Adrian Pavey, Commercial Director of Nationwide Windows and Doors, discusses the role of contractors in helping local authorities achieve their KPIs.
We all know that, compared to how most companies do business, the model for local authorities and councils is very different. As they are often employing contractors to carry out works in their tenants’ homes, an extra party involved can potentially cause complications in the process between consumer and contractor.
When local authorities choose contractors to work in tenants’ homes, there has to be a level of trust. These companies are representing them, so they need reassurance that the contractors are doing a good job, as it is their reputation on the line. From the council’s point of view though, what is a good job? How do we distinguish between a well-run delivery process and a badly run one?
Although they have to work within a budget, their success is not so heavily measured on money as for-profit businesses, so one of the key performance indicators for local authorities is tenant satisfaction. When it comes to having work carried out, with contractors working in the tenants’ homes, this KPI is out of their hands, which is why they need to be able to choose a delivery partner they can trust to keep tenants happy.
Measuring tenant satisfaction
There are two ways that you can measure tenant satisfaction: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative is determined through the feedback received from tenants and customers, with a focus on the comments. Quantitative focuses on the numbers left when receiving reviews.
Quantitative provides a good understanding on your overall performance through the average rating, whereas qualitative measurements go into more detail about the specific things which are being done well or not so well — essentially, they add background information to the numbers.
Tenant or customer satisfaction is a significant KPI for contractors too, and this is a great indicator to help local authorities choose a delivery partner to represent them. If the contractor has good reviews, there will be a better chance that you will achieve good tenant feedback.
Helping local authorities
At Nationwide, we pride ourselves on our customer approach. We understand the challenges that local authorities face, and know that their reputation is in our hands, so when we provide the best service to tenants, it keeps everyone happy. All our employees undertake regular training which focuses on customer care because we want to leave a positive mark on every tenant we work for, which benefits us, the tenant’s and local authorities.
A great example of this would be when Nationwide Windows received this five-star review from a lady whose father had some windows replaced: “My elderly father recently had his windows replaced (last week in Nottingham) and was very impressed with the service he received from the two fitters at Nationwide (Scott & Adam). They worked non-stop, cleaned up after themselves and were most personable to him. My father doesn’t often give praise for workmanship but on this occasion, he was over the moon and said the chaps are a credit to the organisation. The windows are great too! Thank you.”
The COVID-19 approach
Our tenant-focused approach has been crucial in the work we have continued doing throughout lockdown. With residents worried about letting others into their home, it was clear that we would need to take every precaution necessary to reassure tenants and make them feel completely at ease, which is why we created a comprehensive guide for our workers to follow in order to create a safe working environment.
After the first lockdown, trades people faced uncertainties as most of their work was carried out in the home. It meant there were several clarifications that had to be made to help people understand who could continue working in the home. We kept in close contact with the relevant authorities to clarify this and as soon as we had the relevant confirmation, we put plans in place to get our employees back working in homes, while keeping tenants safe.
As we made every effort to get working again so soon after the first lockdown, we led the way with our safety-first approach and COVID measures. We accounted for every possibility to keep both tenants and staff safe, including a portable hand washing station, to help our team avoid using high-contact areas of tenants’ homes such as bathrooms.
Keeping tenants safe
A survey recently undertaken by Watersafe, the UK register of approved plumbers, shows the main priorities for homeowners is to stay safe during the pandemic when allowing trades people into their homes. The precautions most valued were removing all waste (64%), maintaining social distance (61%), wearing a mask or face covering (60%) and sanitising hands and cleaning surfaces after working on them (55%).
These are all standard procedures at Nationwide, and we have been doing them since the first lockdown. Our approach to customer care helps local authorities to trust us to carry out work in homes to a high standard, while also prioritising the safety, care and wellbeing of the tenants.
