Programmed Maintenance
Programmed Maintenance
Upon completion of building assessments we establish a maintenance plan for each property to facilitate the provision of programmed maintenance to ensure defined accommodation standards are met and exceeded. Planned and cyclical maintenance can be defined as those works that are carried out on a regular basis to prolong the life of the dwelling and avoid costly repairs or a breakdown.
Responsive Maintenance
Responsive maintenance is day-to-day maintenance or repairs carried out on tenanted or vacant properties in response to requests for such works, to restore an amenity or component to its working condition.
Unity delivers a responsive maintenance service and in accordance with our responsive maintenance policy, Unity staff are responsible for determining the type of maintenance works required, whether they are urgent or not urgent, and to make arrangements for the appropriate type of maintenance to be completed within the required time frame.
Vacancy Maintenance
Vacancy maintenance is maintenance or repair works which is completed on vacant properties prior to reletting them to approved applicants from waiting lists coordinated by Operations Managers. All vacant property maintenance works are managed by Maintenance Coordinators who are responsible for:
- inspecting vacant properties;
- determining maintenance or repair works for vacant properties;
- arranging for works to be completed within the required timelines; and
- determining payment for completed works.
We have well established vacancy maintenance policies and procedures to ensure efficient completion and coordination of vacancies with clearly defined responsibilities for responsible staff.
Building Assessment
Unity undertake thorough building assessments to determine our understanding of stock condition and future planning intent.
Unity staff have extensive experience in undertaking building assessments in-house and staff follow established formal policies and procedures for this. For high volume building assessments we also utilise the services of a qualified and experienced external contractor.
The information gathered through the building assessments process will include forecast expenditure in various building elements and the overall asset based on current average expenditure. This information will be included in the SMAART system to develop maintenance plans to estimate budgets and resources to fully maintain each property over the properties life.
Maintenance Service Delivery
Unity believes our properties should contribute to the overall supply of good quality, affordable social housing to meet the growing needs of our tenants, and contribute to a positive social mix in metropolitan Adelaide and regional South Australia. To achieve this, Unity has measures in place to ensure that our properties are well maintained.
The needs of our tenants remain our primary focus, and the maintenance service model of our asset management strategy is designed to ensure that we meet our tenants’ needs for safe, secure and well maintained homes.
Unity’s maintenance service model ensures that necessary maintenance is undertaken with minimum disturbance to our tenants through a well planned and high quality combination of:
- emergency maintenance (on call 24/7);
- responsive maintenance;
- programmed maintenance; and
- strategic asset development.
Unity employs the services of INSIGHT, an organisation providing 24 hour emergency contact and will arrange for urgent maintenance to be attended to by our contractor according to priority to rectify emergency health and safety issues. Maintenance Coordinators are also on call after hours to assist the call centre where necessary.
To ensure maintenance is attended to in an appropriate manner, Unity have a panel of well established prequalified contractors to carry out responsive and planned maintenance. This ensures a coordinated response to all maintenance requirements in a timely and cost effective manner and enable Unity to efficiently manage the administrative requirements of our asset management plan.
