As many condominium buildings employ guards who serve as the property concierge they become the first impression for residents and visitors. They must also answer to the condo board of directors — residents appointed to represent the interests of owners who often don’t know much about security, only that residents place a high value on it and that it makes up a significant portion of their operating budget.
 
Increasingly that budget is also growing as guarding services and security technology are being integrated together. For large condo properties the security budget is generally one of the main items in the operating budget. It depends on the size of the site and amount of security but can be as much as $250,000 per site.

That means that more than ever property managers need the expertise of their security providers to make tough decisions on investments for the future. They are looking for creative ways to achieve their security goals efficiently and effectively.

Recently Canadian Security sat down with three property managers from the Toronto area: Kiddie Lo, registered condominium manager with Brookfield Residential who manages two high-rise buildings in the Richmond Hill area; Stan Morris, regional manager with Brookfield Residential who is responible for a group of 25 condo sites in Central Toronto and Richard Kubig of Del Property Management who manages Grand Triomphe 2 in Toronto. The three property managers contract security services from the G4S Secure Solutions condominium division in the GTA. We talked to them and their G4S partners  — Larry Scolaro, District Manager, condominium division, GTA; Patricia Luciani, Operations Manager, condominium division GTA and Piero Romani, Chief Technology Officer and Vice-President, eastern region, about how they work together to make the residential buildings they are responsible for run smoothly.

CS: What are the main challenges of running a condo building?

Stan Morris: Whether it be security or other services that are provided to the residents we have to develop and maintain a high level of customer service. It’s basically a customer service business that we’re in. We’re dealing with people’s homes and livelihoods and investments. Some people are very demanding and they have a right to be demanding but they are unforgiving and so we as property managers and in the security industry have to have the right people working for us. My philosophy  has been to develop the right team — it’s the people who make us or break us. 
Without the right team the manager functions very poorly.