The pool in the Xinyi Building complex dried up
Quanzhou Net, March 28 (Financial Media Reporter Zhang Xiaoming Text/Picture) There are mountains and gardens, and there is no scenery without water. In order to cater to the needs of home buyers, developers have taken the community water feature as a major selling point of commercial housing, and has been widely used in some high-end real estate. However, after the handover, the maintenance of the waterscape has become a problem for many property companies. As the so-called developer sells the house for a while, it is difficult to maintain the property everywhere.
The reporter found that the fountain landscape, which was once an important selling point of many communities, has now mostly become a decoration: some waterscapes are turbid, some are completely dry, some are rusty and exposed, and some are full of dirt, and many owners feel sorry for this. Why is the waterscape in the community idle? Is there a way to solve this dilemma? In the past few days, this reporter has conducted a visit and investigation on this issue.
The fountain facilities in the first phase of the Sunshine Paris neighborhood have rusted
Current situation The water features of the community are mostly furnished
Many communities in the central urban area have beautiful water features, which were one of the selling points of developers to beautify the community environment. But as time went on, the maintenance of the landscape pool became a problem and the situation was awkward.
A few days ago, the reporter came to the COSCO Famous City Community located on Quanxiu Street. Entering from the south gate of the community, you can see a fountain landscape with an area of hundreds of square meters, but it has been abandoned. "If the fountain is turned on, it's spectacular. "Mr. Su is one of the first owners of COSCO Famous City Community, which has been built for more than 20 years. He remembers that when he first moved in, the fountain would be turned on for about one hour every evening, and the square was full of owners who came to see the fountain. More than 10 years ago, there was no water in the pool, and the fountain landscape has been idle to this day.
The Sunny Paris neighborhood on rue Quanxiu also has fountain views, but the water in the two rectangular pools has long since dried up. Mr. Lin, the owner, pointed to the rusty fountain equipment and said: "When we first moved in in 2002, the fountain was still in use, but it suddenly stopped moving, the water feature has been idle for more than 10 years, and the community environment has also been 'tarnished' a lot." ”
It is not uncommon for a community like this to have an unused water feature in the urban area. The reporter visited Xinyi Building, Fengsheng Holiday Castle and Shengshi Tianjiao and other communities, and found that the landscape pools in these communities are also without water, and the fountain equipment has been deactivated.
The fountain in the square outside the city of Fuxin Garden has been out of use for many years
The Fuxin Garden City community at the intersection of Thornton Road and Fengze Street was built in 2004, and the large fountain in the outer square of the community was quite spectacular when it was opened, leaving a deep impression on many citizens. Today, the fountain is in a dilapidated state, the pool is in a dry state, and the curved pool is equipped with aluminum shelves, but these shelves are deformed in many places, and it is easy to trip over them. The property staff of Fuxin Garden Community said that after several changes to the property, the water feature of the outer square has long been no longer maintained.
"The water feature pool in the community is idle and has become a 'playground' for children. Ms. Zhuang, who lives in Guanya City Garden Community, said that her daughter had chased her friends in the pool, accidentally fell and hit the rockery, and had many stitches on her forehead, leaving a scar.
Residents in other communities share the same concerns: in particular, the landscape pools were originally equipped with landscape lights or sprinkler equipment, and they did not know whether the power would be completely cut off after the water dried. Ms. Lin from Sunshine Paris Community said that although the property has cut off the water and electricity inside the landscape pool, there are still potential safety hazards such as messy wires, broken landscape lights, and rusty iron pipes.
Analyze where the difficulty of waterscape maintenance is
For property companies, the community waterscape is undoubtedly a "beautiful burden". The reporter's investigation found that property companies have to consider operating costs, which often leads to the lack of maintenance of waterscapes.
Operational costs are too high
What is the reason why the waterscape in the community is not working? The property company may have the most say.
It is understood that when the developer sells the property, it will use the open water feature to attract customers, but once the property is sold out and the developer leaves, the daily maintenance of the water feature will be transferred to the property management company.
Senior property manager Gao told reporters that he once took over a community, when the waterscape has been paralyzed, at first tried to invest manpower, material resources to maintain the operation of the fountain and other waterscapes, but due to the sinking of the foundation, the pool frequently leaked, like a bottomless pit, repeated maintenance is still ineffective, and can only be abandoned.
The water feature of the main gate of the Donghai Taihe Shouxi Community
In some new communities, the reporter saw that the water features were not all turned on. At 11:50 on March 17, when the reporter visited Zhongjun Yongjingtai Community, there was no water in a large sculpture pool at the south gate of the community, and a small fountain in the gate was running. There are three water features at the main gate of the Donghai Taihe Shouxi Community. Ms. Lam, a resident, said that two water features are open once in the morning and once in the evening, while the fountain pool is only open on holidays.
