Preparing for Resident Move In

 

Rent Money!  This is the moment we have all been waiting for.  After a year of pre-development, a year of design, and two years of construction, it’s time to start making some income.  You are going to be working very closely with your operator during this transition phase from development to operations.  You actually should have started preparing for this phase many months ago – maybe more than a year ago.

 

Your seasoned operator is going to know what they need to do to open a facility, and all those steps are beyond the scope of this website, but below are some of the main interfaces you, as the development manager, will have with the operator to ensure the facility is resident ready.

 

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Kitchen

For assisted living and memory care (and most independent living) residents, you have to be able to feed them before you can let them move in.  All states require some type of food service permit that your operator will apply for before they can prepare and serve food from an onsite commercial kitchen.  Getting this food service permit requires a kitchen inspection by the authority issuing the permit.  That permitting authority will validate that the kitchen is fully operational, clean and safe.  This means all the kitchen equipment needs to be installed and operating, and a lot of that falls under the oversight of the development manager because the equipment is furnished and installed by the general contractor.

 

If getting your kitchen operational is running late, but everything else is ready for your residents to move in, you could cater in meals just so you can get the rental income flowing.

 

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Stocking

Most cities will not let you install furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) or small wares until after you get your certificate of occupancy.  However, in many states, you need the furniture installed before your licensing inspection so the state inspectors can see that furniture is not blocking egress paths.

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To compress the time between your CO and resident move-in, talk to your city inspector and see if he will allow you to "stock and train" in the facility before you get a full certificate of occupancy.  Many cities will allow you to stock and train if the building has passed its fire/life safety inspection by the fire marshal.  If the city will allow you to do this, take advantage of it and move your FF&E, staff and their stuff in early to get ready for residents.

 

Also, the operator will stock the building with all the items they need to operate the building.  These items include:

• Cleaning supplies and equipment

• Small wares

• Food in the kitchen

• Office supplies and technology

 

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Onsite Staff Training

Your operator will be hiring and training staff months before they can start occupying the building, but there is a lot of specific training they can only do after they get into the building.  Your operator is going to need some time to properly train the staff in the building before they can start accepting residents.  Don’t expect to get your certificate of occupancy one day, and start moving in residents the next.  The operator needs to train in the building before they can handle residents.

 

One of the key staff training events the development manager needs to ensure happens and coordinates is the maintenance manager’s training on building systems.  Your general contractor should coordinate this training for all HVAC, plumbing, electrical, lighting, elevators, kitchen equipment, access control, and irrigation systems.

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This is a tricky balancing act because brining on staff to run the facility is expensive.  You don't want to bring too many staff on too early and be saddled with a large payroll bill before you have residents.  But you also don't want to be short staffed if the facility is ready to go.