Hours of Operation: Why my office always heats up after-hours? Part Two

In Part One, we learned of William of Gana Mas, a hedge fund from New York that relocated to Miami, Florida (fictional names and characters of course).  William sweltered in the office at the end of each work day.  While this was not an issue earlier in the year, the office heated up towards the summer.

Following a doctor’s visit to confirm it wasn’t the lattes or stress making him sweat, William reached out to the property manager of his office building to find out what was wrong with the air conditioning in his office.

The Commercial Real Estate Knowledge blog series on hours of operation offers an inside look into my commercial real estate tale entitled Don’t Sign the Lease! The Tale of a Triumphant Business Owner.

Let’s jump into the meeting between William and the property manager-

“Ms. Property Manager, good day, I am William of Gana Mas, a hedge fund, in Suite 1000,” began William.

“Good morning, William, how may I help you?” answered Lily, the property manager.

“I seem to have an air conditioning problem. I noticed that starting in July around 6 p.m., the air shuts off and very quickly the office is scorching hot,” William mentioned and added, “I can’t function after 6 p.m. and my business demands I stay open until 8 p.m.”

“Thank you for letting me know, William,” responded Lily. “I’ll pull up your lease to see what the hours of operation are supposed to be.”

 

Hours of operation, what’s that all about? thought William.

“Ok, I have the lease in front of me,” continued Lily. “Your lease states the landlord will provide HVAC on Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.”

“Pardon me, but what is HVAC?” asked William.

“HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning,” answered Lily. “The Hours of Operation section in your lease dictates the times the property will provide air conditioning to your space.”

“But I was told I would have twenty-four hours, seven days a week access to my space,” William quickly contested still not fulling grasping the concept of hours of operation.

“Why, yes, you have access to the space any time you’d like. It’s just that the lease governs the times the landlord will pay to provide air conditioning to your space.”

The conversation was on the fringe of derailing into a heated discussion. William wasn’t getting acceptableanswers and surmised he had a major problem on hand. “How is it then my office was very comfortable for most of this year? I think the landlord just recently started shutting off the air.”

“Well, William, in our cooler months, the climate continues to be comfortable for several hours after the air is turned off. But in the summer months, it doesn’t take long for the building to heat up,” answered the property manager as politely as possible.

“But Lily, as I explained, I have clients in Europe, and my office must be open daily until 8 p.m.,” protested William.

“If that’s the case, you always have the option of paying for overtime air conditioning,” countered the property manager.

“Paying for overtime air conditioning?” repeated William. “How much does that cost?”

“Your lease provides for overtime air conditioning at the cost of forty-five dollars per hour, and you must make the request by no later than 2 p.m. the same business day,” answered the property manager who seemed to whisper when mentioning the forty-five dollar charge.

“Forty-five dollars per hour?” questioned William in a high-pitched tone. “That’s an additional $1,800 per month just for air conditioning!” reiterated a stunned and agitated William.

Not the best retort, but Lily returned, “Actually that’s $1,926 per month including sales tax.”

Sadly, William ended up paying the additional $1,926 charges for overtime air conditioning to cool his space. The extra fans he brought to the office did not sufficiently cool the space.

I know. Some of you in more northern parts of the country are having a difficult time sympathizing with William who has to sweat a little while enjoying his ocean view. If you live in a city like Chicago or Minneapolis, the opposite would be true for you. Imagine having no heat in your office building during the winter and working until late in the evening.”

Is there anything that William can do moving forward to mitigate his unforeseen monthly office expense for overtime air conditioning?  How could William have prevented this overheated situation?  What must a business owner understand prior to signing an office lease to avoid being in William’s predicament?  Stay tuned for the conclusion of the Commercial Real Estate blog series in part three regarding hours of operation.

The Commercial Real Estate Knowledge blog series is based on an excerpt from Chapter 17 of Don’t Sign the Lease! The Tale of a Triumphant Business Owner entitled “Pitfall Seven: Hours of Operation – Overtime Charge.”  For more information or additional resources, please visit www.dontsignthelease.com.