It`s not that John Sokoloweicz couldn`t pass as a janitor. He could and sometimes does.
He certainly has the right walk, the right attire and knows the lingo. But as chief engineer of The New York apartment building, 3660 N. Lake Shore Dr., Sokoloweicz does more than swing a mop. He`s a troubleshooter who appears to be part policeman walking a beat and part captain steering a luxury cruiseliner.
Sokoloweicz`s sure-footed walk through the corridors, stairways, tunnels and belly of the building is punctuated by the tinny sound of his keys dangling from his belt loop. There`s often a static-filled voice heard on the walkie-talkie hooked to his waistband. Like others on the apartment building`s maintenance staff, Sokoloweicz wears the standard uniform of dark pants and a light-colored, short-sleeved shirt with his first name embroidered on it.
”A lot of people are confused about what an engineer of an apartment building does,” says Sokoloweicz. ”Most people think it`s a janitorial role. In small buildings, two- or three-flats, it`s probably still true, but in a building like this, you have to have management and maintenance skills. You don`t just swing a mop.”
Old skills, new skills
Swinging a mop to clean overflows from bathtubs, plunging stopped-up toilets and unclogging sinks are a small part of the job description for today`s building engineer.
”We get more and more calls from apartment buildings looking for someone who has good analytical skills and who is a good troubleshooter,” says Kathleen Kehoe, placement director at Coyne American Institute, 1235 W. Fullerton Ave., which offers technical courses on air conditioning, electrical wiring, ventilation and refrigeration.
”When they (building managers) say they are looking for a building engineer they don`t mean a janitor, especially in the way most people think of it,” says Kehoe. ”They want someone who has a strong mechanical aptitude and who is mechanically inclined. They also want someone who has a background in heating and air conditioning.”
Kehoe says large apartment buildings, like the 593-unit New York, want a building engineer who is a ”jack- or jill-of-all-trades.”
Early morning clues
A day in the life of Sokoloweicz at The New York shows that he is a
”jack-of-all-trades.”
Sokoloweicz, who lives in the building, has a good idea what kind of day he`s going to have at work from the moment he turns on his morning shower. If the water pressure is up to par, he knows he and his seven-person maintenance staff will be off to a good start.
Sokoloweicz starts his day by checking the operations equipment in the building, examining the pump pressure, water temperature in the boilers and the temperature of the computerized chillers.
In the boiler room-or what he calls ”the guts of the building”-each piece of machinery is tagged as if awaiting a mammoth sale of boiler room equipment.
But the large white tags are the blueprints to show what is going on with the equipment. The tagging system used at the New York was introduced by Sokoloweicz. He says it`s his way of keeping tabs on the maintenance that has been done, when and by whom.
While Sokoloweicz generally walks his beat alone, this is not a job where peace and calm is just around the corner. Standing in the boiler room you can hardly hear yourself think, but the noise is not unbearable. It`s a rhythmic beat, a kind of mechanical murmur of the building`s heart as systems are all go.
Sokoloweicz says his work has become almost second nature to him. ”You get to where you can almost smell or hear something is not right when you come into this room,” he says of the boiler room.
Sokoloweicz, 27, has been chief engineer with The New York since December. Before coming to this apartment building, he worked at the Huron Plaza apartments, 30 E. Huron St., where he was on the maintenance staff and then promoted to assistant engineer. He also worked at the American Dental Association, 211 E. Chicago Ave., as a janitor.
Started as a teen
”I started out as a janitor when I was 18 and I`ve always had a great deal of respect for them and for the staffs that run buildings like these,”
says Sokoloweicz. ”There is a lot that goes on. There`s a lot that people take for granted.”
He says his experience at Huron Plaza, coupled with his educational background, has helped to give him the foundation he needs to work in residential properties.
Sokoloweicz attended Coyne American Institute, where he completed courses on air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration. He is also a licensed stationary engineer and received certification with the city after working two years on high-pressure boilers.
Terrie Whittaker, general manager of The New York, says the advent of 50- story buildings has changed the way people think of building engineers.
”In the old days, when it was common to have smaller apartment buildings . . . it was OK to hire someone who was brought up the old way of learning the job while working in coal-shoveling buildings,” Whittaker says. ”Large apartment buildings need to have someone in charge of building operations, someone who knows their way around and someone who can manage people.”
Besides overseeing the maintenance staff and keeping an eye on the building`s inner workings, Sokoloweicz also selects and works with outside contractors.
He is now working on a landscaping project, with hopes of creating a dog walk for the many pets that residents have in the building.
