Choosing a commercial fridge can be difficult sometimes but it can be made really easy by following these simple steps:

How much space do you need? – This really depends on the kind of restaurant that you run. If you are a huge restaurant that serves a great number of people in a single day, you will probably have a great quantity of food items to store. When that happens, you will need a huge commercial fridge, or perhaps even a small refrigerated room. However, if you run a small business, with not that many customers in a day, you will not need that big a fridge and a smaller one would be a good option for you. Thus, always be very clear on the amount of space that you will be needing for refrigerating purposes.

Operation cost versus the cost price – This is another point to ponder that you will come across. Fridges with low cost price may have a greater operation cost since they consume more electricity and fridges with high cost price may have a lower operation cost since they consume less electricity. In this case you should try to strike a balance based on the amount of benefits that you will get on each side. For example, you should calculate the amount of money you will save over a period of 5 years by using a low operation cost fridge and compare it to the high operation cost fridge. You can then determine which one is a better option.

Warranty – This is another extremely important factor when it comes to picking a commercial fridge. With a high purchasing cost, if your commercial fridge stops functioning properly, it will be a loss to you. A warranty protects you against such situations. Take warranty into consideration when you are going to buy a product. Spend a little more money on extended warranty if necessary. Messing up with the warranty can be a huge mistake. Some warranties even promise to replace the product if defects are found. There are some really good offers and one cannot afford to overlook them.

Cleaning the fridge – Since you will be dealing with food items and want to guarantee no compromise on hygiene, it is important to regularly clean the refrigerator. Therefore, you should keep in mind while buying the fridge that cleaning it should be easy. While it does not look like a big deal now, if not considered, you many have problems in the future.More properties mean specialisation and greater skill from the right people in the property management department. Employing new people with the right skills is critical. Specific jobs are then allocated to specialist staff. A team of people then manage the building or buildings.

Skills needed in a large property management portfolio include:

Financial accounting control of both income and expenditure
Lease administration of all leases and occupancy situations
Tenant management and communication
Legal interpretation and control
Arrears management
Engineering and planning
Tenancy mix and planning
Maintenance management
Reporting to owners
Contractor management

The more complex the property the deeper these issues become. To achieve this skill mix and diversity you find that larger property management departments in real estate agencies employ these people:

Head of Department
Property Manager
Lease Negotiator or Manager
Maintenance Manager or Building Engineer
Tenant Contact Manager
Lease Administrator
Accountant
Secretary or PA

This team would typically manage a large property or a group of them. Shopping Centres would have a staff structure like this, with everyone firstly reporting to the property manager and then ultimately the Head of Department.

The salaries and on-costs associated with this large group of people are significant and therefore have to be supported by full cost recovery through the leases of the property. Shopping Centres do this frequently and the leases in the property are designed to allow that to occur. On top of these costs you would have a management fee which is charged separately.

At the end of a financial year in a large property portfolio or large property, the auditing of outgoings will normally occur to check and pick up these staff costs correctly and in accordance with the leases of the property. It is not unusual for the details of the audit to be made available in summary form to the property tenants given that most of the tenants are likely to contribute to the building outgoings as part of their rental and lease structure.