A caretaker who joins an apartment society on Monday may face a stuck lift with a resident inside by Thursday night. A building manager who joins an office park may receive a tenant fit-out request before lunch. Neither can search a manual that fast. The sheet below covers access, plant, people and the complaint route within the first six days.
The sheet to copy
Name: Site / tower / block:
Role: Reports to: Joined on:
ACCESS AND IDENTITY
[ ] Site pass, key register and master key rule explained
[ ] Gate, visitor log and parcel desk procedure shown
[ ] Uniform, ID and PPE issued; register signed
[ ] Biometric or app attendance explained; shift-in-charge named
PLANT AND UTILITIES WALK (technical roles)
[ ] Pump room, overhead tank levels and borewell switch
[ ] DG set start, changeover panel and fuel register
[ ] STP rounds, sludge entry and the log book
[ ] Lift machine room, rescue drill and intercom test
[ ] Fire pump, hydrant, sprinkler valves and extinguisher dates
[ ] Electrical panel, LT room and the permit to work rule
PEOPLE AND COMPLAINTS (all roles)
[ ] Helpdesk ticket flow: log, assign, close, resident sign-off
[ ] Escalation to the manager, committee or tenant contact
[ ] Vendor and AMC visit register, entry and gate pass
[ ] Night call tree: who answers for water, power, lift and fire
CLOSE OF WEEK
[ ] Joiner has walked the building with the buddy end to end
[ ] Two real tickets handled under supervision
[ ] Joiner's questions written and answered
Manager: Joiner: Date:The plant walk is not optional
Technical hires are often experienced elsewhere and trusted at once. They then trip over a local fact: this tower's DG changeover is manual, this block's borewell trips on dry run, this STP has a sludge pit that is never opened alone. Walking the plant with the shift-in-charge takes two hours. Skipping it costs a night call.
Running the sheet
- 1
Day one
Access, keys, uniform and the first look at the tickets. The buddy answers the radio, not the joiner.
- 2
Days two and three
Plant and utilities for technical roles; resident rounds, cleanliness audit and parcel desk for managers.
- 3
Day four
Helpdesk flow. The joiner closes two tickets with the buddy beside them.
- 4
Day five
Vendor register and the AMC calendar: lift, fire, DG, pest and STP visits.
- 5
Day six
Review the blanks. Anything unticked gets a date and the manager's initials.
Different sites, different second columns
In a mall the block adds shopfront signage rules, the food court grease trap, the escalator cut-off switch and tenant fit-out hours. In an office park it adds access card cycles, visitor desk, meeting room services and the HVAC schedule. In a residential society it adds RWA rules, clubhouse timings, the swimming pool lifeguard roster and the move-in deposit. In integrated facility contracts it adds the client's service level targets and the monthly review.
Terms a caretaker should be able to point at
- Changeover panel: the board that switches the building from grid to DG set.
- Float valve: the brass or plastic fitting in the overhead tank that stops overflow.
- Sludge pit: the STP tank that is opened only with a second person present.
- Machine room: the lift motor room, kept locked, with the rescue handle inside.
- Hydrant and sprinkler valve: wheels and risers painted red that must never be blocked by stored cartons.
- Permit to work: the slip signed before anyone opens a live panel or climbs a roof.
- Snag list: the room-by-room list of defects before a flat or shop is handed over.
- Sinking fund and maintenance charges: money questions that residents ask caretakers, who should redirect them to the office.
- Work order: the job card that ties a complaint to a technician and a closing time.
What the night crew needs to know
Night watchmen and technicians meet the building at its quietest and most fragile. Water tanks overflow after midnight, the DG set refuses to start in the monsoon and the lift trips when the grid returns. Give them the call tree on a laminated card at the guard cabin, not on a phone. Test it once in week one by ringing each number at an odd hour.
Where sheets go wrong
- The manager signs every line together on Friday, working from memory.
- Night staff get no sheet, since they join after the manager leaves.
- The call tree is a name list nobody has tested.
- AMC visit dates sit in one man's phone and leave with him.
Further reading
Continue with the onboarding process, see how apartment facility managers and residential maintenance companies induct staff, and read why employees leave property and facility management. The property and facility hub lists more guides. Fitting the sheet to your own towers? Share your requirements.
