Managing Contractors on Site 101

Written by Nick Higgins | Dec 23, 2015 8:23:10 AM

Noise, dust, rubble – all elements that we’d like to avoid in our property. Unfortunately, these are all by-products of conducting property maintenance – a necessary part of ensuring a safe living environment.

Negating the impact of maintenance contractors in your retirement village can be achieved through implementing a comprehensive management process. With a fair amount of research, preparations and on site monitoring you can avoid any looming complaints from Mrs. Smith about noise disrupting her soapie reruns and strangers lurking around her garden. It can be stressful having contractors working on-site, even more so when being the patriot of dozens of retirees. Here’s our guide to managing contractors on site and ensuring you make the most of having tradespeople on site:

Carry out a risk assessment of the village

Before letting anyone else enter the village gates, you need to have a clear picture of what needs to be done. Carry out a thorough inspection to determine what condition the facilities are in and the potential risks to the contractors. If you have no idea of the lay of the land, you’ll end up having contractors on site longer than they should be – costing you more money and increasing the period of possible discomfort.

Ensure that the tradespeople you allow on site have the right qualifications and are compliant

Compromising on the quality of the contractors you allow in your retirement village is a recipe for disaster. There’s no wiggle room for cost-cutting when it comes to the safety and security of residents. Do your research thoroughly and ensure that you are informed of the industry standards that maintenance tradespeople have to adhere to. Conduct meetings with the companies and request references as testament of their previous work. Any evidence of previous work conducted in other villages is a big plus.

Inform contractors of the environment they’ll be working in and the specific rules they need to abide by

Working in a retirement village, as you already know, requires a certain set of skills. And while you might be well aware of what the boundaries are and what you need to do to ensure optimal living conditions – outside contractors might not. Each village operates differently and it’s up to you to inform any commercial property maintenance provider that enters the premises. Draw up a clearly defined set of rules to guide any on site activity; they should also be accompanied by the consequences of contravening the set rules.

Track the movement of contracts and inform workers and residents of their expected whereabouts

To ensure your and the residents’ peace of mind and safety, it’s paramount to monitor any movement of outside contractors on the village grounds. Leaving them to conduct their maintenance work unattended not only leaves room for the delivery of sub-par work but also increases the feeling of discomfort among the residents. One of the best ways to ensure no one is caught off guard by the movement of strangers on the property is to inform residents of when maintenance will be conducted on their property and what type of work will be done. This ensures that residents are prepared and at ease should there be some disturbance in or around their homes.

We know how stressful it can be to have contractors working on site in your retirement village. At Higgins, we are dedicated to minimise the amount of disturbance of our on-site workers as we are familiar with the retirement village environment. As one of the biggest commercial property maintenance providers in Australia, we strive to uphold our reputation and comply with all specified village regulations to ensure a quality, stress-free project.

Image credit: SarasotaConstruction

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