News

Participate in Safe + Sound Week 2019!

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Carin Mack

Plan now to join A1 Orange as a participant in OSHA’s Safe + Sound Week, August 12-18. Last year, A1 Orange office and team members participated in extra safety training programs, office/warehouse safety walk-through’s, and earned fun incentives for safety photos. Learn more. The safety photo incentive offering a $10 Wawa gift card for 3 safety photos was alot of fun for the field team members — with some posting “well-posed” photos. We put many of them on Facebook during August.

According to OSHA, this is “a nationwide event to raise awareness and understanding of the value of safety and health programs that include management leadership, worker participation, and a systematic approach to finding and fixing hazards in workplaces.”

Vendor Insurance: How Well Are You Covered?

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Carin Mack

“A1 Orange’s goal is to provide the best exterior maintenance services to our clients. We don’t take shortcuts. A1 carries more insurance than is required by law, uses top rated, national insurers, and pays premiums for the high-rise window cleaning classification for liability (code #99975) and workers comp. We strive to get the details right!” Vickie Head, A1 Orange President

Getting a COI from exterior building services vendors is pretty standard for property managers. However, all insurance coverage is not the same, and a little “due diligence” goes a long way! A COI is not just a piece of paper – it’s your protection in case of unforeseen events.

Here are a few questions to ask your vendor regarding their insurance.

1. Are your insurance policies written to cover high-rise work? (for liability insurance, that’s window cleaning/code #99975) This is more expensive than covering janitorial work, for example, but companies will often purchase insurance in lower risk business categories.

2. What is your insurance provider’s rating, is it at least A.M. Best A? Top quality, reputable vendors maintain substantial and comprehensive insurance packages designed to protect their financial integrity and at the same time provide assurance to their business partners. This is not a place for cut-rate. Know your vendor’s insurance providers’ ratings.

At A1 Orange, we take the trust you place in us as your exterior services vendor seriously. A1 Orange provides not only the basic insurance required by law, but also carries excess $10 million umbrella liability insurance to provide substantial protection to property managers and owners if needed. A1’s insurance coverage includes:

Commercial General Liability Insurance to cover all operations and any operations performed by independent contractors; liability assumed under contracts common to our operations and Personal & Advertising Liability. Further coverage provided when contractually required.
Business Automobile Liability extending to the ownership, use and operation of all owned; non-owned and hired automobiles.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance in excess of the requirements required by the Statutes of the State of Florida and its companion Employer’s Liability Coverage. When used for A1 Orange business, all vehicles, regardless of ownership, are covered by our insurance.
Umbrella Liability Insurance for seamless protection in excess of Commercial Liability, Business Automobile and Employers’ Liability insurances.
Business Services Bonds protect our business partners against financial liability for the loss of money, securities, and personal property due to employee dishonesty.

EastGroup Team Talks TOBY’s

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Carin Mack

“One of the biggest myths about entering your building(s) for TOBY’s is that it is very time consuming.”

Megan Tucciarelli, Property Manager, EastGroup Properties, Inc.

Having won the BOMA Orlando 2018 TOBY Award in the Industrial Category for Horizon Commerce Park, A1 Orange asked EastGroup’s Megan Tucciarelli and her property management team to talk about their experiences so far in the TOBY process. Getting 8 buildings on their property TOBY-ready seems like a big job, but they had fun and strongly encourage others — especially industrial managers — to enter the process next year!

1. Why did you decide to enter the 2018 TOBY Awards? How long did it take to get your property “TOBY-ready”?

I love the TOBY program and I have been looking forward to entering Horizon Commerce Park for a few years now. Since the buildings are relatively new, I had to wait until they met all criteria – 2018 was the year! I like to think that my buildings are always “TOBY-ready.” We gave our vendor partners plenty of time to put their “finishing touches” on the buildings before the inspection and it probably took us a week or two to get our presentation together.

2. People often think that entering the TOBY Awards is very time consuming – what did you get back for the extra effort?

Honestly, I think that is one of the biggest myths about entering your building(s) for TOBY. It really does not take that much extra time or effort – you most likely already have these practices in place. It takes a little time to gather the materials and prepare for the inspection, but the satisfaction of winning a TOBY makes the entire process worth it.

3. What does winning a TOBY Award mean to you and your team?

Winning the TOBY was a huge accomplishment for our team. It was also a great way to highlight our amazing BOMA vendor partners and all of their hard work that goes into maintaining the buildings. We could not have done this without them.

4. Based on your experiences, would you recommend that other property managers and engineers make the time investment to participate in their local TOBY Awards? If so, why?

1000% yes! I specifically want to encourage other industrial managers to enter their buildings. It is such a fun process and you learn so much. It is also a great opportunity to go over your practices/procedures/manuals and find areas that can be expanded or improved upon.

5. How are you preparing for the Savannah BOMA Southern Region TOBY Awards Competition in March?

Writing, writing, and more writing — because there is no site visit and everything must be communicated on the written application. My writing skills are a little rusty, as I have not written like this since college. It has been a tedious, but fun process. I am so grateful to all of the past Southern Region TOBY winners, as they have all so eager to help. We have a great network in BOMA Orlando!

6. Did you share this news with your tenants? How? Did they share the excitement? Will you include your TOBY win in marketing materials to tenants?

We notified our tenants at Horizon via an email after we won locally, they were all so excited for us! We also had a few tenants volunteer to write a “letter of recognition,” that we included in our Southern Region write-up. Our TOBY win has been included in several marketing presentations so far. Fingers crossed we can add a BOMA Southern Region TOBY to our resume!

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Participate in Safe + Sound Week 2019!

Vendor Insurance: How Well Are You Covered?

EastGroup Team Talks TOBY’s