You don't need to fill up your iPad with new apps and platforms—the best way to add value may just be a low-tech best practice that some have neglected.

Property managers and owners are finding they can leverage the plethora of new real estate software for serious bottom-line impact. But intimately knowing a building and its systems remains the key component of maximizing value, says Environmental Systems Design VP Tony Garcia.

Engaging an engineering and design firm with a similar appreciation for this deep understanding of systems is integral to any successful renovation and continued smooth operation. Tony says the requisite system knowledge is best acquired by tracing them from installation to retirement, or “cradle to grave.”

It’s actually more important now than ever, he says, a necessary foundation for adopting and integrating the complex technologies that tap into building systems.

Realizing this, ESD has made consistent involvement a pillar of its approach.

The folks at ESD “believe innovation is more than owning and using the latest technology. It is assembling solutions using technology and experience-based knowledge to capture and translate the potential embedded within."

ESD senior engineer David Herrera says he sees “countless examples of property managers investing in expensive tech that goes underutilized, or else is completely ignored by O&M teams.”

This is often preventable. New developments make ambitious sustainability, overall efficiency, comfort and energy reduction goals feasible.

Rather than looking at, say, the different HVAC systems in isolation—considering them distinct from the insulation, UV coating on windows, heat permeable entranceways, etc.—adopting a holistic mentality, viewing the building as an entity comprised of a system of systems that have to work in tandem, delivers tangibly better results.

When engineering firms' presence is as constant and solid as the property, plant and equipment they’re engaged to maintain, good things happen.

ESD works at a number of properties that have changed hands multiple times, staying involved to facilitate the transition and help new ownership run things.

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