Scientific building operation

Foreword

IN PEESENTING "Scientific Building Operation" to you we have undertaken to gather and place in one book, the most practical and valuable articles that ever have been written on questions of the management of buildings. These topics dwell comprehensively on the subjects of renting, janitor service, elevators, illumination, buying supplies, cost data and comparative percentages.

There is no attempt on our part to present this book as an edition of entirely new ideas on the management of buildings, yet what we have gathered together in the following pages will be found of practical value to any manager or owner of buildings. While it is in no way a primer on the subject, we have been very careful to eliminate such technical terms as would confuse the average layman, thus making it a book for popular distribution among those interested.

Many of the articles herein contained will be remembered by sub- Fcribers to Building Management as appearing in times past in that magazine. ^

Our endeavor has been to ijcarefully select from every available source the best treatment of the subject, but even in this our judgment may be questioned. However, we feel reasonably sure that the contents will merit the approval of our readers.

In preparing this book we feel some pride in the fact that it is the first book ever published on the subject of managing buildings after completion.

While volumes by the score have been written about building architecture and engineering, this is the first presentation of a book to aid the owner and manager to secure a proper dividend at a minimum operating cost from a building erected.

THE EDITOES.

Part I— Management

Systematic Office Building Management By J. E. Randell.

Qualifications of a Building Manager

By Alfred Higbie.

How to Become a Manager of Business Properties

By Charles Duross.

Proper Management of Buildings

PART II— RENTING The Elements of a Renting Policy

By Earle Shultz.

Filling an Office Building with Tenants

By Alfred Higbie.

Determining a Rental Rate

Getting Tenants for a Building

By C. A. Patterson.

The Renting Department

By C. F. Noyes.

A Specialized Building

By Charles Fellowes.

How Leases Should Be Made

By L. L. Banks.

Legal Relations of Landlord and Tenant

By C. J. Fuess, LL. B.

The Ninety-nine Year Lease By Alexander S. Taylor.

PART III— ACCOUNTING AND REPORTS System of Comparison Records

By C. M. Duncan.

Systematic Records and Reports

By Whitney Wall.

An Accounting System for Office Buildings

By Edwin A. Wasserman.

Various Systems for Keeping Office Keys

PART IV— OPERATION Page 9

101 108 112

The Cost of Operating a Building .....

By C. A. Patterson.

Ratio of Gross and Net Cost of Operating to Gross Rents of Office, Loft and Apartment Buildings ...... 121

By Clarence T. Coley, M. E.

Page

The Operating of an Office Building 134

By J. E. Randell.

Uniform Keeping of Cost of Operation ..... 136

By Charles F. McBride.

PART V— JANITOR SERVICE, ETC. Efficiency and Cost of Janitor Service ..... 143

By Albert Kern.

Janitor and Elevator Service ....... 150

By C. S. Hughes.

Janitor Service in Western Buildings ..... 155

By E. H. Sennott.

The Employment Department 159

By Emil G. Cheuvreux.

Vacuum Cleaning .......... 161

By Joseph Baker.

Keeping a Big Factory Clean 165

By E. S. Park.

PART VI— REPAIRS Economy of a Local Repair Department 173

By John A. Fedeler.

PART VII— BUYING SUPPLIES, ETC. Purchasing Supplies for an Office Building .... 183

By J. M. Walshe.

The Office Building Supply Department 193

By Frank McLean.

Make a Profit from Waste Paper ...... 196

Buying Coal for a Building ........ 198

PART VIII— ELEVATORS Elevators: Their Types and Rules for Their Care and Operation . 205

By J. J. Forbrich, Associate A. I. E. E.

Elevator Erection and Maintenance ...... 211

By J. A. Martin.

Elevator Service, Signals and Accessories ..... 218

By Henry C. Tulley.

PART IX— LIGHTING The Lighting Problem 231

By J. J. Forbrich, Associate A, I. E. E.

PART X— INSURANCE Fire Insurance as It Relates to Buildings 239

By Charles E. Doty, Chairman 1910-11 of the Fire Insurance Committee of the National Association of Building Owners and Managers.

New Fire Schedule of Fireproof Office Buildings 247

By Cullen Brown.

First Official Report of the Fire Insurance Committee of Building Owners and Managers ........ 250

By Charles E. Doty, Chairman.

