Shadowing Practice: Save Strata Money with These Top 10 Long Term Maintenance Tips - Learn English Speaking with Video

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into a webinar

but the idea for today's webinar is it's the top 10

maintenance tips to save your strata money in the long run

so the whole idea we've done a lot of these kind of how to how to save funds

and things like that this one's going to be more about being proactive and actually about how to spend money because,

you know, you're managing large assets here that do require a lot of capital reinvestment in order to keep them up.

And you'll see when I go through some of these examples, how deferring things, how not doing maintenance,

not spending money can actually cost you a tremendous amount in the long run.

So that's the topic for today.

and uh just going to get into it can everyone see the presentation okay my name is chris stepchuk ceo

and managing broker at fort park property management real estate we

specialize in strata management for residential uh commercial like industrial strata since 2008

and uh we ensure you know uh

or try to provide as as best as we can a smooth

and hassle -free experience for property owners um the tagline for

today an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

and you're going to hear uh kind of a lot about that that's a famous quote from benjamin franklin

from the 1700s and it certainly rings true in the strata world um

and what we see a lot of times i guess is you know i i hear this a lot

because i do sit in on a lot of agms and

and hold some of my own

and you know very often um you know you end up

the year with a with a large surplus maybe thirty thousand dollars

or something like that depending on the side of your budget

and the owners are high -fiving each other

because it gets to keep their strata fees low the next year

and uh council gets a pat on the back for job well done

and while it's certainly good to run surpluses um it doesn't always mean

that uh the strata has done a great job by running

a huge surplus what it can mean in certain instances is

that a maintenance was simply not done that was budgeted for

so it was deferred um which may end up coming back to bite in the end

so just something to keep in mind if you're running surplus after surplus might not be the best thing in the world.

I mean, it could be good if you're just shaving costs where you can, but you certainly don't want to do it at the expense of not doing maintenance.

So these are the top 10 things that we see that you want to make sure you're, you are reinvesting your strata fees into.

So roof maintenance.

So depending on the size of your strata, your roof replacement can be a hundred thousand you know for

smaller buildings it can be two million dollars um our strata

right now uh where i'm on council we are redoing our roof

and we've been in the process of it

and it's going to be about a million dollars maybe a little bit over

that by the time things are said and done

so it's a huge investment um most roofs are going to last 25 years uh

but if you can stretch it out for an additional 10 years

or sometimes we even see roofs will last 40 years

if they're really well maintained depending on you know how much sun or if they're they're covered with gravel or

or just um you know different things like that but

if they're you know if you've got moss all over them

and pooling water and you're not clearing the drains you're not patching it where there's where it's required

and water is getting in um you can expect it'll last

a lot a lot um shorter of a period than than 40 years

so you know you need to make sure

that you're doing uh repair should be needed done as needed

but uh caulking for the flashings

and preventing water ingress replacing missing shingles just redoing the sealants every few years it's kind of common sense stuff

but you really want to make sure

that you're working with a you know a legitimate roofing company

that specializes in maintenance that is taking care of these things

and it can save you a bundle of money down the road.

Trees so trees are something that can be really really invasive

certainly the roots on certain trees can get into the uh

into the water lines they can get into the waste lines

uh collapsed drain lines can be very expensive uh to repair

because you have to dig them up very often uh trench

and it's a lot of labor involved if you're getting sewer backups because of um, drain lines that have, have roots in them.

That can be very expensive from an insurance standpoint, uh, owners having to replace carpeting and, and cabinets and things like that.

Uh, and then dead trees, like dead trees.

I know I've had it happen to my property before where they just kind of fall over

and they land on either your property or an adjacent property.

And then you've got insurance issues.

You've got to redo the roof.

Um, uh, certainly in some of wind storms

that we've had that's fairly often will happen

so proactive tree maintenance costs far less than emergency repairs and cleanup

so a lot of the owners might question well why do

we have you know tree you know tree um inspections every year that's expensive where they go in

and look at the drain lines and things like that

but again if you're spending a couple thousand on

that versus a huge insurance deductible or having to redo the drain lines it can be a very

very well spent a couple thousand dollars

so next thing that we've got here is parkade sealing

so the parkade has to be resealed every you know it's not something you're going to do every year

but maybe every five

or ten years um this will prevent water penetration into the concrete it protects the rebar from corrosion

and rusting and it will extend the life of your slab um

when you have to redo it it's very very very expensive um

so you don't want to be getting into structural repairs

and things like

that uh i mean we've seen buildings where the concrete is literally falling from the sky

and falling on to cars and things like that

so it's highly recommended you don't get it uh allow it to get to

that point where those kind of things are happening

and uh reactive concrete restoration can be very expensive it's very

it's dangerous it's also um you know it should never get to that point

next thing is rotting fences and decks so wood fences

and decks are highly exposed to water

and weather particularly here in in the lower mainland uh particularly

in on the north shore i mean we see we see this all the time uh regular painting

and staining should be done every few years this will help prevent the rot

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and decay many stratas delay or skip this maintenance allowing structures to deteriorate

