What to expect when repairs are carried out
What we expect
To keep our workers safe and to make sure they can work as efficiently as possible, we expect you to:
- Make sure an adult is present - Our staff cannot enter a home without someone over 18 years old being home.
- Keep pets and children away from workers - Some work can be dangerous. For the safety of everyone make sure Children and pets are kept away from our workers.
- Respect our workers - Treat all workers with consideration and respect.
- Clear the area - We may need you to move furniture or remove any floor covering, such as carpets or laminate to carry out a repair. If we do, we’ll give you seven days notice. If you are having difficulty arranging this, please contact us.
What you should expect
When carrying out work in our home, our workers should be:
- Respectful - Our workers should be respectful and considerate towards you and your home.
- Safe - Safety is our priority. In situations where we cannot fully complete a repair, we will make sure the repair is safe and rebook an appointment for you.
Right first time
We aim to get all repairs right first time. This might not always be possible if the repair is more complicated than initially thought or where specialist equipment is needed. If we need to revisit, we will make sure we rebook an appointment with you and order any necessary materials.
You can help us make sure we can complete a repair on the first visit by making sure you give us as much information as possible when reporting repairs to us.
Missed appointments
If you need to cancel or change an appointment, you’ll need to contact us before the appointment.
If you don't let us know, we may charge you £10 for missing your appointment.
We’ll look at each case individually, there may be exceptions to this charge if the appointment was missed due to an emergency.
We will pay you £10 if we don’t attend an appointment or let you know by:
- 8AM -for morning appointments
- 12noon - for afternoon appointments
Note: Compensation for missed appointments also includes other external contractors, but arrangements may vary. Payments to tenants and leaseholders are usually made as a rent/service charge account credit.
If you would like more information about how the missed appointments scheme works contact us.
External Contractors
We use contractors to support our in-house repairs team where we do not have access to specialist equipment and materials.
We use contractors for:
- Drainage
- Groundworks
- Scaffolding
- Damp and Timber Treatments
- PVcu window repairs
All our contractors go through rigorous checks to ensure they:
- Are value for money
- Have the relevant skills, knowledge and experience
- Have excellent customer care
Use of drones for roof inspections
We are now using drones to carry out roof inspections on the properties we manage. Drones are what are known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They are piloted remotely by an experienced operator, usually from the ground using a smartphone or tablet.
Drones have High Definition (HD) cameras on board and are capable of recording video and still images onto Secure Digital (SD) onboard memory cards.
Traditional roof inspections
Roof inspections are needed when we carry out condition surveys or where someone has reported an issue, such as a leak, that needs to be investigated to arrange a repair. They can be very time consuming and costly to carry out.
For anything other than a bungalow, sometimes even a simple visual inspection is unable to take place until we erect scaffolding to enable safe working at the height needed. The scaffolding is ordered through a contractor, which means we must first book it and wait until it’s available. Scaffolding is also normally an inconvenience for those living in the property. Once erected, we can then arrange to carry out an inspection and a repair can be arranged, but once complete we again have to wait until the contractor is available to remove the scaffolding.
How using drones will improve our service
Using a drone to carry out the inspection will minimise the cost and time taken to get to what’s needed, to fix the roof. This change in how we carry out inspections will help us to deliver a quicker, more efficient, and ultimately better repairs service.
As well as the immediate cost savings, removing the need for scaffolding also means we can inspect much quicker. Inspections can be carried out completely in-house by our own staff, normally just one person. It’s also a lot safer for our staff to inspect with way as it involved no working at height.
Your safety and privacy
All our drone operators have a valid Flyer ID from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Although there are no privacy issues based on our planned use, we still have a strict procedure in place to ensure that safety and privacy remain at the forefront of any inspections.
This includes:
- Consulting the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) on the type of data collected (not personal)
- The correct licencing and training in place for all operators
- A secure process to keep drones safe and only used by authorised staff
- Regular inspections on vehicle condition and functioning
- Correct insurances are in place
- Software is only installed on work smartphones
- Secure procedure for all data captured, in accordance with our usual policies
- The recording of images and video will only take place once the vehicle is above roof level
For each inspection we will ensure we communicate with the occupiers of the property, along with any neighbours, to explain about our use of the drone and alleviate any concerns.