Technical writing skills are essential for today’s facilities managers, who must produce a wide range of communications for a variety of readers. One day, you might be writing a CAPEX proposal for an executive, the next pinning a “how-to” memo for janitorial staff. So versatility and speed are prime requisites. Here are five technical writing tips that will improve the effectiveness and clarity of any written communication.
Tip 1: Fast-Track Your Audience Analysis
While some projects do require an in depth look at your audience, most FM technical writing can get by with evaluating a reader’s knowledge level of a subject. Use these three questions to fast-track your audience analysis and make your writing more targeted and concise.
What does my audience need to know?
This question delineates the key parts of your goal and states the desired outcome. The answer is usually one sentence, such as “To appropriately dispose of PPE” or “To understand the benefits of a third-floor remodel.” How well you answer this question determines your writing’s success or failure.
What do they already know?
Your audience’s attention and time is valuable, and you will lose both with superfluous information. Any steps, data or info your audience already brings to the writing should be jettisoned. Include information that’s “on the fence” within footnotes or at the end of your main document.
What do they not know?
Are there ideas or information you need to provide before your reader even begins the process of reading? Identify any assumptions you have about your audience’s experience, education and knowledge or else risk alienating them. For example, the goal of your writing may be “to explain the benefits of replacing the boiler system” but your assumption is that “every owner already knows the function of a boiler.” When in doubt, over-explain.
It’s obvious that the second and third questions are at cross purposes, and you must be vigilant in separating the “wheat from the chaff.” This is a good thing. The push and pull makes you an active writer, forcing you to constantly examine your information for relevance.
Tip 2: Use Active Voice
Writing in active voice is one of the most ubiquitous technical writing tips around, so it’s worth repeating. When you write in an active voice, you follow the standard sentence structure that puts the subject before the verb. This is opposed to passive voice. Here is an example of each:
Active Voice: “We ask that all tenants follow the recycling protocols for paper waste.”
Passive Voice: “We ask that recycling protocols for paper waste be followed by all tenants.”
In the above example, the subject (“tenants”) comes before the verb (“following”). In passive voice, the opposite occurs. So, what’s the big deal?
Well, active voice imbues your writing with confidence and presence; passive voice leaves it sounding flaccid and lifeless. Putting the subject after the verb also creates the sense that you’re trying to hide or downplay the actor of the action; it leaves a hint of insincerity and doubt in your tone. This is why committees and boards often deploy passive voice to mitigate responsibility for their decisions (“It was decided that…” rather than “The Board has decided that…”). Use an app like Grammarly and Hemingway App to identify and remove passive voice in your writing.
Tip 3: Add Graphics…Then Add More
One of the most effective writing tips isn’t about writing at all. Pictures really are worth a thousand words, and adding visual elements like tables, graphs, illustrations and photos improves your overall communication efforts. Graphic elements add dimension to your document’s layout and give a much needed break to monolithic walls of text. Much like a road-weary traveler, your reader needs the occasional “off-ramp” to rest and regroup—graphics are fit for purpose.
Some FMs find one barrier for using graphics: time commitment. While it does take some time investment to create graphics, today’s online apps significantly speed up the process. Bookmark these design tools in your browser and use them to churn out graphics for your next technical writing project or presentation :
Canva—Online design app for creating presentations, posters, and graphs for free.
Note: It’s certainly possible to use too many graphic elements, so be strategic. Like every word you write, each image in your layout should serve a function, whether explanatory or merely aesthetic.
Tip 4: Examples are Your Secret Weapon
Relevant examples distill a complex idea into something relatable and real. Plus, including examples in your technical writing forces you to consider real world implications for your information; it proves to the reader that you’ve considered the information or argument from a practical perspective, rather than merely a theoretical one.
For example, say you wanted to include after-hours AC charges in your standard commercial lease and wanted to make sure your tenants understood the process. After explaining your formula (Fixed Rate x Number of Operating Hours = AHAC Charges), you could include an example calculation:
Tenant A uses 10 hours of after-hours air conditioning for the month of January, their total charge would be $75/hr x 10 hrs = $750. Tenant B uses 15 hrs for June. Their total AHAC charge would be $75/hr x 15 hrs = $1,125.
When including examples, use real world data and situations. If the above example reflected actual electrical usage rates for the property, it would communicate to tenants how much they should expect to pay.
