Good Security Raises Rents And Tenant Quality

Security is one of the fastest ways to change the story a commercial property tells. When a site feels dark, overgrown, or unmanaged, you do not just invite problems, you also repel the tenants who pay on time, renew, and invest in their space. We dig into the layers of commercial real estate security we evaluate when we take over an asset, and how those decisions show up later as better tenant quality, stronger rent, and fewer surprises for owners and property managers.

We start with the low-cost moves that too many investors skip: landscaping that restores line of sight, trimming that removes hiding places, and fencing that stops cut-through traffic and reduces escape routes. From there we get tactical on commercial property lighting, including timers versus photo cells, LED retrofits, wall packs, and why you have to do night visits to find the real problem areas. We also share how tenant perception matters, because a building can be technically “safe” and still feel unsafe, which kills leasing.

Then we address the hard part: recurring loitering and homeless sleeping on site. We explain why “asking nicely” often fails, how a documented trespass process works with local law enforcement, and how consistency over months can reset a property’s reputation. We close with security cameras, budget-friendly temporary setups, long-term hardwired planning, and access control systems that reduce rekeying, automate lock schedules, and create an audit trail when something goes missing.

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Transcript

Show Premise And Setup

Michael Carro 0:00

Welcome to Blue Dirt, the podcast that digs deep into the foundation of commercial real estate investing. Unlike most real estate shows that focus on deal making and market trends, Blue Dirt gets into the nuts and bolts of what truly builds long-term value, the building itself. We break down how to spot deferred maintenance before it costs you, why a solid preventative maintenance program is a game changer, and how triple net leases can maximize your investment returns. We'll also explore the importance of strong landlord-tenant relationships and how they drive stability and growth in your portfolio. Whether you're a seasoned investor or just getting started, Blue Dirt gives you the practical knowledge to make smarter, more profitable decisions in commercial real estate. It's time to get your hands dirty and build value from the ground up. Let's dig in. Hi, welcome to another episode of the Blue Dirt Podcast, where even idiots can make a killing in commercial real estate. I'm Michael Kierrow with Don Redhead with Blue Commercial Properties. And today we're going to talk about security. And I think somebody might have already abducted Don because he was completely silent, but I'm going to look to my right and he's there. Kind of a stiff person, but that's okay. He's still here. So it's happening. I don't know. So, anyways, so one of the things you find your pen. Yeah, I did find the pen. I got it. I'm good. Um, so when we first take over an asset, one of the initial things we evaluate is security of the premises. And so today's episode is really going to focus on security, but there's a lot of different forms of security that can help you uh with your investment. Um so we're gonna touch on landscaping, lighting, camera systems, homeless people, um, security uh personnel, uh, and just a variety of other things. So we're just gonna kind of touch on each thing, what we kind of focus on, what we do, and um yeah, and just take it from there. So, Don, you know, uh, where would you like to start on this subject?

Don Redhead 2:13

Um probably I'm trying to think of when we first get the property before we even I'll say fully lease it out, typically we're hitting a lot of the physical cleanup. Right. Um so why don't we start with that portion?

Landscaping For Sightlines And Safety

Michael Carro 2:29

Okay. So I'm thinking of uh one of the properties that we bought a mile and a half up the road. Yep. And and this is probably to me, it's probably the easiest and least expensive way to assess and make an impact on security. And that happens to be landscaping. So I like to I I start off with the vision of my wife or daughter leaving a property at night and the different routes that they would take to get to their cars or their parking lots. All right. And so, and then you you you imagine the boogeyman everywhere. Where are they hiding behind to potentially not give somebody enough time to see them? So one of the things that we like to do is lower some landscaping, especially where there's um people can hide behind. And while it doesn't really happen that often, but it gives the person who's leaving a greater sense of security. So we're not only looking to make the place uh more secure, but we want our tenants to feel more secure. So we're accomplishing a psychological thing on the tenancy as well as a physical thing on making sure that it is as safe as it can be.

