Since rolling out a mobile working solution, Castle Vale Community Housing Association, in partnership with Telecetera and G Purchase Construction, has reduced its repairs and maintenance job costs by almost 20 per cent and increased customer satisfaction levels by 11 per cent.
G Purchase Construction looks after 2500 homes on behalf of Castle Vale, with the nine-man repairs and maintenance team completing around 400 jobs each month. Alan Atterbury, head of maintenance, Castle Vale, said, “We were looking for a mobile work solution that would allow us to introduce a customer appointment system for responsive repairs, to improve efficiency and convenience, and also cut customer waiting times.”
G Purchase Construction now delivers repairs and maintenance services for Castle Vale using Telecetera’s Connect system. This provides real-time communication between G Purchase Construction and Castle Vale; all operatives are now in direct contact with the work scheduling and administration teams via PDA. Jobs are issued automatically to the PDAs, reducing paperwork and the time and fuel costs of travelling to and from offices and depots. Manual intervention is reduced by Connect’s integration with Castle Vale’s ArcHouse housing management system, with time spent on overall administration reduced by 80 per cent.
Neil Withers, project contracts manager, G Purchase Construction said, “We have a blueprint for the implementation for repairs and maintenance contracts which is efficient and fast. In a challenging economic environment and in the face of real skill shortages, Connect is a great tool to help use resources more effectively. We are already looking to see how we can liaise with our supply chain to set up virtual stores linked to the PDA technology.”
