Grounds Maintenance

Grounds Maintenance for RSL's

When you are considering tendering your contract for GM you know that residents expect value for money along with quality service delivery. Times are tough and you need to demonstrate that you are doing all you can to evidence best value. You want a company that is as passionate about the service they provide, a company that stands shoulder to shoulder with you and mucks in when the going gets tough, a company that knows your business, a company that genuinely wants to improve standards and will go the extra mile every day.

At Wealdens we like to think we are a business that does just that. Don’t just take our word for it, we will provide you with contact details for all of our contracts so you can speak to the people within housing associations who are managing grounds maintenance contracts with us right now.

Quality

As part of our ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System, we have internal processes for measuring performance, monitoring and review. This runs in parallel to our clients (for example L&Q) who measure our performance via bespoke contract KPIs; these were established at contract mobilisation and realistic benchmarks created bespoke to the contract. On our other similar contracts for clients such as Moat Homes, we collectively utilise the Housemark Photobook system which grades service levels and expectations (A-D) and provides pictorial references. We offer our clients a diversity of mediums for performance measurement and review this regularly to ensure the most effective mediums are used which essentially enable/ encourage the highest levels of feedback; a good example is the creation of bespoke website portals and social media apps which have the additional benefit of enabling external stakeholders to directly feed in their comments or any concerns. We are currently using the following systems to glean performance feedback and data:

• Quality & Safety Audits (independent and joint): Our staff, Supervisors and Quality Managers carry out regular quality and safety checks (electronically documented/ signed off via PDAs).
• Electronic data capture: Our Works Management Software and PDAs generate daily contract performance data and reports in real time (ranging from attendance times, resident sign-off, financial reporting, response times etc).
• Resident Questionnaires/ Satisfaction Surveys:We provide residents with a customer service questionnaire for completion and return to Head Office. The questionnaire can be completed anonymously and, in addition to scoring the company on all areas of performance, provides the opportunity to comment on the overall level of service received and any required changes. Resident questionnaires are available in large font, Braille and alternative language formats if required; At survey stage we will have identified diverse groups and will have tailored our communication formats to suit.
• Performance Review Meetings/ KPIs: We regularly participate in Performance Review Meetings with clients where we review all aspects of contract performance (and KPI data).
• Complaints Procedure: All residents have been issued with Wealdens Complaints Procedure and we have in place a robust three stage system for reporting, logging and remediation.
• Client Questionnaires: We issue client satisfaction questionnaires at intervals which focus upon client’s experience of working with Wealdens across a number of key delivery facets.
• Reports: Our Contract Managers oversee the completion of performance data reports each month for timely issue to clients ahead of Performance Review Meetings
• Open Door Policy: At any time, our client, residents or other stakeholders are welcomed to approach Wealdens staff to ask questions, raise concerns or indeed give feedback – all communication in this respect is formally noted and escalated at Performance Review Meetings.

Feedback on our performance is critical in establishing not only how we are performing, but how we can improve. The data from the above mentioned mediums is used both at contract level and internally where we host Performance Review Meetings to establish what is going right and indeed if anything is going wrong. In the event that we experience below target feedback, we address the concerns collaboratively and ensure appropriate measures are put in place to prevent reoccurrence; this may include changes to specifications, products and resources or additional training. ‘Lessons learnt’ is a key element to continuous improvement and we ensure that any such issues (and indeed best practice) are shared across the numerous cleaning and grounds maintenance teams delivering our other contracts (via internal staff meetings, briefings and toolbox talks).