Don Redhead 3:47

So yeah, that's a it's a great point because you're as you're you're already going to be spending money on landscaping, but what you don't want to do is go there, spend a bunch, make it really beautiful, but miss that there is more to it than just the beautification. It does need to be, you know, trimmed up or you know, as you're saying, trimmed down or even trimmed up, right? So if there is a tree there, that it's not adding you know additional foliage to where someone can can hide behind, get everything up, get everything thinned out, cleaned out, prevent uh areas for people to get in behind bushes. A lot of times it'll be the hedges between the building and these these bushes. So it yeah, it's it's one of our, I'll say most people overlook it, but we have a lot of intentionality to it when we go in, not just spend the money there um for the beautification, but as you're doing it, have a good mindset and plan.

Michael Carro 4:44

And so if you think about line of sight, right, what would give somebody the greatest line of sight, the furthest that they can see away from themselves, um, that would best allow them time for action, right? So you just you're intentionally going through a process that you're creating an unsafe environment in your head. And so you're trying to look and see, okay, where can where can people hide? Yeah, and and what can I do with this landscaping to make that vision greater, to give somebody enough opportunity to, you know, maybe pull out mace, pull out a gun, um, or or run, right? But just give them enough time to make an action so somebody isn't coming up upon them immediately. So that's one of the things that I think we really focus on. And this one asset that we acquired, even the parking lots themselves, because this uh property has three parking lots. I mean, it was the most overgrown. You really couldn't see past the first wave of parking row of parking. And there was there's four, right? There's four rows of parking, and you couldn't see past the first one. Today you can see all the way to the other side. Yeah. And so um, but this much landscaping and and cleanup, it it required, it was a lot longer than I expected.

Don Redhead 6:06

Uh yeah, and and we didn't do it all at that, I'll say at once. We did the majority, right? To to make it the condition that we wanted. But I mean, even last year we we tore everything out, really got into the one parking lot, got all the the parking bumpers out, cleaned everything deeper. So you just you keep chipping away because for you to do it originally, it would just have been you know so significant of capital.

Michael Carro 6:32

Well, the so this parking lot that he's referring to, this the one that we just cleared out, did have complete visibility though. It was just a kind of overgrown. And that wasn't a safety issue that we were concerned about. That was more of a cleaning issue. The safety attack that in the first couple months uh from a landscaping because it's it's really so inexpensive. You might not be adding or beautifying, but you are making it safe. And that typically is trimming. Trimming doesn't cost you anything, you can do it yourself. So so now that you know that landscaping plays a significant role, you can visualize it yourself to come up with a plan for your asset to make sure that that is it's as safe as can be. And this will be your least expensive way to add a great impact. Um, so the next thing that segues into that is lighting.

Fencing That Blocks Bad Pathways

Don Redhead 7:23

Um, and I would before we leave that one, I would also link uh it's a little bit more expensive, but the fencing I see kind of as part of the landscaping. Um what you'll see a lot of times is is good fencing uh prevents those cross people from crossing through the property to where you're you're cutting off the channels of individuals making their different paths and and they know the networks that they like to travel. If you get the fencing in in good strategic locations, a lot of time you're mitigating any of that that cross property access that people just get concerned about. Why are these people always walking through our parking lot and having good barriers there? They just prevent that property and they have to go around.

Michael Carro 8:07

So on that, so Don talked about people going through your property, but let's go back to if you're being nefarious, what the fence can also do is is eliminate escape routes. If you're if you're casing a property, you're looking for ways of getting out, right? So if this happens, I can get out here and here. You're looking for multiple escape routes. Well, if you add fencing and you narrow it to a choke point, then it's less desirable for somebody to want to go into that area because there's only there might only be one way in and one way out. And that's not what these people are looking for. So that that adds another layer of protection.

Don Redhead 8:47

So yeah, I just said when we just did a renovation of property, the the I didn't think it was needed, but the gentleman added it. And after we did that, you could actually see where the people had stopped using it, and it was only on I'll say a third of the property, but it was in the right spot and just prevented all that that trans, you know, people transferring between different locations. Right. So all right.

Lighting Choices That Actually Work

Michael Carro 9:13

So lighting. Lighting is so critically important, and um, and sometimes you may have enough light outlets that if you can simply upgrade the bulbs and get additional wattage or stronger LEDs or whatever it is. Um, so the first thing is is make sure everything you have is properly illuminated and that it it gets turned on, whether it's if it's not on, it should be on an automatic timer, right?

