Housing trust embraces cosmetic repair

Plastic Surgeon, the cosmetic repair expert, is pleased to announce they have formalised an arrangement with a North West RSL to carry out all necessary minor cosmetic repairs internally and externally to its stock of over 18,000 homes.

Initially, New Charter Housing Trust recruited Plastic Surgeon just to take over the work on its void properties after a rival repair company had failed to honour its commitments. By contrast, with a dozen of its highly trained finishers stationed across the region, Plastic Surgeon proved so reliable that the client extended the scope of the work to include all of its tenanted properties as well.Aside from the quality and consistency of the repairs carried out by the Plastic Surgeon's finishers, the other important aspect to the company's service for the social housing provider, is the way tenant liaison is managed.

Once the client has communicated a repair instruction to Plastic Surgeon's national call centre by email, the customer care team sends out a letter the same day by first class post: giving both the time framework for the appointment and details of which operative will be carrying out the work. This includes their name, photograph and van registration number. A definite appointment is then made by telephone and the work carried out.

Plastic Surgeon's contract covers New Charter's 14,000 units in Manchester's Tameside area, 200 of which are currently unoccupied.

Void Maintenance Manager, Dawn Reynolds, explains the rationale behind the appointment:

"Due to problems with a previous supplier, we were looking for a company to take on our repair requirements. When Plastic Surgeon approached us, we were impressed by their emphasis on repair rather than replacement, which has already saved us time and money in terms of tipping charges and replacement costs. No other company could offer us this service."

She went on to say "In just four months, they have carried out 96 repairs, and repaired rather than replaced 31 items. We have saved three-quarters of a tonne of environmental waste and our average repair cost has dropped from £250 to under £30."

Plastic Surgeon's Area Sales Manager for the North West, Richard Moreton, explains the reasons the contract has been extended to cover the wider stock. He said: "Most repairs are completed within three days in unoccupied units, with a maximum of a five-day turnaround for tenanted properties. In the case of unoccupied properties, our personnel will collect the keys, provide power through our own generators – again saving the Trust money – return the keys and file their report."

Typical repairs executed for New Charter Housing Trust on the void properties have included making good chips, scratches or other damage to doors, work-surfaces, kitchen units, window frames and bathroom suites. In most cases these are dealt with by first preparing and then filling the affected area, before it is rubbed down with a graduation of abrasives.

Through the use of its VisibilITy technology, Plastic Surgeon has helped New Charter Housing also to reduce their landfill bills, by demonstrating the savings achieved by repairing rather than replacing items.

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