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if you if you maintain your fencing it should last from at least 15 years maybe 25 years

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but again we see properties where they pay for a brand new fence it's a wood fence

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and then within five years the thing is already rotting

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because it was never stained properly um and then you have to replace it maybe at the 10 -year mark so

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not a good use of your your money um another alternative there is vinyl fencing

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so that's a super long -term alternative very expensive

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but uh it looks great and basically maintenance free

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and will outlast probably the property in most cases um

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so just something to keep in mind um even

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if it's limited common property the strata might want to kind of take this this over

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and make sure that it's being done

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and don't leave it up to the owners to do it because a lot of them won't do it.

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Some just don't care if they're, you know, sometimes when they're rental properties,

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people just don't even, don't even know that they're deteriorating because they don't go to the property very often.

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Number five that we've got on the list is the hydro flush.

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So we do recommend this gets done every few years.

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Yeah, it's expensive.

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It can be a few thousand dollars but um these drain lines

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and everything will clog up with soap and grease and hair and

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god knows what else people flush down there

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so um paper towel you know people put in paper towel

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or wipes down there so just the damage from sewer backups can be absolutely massive especially

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if you're in a high -rise building where the stack can get clogged

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and then it just goes right up the stack

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and it can affect three or four

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or more floors um can be hundreds of thousands i mean

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it happens in our building where i live it's happened a couple times

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and each time has been around uh two hundred thousand dollars in damage multiple suites

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so can easily be prevented or not necessarily easily prevented

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but it is can be prevented some of these things with regular hydro flushing of your horizontals and your verticals

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um caulking your windows number six

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so water is strata's worst enemy particularly here in in bc

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in the lower mainland um over time water can seat behind windows

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and flashings moisture can cause damage to the insulation framing interior finishes

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and if you don't know about it uh you assume everything's fine

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but sometimes undetected water intrusion can lead to mold behind the scenes.

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And, you know, we do see that where we weren't even aware of a leak and next thing you know,

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there's black mold on the drywall or on some of the envelope.

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And now you have a real problem, very labor intensive and very expensive to remediate mold.

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The companies that do that really take full advantage of it

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and you will pay dearly for that if

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that has to get done properly with the all the proper protocols

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and the hazmat suits and the masks and all those things

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so regular window caulking every you know five seven years can really help prevent water intrusion

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and can be very very inexpensive when compared to doing building envelope repairs which sometimes require removing envelope.

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It can require scaffolding at times, which is very expensive to set up.

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Next one is gutter cleaning, number seven.

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So clean your gutters every year to keep them flowing.

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Leaves and pine needles can quickly clog up your downspouts, and this can cause blockages water which then goes over the gutter

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and in behind and it gets into the fascia and your soffits

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and maybe you don't really see it right away but

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that constant water is going to eventually rot them

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and then again very labor intensive to you have to basically remove all your gutters

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and redo them and redo the soffits and the fascia

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so good timing for this is to do your gutter cleaning in the fall probably after the leaves have fallen

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so you get rid of those leaves

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and the water is going to flow freely before the rainy season

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so yeah like you know October late October early November even a good time to probably do that

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but if you notice them and they're starting to grow trees in your gutters

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and and leaves are spilling out probably better that sooner rather than later is a good time to do it

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uh winterizing number eight

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so this is really important uh inspect your hose bibs for

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leaks every few years i mean we don't really have a winter this year

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so maybe it's the timing of this isn't great but uh

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if winter ever does return um you want to make sure

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your owners shut off their hose bib valves before the temperatures freeze again i don't even know

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if they got below freezing this year but usually it does um

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when they do freeze if there is water like

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if you leave your leave your hose on

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and there's water in it then that can freeze and

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that can go right back up into the hose bib

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and into the actual supply lines and sometimes those will burst

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which causes a ton of damage to the inside of the

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property you want to insulate your exposed pipes especially in the parkade

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and make sure that they are serviced in the fall

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and all the waters drained out of them

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and again preventative winterization is far less costly than emergency pipe repairs

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and water damage so that's a bit of a no -brainer

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but again people don't really think about it all the time

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and they don't necessarily budget for it so it's important that you do budget accordingly.