Don Redhead 9:42

It should be like a three different, yeah, there's three different ones you'll typically see or four. Um you have your classic timer, it's like a dial, it's pretty rudimentary, pretty fail, you know, fail-proof. Um, but the part that doesn't take into account daylight savings, you know, there's there's minutes that that get added up. There is these digital timers that go by, they're much more complex, much more expensive. Uh, I don't like them personally. Uh the one that we always tend to lean to is is the is the photo cell, which is the solar one you're talking about. So the second um it gets dark, uh boom, the lights come on. Uh you do have to be mindful for where they have access, right? Uh we have a property out on the beach where it is one of those that is a around here, we have Alvin's Islands, they're one of the surf shops. They're super bright. And it was so bright, it was throwing our photo cell. So we had to go over, and when one of the guys that with a lot of experience goes, just use a permanent marker. It added enough over the photo cell that that when it did at dusk, it actually added enough. So it was just be mindful. But those were our preferences. They do have most of them.

Michael Carro 10:55

That sounds ridiculous to me. Um, but sounds like it worked, but sounds ridiculous. Um, so like most things we say. Um, parking lots, uh, you know, lighting can get fairly expensive. So it's important to be strategic. Um, you know, we tend to do as much as we can up front, and then as cash flow permits, you know, it's a it's an important part of the project, but you have to wait sometimes. Um, if you have uh parking lot lights, a lot of times those heads can be uh completely upgraded from the old heads that everybody used to have to actually a smaller, uh lower voltage LED that it actually works out really well. Why don't you talk about that?

Don Redhead 11:39

Yeah, uh one thing we ran into over here uh at our current parking lot, it had the wiring in place, which is the most expensive, right? If you got the wires in place, an LED retrofit is is rather uh insignificant and cost-wise. But if you can pull those old heads, you know, they typically have like a teardrop style or what they'll call a shoebox fixture, they're just not adding a lot of light, or they'll have the ones that look really nice, almost like what you see downtown, the kind of the bulb. Right. Once again, not great for security, great for ambiance. But if you can modify those, uh, you can buy those heads online pretty, pretty cheap. You know, if you want to buy them and then have the electrician install them, you could probably find one for a few hundred bucks. Um, a lot of times they will need a lift, you know.

Michael Carro 12:27

The installation may not be uh cheap, but you know, you could save a lot of money by buying buying the heads.

Don Redhead 12:33

And sometimes you can retrofit. Right. You know, we did that at another parking lot, just retrofit to LED, you know, and that was significantly cheaper, but added it's still a lot brighter than what it would have been uh before.

Michael Carro 12:46

So, and then you know, um you have wall packs, and then the wall packs are are are the next thing I was gonna suggest is you know you have to go look at your building at nighttime, doing new night visits and and see this one building with that we're referencing uh that's to the north of us, it had a lot of dark spots and and little corridors here, little pathways, everything. And so this is it happens to be about a 40,000 square foot building. Uh, it encompasses actually four physically different buildings, even though they're all kind of combined uh with uh corridors. And so, you know, but replacing all those uh existing packs, and then recently we just uh signed a nice lease for this one outbuilding, and on the one side of it, it really didn't either either have lights or none of them worked or something. But as soon as we signed up the tenant, then we lit it up like a Christmas tree and it looks fantastic. I mean, I go by there now and it's just so much better. And but you know, good safety and security on a building allows you to get better tenants too, because a lot of people are very security conscious. And by the way, as a landlord, you want the most secure building you can get. Um, now let's go ahead and talk before on before you go.

Don Redhead 14:09

That's that's really the purpose of this. This whole episode, right? Is how do you add the layers of security? Where can you find them? Where what should you be focused on to make sure that the tenants are absolutely they feel the safest and you can get the most for it, right? Rent-wise. Right. But that's the strategy.

Homeless Encounters And Trespass Process

Michael Carro 14:25

So it just uh dawned on me. Um, so when we first were getting this property, there was a tenant in place that had their own security. Uh, they opened, I'm gonna make up the hours. They opened at seven and closed at six. And their security went to the property every morning, seven o'clock, and they would literally go around and and tell uh people that were sleeping on the property, homeless or whatever, hey, time to go, time to go. And and of course, they were nice, they left, but that was not solving the problem. And uh, and what happens is is if you're trying to get higher quality tenants, they're not interested in feeling uh unsafe because of people sleeping in their in their doorstep. And so, Don, why don't you talk about your strategy as a property manager in solving that issue?

