Presentation given by Concorde Manhattan Apartments at "Better Apartment Management Conference" organized by ApnaComplex on Nov 15th 2014. Concorde Manhattans is an apartment complex of 1200 flats situated at Electronics City in Bangalore. Prashanth is part of the committee who are involved in managing this apartment complex. Concorde Manhattans has been using ApnaComplex portal for close to 2 years. This presentation covers the process followed by Concorde Manhattans for selecting an facility management agency for their complex. ApnaComplex is India's leading online platform for Apartment Communities to collaborate, communicate, manage their society office, manage their facilities, do society accounting, pay dues online through payment gateway, ensure security of their apartments through powerful visitor tracking and resident tracking solutions.

1. How to select a facility management (FM)
agency for a large Apartment Complex?

2.  Our developer – Concorde Group -
http://www.concordegroup.in
 Spread across 13 acres (14 lakh square ft super built up
area), 15 buildings – towers A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L,
M, N, P, Q – total 976 flats – mix of 3 BHK, 2.5 BHK and 2
BHK with nearly 5000+ residents
 Common area operations handed over to Concorde
Manhattans Owners’ Welfare Association (CMWA) registered
under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960 by
the developer in June 2013

3.  Encompass multiple operations carried out in common areas on a
daily basis:
 House keeping
 Plumbing
 Electrical
 Gardening
 Clubhouse and amenities (swimming pools, amphitheatre, mini golf course,
tennis court, basket ball court, volley ball court, kid’s play area, skating
rink, barbeque area, cycling track, water bodies, gym, steam, sauna,
multiplex theatre, card room, billiards, table tennis, squash and so on)
 Water Treatment Plant (WTP), Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), Reverse
Osmosis (RO) plants
 Organic waste converter (OWC)
 Exclude security services and Annual Maintenance Contracts
(AMC) and on-call agreements with professional vendors – lifts,
fire systems, diesel generators, motors and pumps, boom barrier,
CCTV surveillance, waste disposal (dry waste, STP sludge, garden
waste)

4.  Finalized byelaws, appointed 2 volunteers from owners as
election officers, invited nominations, formed a
Management Committee (MC), elected office bearers,
registered the society through a lawyer, opened bank
accounts, appointed external auditor, collected advance
quarterly maintenance (based on approx: monthly expense
data from developer) and so on.
 Invited quotes from different facility management firms –
scope included validating handover from developer and
also providing security services along with FM services
 Conducted multiple deliberations in MC meetings,
shortlisted a firm after due diligence

5.  Track record
 Collected client list from firms (similar size apartments)
 Visited a few apartments
 Gathered inputs on their performance – includes any cost
reduction initiatives from firm, how they handled
inspections by authorities, reports submitted on a
regular basis and so on
 Comparison sheet – cost comparison with similar data
points for each of the heads

6.  FM agency deployed full work force 2 weeks prior to
handover date.
 Staff received adequate KT during this time period from
developer
 Used the time to finalize other agreements like finalizing
contract for security services, AMCs for lifts and fire
systems, work orders for supply of water, garbage bags,
diesel, waste disposal, arrangements with authorized
service centres for motor and pump repairs, transformers,
gym equipment repairs and upkeep etc.

7.  Always select a truly professional firm with good track
record for handover/takeover activities from developer.
 Firm should be able to deploy consultants and specialists
to work as validators on behalf of association at least 1
month prior to take over date.
 Firm should be able to prepare snag list wherever noticed
and liaise with developer on behalf of association to get
them addressed.
 Firm should have experts to vet handover documents from
developer and only on closure of snag lists by developer,
association should accept them.
Cost should be of least priority as any omission here leads to
cascading cost impact in coming years.

8.  Firm should submit checklist templates and reporting
formats customized for the complex.
 All checklists and reporting formats should be vetted by
association.
 Firm should document the following:
 Frequency of cleaning (common areas, lift lobbies, over
head tanks, STP tanks)
 Frequency of backwash
 Firm should be able to monitor and report if other out
sourced vendors are conforming to agreement terms (AMC,
on-call etc)
Recommendation: Recruit a full time Facility Manager in
association’s pay roll to supervise firm’s activities.

9.  Firm’s scope should be clearly defined in the agreement:
 Supply of consumables
 Supply of tools and tackles
 Over time charges
 Reliever charges
 Paid holidays and weekly offs
Recommendation: If on actuals, firm should submit all supporting
documents like bills.

10.  Selecting a firm marks the starting point in
facility services.
 Periodic checks on performance are a must
to ensure resident satisfaction!