total charge would be $75 x 10 = $750.”
Accelerated Depreciation
Including wear-and-tear of your HVAC equipment helps offset replacement costs for their shortened service life. If you include accelerated depreciation in your fixed energy rate or AHAC charges, add it to those sections as a line item or as part of the AHAC formula. There are many ways to recoup depreciation losses. Some property owners make depreciation a separate charge, adding the fees to a general “building fund” that goes to maintain the property as a whole. Whatever method you choose, justify your decision by pointing out that after-hours HVAC operation shortens the life-span of your equipment. You’ll need those funds for PPM and to ensure a comfortable building environment for tenants.
Fixed Rate Adjustments
Electricity costs fluctuate, and so will your fixed energy rates. To stay profitable, many firms add a 12-month fixed rate agreement to their lease. The agreement stipulates that when the year ends, the fixed rate will be reviewed and adjusted according to current market rates. Including a section in your lease that explains your rate review strategy helps tenants avoid sticker shock. Email reminders at the beginning of the year also prepare tenants for rate increases.
AHAC vs Annual Operating Expenses
Keep after-hours HVAC charges separate from your annual operating expenses. There’s the potential that AHAC kWhs are accidentally mixed with your normal end-of-year utilities bill to tenants. If this is the case, you will end up charging tenants twice for the same energy usage.
Savvy tenants will anticipate this possibility of energy “double-dipping” and want reassurance from you. Prepare for these concerns by explaining that you’ve taken measures to ensure accuracy and fairness in your billing. It’s the most effective way to avoid confusion down the road.
Conclusion
It’s clear there are many factors to consider when building an after-hours HVAC lease agreement. In the end, you can make a lease as simple or complex as you like. Your approach will ultimately be guided by how much time you want to spend vs how much energy costs you want to recoup. The more accurate your fixed rate calculation, the more research it will require. For some, the time spent figuring excluded costs may not offset the benefits of avoiding tenant complaints. But most managers will adopt an approach that prioritizes tenant satisfaction. Eating a bit of operating expenses is a small price to pay for full occupancy and happy tenants.
Scheduling after-hours AC can be an expensive and cumbersome process. It’s usually a mishmash of spreadsheets, sticky note reminders, voice mails, and impatient tenants — all trying to accomplish a task made overly complicated by a manual process. At home, we flick on the thermostat, but at work, this simple act can become a bureaucratic quagmire involving multiple team members. How can FMs and property managers cut the cost and red tape? With an after-hours automated HVAC program that puts the scheduling literally in the hands of tenants.
How Does HVAC Automation Work?
Much like customers who order on-demand movies, tenants “order” their after-hours HVAC as they need it — this could be two months prior or two hours before. Authorized tenants use an after-hours HVAC smartphone app or web browser to make their booking from anywhere at any time. The app then connects to your building’s BMS to schedule and execute the request per the specified time, date, floor and property location. The program then notifies the tenant and property manager via an email, listing the total charge based on the agreed hourly rate.
Automation Eliminates the Niggly Bits
Automation streamlines after-hours scheduling by eliminating many of the steps and hurdles of a manual process. Staff members no longer need to take and record requests via email, phone or work order. Maintenance personnel can forgo manually programming requests into the BMS. Managers can skip time consuming maintenance of spreadsheets (automated billing statements are delivered via email each month). And tenants save time filling out requests and making changes to their bookings.
Calculate The Savings
Depending on the complexity of your current program, the amount of time saved through after-hours HVAC automation could lower staffing costs for your portfolio. Let’s say you estimate each after-hours request currently takes thirty minutes to fulfill, and you complete twenty requests per month. That equals ten hours of labor cost. With an average staff wage of $30 per hour, you’re paying $300 a month just to manage after-hours bookings, and that doesn’t include your tenants’ time.
Billing Accuracy
Automation software is perfect for recording overtime air conditioning bookings because it’s highly accurate. Your team members, despite their best efforts, can become overwhelmed with other responsibilities. Mistakes happen. The wrong tenant is charged or a cancellation order is misplaced. Not only do mistakes like these create dissatisfied tenants, they often result in a loss of revenue for you. When a booking is forgotten or goes unrecorded, you’ll be eating the utility costs. When there’s a discrepancy in charges, getting payment takes more time sorting things with a (now upset) tenant. After-hours HVAC automation ensures billing speed and accuracy, helping you avoid these situations while keeping profits high.
Conclusion
After-hours billing should be a simple process, but it’s full of variables that complicate matters. Even if your manual ordering and billing is spot on, there are hundreds of situations that call for a more nuanced approach. Each tenant has different needs. While some may have predictable work schedules, others may be seasonal. Making things more complicated are the rise in hybrid workplaces and work-home schedules, which demand increased flexibility and access to facilities. Overall, FMs must take a more nuanced approach to utility billing in general. Automation prepares you for future workplaces by simplifying and streamlining your after-hours HVAC scheduling process.