Tip 5: Match Your Writing Structure to Your Purpose
Your writing purpose should, in large part, determine your structure. That is, let form follow function. Is your writing meant to inform, to persuade, to explain or do something else? For most FM writing, the goal is explanatory or informative. Here are several common writing structures to aid both types:
Steps-in-a-Process
Listing and explaining steps is an effective way to organise information for a process. Steps-in-a-process is appropriate for a short memo or “how-to” manual showing tenants how to sign onto an online portal. Step-by-step formats also work for longer, more complex processes when you group the steps. If your O&M manual contains 75 steps, chunk them into larger sections. Presenting steps in this way helps your audience conceptualize the larger process and aids memory, much like chunking a phone number into parts.
Hierarchy
Technical writers often organise informative pieces based on priority, typically moving from highest to lowest. Use introductory paragraphs and summaries to highlight key points, orient your reader and save them time. For legal documents like SLAs, start off by defining the most important concepts (e.g., “parties” or “description of services”) and end with the standard T&Cs. In contrast, moving from lowest to highest priority is effective for more persuasive writing. If you’re trying to justify an investment in CAFM or IWMS, for example, present your best reason at the end. It gives your argument an emotional punch.
Time
Time is an intuitive way for readers to understand information based on an order of events. Progress reports are the perfect project for a chronological framework. Most begin with past work completed, move to the present and then explain any future work to be done. Incident reports and disaster preparedness manuals are other candidates for a time-based framework because they guide readers through a series of events.
There is no one “correct” structure for any technical writing project. Your topic may not follow an A-to-B format or have priority points to make. Regardless, it’s essential you deliver on the purpose of your writing. Whatever meets that goal is the structure you should use.
Conclusion
Use these five technical writing tips as a starting point to improving your communication. And include this last tip: be patient. Few FMs has the time or patience to invest in becoming a better writer, so it’s critical to be realistic about your progress. Find opportunities during your day to practice. Rather than tackling all at once, master one of these writing tips at a time. Ten move on to another. An incremental approach improves your odds of sticking to it.
After-hours HVAC charges are a sticky OPEX budget item. Normal core hour rates are predictable. Power providers determine your property’s kWh costs for you. But with after-hours AC, managers must calculate the hourly rate themselves. And it’s work that needs to be done right if you want to recoup your full utility outlay.
With figuring after-hours AC rates, you get as much as you give. The more detailed your cost analysis, the more accurate your rate. And an accurate rate will refund your actual utility cost per hour, an inaccurate one won’t.
But determining detailed costs also takes time—your time—and that’s valuable. There must be a middle ground—an approach that minimises time while maximising resource win back. To locate it, we approached FMs working today for their input on striking a balance. Here’s what they told us.
Lock In the Parts of Your AHAC Rate Early
Most after-hours AC rates need to include more than electricity for chillers and boilers. For sure, there’s the fixed energy cost of your HVAC system to consider (more on that later), but what about other resources and services you provide? Lock in these costs early. It will give your calculation process more focus and direction. But what are the other costs?
If you’re managing an office space, your tenants may need access to lift services, parking and hallway lighting. If you’re a university, you may need to add security and cleaning services to the charge. FMs with manual AHAC programs need to include an admin fee to cover staffing costs. Someone will need to record the after-hours request, program the BMS and handle cancellations.
Start with the most obvious expenses and work your way to more granular items. Go as far as practicable for your situation. Some guess work is inevitable, but at least identify each hard cost. You can always discard extraneous ones later. Besides, you’ll need the list later when drafting your AHAC clause for your lease. Listing excluded costs in your lease is a smart way to quell tenant complaints about future AHAC increases.
Fixed Energy Cost: “Keep it Simple”
Since it’s your biggest electricity hog, your HVAC system will make up the bulk of your energy use for AHAC. Therefore, it results in the biggest potential for annual OPEX losses. So accuracy literally pays here.
The simplest (least accurate) method would be to divide your annual energy bill by the number of standard operating hours per year. It’s a simple, but rough estimate that lumps every kWh into the same basket. It tells you how much it costs to operate your property, not your plant. The lack of kWh discrimination could result in under or over-charing tenants and making your property less profitable.
At the other end, an FM could attempt to record their plant’s actual kWh usage in real time. Smart meters and EMS equipment give real time feedback, but they’re expensive and complex to integrate. Stuart Bryant, GM for a large property holder in New Zealand, explained how his company attempting to calculate their AHAC costs with smart meters:
“In one instance, we installed a series of TOU meters across all distribution boards that controlled the mechanical plant to work out the ‘actual’ energy usage. This worked but was complicated, and I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Such a granular approach is costly—both in time and money—and, by the end, may be more trouble than it’s worth. Even if benchmarking your property’s kWh usage is the point, usage rates and costs fluctuate throughout the year, so the accuracy you locate at one moment will inevitably vary from season to season.