PART I Management

Systematic Office Building Management

By J. E. Randell

WHILE it is all important that a building shall be so constructed that it can be operated economically, it is equally, and perhaps more important that the manager in charge of the completed building shall have had sufficient experience to be able to take every advantage in avoiding the expenses so easily incurred by the multitude of small details in which money can be spent without benefit to the building.

The operation of a large office building representing an investment ot millions of dollars is as difficult and intricate to control and manage as any other business requiring a large capital. The results in dividends are no less eagerly awaited by the individuals who hold the stock, or own the property than are the dividend results of any large sales corporation. It should, therefore, be not only the policy, but the duty of all managers to reach out unceasingly after the things that work toward efficiency, coupled with economy; and what better method is there than a convention of this kind, which brings together the best talent from all the different cities on this continent, for the purpose of exchanging experiences and listening to ideas from one locality which may be new to persons operating In another. I have been requested to touch on

(1) Follow up system for prospective tenants.

(2) The selection of tenants.

(3) Space utilization.

(4) Labor.

(5) Purchasing.

(6) Minor mistakes of installation during construction.

(1) The follow-up system which has proved of most service to me in filling a new building is very simple, and for that reason probably effective. When I solicit a prospect or receive an inquiry for space I give my secretary a memorandum containing the name, address, nature of business and telephone number. These memoranda are noted on the same line, directly under each heading, so that at a glance I can see that the prospect is Tom Jones Company, 1127 Century Building, Lawyers, Central 1095. A line is drawn under this to make it easily seen. On the sheet I keep a memorandum of each interview. For instance:

August 1st, 1909. — Mr. Jones said he could not consider space because location is too far from court house. He needs 3,000 feet, is paying $1.60 per foot. Lease expires April 30, 1910.

August 10th, 1909. — Gave Jones plan of Nos. 1112 to 1126, showing how office could be arranged. Spoke of fine light, proximity to elevators, showed list of other prospective tenants, explained how central our location is for most people. He says he will not consider space, but will see It before deciding finally.

August 15th, 1909. — Called up Jones and made appointment for 1:00 p. m. tomorrow to show him space.

August 16th, 1909. — Jones saw space, liked light and depth of office, asked for figures and blank plan. Offered him 3,000 feet at |1.90 per foot per annum.

August 25th, 1909. — Called up Jones because Johnson Company are looking at space. Jones says give until August 27th for him to decide — will not increase his present rental more than ?500 per annum — says our space divides economically.

August 26th, 1909. — Called Jones for answer — he will call at 9 a. m. tomorrow.

August 27th, 1909.— Closed 2,650 feet at $1.80. Executed. Returned it after getting proper signature.

August 31st, 1909. — Received lease from Jones. Returned to him for partner's signature.

September 1st, 1909. — Received lease properly executed. Returned it after getting proper signature.

This is a fair sample and covers each step in the transaction.

These prospect sheets are kept alphabetically in a file. Before filing, however, a memorandum slip is made and placed in a diary file, calling attention to the time for the next interview. Each day the memoranda are taken from the diary file and placed before me so that none can be missed and the element of chance is eliminated. If any prospect is out of town, another memorandum is placed in the diary file so that it will appear again on his return — perhaps a month afterwards.

It is easy to look at the daily memoranda and then refresh your memory from the prospective file by seeing exactly what you have said or done with a man before seeing him again. If the prospect does not take any space, the memorandum can be removed and filed in a "Refused" file.

On the selection of tenants depends the reputation of the building. It has been said that to have an office in certain buildings Is like a rating in Bradstreet's or Dun's.

A new building is always beset by a host of schemers, who wish to trade on the name of the building, knowing that the advertising incident to the erection of a prominent building will go far toward instilling confidence in the minds of their victims. These people will have a cut of the building on their letterheads as though they owned it, and woe unto the man down in the country who puts up his savings, thinking the scheme must be good, and woe unto the reputation of the building which harbors such schemes.

In Chicago there are agencies which make a business of looking up reputations and I have found a contract with one of these a splendid iavestment

My chief trouble is with undesirable sub-tenants or desk roomers, who sometimes creep in unnoticed to share an office with someone already holding space.

In our eagerness to lease space we have probably all been tempted to accept some person who is balanced on the fine line separating the "near desirable from the undesirable," but it is unquestionably a good rule to hold space vacant rather than accept undesirable tenants. Their mal-odor will permeate the entire building and attract other birds of prey until the name of the building becomes a byword and the manager a laughing stock of his competitors.