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Boiler and hot water maintenance, hot water tank.

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So you want to maintain your boiler to extend the life of these very expensive capital items.

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Anyone who's replaced the boiler knows how expensive that can be.

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Your hot water tank, same thing.

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You need to replace them every probably 10 or 15 years, but at least have them serviced and make sure

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that you're replacing them before they go because

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when they do rust out at the bottom or

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and they go then it can be very costly

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and a lot of damage and we've seen

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that many times where hot water tank goes

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if it's on the ground floor maybe not the end of the world

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but when it's on an upper floor it can cause a lot of damage to suites below

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so just you know use a regular your plumbing company your hvac company to come in

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and look at that on an annual basis

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and tell you where you're at with it don't rely on the depreciation report for

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that you know they're not really inspecting it they're just looking at the age of it

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and telling you that it will need to be replaced in 10 or 15 years but

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um you know actually have a professional come in and do that and look at it

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And then number 10 is the sump pit cleaning.

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So these should be cleaned out every few years, remove debris that can clog or damage sumps.

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This will extend the life of the sump pump equipment

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and it reduces the biggest thing is reducing the risk of pump failure during heavy rain events.

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So if you guys do have issues and that sump stops working and you need it,

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it can cause a huge amount of damage to lower suites.

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And we've seen that, certainly seen that before.

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So you want to make sure that it is working properly, that's being inspected.

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And again, the theme of today,

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preventative cleaning costs far less than emergency repairs and nobody likes insurance deductibles going up because you've got insurance claims.

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And then the bonus one, very last one, number 11 is balcony membranes.

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I had to throw this in here

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because it can be a little bit tricky

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because usually balconies are limited common property and the strata council won't necessarily be aware if there's any issues.

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You're kind of relying on owners to report that

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which certain owners will but if they're again

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if they're tenanted properties uh they may not even know about it

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if they're not doing inspections and the tenant may not say anything

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so just something to be aware of that you know even

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if it's limited common property and you can't see it it doesn't mean

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that it's not damaged and it doesn't mean

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that it's not the strata's responsibility and when those membranes go

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and the water gets in and then they start to rot

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uh that can be very very expensive to repair scaffolding engineers all

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that stuff on strata's dime so make sure

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that you guys are either inspecting them or

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or um having the owners at least you know you can send out surveys some of our buildings will do

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that just kind of asking the owners if there's any tears in them um

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but you want to avoid the wood rot for sure because it is a very bad thing for strata buildings.

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So that's the presentation for today.

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And now I'd like to open it.

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Context & Background

The video features Chris Stepchuk, a CEO and managing broker with over a decade of experience in strata management, sharing practical tips to save money through proactive maintenance. His conversational tone, filled with real-world examples like roof replacement costs and surplus management, makes it a great resource for English learners. The dialogue blends professional insights with everyday language, offering a mix of formal terms (e.g., "capital reinvestment") and casual phrases ("high-fiving each other"), making it ideal for practicing both formal and informal communication.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" – A classic quote perfect for emphasizing proactive habits, useful in work or personal conversations.
"Deferring things" – A common phrase to describe delaying tasks, great for discussing deadlines or maintenance plans: "Deferring the project might cost more later."
"High-fiving each other" – A casual way to talk about celebrating small wins: "We were high-fiving each other after finishing the project early."
"Coming back to bite" – To describe negative consequences of inaction: "Skipping maintenance will come back to bite us."
"Stretch it out" – To extend the life of something: "Regular care can stretch out the life of your phone battery."

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

This video’s mix of technical terms and storytelling makes it a fun challenge for shadow speak practice. Here’s how to tackle it:

Listen and identify key pauses: Chris often pauses after phrases like "the whole idea" or "you know" – use these to mimic his rhythm. This helps improve English pronunciation by focusing on natural pacing.
Break down long sentences: Sentences like "If you've got moss all over them and pooling water... you can expect it'll last" have multiple clauses. Repeat each part slowly, then combine them to build fluency, useful for IELTS speaking practice.
Mimic tone for emphasis: Chris stresses words like "tremendous amount" and "huge investment" – copy his emphasis to convey importance, a key skill in daily communication.
Repeat casual phrases: Phrases like "high-fiving each other" are perfect for learning English with videos – practice saying them with a relaxed tone to sound natural.
Record and compare: After shadowing, record yourself and compare to the video. Notice differences in pronunciation and intonation, then adjust. This step is crucial for mastering shadowspeak techniques.

By following these steps, you’ll not only learn practical strata tips but also boost your English speaking skills in real-world contexts.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	we've done · has done · we've been
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was deferred · are said · should be needed

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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