Don Redhead 15:20

Yeah, ours has you know has evolved a little bit over time, um, not very far away from what this gentleman had done initially, right? You kind of get in and you just say, hey, you gotta go. Yeah, you show back up three days later, they're still you, they'll come right back. Um we've we learned pretty quickly that that solution or that strategy didn't work. So what we started to do was, hey, we made initial contact. You got to move where we're gonna trespass you. You don't want to do that. You really um we're big advocates of trespassing the individual, which means essentially we're documenting in writing with the local uh law enforcement that this individual is not allowed on property. So they're gonna notate, you know, all the things in their records to where if this person comes back on property, they can actually arrest them. So they physically trespass them. You have to be there, or an individual that is uh affiliated with the property has to trespass them. And that we've seen really great results and because what happens is that person doesn't come back, they'll go to the property next door or down the street where they're not being uh it's not being enforced like that. And it also word travel is actually pretty, pretty quick, um, surprisingly, in the in the communities like that, where they're like, hey, don't go over there. You're just gonna, they're just gonna trespass you. So don't go over there. That's that's a better spot. And we've taken it to really the next level where you know we have a process in place for our managers. Hey, as soon as you see them, you engage the the local law enforcement. They are with you as you approach. We notify the tenants that they also have all these same rights and how they should interact with them. Call the local law enforcement. You are a tenant, and with the tenant, you have all the same rights as the landlord. So you can reach out and trespass these individuals as well. So we've just we've taken a much more serious approach in documentation protocols uh for safety, really for everybody.

Staffing Cleanliness And Trash Control

Michael Carro 17:27

And I'll tell you the nice thing about this. Um these folks, I'm gonna tell you, most of them are are very nice. They move if you ask them to move, um, but they're also pretty smart. They know, they probably know the law better than you do, right? And so the initial trespass is kind of a free uh notification, right? They don't go to jail, that nothing happens, but they're just it's just notated, like Don mentioned. But they do know that the second trespass on that same property is a cause of action. And so it took about six months because this was really a heavily uh targeted area for for for sleeping and hanging out. And so it took the property management group six months of consistent, not the same person, right? It was just a different flow of people. To now, four years later, there have been no issues since the initial six months. And uh so it's that's a success story. And by the way, that property now has a much greater um upgrade of tenants because now people who like the building, like the area, like the price, feel secure enough and feel confident that that could be a good home for their business. And that's ultimately what we're targeting as well. Anything else on that? No, not with not with the trust. So let's segue button button. Let's segue into um the next thing, which is if you are in a uh a center that can afford you're you're in a in a challenging area demographically, and we're looking at a property right now that fits this mark, that um it's it's across from several homeless type shelters. And so we're about to get the property uh as the property manager, and the we Don and I have been there three times and have encountered no less than six to ten uh homeless people who are this set of uh they're doing meth. The other one is doing uh uh other drugs. I mean, we they're it's just in the open. And so we're already strategizing, okay, how can we take care of this issue? Because what it does is it it you're only gonna attract the type of tenants that don't care uh about that, which is not the tenant mix you're always wanting for your property. And so, so uh so why don't you talk about some of the strategies you think you're gonna work on for this uh scenario?

Don Redhead 20:13

Yeah, it's really a vicious cycle, right? You know, you're gonna do it.

Michael Carro 20:17

And I'm sorry, I was going towards the security uh uh personnel, overnight security, day security. So how does that overlay with something like this?

Don Redhead 20:28

Yeah, the unfortunate part is once it usually gets to this point, it's just in this kind of death spiral, right? So now it's it's more expensive on the landlord portion to kind of turn that ship. Um with this property, they've they have an individual there during the day um who's clearly not doing what they're supposed to.

Michael Carro 20:49

Um which would be what what we would what we would want them to be doing, right? Because going in. We didn't hire them, right? So they might be doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing based on the scope of work that that particular landlord or property manager is giving them. But for our standards, they're not doing what what we would expect.