"Mainly from the cost saving consideration, open waterscape not only consumes water, but also consumes electricity, the cost is relatively high, open all day, property management companies can not afford to bear the cost pressure. "Most of the properties in the community have made this explanation.
The water features of Bao Shan Garden are still well maintained
Baoshan Garden Community is a high-end residential community in our city, which has three gates, all with landscaped pools, and each will be opened regularly in the morning, noon and evening. Not only that, there are also two large natural lakes in the community, Lihu Lake and Zhuhu Lake, and the waterscape maintenance is done well. Shi Liling, deputy general manager of Southern Property, introduced that as a high-end community, Baoshan Garden Community focuses on creating a water system landscape during development and construction, and the property has to invest a lot of maintenance costs every year to ensure the normal operation of the water feature. She said frankly that the maintenance of the waterscape in the later stage tests the operation and management level of the property company, which cannot be maintained by the owner alone. For most property companies, the larger the water feature, the more unbearable it is. The reporter also observed that twenty or thirty years after the delivery of the real estate, there are only a handful of communities where the waterscape can remain the same.
"Water features do have the problem of high maintenance costs, and without circular maintenance, water features will eventually be paralyzed. Industry manager Chen said that only a few good properties can afford the maintenance cost of waterscapes, and for some communities, low property fees directly restrict the maintenance of waterscapes in the community.
There are also some community property owners said that many of the water pipes buried under the fountain have been used for many years, plus there are some defects in the design of the year, and various problems are prone to occur after a long time, and the cost of repair or replacement is not low, and it is also helpless to stop the water feature.
Property is in a dilemma
In the Lijing Bay Community, the property and the property committee reached a consensus that the water feature would only be open during holidays. The property owner told reporters that for the water feature, the property company should consider both the cost and the opinions of the owner. Because the maintenance fee of the waterscape is borne by the owner, the owner has disputes about whether the waterscape should continue to be used, some hope to continue to maintain, so that the beautiful waterscape can improve the quality of the community, and some require to stop using it, because the waterscape is expensive and easy to breed mosquitoes, and it will also produce noise. The property owner has to listen to all kinds of opinions, and it is also faced with a dilemma - should the waterscape, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources, maintain normal operation or abandon or renovate?
In fact, after the maintenance cost is passed on from the developer to the property, it will eventually be borne by the owner, which has become a heavy expense for the maintenance and management of the community. This also leads to disputes over the operation of water features by property owners at times. When the fountain is opened, some owners question who should pay for the water and electricity bills, and when the fountain is not opened, the stinky water is also complained about for mosquitoes.
"In some communities, the maintenance fee is tens of thousands of yuan a year. The person in charge of the property of a community in the east of the city believes that the high cost of waterscape maintenance is indeed a practical problem faced by the community. Some owners' committees support the maintenance of the community's waterscape, while others are reluctant to spend, and the opinions of the owners are different, resulting in a dilemma for the property.
Discuss the future of the "paralyzed" waterscape
The landscape pools in many residential areas have been idle for many years, and where will these "paralyzed" waterscapes go? Some have been renovated and "revitalized" to rebuild them into residential landscapes, while some residential areas have no choice but to "abandon them altogether" due to various factors.
Spend a small cost to transform and "revitalize" the landscape of the community
Located in the east of the city, Xuefu Shangcheng Community is a resettlement community, and the property fee is only 1 yuan per square meter. The reporter walked into the community and saw that the rockery pool in the community was murmuring, which added a lot of color to the environment of the community. "After the restart of this water feature, the landscape in the community is much more beautiful, and we are all very supportive. After the waterscape in the community was "revitalized", Ms. Bao Ma Lin took her children downstairs for a walk every day.
Yang of Anya Property Company, the manager of Xuefu Shangcheng Community, said that after they took over the community, the property committee put forward a strong desire to "revitalize" the community landscape. In order to prevent the waterscape from being abandoned, the community has learned from the good practices of some property management companies in other places. First of all, through the form of the property committee as the main capital and the property as the main undertake, 25,000 yuan was spent on the renovation, which "revitalized" the originally idle waterscape; secondly, the property usually does a good job of dredging and maintenance work in a timely manner, and opens the waterscape on weekends and holidays. This not only allows the original water feature to not be abandoned, but also greatly reduces the associated expenses. Manager Yang believes that the beneficial attempt to collect special small public maintenance funds can effectively alleviate the maintenance problems of facilities and equipment in the resettlement community.