The move to smart buildings is here, and with it the demand for “smart power.” Innovations in wireless technology, monitoring hardware and cloud-based data are all making energy management systems a must have for FMs. Energy management ensures true power digitalisation—a state where every watt is recorded, stored and used to make informed, real time decisions about a building’s power usage.
One key component to power digitalisation is the energy power management system (EPMS). An EPMS is a specialized software that works as the “brains” for your energy monitoring strategy, giving you a broad look of your overall grid along with insights into every connected electrical asset. Here are a few ways an EPMS brings value to your properties.
Lower Electrical Costs
Because an energy management system provides transparency into your power consumption, you can lower energy costs by identifying ways to optimise your electrical usage. For example, use an EPMS to locate your biggest energy consuming assets. Then switch run times to off-peak hours when electrical rates are lower. Audit your current usage in low demand areas to see if you can cut waste completely by installing motion sensitive lighting or switching to automated HVAC scheduling. All this new energy efficiency will also help raise your power factor rating, and your provider may offer a discount if your rating is above average for your area.
Useful power is the energy that actually does work. Demand power is the amount of electricity delivered to your facility. Your power factor is the ratio of your useful power to your demand power. The higher the better.
Increased Equipment Lifespans
Advanced equipment and technologies within many sectors (e.g., healthcare and IT) are becoming more sensitive to power fluctuations. Complex equipment also requires a consistent energy supply to function properly. Insufficient or inconsistent power supplies significantly impact their lifespan. Therefore, electrical supply monitoring is critical to avoiding damaged assets. Modern EPMS software warn staff to power quality issues like power sags, swells and harmonics before failure or harm occurs.
Reduced Carbon Emissions
In addition to cost savings, optimising your energy efficiency also lowers your carbon footprint and makes your more competitive. Properties with hybrid-grids can use their EPMS to identify the best times to switch to cheaper, greener energy supplies like solar, wind or battery. And because energy management systems benchmark your consumption, reporting on energy reduction and savings against targets is more accurate. That makes your efforts more sustainable over time.
Power Event Tracking
When the power does go out, it can sometimes be difficult or impossible to determine the cause. You may only have a few seconds to troubleshoot the issue before it happens. And your electrical provider may try and place the blame on your property. Flying blind to power events leaves you vulnerable to hefty fines for blown transformers and labor costs. But the accuracy of an EPMS can track your system down to the individually connected device. It records every power event with your grid, so you’ll have documented proof when the power company shows up if you’re to blame.
Expanding Your Energy Grid
Not only does an EPMS warn you if you’re exceeding the capacity of your circuits, it forecasts if a new renovation or piece of equipment will push you past safe limits. Historical data of your electric usage and top-down views of current load capacities help managers and engineers easily determine their wattage budget for any area. This can be critical when updating to more efficient equipment or more robust units with larger amperage ratings.
Conclusion
As the old saying goes, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” But too often managers and owners still see power as a fixed expense, something measured primarily by the end-of-month cost. But today’s wireless technology and the IoT have transformed energy consumption and distribution into a flexible outlay that can (and should) be adjusted to meet an ever-changing supply and demand. Smart buildings run on smart power, and smart FMs who get ahead of the game by adopting energy management systems can increase the value of their portfolios for owners and tenants.
Few employees have more of an impact on the day-to-day operations of your business than your office manager. Whether it’s scheduling travel arrangements, ordering supplies or planning a birthday party, your office manager touches every part of your business. And while he or she genuinely appreciates the occasional meeting “shoutout” or $50 gift card, what your office manager really wants are tools to make their job easier. Office automation tools to the rescue. These apps and online services will have them getting more done with less effort.
Employee Scheduling Apps
Many companies now offer employees the option to work from home or a more flexible work schedule. That’s great for the employees, but keeping track of these hybrid schedules has made it harder on your office manager. Workforce management tools like Robin let office managers control and track which employees require office access and what resources they need. Management platforms take the burden off the office manager’s hands by automating the process, letting employees book their own desks and rooms when needed.
Project Management Software
Office managers wear many hats and manage many projects, and keeping up is a daunting task. Make it easier by getting your office manager some handy project management software. These helpful online tools not only let users track the progress of multiple projects, they also allow collaboration with project team members. PM apps like Trello or Asana are good options, but there are many more out there. Both apps have freemium pricing plans, which puts limits on features like the number of collaborators, but managers at least get to try them out at no cost..
Social Media Management
Does your office manager oversee all your social media pages? Then they need a social media management platform. Apps like Hootsuite are great for managing multiple accounts at once like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter while others like Tailwind work well for specific platforms. With most apps, you can schedule posts, create ads and run analytics on your traffic. Some even alert you when someone mentions your company online. Social management apps are low cost and well worth the time saved.