Don Redhead 21:08

Correct. So um a few things that we're gonna kind of immediately do is is like you're saying, educate, have someone there 24-7. There's a cleaner and someone who kind of shows the property loosely, uh, but they also are supposed to be keeping it kind of underwatch and and safe. This person needs to go through the education and and training of how to trespass these individuals during the day. And then they also have a nighttime security that they just uh according to them, just moved companies. Um it seems like they're mostly just a driving kind of rover. Right. Um, who knows if they actually are pushing them off? There's a lot of parking lot uh lighting that's out. There's canopy lighting that's out, uh, very limited security cameras. We haven't even really gotten to the camera portion. Um there's another part that is on the cleanliness side. You know, they have this cleaner there, but one thing we've noticed uh over time is you actually have to remove you you'd think that this is counterintuitive, but removing all the trash cans from the exterior of the site actually uh attribute is comes in with less trash for you to clean up.

Michael Carro 22:23

And do you and do you know why? I'm I'm asking you, the speaker, not the speaker, the listener. Adam. If we have a listener, do you know why? Tell them why, Donnie. Do you know why?

Don Redhead 22:38

I'll tell you what I'll tell you. Well, I'll I'll this one is different. I'm gonna give you multiple reasons. This one is because the individuals, there's a lot of people throwing out trash um as they're just walking around, emptying their cars out, doing whatever. And individuals are then going into the trash and pulling it all out looking for whatever. So now this trash that has been picked up by 90% of the people is getting ripped back out of the cans and going everywhere. Um, some of the more interesting, even high-end locations, we've removed um some from really tourist type locations. Uh, what we found out on the beach was when people showed up early before their check-in, they would empty their cars in some of our parking lots um with trash from the the the car ride to to the destination. So there'd be there'd be fast food boxes from all over the country in this parking lot. We're like, there's not a jack in the box around here, but they're they're bringing the trash there and and emptying it, causing just an extra step. And then there you have seagulls and and the wind is just blowing everything everywhere. So it's just not good for the beach, it's not good for for any of the costs. Uh, so we're gonna remove those those trash cans as well.

Michael Carro 23:58

Yeah. And I think that's a great point. It is counterintuitive. You think if you put trash cans out, people will use them. And by the way, they will, but what I'm gonna reinforce what Donnie said, the primary thing is they're taking, oh, there's a trash can. I'm gonna get all the trash from my car and dump it in there. Well, most people, I'm gonna say the majority of everybody, they're not gonna take their trash. If you don't have a trash can, it's not like they're gonna take it out of their car and throw it on the ground. Yes, you're gonna find an idiot here and there. That's gonna happen. But the really the majority of people are like, oh, I they don't think about it. But when they see a trash can, they're like, oh, let me clean out my car. This is not a car wash, this is not a place to clean your car. And so remove those trash cans. You'll save the labor, you'll save the extra cleanup, and you'll save uh just a lot of eyesore of all of this trash being, you know, gone through and and and thrown all over the place.

Don Redhead 24:51

So um, and on that point, too, one thing you won't be able to kind of get away from obviously that's the the trash cans are simple. Yeah, I don't know what to do with those. Uh put the put the smarking the the smoking table as far away from the property as you can. Uh, I don't have any other advice on that one. Uh what I was gonna say is dumpster corrals. If you can, um lockable dumpster corrals, uh, ones that you know they the the waste management, whoever republic services here, uh they have access to. But if you can prevent the same, it's just really the same thing there. People will go dumpster diving, you'll find trash all over, they'll rip bags open, uh, animals will do it too. So uh dumpster corrals is also a good uh you know, another same, same, similar topic.

Camera Systems On Any Budget

Michael Carro 25:39

So so the last, I think it's the last, the last area that I wanted to at least uh address were camera systems. Um, I'm a huge fan of cameras. We have them uh at the majority of our properties. Um I like them all over. Um and uh it's I have found it to be very, very helpful. Um, we have certain properties where, you know, we have venues, we have common workspaces, and um, it just it it it number one, I think it's a selling point, and we use it as a selling point as a high secure office building or a high secure this or a high secure that. Um, but invariably when something happens, we can rewind the tape and identify, you know, we've had people hit our fence, we've had people run into this or steal that or break this, and we're able to go back and say, okay, we now we know who the who did it. And um, so what would you like to talk about on that?

Don Redhead 26:42

Cameras are usually pretty expensive. Um, it's usually of all the things we're actually talking about, it's probably the most expensive. Um, obviously 24 hour security is is is probably the most expensive. Um so what a lot of times in and what we'll do is Well, let's let's clarify that.