“In one instance, we installed a series of TOU meters across all distribution boards that controlled the mechanical plant to work out the ‘actual’ energy usage. This worked but was complicated, and I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Stuart Bryant, GM
“I’ve found that a simple system (agreed with the tenant up front in the lease) works best,” Bryant states. His point is notable: simplicity can be preferable to accuracy, especially when tenants are involved. Simple calculation methods are much easier to get tenant buy-in from the get go. Complexity often breeds skepticism, as tenants fear hidden costs lurk within convoluted processes.
Pro Tip: Schedule an energy audit. Whether it’s for a NABERS assessment or simply to save on energy bills, an energy audit gets the hourly data you need to calculate your fixed energy costs. Plus, it increases your sustainability.
Should You Include Depreciation?
Including accelerated depreciation will likely depend on the complexity of your HVAC system and budget. After-hours AC requests do shorten the lifespan of your equipment, so if you decide to recoup that cost, make sure it’s worth your time. One way to manually calculate depreciation is to research ASHRAE reported estimates for each piece of HVAC system, but this is complex and time consuming.
FM’s with access to asset management systems can speed up the process. Some AMS software use built-in ASHRAE reports to predict equipment life cycles. These programs can serve as a helpful guide for adding hourly depreciation to your AHAC if you have access to them.
Still, other FMs are using experts to fill in the depreciation data gaps. Bryant explained that his company solicited incumbent engineers to gather data for calculating depreciation. He notes, “Having the independent data and showing the workings meant a simple explanation to tenants when they’d questioned costs.”
Bryant’s quote highlights a critical piece of the AHAC puzzle: third-party validation. Soliciting experts is expensive, but it also adds independence and credibility to the data you collect. For some managers, ensuring a calculation that reassures tenants is worth the upfront investment. For others, it may be an unnecessary cost.
Aim for Fairness, But Be Practical
With AHAC, the notion of tenant fairness will inevitably creep into your calculation. While buildings with only one HVAC zone make figuring AHAC costs fairly straightforward, multi-storied buildings introduce complexity. Consider these two situations:
Situation #1: Tenant A is a data center and Tenant B is a law firm. Tenant A uses five times the electricity as Tenant B.
Situation #2: A building has two HVAC zones: Zone 1 is bigger and requires $50/kWh to cool. Zone 2 is smaller and only requires $30/kWh.
For Situation #1: How do you plan for this discrepancy in power usage? Is it fair to charge both tenants the same rate for after-hours AC? For Situation #2: If you opt to go with the $50/hr charge for your AHAC rate for all tenants, aren’t tenants in Zone 2 getting ripped off?
These are fair questions to consider, and there are practical ways to provide for exceptions. For example, FMs with a multi-tenant building could average their electricity costs across HVAC zones:
Floor 1 – 3 = $22/hr
Floor 4 – 8 = $36/hr
Floor 9 – 12 = $30/hr
Average = $29.33/hr
Averaging in this way spreads the cost more equitably among tenants, but the process assumes that energy data per zone is easy to come by. Plus, most FMs want only one AHAC rate for all tenants because it keeps leases consistent and billing easier. So, while you should strive for fairness, stay practical in your expectations.
Bryant says shifting your perspective on after-hours AC is beneficial here. He suggests thinking of it as a one time “cost of service” rather than a pro rata charge. “Again, I think simplicity is the best policy here,” he states. “The basic calculation that tenants have agreed to pay when using AHAC is most important. It doesn’t matter if one or multiple tenants are using it at the same time because it’s really a cost of the service you’re providing for each.”
Keep Sustainability a Priority
If you’re not on top of them, after-hours requests can tank your sustainability efforts. Without an effective booking system, cancellations and reschedules may have you heating or cooling empty spaces. Make sure you’re automating as much of the process as possible. Consider investing in technology to help, like an AHAC automation app that lets tenants order after-hours AC from their smartphones. Automation helps you conserve time, money and energy.
Plus, look for opportunities to work with individual tenants to save energy during their requested hours. Bryant suggests starting with tenants who make regular requests. “Talk with the tenant or landlord about ways to minimize their electricity usage during this time. Consider adjusting your BMS for better control of temperatures. It will limit the usage of your main plant and reduce electricity and/or gas consumption.”
Conclusion
Tenant satisfaction is a key “cost” of sloppy after-hours AC calculation. Overly complex processes, infrequent communication, and billing inconsistencies lower tenant satisfaction and occupancy rates. Tenants unfamiliar with AHAC may question the need for a separate billing at all. Others may be confused by the idea of delivering a utility-as-a-service. A few may even dispute your fixed energy rate. Many tenants simply forget the AHAC agreement exists, leading to angry emails about mystery electric bills.
