Who is the first face that greets you when you walk into a condominium, apartment or townhouse complex? One of the perks of living in a condo, apartment, or townhouse is the presence and watchful eye of concierge security guards.
Unlike privately owned homes, condos and similar housing complexes hire concierge staff who are the gatekeepers for access control into and out of the building. You may think that concierge staff only perform administrative duties, such as answering phone calls, screening and granting access to your guests and visitors, coordinating construction and maintenance of your unit and/or common areas, and arranging home tours with real estate agents and their clients. These tasks are just a few important security duties that condo concierge security guards perform, but concierge staff do so much more than that!
Concierge guards are the first point of contact for all residents, guests, and visitors. They are the first line of defence against unauthorized intruders and trespassers for residences and businesses alike. They form the liaison between you, the resident or tenant, and the landlord or unit owner. They form the liaison between all occupants and custodians, real estate agents, contractors, guests and visitors. Concierge guards control access into and out of the building and common areas. They make sure that only those individuals permitted entry are permitted. Concierge security guards are the first line of defence against intruders and protect you and your property against theft, vandalism, and danger.
Do you live in a condominium complex? Or are you just interested in learning how those kinds of communities are protected? Here’s our breakdown of the core duties a highly trained concierge security guard performs.
Administrative Bookings
At first glance, administrative bookings, like the aforementioned home tours, hardly seems to be relevant to safety and security. However, if you live in a condo complex with multiple floors, think again.
One of the main duties for concierges in multi-level buildings is to monitor the elevators and maintain a check-in and check-out list for everyone who uses these elevators. We all hope that the people in our living space are safe from harassment and attack, but that hope doesn’t always pan out.
By managing who has access to a building’s elevators and which floors they are permitted to access, condo concierge security guards add an extra layer of protection from unauthorized access and crime. Elevator access control is key to restricting unauthorized persons from trespassing certain floors. This ensures that only certain individuals, such as residents, unit owners, management, custodians, certain contractors are allowed to visit your floor. That’s why break ins and robberies are uncommon in a well-managed condominium complex.
Condo concierges also manage bookings for other areas in the complex. These include public facilities and common areas, such as party rooms, rooftop lounges, BBQ amenities, swimming pools, gyms, and other recreational facilities.
Mail and Package Monitoring
More and more parcels, packages, and online Amazon orders are being delivered everyday. You’ve probably heard about packages being snatched and stolen from a front door. But not to fear as this is uncommon for residential complexes who made the wise decision to hire competent concierge security guards. Depending on the size of the condominium, a security concierge may also be responsible for liaising with mail delivery and courier services. In other words, they securely receive packages from the post office and other package delivery services and forward them to the right address or suite.
The safety implications of this role are a bit more obvious than those for administrative bookings. Condo concierges are responsible for inspecting and checking all mail that enters into the complex. That doesn’t just mean delivering a box from Point A to Point B. Concierges may also weigh and scan packages or report suspicious deliveries to the appropriate authorities. They also ensure that mail and packages are safely directed to the rightful recipients and don’t get into the wrong hands.
Although premium package services tend to have stringent regulations for verifying mail, some do not. Adding another level of security check to delivered packages is just another service that condo concierges routinely perform.
Owner Access
Condo concierges are also responsible for giving condo owners proper access. Condos that are all in a single building may use key cards or fobs, like those used by hotels, instead of physical keys. The condo concierge must program each of these key cards to open a single door and restrict access to certain floors or common areas of the building.
Correctly programmed key cards improves condominium security by restricting access to areas requiring authorized access. They also make it much more difficult for outsiders and non-residents to gain access to your home.
Concierge staff for condos that use traditional keys are just as diligent. If the owners of condo unit lose their keys, the concierge will be able to assist by providing a temporary spare key and arranging for a locksmith to change the lock.
Condo concierges may alternatively provide key fobs for each condo owner. This is most common for condos in gated communities. Rather than requiring that each owner memorize some sort of access code, concierges may program a key fob to automatically admit whoever is holding it. Specialized key fobs allow owners to access their condo without having to remember and plug in a long code.
Key fobs can also establish touch-free technology. Like modern cars, condo gates will recognize a fob specific to that complex and automatically admit anyone who has it. Contact-less technology is especially welcomed today where sanitation and breaking the chain of transmission for viruses is a top priority.
Security
Concierge staff also perform the important role of keeping the property and residents of a condominium safe. The concierge helps deter crime and vandalism by patrolling the premises and looking out for suspicious activity and unauthorized trespassers.
Patrol duties may be as simple as driving a circuit around the property, conducting mobile foot patrols of each floor, elevator, stairway, and common areas. They also inspect underground parking lots for unlawful activity and assist in parking control. Security concierge personnel also have access to CCTV surveillance systems to monitor the premises and investigate suspicious activity.
Emergency Response
In the unfortunate event of fire and health emergencies, a highly trained concierge security guard in emergency care, first aid and CPR, is valuable to calmly initiate an emergency response and also form a liaison with ambulance, firefighters, and police.
Emergencies, including fire or life-threatening injuries, are unpredictable and can happen anywhere inside or outside the condominium complex. Â We have witnessed a heart attack in the swimming pool, fires in the stairwell, strokes inside a condo unit, and mental health crises in the parking lot. Depending on where the emergency is taking place, emergency responders and paramedics may not always have easy access to the area. Concierge must quickly coordinate and allow access to elevators, certain floors and units so that emergency responders can quickly get to the emergency.
Other, non-life-threatening emergencies, consist of floods and power outages. For example, plumbers and other repair services may not be able to get to the condo unit in reasonable time if they cannot be granted access to the unit in a time sensitive manner. If the residents are dealing with power outages or leaks, this can cause serious problems such as damage to real and personal property.
This is why it is so important for condo concierges to maintain and constantly improve the building’s disaster response plan. If the residents themselves cannot get a hold of the right person, they need to be able to trust that the concierge can.
Concierge Duties at Active Security
Here at Active Security, we understand the important role a security concierge performs for the owners and residents of a condominium complex. Â Active Security provides highly trained concierge experts that are happy to become a valued member of your organization and community. Contact us to learn more about our security concierge services.