Michael Carro 27:01

It's an it's an it's an upfront expensive thing, and then it's a monthly uh fee, right?

Don Redhead 27:08

Yes and no. There's some out there now that there's not uh real monthly fees to it. Uh how about there's a a scale of monthly fees? Yeah, there's some there's some uh out there so double check when you are getting that uh program installed. You know, some are zero money up front, but they're huge monthly costs, right?

Michael Carro 27:27

I'm a big fan of spend it, own it, and then pay as little monthly fees as possible. Yeah.

Don Redhead 27:33

So, but when you also do it um in using the property up the street as an example, we knew that we weren't done adding cameras after our first wave. So it's it really is best practice and wise to go ahead and get the bigger switch, what they'll call it with the number of ports, to where yeah, if you kind of look down the road, hey, I'm gonna add, I can afford to do say 10 cameras today, but I know this property over time is probably gonna have 20 to 30 cameras. Go ahead and buy a 32 switch. Um, you know, uh so as you come in and you add over time, you don't need to go back and replace that thing. You're it's a one-time expense. And then now you're just buying per camera and then you know to run the to run the cat five or six cable to it. Um, that would be my biggest uh you know advice.

Michael Carro 28:27

But if you can't afford the uh hardwired system, you know, we've gone in and put in uh either cellular systems or what do we have back here, Donnie, that we put out uh because we had had such an issue back there during construction. But it could be something as simple as a ring camera uh or something like that. I can't remember what what uh Jesse put in place, but you know, I just I said I wanted this one area secured during construction. So he put up a camera. And as soon as you walked into this, it was an alleyway. As soon as you walked in the alleyway, the light came on and started recording. And I when I say light, I'm not talking about the little tiny red light. I mean a floodlight came on. And I would tell you, that'll turn people around right away right away. So you can start off with some inexpensive options and then as cash flow and priority permits, continue to upgrade that system. Again, this is these are for investments that we hold long term. If you are the type of investor that's going to flip your property, these types of things may not make sense. Um, if it's a short-term hold, some of these items you you you may not need to do. But our our investment strategy is very long-term. So we are totally okay with reinvesting every dollar for the first three years back into the asset. And then usually by the end of the third year, we're making distributions and and there's cash flow from that point forward. So we're very heavy investment for the first three years uh on all of our assets.

Don Redhead 30:00

Yeah, that brand was it's uh Rio Link. So R-E-O-Link. Okay. Um, we've found pretty great success with them. We use a version that is both cellular and solar. Hold on, charge it.

Michael Carro 30:14

Doing a podcast, how can we monetize saying their name and and and maybe maybe we can it's probably our marketing?

Don Redhead 30:20

Rio Link's not doing what he should be doing right now.

Michael Carro 30:23

Adam, call Rio Link and get us uh sponsorship.

Don Redhead 30:27

Yeah, give us a sponsorship. Uh and then I'll throw out another one here than if we're on that idea. Um and we have a certain number of uh, and we like the cellular because I mean you can put that anywhere. If you have Wi-Fi on property, it's cheaper to use your Wi-Fi with the solar. You have to do an initial charge. But other than that, they've been really great product uh for us for a lot of the jab sites and temporary areas where yeah, you may want to test out where you might want to add cameras long term. Um, so this is where you can say, hey, this is a good spot to add it, or no, let me try it over here. So it really is a great product for the standpoint. You do have to do an initial charge, but after that, uh, the solar will run it. Uh, and then we're very fortunate that we have a uh a corporate plan with our phone service through T-Mobile. So Adam called those guys too. Um and we can just pull a cellular, you know, uh card and throw it in, hang it up, and just let it run. So it's it's it's worked very well for us as a solution.

Michael Carro 31:27

By the way, this corporate T-Mobile plan, just to kind of uh reinforce this, you know, uh each phone that we have under uh Don's company is is it$10 a month? Something like that. Yeah. I mean it's kind of a ridiculously low plan.

Don Redhead 31:42

You have to buy a certain amount minimum. But yeah, it's it's it definitely if you have a business, uh go out there and look for, especially like I said, T-Mobile's, I thought had a great price. Uh go out there and see what kind of options they have, significantly cheaper than I was paying for my two phone lines, right? Uh personal ones.

