Stephen Gasright provided a power point presentation on a case study of Facility Masterplaning in conjunction with work the positive work he has done with the Friends Housing Cooperative.
A precursor for doing any energy efficiency work is to have digitized plans for units and common areas. This can be accomplished by either scanning existing building blueprints or creating floorplans.
The digitized plans will help you:
measure usage and prioritized actions
create new mechanical design for higher efficiency
create readily available floor plans for upgrades and maintenance
size ratios to determine fair shares of communial costs
An energy audit can be well worth the expense and will save your co-op valuable dollars. It you have any questions, please contact DVAHC and we will pass questions along to Steve.
Another speaker was:
Philip Murray JD, President of the Friends Housing Cooperative, who revealed how his co-op reduced costs by 30%.
Philip discussed how his initiation of many insulation projects along with installation of energy saving appliances and lighting, reliable thermostats and other green practices have made a serious dent in his co-op's expenses.
Philip also went into depth concerning the dollars he saved his co-op with informed insurance purchases. He gave us a little primer on how you can save some insurance dollars for your co-op. (See below.)
When a co-op purhases coverage for the buildings it is usually bundled in what is called a "package policy". This generally includes property coverage (physical damages to the buildings) and liability coverage (protection from a third party injuried on the property). It can include other coverages based upon your needs. Generally coverages such as workerman's compensation (for employees of the co-op) are separate. When purchasing property insurance it is a good idea to avoid co-insurance. What is co-insurance?
It is a provision in an insurance policy, usually optional, under which the policyholder, for a reduced rate, agrees to maintain insurance equal to a specified percentage of the value of the property covered. Policyholders who fail to maintain the minimum amount of coverage specified, assume a proportionate share of the loss.
Co-insurance is a penalty imposed on the insured by the insurance carrier for under reporting/declaring/insuring the value of tangible property or business income. The penalty is based on a percentage stated within the policy and the amount under reported.
As an example:
A building actually valued at $1,000,000 has an 80% co-insurance clause but is insured for only $750,000. Since its insured value is less than 80% of its actual value, when it suffers a loss, the insurance payout will be subject to the underreporting penalty. For example: It suffers a $200,000 loss. The insured would recover $750,000 ÷ (.80 × 1,000,000) × 200,000 = $187,500 (less any deductible).
In this example, the underreporting penalty would be $12,500.
The most commonly issued co-insurance percentage would be 80% but can be as high as 100%. The latter [100%] would impose the greatest penalty for under reporting. For this reason, it is vital that values of property are accurately reported and updated annually to reflect inflation and other increases in cost. Generally, it is a good idea to avoid co-insurance unless you are willing to keep up with current value of your property on an annual basis.
Phil suggested every co-op should talk about this coverage with their insurance broker.
For more information, contact DVAHC and we'll pass the along the request to Phil.