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From the Summer 2022 Issue

RCM Profile

Brian Schryver, RCM

RCM Profiles || Brian Schryver, RCM

Designation(s): RCM, OLCM
Company: Pro Guard Property Management
Year entered the profession: 2005
Year RCM obtained: 2009
Other education: Business Administration

Mentor(s) in the industry: Warren Kleiner and Sonja Hodis

What path brought you to a career as a condominium manager? The condominium industry has always been an intriguing and evolving one that continues to grow and change throughout the years. With this growth and the ever-changing ownership and directors in condominiums, there is always a need for services, and each day brings something new.

How has your membership in ACMO helped you in your career? ACMO has brought the level of condominium managers to a higher standard. One question that condominium boards ask when looking for a management company is the number of managers that have their RCM designation.

Another aspect of the ACMO membership is the networking capabilities that ACMO has provided over the years. This allows managers to get to know new contractors and enlarge their portfolio of contracts to obtain quotes and improve service levels to the condominiums they manage.

What is one must-have skill for a condominium manager? Why? A must-have for any manager is having a willingness to learn. With the constantly changing environment that we work in, we are continually learning and need to embrace and accept the ability to learn and grow.

Tell us about a personal success story on the job. At a condominium that I manage, there were a few owners who smoked. Several of the neighbouring owners complained about the odour. We tried many ways to prevent the smell from getting into the neighbours’ suites without success.

I took a step back and looked for alternative options to prevent the odour and recommended to the board of directors that they look to prohibit smoking from inside the building. At the time, this was a very new concept, and I was not sure if they would agree to this. After a discussion with the directors at a board meeting, they agreed to proceed with the implementation of a smoking prohibition in the building. The existing smokers were provided with a deadline to stop all smoking in the building.

It was a resounding success, and the building now proudly displays that they are a smoke-free facility.

What’s your biggest challenge as a manager? As managers, we face a challenge with new owners who buy into a condominium, not realizing what they are getting into. This creates a lot of stress as new owners do not know or understand the rules of living in a condominium. We then have to take a substantial amount of time to educate them on the restrictions and requirements of condominium living.

What’s your favourite part of the job? The most rewarding part of the job is seeing a large or complex project completed and the end result. Also, watching owners enjoying the amenities that the condominium has to offer.

It is rewarding to provide knowledge of the industry experience I have learned to directors and to my peers. There are times when I have worked with directors in troubleshooting problems or challenges that come up and working through a problem to resolution using this knowledge.

Best business advice you ever received. Managers are there to manage; directors are there to direct.

What recent project that you completed can we highlight? There are blocks of stacked townhomes at one of the condominiums we manage. Due to improper grading and drainage, these townhomes had substantial water draining back toward the homes. It had been this way since they were originally built approximately 25 years prior.

We worked closely with an engineer and landscape contractors to develop a plan to have the drainage work corrected. This involved substantial regrading of these homes, which included removing many trees that provided privacy to the back of the townhouses.

We worked with the board of directors and owners to educate them on the requirements for this work. We also worked closely with an arborist to provide a list of species of trees that would be suitable for replacement and allowed owners to choose the species of tree they would prefer.

The owners appreciated being involved. In the end, the project greatly improved drainage and allowed for additional sunlight into the back of the homes and privacy was restored by organizing suitable tree and shrub species placements.

 


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