Can providers keep a near-full repairs service running during lockdown?

1. Planning and communication are essential

Most of the work needed to keep people safe during a repair visit is done well before the appointment itself. It was an immediate priority to make readily available clear information on the best way residents can keep themselves and our contractors out of harm’s way. We passed this on in every way available: our customer website, regular emails and letters, and our customer contact centre agents, who received additional training.

Most people quickly understood the overarching rules such as keeping two metres apart, although it never does any harm to reiterate them. What still trips people up are the small things, such as the very British habit of making any visitor to your house a cup of tea. So it’s important to include these little details in any communications, just to remind well-meaning customers of the safest way to proceed.

“We have been working behind the scenes constantly to manage our relationships with the third-party contractors responsible for carrying out the repairs”

2. Relationship-building pays off

Good communication isn’t just important with residents. Away from the appointments themselves, we have been working behind the scenes constantly to manage our relationships with the third-party contractors responsible for carrying out the repairs.

We are in a strong position thanks to Pyramid Plus, our dedicated joint venture repairs service, and the long-standing relationships we have with most of our other contractors.

One of the vital conversations we had in March and April was to persuade our contractors not to furlough staff when they had the option. It’s perfectly understandable that they would want to, but by quickly developing strong procedures, we convinced them that we could continue to operate safely. In addition, we have always made sure there is someone available to meet contractors’ senior management to resolve issues and maintain our relationships.

Gestures like this can go a long way to building trust and effecting change in those stakeholder relationships. Ultimately, our contractors understand the importance of what they do for our customers, so carried on working for us throughout the whole initial lockdown period. We are now working closely together to continue throughout the winter, and we are very grateful to them for their dedication.

“The areas where we can effect change, such as effective communication and forging strong relationships with third parties and other stakeholders, still make a huge difference to property services operations”

So as we settle into another period of lockdowns, ever-changing instructions from on-high and general uncertainty, we as providers of housing services can only control what’s in our gift and adapt to external changes as best we can. But the areas where we can effect change, such as effective communication and forging strong relationships with third parties and other stakeholders, still make a huge difference to property services operations.

Making sure these are in place as the cold winter months really start to bite will be the key to getting through to spring and, hopefully, something more like normality – with customers’ homes and their health intact.

David Lingeman, director of property services, A2Dominion