Tristan Cooke Business Manager for Mila Window and Door Maintenance explain why introducing a new transparent measure into their operation is good for clients and their residents, and themselves.
The repairs and maintenance specialist has been working in the social sector for nearly 30 years carrying out more than 1.1 million repairs; they operate to a resident satisfaction rate of over 98% – but it is the introduction of a new measurement ‘First Time Fix’ which Tristan is especially excited about.
“The success of our repairs and maintenance business is based on offering specific technical expertise and outstanding service which is focussed entirely around care for the residents into whose homes we go. Resident satisfaction levels across our whole client base are consistently high, and they are there for everybody to see on our website; we don’t hide anything”.
“But the extension to that is that we now measure our First Time Fix percentages. What does this mean? It is the measure we use to ensure that whenever and wherever we can we only enter a resident’s property once – we want to cause them the least disturbance that we can, and we try really hard to ensure that this is what happens”.
“Where we do have to make more than one visit it is where we have to measure something specific such as a glass unit which needs replacing or where we react to an emergency call out to enable access in the first instance before repair. But generally we work with the landlord to understand the specification of the products they originally installed so that our engineers are prepared and have the right materials and tools with them to do the job right first time”.
“It might seem like an obvious thing to measure, but the right processes, procedures, and supply chains need to be in place first to enable you to do it and we have introduced this as the next step in the development of our client relationships and our business. It is another measure of our performance which is transparent and there for everyone to see on the homepage of our website”.
Driven by us
“It is designed first and foremost as a customer care measure – any resident will tell you, having repairs and maintenance carried out in their home is great, it solves a problem for them and makes the quality of their life better – but they don’t want to see you two and three times. They want the job done there and then”.
“This is the essence of what First Time Fix is, delivering an even better level of customer care – and it is driven by us. It is not something we have been asked to do or tasked to do, it is our initiative and we are keen to offer it to all our clients. By working with them to understand the products they have installed enables our technical team to source suitable parts – many of which are obsolete for windows and doors installed over 20 years ago – to complete the job first time. We ensure we have stocks in place and work with our robust supply chain to ensure that we can call off everything we need when we need it– then we start the job”.
“The response has been terrific. Residents and clients are clearly very happy with what we are doing, it makes the whole process and delivery of the service so much smoother and customer satisfaction levels are even higher”.
“First Time Fix is a great measure for any repairs and maintenance business, for ours where we deal with so many varied specifications it is especially important, and our ability to introduce it and already be recording figures in excess of 92% is a great start point”.
“But we won’t rest at that, we want to see our First Time Fix percentage as high as our resident satisfaction levels at over 98%. Then we know as a specialist repairs and maintenance contractor we are delivering not only a truly cost effective service for our clients but an outstandingly supportive service for their residents”.
For more information please visit www.milamaintenance.co.uk
