436





RECORD  AND  GtJIDE





March 7, 1914





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BUILDING MANAGEMENT

PURCHASING SUPPLIES  FOR  AN OFFICE  BUILDING.

AN IMPORTANT PART OF A MANAGER'S DUTIES.





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Conducted by Raymond P. Roberts, Building Manager for the American Real Estate Co.                1

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THE office building manager of to¬
day must be a specialist in many
lines, and above all he must be a man of
good judgment and discernment. These
latter attributes are essential to a good
purchasing agent, which is one of the
things a manager must nowadays be. In
former times most of the supplies were
acquired through the agency of the su¬
perintendent or chief engineer, but to¬
day the efficient manager does all his
own buying, and the only part the engi¬
neer plays in this department of the
work is to make reports on the efficiency
of the various articles he is called upon
to use. In this way most of the possi¬
bilities for graft are eliminated and the
quality of supplies is better and the
quantity used generally less.

Even where the engineer is a man of
undoubted' honesty, he is apt to be lack¬
ing in a broad knowledge of human
nature, and is, therefore, more liable to
fall into the traps set for unwary buyers
by unscrupulous salesmen than is the
manager, whose daily work brings him
into close contact with all sorts and con¬
ditions of men.

Outside of labor nothing is so impor¬
tant to watch as supplies and materials
used in large office buildings, and in or¬
der to be successful the manager must
surround himself with able lieutenants
in the way of janitors, electricians, car¬
penters and painters. He must be able
to have confidence in his various assist¬
ants and must feel that they are loyal
to him and are usin"- every effort to get
the best results from the different sup¬
plies.

These assistants are generally able to
give much good and practical informa¬
tion concerning the actual worth of sup¬
plies, and it is an excellent plan for the
manager always to consult with the
heads of the various departments for
whose use any certain supplies are to be
acquired.

Classification of Supplies.

Broadly speaking, there are two
classes of supplies: those which are used
every day in the regular operation of the
building, and come directly under the
supervision of the engineer and janitor,
and those which are used in the up-keep
and decoration of the structure and are
generally in the hands of a special skilled
workman. To the former class belong
coal, oil, cleaning powders, soaps, toilet
paper, and various articles, such as
brooms, mops, carpet sweepers, scrub
cloths and the like; in the latter class
are paints, oils, plaster, cement, lumber
and building materials of all kinds, with
the necessary tools. We might again di¬
vide the first class into engine-room sup¬
plies and general house supplies.

Engine room supplies are the most
important, particularly where the build¬
ing has a plant manufacturing its own
current for light and power, as the very
life of the structure depends upon these.
Under this head come coal, oil, waste,
tools, boiler compound and various parts
and fittings for the boilers and engines.

Intelligent Coal Buying.

Coal is by far the largest item in build¬
ing supplies, and too much care cannot
\>e. exercised in its purchase and use.
More money is probable' wasted -annu¬
ally in coal than in any other useful
commodity in any line. In recent years
the coal-buying public has become some¬
what educated, and this has reacted
favorably on the coal dealers and is mak¬
ing for much better conditions in the
trade.   The  activities  of  the  Bureau  of





Weights and Measures in New York
City is solving to a large extent the
question of short weight deliveries, and
the chemist is coming to the aid of the
buyer where quality is concerned. Many
large consumers are now buying coal on
specification as to the amount of ash and
heat units contained in a given quantity,
and in this case frequent analyses are
necessary to determine if the dealer is
living up to his contract. Even where
such a purchasing system is not in
vogue, it is advisable to have the coal
analysed occasionally and let your coal
dealer know that you are checking him
up and that you expect quality as well
as quantity.

A manager should study carefully his
furnaces, grates and drafts and deter¬
mine beyond doubt what is the cheapest
grade that can be used efficiently and
economically. In making such a study
it is advisable to employ the services of
a competent heating engineer, as changes
can often be made in a plant, at a slight
expense, which will permit the consump¬
tion of a much cheaper grade of fuel.
Have Ample Bunker Space.

One of the greatest consitructioa er¬
rors existing in New York buildings is
lack of bunker space, and no niatter how
carefully the manager may plan ahead
he is often confronted with lack of fuel
in times of heavy storms o'r strikes. It
is safe to say that where an experienced
building manager is employed during
construction this serious fault will nbt
be found in the completed structure.

