Doing major work to improve your home

Catalyst Communities Housing Association

What is planned maintenance?

Planned maintenance is when we do regular, major work on properties, including decorating the outside. We usually work on groups of properties to save money, for example we work on a whole estate at the same time.

We use surveys to identify first how much work an estate needs, so we can make sure we have enough money in our budget to do the work.

How can I find out if my home is due for planned maintenance work?

Your local office has a list of all the planned maintenance work we are planning to do in the next three years.

What other types of maintenance do you do?

Day-to-day repairs are repairs that you need in your home or the communal areas but that we haven’t planned for. Please refer to the Repairs Handbook for details and information on these repairs.

Gas safety checks are done each year. We have a legal duty to do these checks. We’ll take further action if you don’t keep appointments and let us in to do these checks.

Improvements are when we do work to add something to your property.

How will you consult me?

We use different methods to consult you, depending on the number of properties and type of work involved. We may have a roadshow on an estate, knocking on your door with details of the planned work and asking what you think. We will always try to meet you. Before work starts, we’ll send you a formal letter with the programme of planned work.

What happens when the planned maintenance work is due?

We’ll send a letter telling you when we are planning to do the work, and giving you detailed information about it.

Next, a contractor will make an appointment with you to assess what work your home needs.

Once we have assessed the work, we will write to tell you when we intend to start. We will include a list of all the work we expect to do.

Do I get any choice?

We always try to give you a choice. For example, you can choose your kitchen (within a certain range) and the colour of your doors.

What happens if there’s a problem when the contractors are on site?

The contractor will give you a contact number. Also, we give you the number of our Resident Involvement Manager, who will talk to you if you have any problems. One of our surveyors is in charge of each contract and they can advise you on any technical problems.

What happens if there’s a problem after the contractors have gone?

The contractors guarantee all the work. If something goes wrong with their work, we can ask them to return and put it right. If work has been done in your home, please tell us when you report the fault as the guarantee may cover it.

How do you know if I am satisfied with the work?

Contractors will check that you are satisfied with the work before they leave. Our surveyors will also check that the work is to the standard we set out.

To get your comments on the work, we will send out postal surveys and call you. Your comments are very important as they allow us to change the way we do things for the benefit of other customers. Please take the time to fill in the survey form.

For more information on doing major work to improve your home you can download our leaflet below.

 Doing major work to improve your home (339KB / 8 pages)