For years I have been a pronounced opponent of office space which cannot be naturally lighted. There are two cardinal points which can either make or break a building. The first is light, the second is location.

I heard a Chicago architect argue that the more rentable floor area there is in a building, the greater the revenue will be, and this sounds logical, but in the years I have spent in connection with office buildings I have found this statement to be absolutely disproved. The fact is that the more naturally lighted rentable floor space there is in a building the greater the revenue will be, but who is foolish enough to lease dark space which it is necessary to light artificially if naturally lighted space is available? It is against reason, because a tenant is then assuming the expense of a lighting bill in addition to his rental. It has been argued that the light Is furnished in some buildings without charge to the tenant so that he does not feel this extra expense. In that case the building feels the extra expense in its coal bill. To illustrate this point let us consider a building on a corner facing two streets and constructed so that it has two wings with a 60-foot court between. The offices facing the street will naturally have good light, provided they are not over 25 feet in depth; the court offices, however, depend entirely on the width of the court for their light. If the offlces facing this court are made deep, say thirty-two feet, how will the ten feet farthest from the windows be lighted, on the floors below the center line of the building? In order to get two private offices and a reception room, a tenant must take at least twenty feet frontage, or 640 square feet, and in order to make up for the deep reception space, which it is necessary to light and furnish, the rental must be reduced rather than allow the space to lie idle. How much better would it have been to have made the light court wider and the court offices not so deep, say twenty-two feet. The same price would be obtained for the two private offices and the reception room without question and the rate per square foot increased accordingly. Why, then, is it necessary to build the extra ten feet of depth across the entire length of each wing? The original investment would have been, perhaps, $100,000 smaller and the returns would have remained the same. You may ask how do I know the same price could be obtained for the shallow offices. My only answer is that during the years I have spent at this work in connection with a number of buildings of both kinds, this has been my experience, and for that reason I am convinced.

In these days good service in a good building is expected and furnished, but good, natural light is the molasses which catches the tenant. Natural light means satisfaction for, and better work from, his employes and a minimum expense for artificial illumination. It keeps the tenants praising the light offices and so advertising the fact to others who may subsequently become tenants.

The two principal items entering into operations are labor and supplies. Labor runs into money faster than any other expense. It takes a great deal of study and individual investigation to be able to satisfy one's self that each man is giving his full energy. Where one janitor can be done without it saves $600 per annum. In working out a labor system for my building, I looked over buildings using women to do janitor work instead of men and found that to do my work with women would increase the cost $1.18 per fioor per night over that incurred by using men, except for scrubbing. This looks like an insignificant amount, but when you figure 19 floors at $1.18 each for 307 working days, you will find a saving of $6,882.94 per annum.

We have about 20,000 feet to a floor. On that floor I use two janitors to do the sweeping, and we don't use any women except for scrubbing. I have a regular force of scrub women, about 20 of them, who scrub a certain space every night. A woman scrubs approximately 4,00U feet where she has to move furniture. In some other buildings they use the women for doing all the sweeping, but the women cannot move the furniture, and they waste more time than they gain. It is too heavy for them. They wiil waste half an hour trying to struggle with a desk when a man would move it in half a minute. They cannot reach up high enough to clean woodwork and it is dangerous to put a woman on a step ladder.

My men clean about 10,000 feet a night each, working 9i/^ hours. It is very hard to regulate that. On some floors it will take a little more than one man to do the same amount of work. On that floor you have to take the man from the next floor to help him. The next floor may be an easy one with large space, 1 mean large open space, not many heavy rugs, bare floors, so that you will have to even it up. It is a little hard to set rules. The women are paid 18 cents an hour in Chicago. The janitors are paid 20 cents an hour. The women work up to 11 o'clock. The men work all night, with a rest from 11 until about 3. There is two cents an hour difference between a man and a woman, and a man can do a great deal more work than a woman can do in an hour.

Of course we all carry liability insurance to protect our building from personal damage suits. Under our policies the insurance company takes charge of the case as soon as any one is injured and we are not permitted to interfere in any way with their disposition of it. We cannot advise or suggest anything to the injured, nor do we wish to. This feature is perfectly proper, because the insurance company has to pay the bills; but how about the person injured? If that person is an employe of the building and is injured in the discharge of his or her duties, it seems extremely heartless in an employer to sit back until the insurance company can starve or coerce the victim into a settlement. Is it your custom to abandon the employes to the insurance company, or do you assist them for a reasonable time until they are on their feet again? I bring this up because some persons think I am a "soft mark" in cases of this kind. The expense of seeing that the little comforts are provided has never cost me more than the employe's wages for one month, and seldom more than half that amount. During a year the average will .hardly be more than three accidents in one building.