These situations are why setting expectations with tenants is so valuable. “Agree to the cost and workings of the plan up front with the tenant,” Bryant advises. “Spend the time early to avoid spending time each month discussing and explaining costs and charges.”
If you haven’t yet automated your after-hours HVAC program or, worse, have no program at all, you’re missing out on benefits that maximise your staff productivity and cut out wasted time. Automation also helps increase tenant satisfaction and productivity, which, in the end, helps your properties thrive. Here are the biggest benefits from automating your after-hours HVAC program.
1. Easier Scheduling
The typical after-hours HVAC scheduling process usually involves several staff members and these four steps:
Tenant fills out a work request in person or on the website portal
The request is recorded on a spreadsheet
The building engineer programs the request into the HVAC system
The facility manager prepares & sends monthly billing statements for each tenant
Each step requires time and resources from your team, and when problems pop up, tasks grow exponentially. If an engineer isn’t available, another staff member has to be scheduled. When a tenant needs to schedule a change, someone must sort things. An AHAC cloud-based platform eliminates these issues by automating many of these manual steps. Here are the steps in an automated system:
Tenant makes a requests via smartphone app or desktop browser
(Automated) Recording requests entries
(Automated) Programming the HVAC system
(Automated) Sending monthly statements
Automation reclaims lost time from tending to tedious tasks. You can, instead, spend that time improving your property and tenant experience.
2. Fewer Billing Errors
By eliminating steps in your after-hours HVAC program, you stamp out inaccuracy. The best-laid plans run into the realities of everyday life. Engineers get sick. Requests are forgotten. Entries are flubbed. Statements don’t match. In contrast, automation software doesn’t lie, get ill and or forget.
The fallout from mistakes isn’t just the wasted time setting things aright. For facility managers, inaccuracy means loss of profits, and those losses can be huge.
When a billing discrepancy arises, it’s often easier to acquiesce than upset a tenant. Some managers avoid charging for after-hours at all because they fear situations like this. Where this is the case, you’re unnecessarily paying for another business’s electrical costs while shortening the life span for your HVAC equipment. The accuracy of an automated after-hours program ensures your properties stay profitable.
While AHAC automation may seem like a simple tool, its potential impact for FMs and their tenants is limited only by the lack of exploring its many applications for both.
3. Happier Tenants
Most automated after-hours platforms let tenants make reservations from a smartphone app or desktop browser. It’s a perk that benefits both managers and tenants. Tenants no longer need to waste time filling out work requests, and managers can reduce staffing costs associated with after-hours management. Since AHAC apps fully integrate with your BMS, start and stop times for HVAC service are automatically received, executed and terminated by the software. This frees your engineers and maintenance staff up to attend to higher property priorities.
Since lease holders can schedule after-hours HVAC “on demand,” this eliminates the need for an advanced notice. Most commercial leases with an after-hours clause stipulate a 24 to 48-hour advance notice from the tenant. But tenant schedules can vary wildly. Some have highly predictable office hours; others manage chaotic itineraries. For the latter, even a 24-hour notice puts them in a tight spot. But by eliminating the need for a notice, automation apps give your tenants and their employees greater work flexibility — a growing priority for workers splitting their work hours between home and office.
4. More Sustainable Properties
Going on-demand with your after-hours HVAC program conserves energy to. Changing or canceling bookings by mobile device is easy and convenient for your tenants, so they’re much more likely to cancel their after-hours appointments when things change. The upside is you won’t be heating or cooling empty properties simply because something came up at the last minute. With more accurate billing, you’ll get a better overview of your total energy use and be able to find opportunities to increase efficiency and cut waste.
Pro Tip: Identify seasonal trends for your after-hours program and use the data to make targeted improvements in lighting, insulation or renewable energy investments within specific zones of your property.
Conclusion
The benefits of after-hours HVAC automation make a strong case for its adoption among facility managers. While it frees your team from tedious tasks like reporting and billing, automation’s biggest selling point is it’s a value-add for your tenants.
Clients and their office managers can use the data collected by automation software to streamline their own internal processes. Retail tenants can use after-hours data to set sustainability benchmarks and goals. Software developers could employ after-hours usages in evaluating each team’s productivity and/or cost to a project. Law firms could recoup losses by adding their AHAC charges as a billable line item for a client.
While AHAC automation may seem like a simple tool, its potential impact for FMs and tenants is limited only by the lack of exploring its many applications for both.
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.
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.
