Building Managers

Building management is put in place to ensure that the overall operation and maintenance of the building is being handled efficiently. A building manager's responsibility entails overseeing that the security, safety, and maintenance of the building remain in good standing so that all the tenants in the building are content.

Building managers can work in either residential or commercial buildings. The role of residential and commercial building managers is very similar. The main difference between the two is the customer in which the manager is interacting and dealing with. A residential building manager deals with tenants that are either renting or buying the units in the building complex. Commercial tenants can be companies or firms and predominantly lease their spaces. The length of the leases varies from a few months to a number of years. The commercial manager in this case deals with offices and commercial units instead of individual homes as the case in residential buildings.

As a building manager, normal maintenance of a building is standard operating procedure. Supervising over contractors and workers while work is being done to the building is normally in the scope of work for a building manager. Many buildings in the United States were built with asbestos containing products, especially before the 1970s. This means that building managers may have been exposed to asbestos fibers during normal repairs and work being performed on the building. Mesothelioma, Asebstosis, and Lung Cancer, the diseases caused by exposure to asbestos, does not require multiple exposures to the contaminant. Therefore, even a one-time asbestos exposure should be noted. A building manager that thinks he or she might have been exposed in the past to asbestos must visit his or her licensed physician.

Building managers must also supervise his or her employees, contractors, subcontractors, and tenants. If a building manager is responsible for a legacy building built before 1970, there is a good possibility that materials containing asbestos were used in the original construction. Therefore, building managers must make sure that all specific duties performed are done under OSHA standards and guidelines. A building manager must also make sure to perform the proper asbestos detecting procedures. If asbestos is found in the building, a licensed professional must be contracting to eradicate the problem, making sure that no further asbestos exposures occur in the future.

Over the past few decades, asbestos detection and cleanup has become an industry in itself. In the tri-state area around Keefe Bartels Clark (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania), there have been numerous cases of asbestos being identified in commercial and residential buildings. While the cleanup might not be an easy task, the identification and resolution of the problem will result in safer tenants, employees, building owners, and building managers.