Value Engineering – What’s On Our Roof Pt. 2

Value Engineering – What’s On Our Roof Pt. 2

In a newly launched series about Property Management, we introduced our building engineer, Gilbert Rodriquez, who gave an overview of the most substantial and significant pieces of equipment on the roof at our property The Courtyard – located in Culver City. The discussion largely focused on improvements to our heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, otherwise known as HVAC.  At Olive Hill Group, we place great emphasis on value engineering, and thus our team is focused on finding solutions that deliver concrete benefits to our tenants.

Commercial HVAC systems are quite large and easily seen, but what about the features you don’t see?

To the untrained eye, or anyone who is not in commercial property management, this may look like just a white roof, but our dedicated building engineer, Gilbert, knows that the white color helps us quickly discover damaging leaks, bubbles or cracks that could potentially lead to more costly damage.  He checks it daily when he does his 20,000 steps around the property.

What’s the Reason White Paint Matters?  We’ll Give you Three!

In addition to easily ascertaining cracks or leaks, studies also show that white roofs reduce air-conditioning costs by 20% or more in hot, sunny weather.  Not to mention that white roofs can reduce the total Urban Heat Island effect in impacted cities by 1° to 2° F – which is of significant importance in the Los Angeles area! This temperature change is enough to lower peak energy demand, reducing the risk of brownouts and blackouts.

The impact of a white roof on our community and building efficiency is just another example of what we mean by value engineering.

Stay tuned for another post on how our in-house property management team implements value engineering at our properties.