Access Control And Rekeying Savings

Michael Carro 32:01

Yeah, it's crazy. So we we we allow all of our employees to get to piggyback on it. And um, you know, for ten dollars a month, if they can save money for even with their own families, we're all happy to do that.

Don Redhead 32:13

So the last thing, uh, I know we said that, but access control is another one. Uh I think we touched on on another episode, but yeah, the right access control system, depending on the facility, really can actually save you some substantial money in the long run. Uh rekeying stuff is not fun.

Michael Carro 32:32

Let me help, let me start off by defining a little bit of access control for those of you who may not understand it. So you have a key fob and there's a key reader at a door. And so um a lot of our buildings, uh, let's say in this particular case, the building next to us, uh at the parking lot's in the rear. And so mostly the uh most of the time the employees are gonna enter through the rear and they're gonna uh they each get a key fob that's identified to them. They would simply come up to the door, the door would release, they'd open the door. The front door is uh done a little bit differently. That one, the door automatically unlocks at 8 a.m. and it automatically locks at 5 p.m. So um, and then of course you can override that if it was a holiday or something like that. So so this access control is great to have. And then each office within the building has its own access control. So when Don was talking about re-keying, if if you have somebody, whether it's an employee or a tenant that leaves, instead of having to go and re-key those doors, you can simply turn off that access code and re-access code it to somebody else's key fob. So um did I capture that pretty close?

Don Redhead 33:43

Yeah, there's little variations in there too that you know, some of the new ones have their phone, uh, so you can use your phone.

Michael Carro 33:49

Yeah, we have blue, uh, what's it called? Blue Diamond. Blue Diamond app. Um, Adam, another potential sponsor. Not affiliated. Not like a blue commercial. Not related to Blue Commercial, but uh, so there's a blue diamond app. And so it's it's interesting. So you go, you hit it, and it it geolocates where you're located. It'll say, Are you, do you want to go into this door? And you're like, Yes, and you hit it, and then the door unlocks. If I went to the other side of the building, it's it you want to use this door? Boom. And so it's it's a pretty good app, and it's something that you can then give to your tenants for specific doors. Um, and so that's what worked out pretty well.

Don Redhead 34:25

Yeah, and it does a good job too, right? You know, who's accessed the door? Like, hey, there's something missing. Uh well, it shows that that Mike accessed the property last night at midnight. He was the last person here, right?

Michael Carro 34:37

Right. Um now I will tell you, uh, we've gone through a lot of different access control systems, and they all seem to sound really good up front, um, but some of them are just a bear to deal with. Um, you know, uh so just be very very, very mindful. Some are really cheap up front, but are real difficult to work with. Some are uh very expensive up front and better. It just it's all over the board. I'm not saying we found one that we are like, oh my God, this is the best. They all have their their pros and cons. You just have to ultimately learn what I would do research on everything you want to do because it's it's especially in your area, yeah.

Don Redhead 35:23

Right. There might be local people that I'd get three versions, and it's something that if you're gonna spend your time on any of the things that we're talking about, educating yourself, the access control is worthwhile because it can also save you a tremendous amount of time, like when uh you had just said, if you can set your building up on a program, that means you don't have to go lock it. You don't need to be concerned that the reception is left early for that property. There's a lot of of good benefits to it, but there's there are you know pitfalls that you can avoid by just spending a little bit more time with them, having them educate you, showing them the app that they typically use. They're most of them are app driven. Um, so yeah, we haven't found, I'll say, the one. Um, there's probably my favorite, but there's there's not one that is, I'll say, our perfect one yet.

Michael Carro 36:15

Yeah.

Don Redhead 36:16

And then when we do find that, we'll have Adam reach out and see if we can lock that down.

Michael Carro 36:22

Hey, that wraps up a security episode of the Blue Dirt podcast, where even idiots like Donnie and me can make a killing in commercial real estate. Thanks for joining us. That's a wrap for this episode of Blue Dirt. We're here to help you build smarter, invest wiser, and create long-term value in commercial real estate. One solid foundation at a time. If you found today's insights useful, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you know somebody who could benefit from these discussions, share Blue Dirt with them. Got questions or topics you'd like us to cover? Reach out. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep digging deep. Stay sharp, and remember real value is built from the ground up. See you on the next episode.