It is equally bad when a steady employe who is really ill and imable to work for his or her pay to stop immediately on the date of such illness. I know that there are a large number of floaters who work here today and somewhere else tomorrow, but the regular employe is the one I refer to — the man or woman who has been with you long enough for you to feel that the work expected of them will be done properly and at the proper time. I have in mind the case of a woman who had worked for me for two years and suddenly became ill. She had three children dependent on her. Her wages amount to $30.00 per month as a scrub woman. There was no accident, just illness — temperature at 103 and pulse 120. Too poor to have a doctor or buy food for the children. In this instance, of course, I had her cared for temporarily.

In another case I had a man whose arm was so badly crushed that it was necessary for the member to be removed. I felt duty bound to see that the man got proper attention and did not lack the necessaries during his two months' illness and put him to work again at odd jobs on his return. Without question the attention he received made him willing to accept a favorable settlement with the insurance company. The money spent, however, was not with the sanction ot the insurance company and, therefore, could not be collected from that source.

I would like to see a universal method adopted by building managers which would abandon the heartless way of casting off an employe, like an old glove, when he meets with serious aamage or sickness while in the discharge of his duties, in my judgment we spend money for a hundred things around a building which do not prove as good an investment as one-half pay up to, but not to exceed, two months for an injured or genuinely ill employe who is laid up for more than one week. In saying this I do not intend to cover the employes who may be absent through drunkenness or shiftlessness. These should be discharged instead of being assisted.

Where the purchasing is done by the engineer, chief janitor and superintendent, I have observed that it has generally proved unsatisfactory. In my judgment the men who superintend the use of materials — I am only speaking of one building, not an aggregate number of buildings — should always be consulted regarding the most efficient supplies for specified work, but should never be in contact with the salesmen. If all purchasing is done in the manager's office by one man who makes it his business to keep an alphabetical card index of purchases, his price list will always be up to date and accessible if the manager wishes to look it over. I find that the engineer, janitor and superintendent prefer this arrangement, because it puts them in a position where they cannot be suspected of graft. These men can inquire regarding prices at all times and suggest trials which they think will prove more economical. They can watch the result of experiments with new material with as much interest as the manager himself, because they are naturally anxious to make the best possible showing both in results and in the cost of such results.

A few things improperly installed make no end of trouble and expense during the subsequent operation of an office building. One of the things which, in my humble judgment, should be made obligatory on architects is the use of galvanized pipes for all plumbing. The inside of a waste pipe soon becomes coated with a slimy protection which prevents corrosion, but dampness collects on the outside, especially during the summer months, and causes heavy rust, and it is only a matter of time until a leak will be discovered and then the tearing up and the consequent expense commences. Vent pipes rust on the inside and become clogged with scales.

The urinals are usually arranged in the same location on each floor and are often cross connected with the janitor's slop sinks, so that the water supply to either cannot be shut off without shutting off both. There is no object in having the urinals flush every six or seven minutes during the night, and for a man to climb up and shut off the supply to each urinal tank in the building at night and turn them on again each morning would prove entirely too expensive.

The urinals should have independent runs of their own with a shut-off valve in the attic as well as at each tank, so that a man can turn one valve and stop the water waste in less time than it takes to tell it. The separate run will pay for itself in six months in the saving of water.

See that the architect locates the water and waste outlets for washbowls on the columns along the corridor walls and not at right angles to the columns, where they obstruct the space and from which position you will be obliged to move them in dividing space for tenants.

A central toilet room in a large building becomes a heavy burden on the elevators on account of the necessary inter-floor traflac occasioned thereby. The installation of a small toilet space on alternate floors proves of great benefit to the service because the majority of persons will walk up or down one story rather than take an elevator. The cost of installation is heavier than that occasioned by a central toilet, but the subsequent results, when the building becomes filled, will be most gratifying. I took account of the number of people traveling in my elevators a short time ago, and we are carrying 24,230 people a day. That included all that inter-floor trafflc, because we have a central toilet room on the eleventh floor. Pe(5ple go to and from there. The population of the building is not over 3,000. I know it is not easy to guess at the population. I have had people guess 1.5,000. But by the actual census in the building the population is about 3,000.

