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A week in the life of… a housing association surveyor
Andy Davies is a surveyor at Thrive Homes. He talks us through his varied week of managing home adaptations to make life easier for older residents, conducting interviews, and a roof replacement project
Monday
I begin the week with an early start at home in Oxford. My first job is to log on and suss out the week ahead. Our flexible way of working at Thrive Homes means that if I’ve got an afternoon of travel ahead of me, I can work from home in the morning. This saves time and I can reduce my miles on the road (and my carbon footprint) by heading straight from home to the site and avoiding a trip to the office in between.
Later, I set off for my first job of the week. Thrive operates across the northern Home Counties, but our patch is growing. A big part of my job is being responsible for managing home adaptations. We’re really focused on delivering homes where people can thrive and that meet the needs of residents.
Making sure people can downsize or move into more appropriate housing as they get older is an important part of that puzzle. Our adaptation work can be anything from minor work such as handrails and other support for disabled people or those with other challenges, to larger pieces of work, such as installing a wet room.
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Tuesday
My morning is spent in Oxfordshire, carrying out some inspections to check on the progress of a maintenance project. I’m then back in the office for a few interviews. We’re on a big recruitment drive at the moment as the number of homes we manage is increasing.
The job is quite different to when I started after I left school more than 32 years ago. We work really hard to make sure there’s traceability on all our work, so we know what work has been done, which materials have been used (not just for building safety but also for sustainability measurement), and which contractor has carried out what.
It’s a fair bit of digital paperwork to contend with, but it’s incredibly important. The extent to which we’re using data at Thrive really sets us apart.
Wednesday
Today I turn my attention to a roof replacement project. This is what I enjoy most about the job, it’s such a varied role – every day is different.
Some works might be straightforward and others may be more complex, such as our external wall insulation work that sets to improve the energy efficiency of our older properties. This might mean working out how we access a building or a home with minimum disruption or how to keep projects moving as quickly and efficiently as we can.
We manage more than 5,000 homes at Thrive, and that’s set to grow significantly over the next few years.
Thursday
On to a bit of decorating today. We run cyclical programmes to keep the homes we manage looking their best. There might be a few customer requests to deal with too, such as any issues or repair items that require sorting.
Our teams work really hard to support our customers, and we aim to get to them as quickly as we can to get the job done. It’s my responsibility to make sure subcontractors keep our customers informed and that they’re happy with the work through to the end.
Friday
A positive end to the week with a lovely bit of feedback from a gentleman for whom we just fitted a new wet room. Projects like this help people stay in the homes they love for longer, as it ensures they have the support within their home to live as independently as they can.
He was chuffed to bits with the outcome and passed on his thanks to our head office – such a kind gesture to make an effort like that to say thank you. It really has a positive impact on my day when things like this happen.
A week in the life series
Our ‘A week in the life’ series features housing professionals talking through what they do in their job on a day-to-day basis.
Find out about the different challenges housing workers in a variety of roles face in a given week.
We aim to feature staff from housing associations, ALMOs, local authorities and more.
Click here to nominate yourself or a colleague for inclusion
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