Create a suitable waterscape to achieve "beauty without cost"
At the recent salon of the city's property management industry, many people in the industry pointed out in the exchange that considering the concept of sponge city construction, waterscape is still a major trend in the future community garden design. In the process of waterscape construction, only by adhering to the common principles of ecology, integrity, sustainability and economy, and constantly exploring and creating new paths and methods, can we design a beautiful, economical and practical new ecological landscape. At present, the landscape of "shallow water features, small water features, and light maintenance" is worth recommending, and it is necessary to "do a good job of reasonable planning, and it is not recommended that the community do large-scale, large-scale artificial lakes". In addition, in addition to the upfront cost investment, the later stage also needs to be carefully maintained.
Shi Liling, deputy general manager of Nanfang Property, believes that the waterscape is a comprehensive embodiment of a high-quality environment, which can improve the quality of life of residents in the community and enhance the value of real estate. However, the creation of waterscapes needs to be considered in combination with community positioning, scale, environment, safety, cost investment and other aspects, and not every community is suitable. Considering the cost and sustainability, the scale of the waterscape should not be too large, and the appropriate waterscape should be selected according to the topography and natural landscape of the community, so as to truly make the waterscape "beautiful without cost".
Chen of Jinjiang Longhu Property Management also believes that some developers do not take into account the difficulties of future operation when designing water features, which is the root cause of the problem. She suggested that developers should do more shallow water feature design, and at the same time ensure good quality during the construction of water systems, so that there can be no major maintenance hazards after the property is handed over.
Consult with the owner to decide where to stay or where to stay with the water feature
Ms. Zhuang and other property owners had proposed to the property to fill in the pool, but the property replied that the fountain had been planned at the beginning of the construction of the community, and that if the use was changed, it would be necessary to apply to the relevant departments for approval. Because it is "very troublesome", the status quo of the water feature has not changed to this day.
"Whether it is abandoned or renovated, it should be decided by the owner, rather than 'abandoned', resulting in a waste of resources. "In view of the current situation of the waterscape in the community, some owners who have ideas believe that the property should widely solicit the opinions of the owners, if the majority of the owners are willing to make the waterscape run and share the cost, then formulate a waterscape maintenance plan to make the waterscape run; if the majority of the owners do not agree, it is better to transform the waterscape into a green landscape, fitness venues or parking lots.
Lawyer Wu Yuyu said that when buying a house, owners are easy to be attracted by beautiful water features and ignore later maintenance issues, and most of the current property service contracts do not have this agreement, and the property is unwilling to care. It is recommended that the community property committee refine the relevant agreements when selecting and hiring a property management company, set the property fee according to the property service content, and do not blindly pursue low prices and ignore the corresponding expenses such as waterscape maintenance.
The interviewed property companies also said that there is no relevant legal support in Quanzhou, only property management service standards, and there is a management vacuum for the maintenance of waterscapes in the community. A number of property managers suggested that the relevant departments should include the maintenance of the community waterscape into the special public maintenance fund project, and also hope that the community, the community and the owners will strengthen interaction, such as the "paralyzed" waterscape into the private practical project, and promote scientific transformation after extensive consultation with the owners.
Stones of other mountains
The "tripartite linkage" of the property of the community property committee has transformed the old landscape pool into a leisure square for residents
Located in Zhuanyang Street, Wuhan Economic Development Zone, Hubei Province, Golden Mile Blue Bay Community is a large-scale residential community that has been built for more than 10 years. After the community was put into use, the six landscape pools built in the original phase of the square were retained, each with an area of about 40 square meters. Due to the long service life, the water circulation system facilities of the landscape pool are in disrepair and damaged, and the maintenance cost is high. Abandoned landscape pools not only take up a lot of space, but also pose a safety hazard. With the increasing number of residents exercising and leisure, the activity venue is becoming more and more cramped, and the call for the renovation and upgrading of the square is getting higher and higher.
In 2022, in response to the renovation and upgrading of the waste landscape pool in the community square, the community owners' committee organized an online owners' meeting, and the property company released the survey statistics online, successfully mobilizing more than 3,900 residents to participate in the consultation, which was agreed by nearly 80% of the owners. As for how to renovate the square, some owners suggested building a swimming pool, some suggested building a court, and some suggested adding sports and fitness facilities...... For some owners who did not understand the situation, the building housekeeper also called one by one to communicate and explain, and adopted the opinions and suggestions of the owners to the greatest extent.
During this period, the community joint property committee and the property management held a "tripartite linkage meeting" for many times to formulate a detailed plan for the renovation of the square and the capital budget, which won the support of the majority of owners. The business committee raised more than 80,000 yuan of public revenue funds, selected the best construction unit through public bidding and "tripartite price comparison", demolished the original landscape pool and stone pier, leveled the site at the original site, poured concrete hardened ground, and finally paved stone floor tiles, transforming the original landscape pool into a residents' leisure square.
Editor in charge: Lin Rong