In my judgment the installation of a filter system, except for water to be used in the boilers, is a waste of money. An ice machine to cool drinking water for tenants is as unnecessary as it is unappreciated. It is human nature not to appreciate something which costs nothing either in money or bodily comfort. The lack of filtered water to wash in and filtered and cooled water to drink is no hardship for the average tenant. He will buy spring water and ice, which are kept in his cooler and operated without cost to the building. The filter and cooling systems are expensive to operate and keep In repair, and, as far as my experience shows, carry no weight in getting large rentals. In renting our building I never mention the fact to anybody. In fact, before they ever knew that we had any filter system in there or any ice water, I had it cut off and they don't know it to this day, and we get the rent. The architect put it in. That was part of the game.

Elaborate ventilating systems are too often unnecessary after the building is fairly in operation, because you subsequently find a way, generally, to provide natural ventilation in order to avoid the expense of operating fans.

Good natural light in offices, plenty of artificial light in halls, adequate elevator service, good janitor service and prompt and cheerful attention to complaints — and probably that carries more weight than anything else. You have to be right up and doing when there is a complaint. Don't fire them out of the building. That will do more toward keeping an office building full than furnishing the tenants with luxuries which are expensive to install and operate, and which cannot be abandoned when once the tenants have had them.

Qualifications of a Building Manager

By Alfred Higbie

BETWEEN the thousands of tenants in our large office buildings, who want the best there is to be had, and the corporate interests who own the building, and who are constantly demanding large returns, stands the man in charge of the building. It is this determined individual who has been developing himself during the past few years, and who must act as arbitrator or referee between the owner and the tenant, and be able to satisfy both, that has come to be known as the "Building Manager."

The manager of properties, and office buildings in particular, must be a man peculiarly adapted to this particular line of work. The field is so broad, in respect to the different lines with which he must be familiar in order to be a successful manager, that it is a difficult task to outline all of the numerous details which he must have stored away in his ready reference book (his mind) where they can be drawn upon instantly, and with accuracy.

The manager of a large office building comes In contact with a great many people in the prosecution of his work. These people belong to all stations in life, from the millionaire to the humble janitor who cleans the toilet rooms, and in mingling with these two extremes of human nature it would be bad policy, indeed, for him to assume the air and dignity of the millionaire, or stoop to the level of the janitor, but he should be able to adjust himself to both extremes and carry himself in a manner that will command the confidence and respect of them both.

If the manager is engaged before the lot is selected, or the building planned, the burden of responsibility rests upon his shoulders as to whether or not the building is rightly located and rightly planned.

The proper locating and the proper planning of an office building is a huge load for one man to shoulder, especially if he is assuming that responsibility in a city with which he is not entirely familiar. In this case he should not assume to choose the location without advice. Although his advisers may know absolutely nothing about office buildings, he can get from them certain facts which he must have in order to make the correct selection. They can advise him as to the streets on which there is the greatest amount of traffic; the all-important point of getting in, or as close to the financial center as possible; the location of the courts and post office; the corners where the greatest amount of transferring from the local street car lines is done; in which direction, if any, is the natural trend of the business section. After carefully weighing all of these points, and getting informed on any point that may not be perfectly clear to him, the experienced manager should have no trouble in making the proper selection.

There is none of you who, in your home city, could not point out the best location for an office building as soon as the question was asked, but if placed in another city, where the conditions are entirely foreign to you, you would find it au entirely different proposition.

In the planning of an office building, there is almost as much re- Bponsibility as in locating the site. As I have stated before, I believe the architect is the proper person to make the preliminary drawings for any building. (When I speak of buildings, I am referring to buildings such as most of us are connected with, anywhere from eight stories up.) But when the plans are being revised, re-drawn, torn down and built up, the experienced manager has a chance to show the value of his experience, genius and idea-creativeness. It is up to him to revise those plans In such a manner that the building, from a rental standpoint, will derive the greatest return on the investment.

There is a "best place" in every building for the corridors, stairway, elevators, toilets, janitor closets, etc., and it is up to the manager to find these "best places." There are only two reasons why these places should not be rightly located. First, on account of the inexperience of the manager, and in this case he should consult with some one who does know. Second, if the manager is an experienced man, and these conveniences are not I'ightly located, he has missed his calling and the sooner he gets out of this line of work the better it will be for him and the owner of the property. There is not one chance in a thousand for the manager to make a success unless he has climbed the ladder and earned his position through steady progress.