The buying of proper oil is an even
more difficult task than the purchase of
coal, as in this case chemical analyses
are of little avail. Oil is difficult to
analyse and different results will very
often be obtained by different chemists
from the same samples of oil. The safest
way to purchase oil is to choose an in¬
telligent dealer of known reputation and
have him make up an oil suited to the
particular steam conditions of the plant.
The engineer should then be charged to
watch carefully how the oil behaves and
what effect- it has on the engines, and if
any change is noted the dealer should
be advised of it at once. In general,
first-class cylinder oil ranges in price
from 36 to 40 cents a gallon in barrel
lots, while 2S cents a gallon is about
right for engine oil.

Most of the other engine-room sup¬
plies are of fairly uniform grade, and
with the engineer's assistance the man¬
ager should have little trouble in ob¬
taining satisfactory articles at a mini¬
mum price.

House Supplies.

Among the general house supplies the
most important are soap .and marble
powders, and the purchaise of these re¬
quires the exercise of a great amount
of caution and judgment. Probably the
greatest frauds are perpetrated in soaps
and cleaning powders, and negligence in
buying is frequently attended with un¬
fortunate results. Many of the soap pow¬
ders are heavily doped with lye, soda,
ash and other chemicals and their con¬
tinued use damages the floors and walls
and injures the hands of the cleaners. It
often happens that the manager loses
"•ood help because of injured hands re¬
sulting from improper soap powders.
Too much animal fat in marble powder
will produce a yellow stain which is im¬
possible to remove, especially on wain-
scotings of polished stone, and a poor
quality of soap will leave a film on the
surface which helps to collect dirt and
disease germs. There are several good
brands of marble and soap powders on





the market and by careful experimenta¬
tion the manager should be able to de¬
termine what is best to use for each par¬
ticular building.

Vigilance Necessary.

Inthe case of mops, brooms and dust¬
ers it unquestionably pays to purchase
the best, as the added length of life and
more efficient service will offset the dif¬
ference in price in the long run. These
articles all offer a big temptation for
pilfering and the strictest vigilance is
necessary to prevent undue loss in this
way. The heads of departments, only,
should have access to supplies, and soap
powder and brass polish especially
should be measured and given out only
in such quantities as are actually needed
each day.

Dustless dusters which gather up dust
instead of simply dispersing it are rap¬
idly superseding feather dusters, and
while as a rule they are much more ex¬
pensive, their life is considerably longer.
One of the most recent of these is made
of angora goat hair, attached to the
original skin. It takes up the dust well,
does not leak and may be washed from
time to time.

In purchasing other house supplies it
is a good plan to watch the market, buy
in quantity and pay cash whenever pos¬
sible.

Paints, oils and general building ma¬
terials are always handled by a skilled
workman, and the manager should be
guided largely by his advice as to quality
and quantities to be secured.

The Accounting System.

In keeping track of supplies a simple
system should be used, and the heads
of the various departments should be re¬
quired to report on the amounts of sup¬
plies used during stated periods. These
reports should be carefully filed, so that
the manager may easilv' keep posted as
to the amount used in different periods
from year to year.

The building manager should bear in
mind that the traveling salesman is one
of the best barometers of trade, and
should not be looked upon as a neces¬
sary nuisance. Generally speaking, the
salesman is an honest person, but too
frequently he has absolutely no practical
knowledge of the wares he is offering
and his judgment cannot always be re¬
lied on. However, much valuable infor¬
mation may be obtained frorn salesmen
by courtesy and tact and a little adroit
questioning.

Treat a salesman pleasantly when he
calls and before long you will find that
he is telling you all he knows about the
other man's goods as well as his own,
and is keeping you posted on what your
neighboring manager buvs and what re¬
sults he is having. Such information
will help your buying judgment to a
large  extent.

RAYMOND   P.   ROBERTS.





A New Manager in Town.

Robert Buchanan, one of the progres¬
sive young hotel men of the West, has
come to New York as assistant manager
of the Cathedral Plaza Apartments. He
began his duties on February 16. Mr.
Buchanan has just terminated a highly
successful connection with the Yellow¬
stone Park Hotel Company in Yellow¬
stone Park. He is thoroughly familiar
with the hotel and apartment house sit¬
uation throughout the country and will
be able to render valuable assistance in
keeping the Cathedral Plaza Apartments
up to a high standard.