Reactive maintenance explained...
October 2016
One of the important roles of our Facilities Management team is Reactive Maintenance, in our latest blog Tom Gowland explains what it’s all about…
One of the roles of Tom Gowland, Facilities and Maintenance Surveyor at Naylors is dealing with reactive maintenance for the Management department. But what exactly is reactive maintenance and what does Tom’s role entail?
It’s always different – The jobs reported are never the same. They can vary from very serious issues such as a leak from a 3rd floor flat which floods the flats below, to more minor issues such as a key being stuck in a lock.
It can happen at any time! – You never know when the issues will be reported. They can happen at any time, day or night. And it is our responsibility to respond! Our out of hours Helpdesk service ensures that we are always available to react to our properties issues.
It keeps us on our toes – The diversity of issues and the element of surprise ensures that there is never a dull day in the office. We are able to use our vast knowledge and experience to ensure the right course of action is taken.
The Reactive Maintenance Process
The Facilities Management team at Naylors work together to ensure any reactive maintenance issues are dealt with quickly and professionally:
Helpdesk HQ – Helpdesk is the headquarters of all things Reactive Maintenance! Our Helpdesk will receive either emails or phone calls throughout the day by tenants reporting their issues/concerns. From there we can decide who is required to attend site to carry out an inspection.
Inspections – A member of our team will then attend site, in order to establish the seriousness of the property’s problem. We will carry out a thorough inspection of the property to:
• Identify what the cause of the problem is
• Determine whether the issue can be resolved on-site by a member of our team
• Decide if it requires the immediate attention from one of our specialist contractors
• Identify how the problem can be made safe in the short term for the safety of our tenants
• See if work is required in order to resolve the issue in full, so that it is no longer causing problems
• Determine what can be done to ensure that the issue is not repeated in the future
Repair Work – If we establish that the defect is in need of non-immediate repair work, a member of our team will take all the information gathered back to the office (photos, dimensions, site notes, tenant statements etc…) in order to produce a Schedule of Work document. This document outlines what repair work is required in order to resolve the defect, breaking down the work into sections for a contractor to easily follow and use to provide us with a quote. The document is usually produced alongside a number of associated drawings, such as layout plans, technical/detailed cross section drawings, existing and proposed plans, which will also be generated by one of our team.
Tender Process – Once all the documents outlined above have been completed, they will be sent out (as one document) to tender, with it being issued to a number of competent and trusted contractors in order to provide us with a competitive quote. Once the tender return date has passed, our team will then carry out a tender analysis/evaluation activity, which is used to ensure that our client receives the best quality of repair work for the most cost effective price. After a contractor has been chosen via the tender analysis process, a job will be raised by our helpdesk officer which instructs the contractor to proceed with the work identified in the Schedule of Work.
Overseeing the Work – When the contractors are on-site to carry out the work, whether from an immediate call out or via the tender process, a member of our team will carry out a number of site inspections in order to oversee the repair. This ensures that the repair work being carried out is in line with the Schedule of Work and up to the standard of quality Naylors expect. If there are any unexpected issues during the repair work, our team members can make a decision while on-site to rectify the problem.
Future Maintenance – Once all work has been completed, checked and signed off by our team, regular site inspections will commence to ensure the repair work has not failed and that the original reactive maintenance issue will not be a reoccurring problem.
For further information about how we can help you with your Facilities Management needs contact us today on 0191 232 7030.