Travel Planning Software
Even travel bookings and management are a part of today’s automated office. And with lockdowns and flight cancelations a regular hurdle, it helps to have a tool to manage last minute changes. Apps like TravelPerk or TripActions simplify travel bookings, letting your employees schedule their own flights, lodging and transport from their smartphones. Your travel data is centralized and checked, so you know exactly what’s happening at all times. Plus, most travel apps integrate with your expense account software, which streamlines the approval process. Look for time-saving features like platform AI that reschedules canceled or delayed flights automatically. These apps cut down planning time while improving transparency between managers and employees.
Automated Employee Gifting
Any office manager will tell you that recognizing birthdays, new babies and working anniversaries take time to plan and execute. But you can offload that task with employee gifting services like Evabot or Gifted.co. These services make sending employee gifts as simple as a few mouse clicks, and, like most automated platforms, they help manage and centralize all your purchases into one place. So, you’re making your CFO happy too! Employee recognition helps you retain valuable employees, so it’s a critical part of your business. But saying “Thank you!” doesn’t have to include the cost of your manager’s time.
After-Hours AC Automation
When your employees need to schedule after-hours electricity or HVAC on the weekends, it’s likely your office manager’s job to record and schedule it with your landlord—just another spreadsheet they need to manage. Apps like 7NOX automate utility scheduling by letting employees book their own after-hours air conditioning via their mobile phone. The app also cuts down on billing errors by accurately recording each booking’s date, time and duration. No more misunderstandings with your facilities manager or disputed charges. Plus, your office manager can trash their spreadsheet.
Technology has been reshaping both hard and soft services for years, but COVID-19 has accelerated that process. Owners and managers of larger portfolios tend to be early tech adopters—passing the efficiency and effectiveness on to their customers—but in a post-COVID world, SMBs and late adopters are finding themselves moving to CAFM systems to meet new regulations and tenant expectations. While new FM tools and adoption rates will vary from property to property, the overall result will be a bigger injection of digital tools and automation software into the FM toolbox because of COVID-19. Here are the biggest tech trends in the “new normal” of post-COVID facility management.
Workspace Management Systems
Social distancing requirements have foregrounded the need for workspace management. While some workers are eager to return to the office, others are hesitant, fearing infection. Managers from hospitals to highrises are pondering the best ways to keep occupants safe while avoiding costly building redesigns. Workspace management software will be a cost-effective solution to help this process. These specialized apps work with your BIM software to provide an overview of your entire portfolio’s floor plan. More importantly, they let you easily reconstruct spaces and experiment with new seating arrangements and easily identify and upcycle wasted space.
Coworking Space Tools
Hybrid work models are a growing trend in the post-pandemic workplace. In the U.S. 52% of workers now say they prefer splitting their work between home and the office, according to a 2021 study. Coworking office spaces are likely to fill the demand for more flexible, hybrid workspaces that accommodate workers moving in and out of the office. These shared spaces let workers save money by splitting the costs of rent, utilities, equipment and the like. Scheduling software for conference rooms and flexible workstations are essential for efficient resource utilization. Coworkers also need group calendars for planning shared events, and tenants can easily split utility costs by adopting an automated after-hours HVAC booking app.
Touchless Entry
To reduce cross contamination FMs will adopt more technologies that eliminate the touching of shared surfaces. Touchless visitor management systems like scanners, mobile apps or voice recognition help minimize contact with reception and kiosks. Instead of encountering a real person, visitors can scan a QR code with their smartphone or use a sign in app to gain building access. Hosts are then notified via email, SMS or voice call. Concerns around contamination are also pushing adoption of biometrics like voice and face recognition, which ensure more security and accuracy.
Occupancy Management
Occupancy management is a must for ensuring the safety and security of your customers and complying with thresholds. For large portfolios with hundreds of entry points, stationing personnel at entries and exits is costly and inaccurate. Plus, it places them in closer physical contact with others, which defeats the purpose. Instead, FMs are choosing occupancy software to manage visitor flow, which when integrated with touchless entry systems, provides an added value—occupancy tracking. By tracking occupants’ smartphones via bluetooth, FMs can run reports on total occupancy or filter by specific floor, zone or entry point.
Conclusion
Humans are the major “problem” when it comes to spreading viruses and worsening pandemics. Therefore, it’s not surprising that most of these post-COVID tech trends deal with the monitoring and management of human behavior. Yes, improving building ventilation is still important, as is ensuring sanitized surfaces and properly trained janitorial services. But, it’s the management of human behavior, the creation of safe communal spaces and the adoption of touchless tech that will bring the most security and best ROI. Still, monitoring of employees inevitably runs into privacy issues, and push back from unions and advocacy groups is (understandably) expected. To this end, FMs will need to balance privacy rights for the individual with the safety needs of the group in the future.
