This Presentation describes the common barriers that running an In House Maintenance Team may pose and offers some solutions

1. Delivering Excellence
Through In-House Maintenance
Provision
Presented By
Glyn Cameron-Branthwaite BSc Eng (Hons) CBIFM Tech IOSH

2. Common Characteristics
of other IHMP

3.  The Service is shaped around the end user.
 Effective Use of Information Technology.
 Effective Use of human resource.
 Effective performance management.
 Talk to benchmarking partners and are self-critical.
not self-justifying.
 Commercial awareness and acumen.

4. The Service is shaped around the end user
Flexible hours of operation:
 Tailored around the reasonable working arrangements of the customer especially
those in full time employment or further education and training. Typically 8am till 8pm
Mon to Fri with weekend working on Sat and Sun up-till 1pm.
Majority of jobs completed on first visit using impress van stock:
 Upper quartile performance and Best practise results in 80% of repairs being
completed on the first visit.
High Levels of Multi-Skilling:
 Typically 75% of operatives have additional trade competencies.
Appointments for all trades:
 All operatives are fully allocated appointment slots regardless of trade. This also
includes sub-contractors.
Fast turnaround times for repairs and voids:
 The most effective IHMP ensures that the average time taken to undertake routine
repairs are within a 10 working day period.

5. Effective Use of Information Technology
 Integrated appointment systems.
 Mobile working using PDA’s.
 Integrated work planning, job costing and materials
procurement.
 Robust performance measurement arrangements.
 Diagnostic tools.

6. Effective Use of human resource
(Management and supervision of operatives)
 High levels of productivity.
 Low levels of sickness.
 Skills that match the type of works being undertaken.
 Good employer / employee relationship.
 Competitive and affordable wages enhanced with benefits
packages.

7. Effective performance management
 High degree of self awareness of their performance.
(service and cost)
 Relevant warning triggers that action correction.
 Effective budget control.
 Reasonable job cost. (Benchmarked against other IHMP)
 Measure tenant feedback in more than one way.

8. Common Barriers
When attempting to deliver excellent financial and operational performance
 Existing employment terms and conditions.
 More focused on productivity and high work volume rather than service
delivery and cost reduction.
 Uncompetitive level of overhead recovery and a lack of detailed knowledge
of what works actually cost.
 Support services.
 High fleet management cost.
 Poor stores management.
 Materials procurement.
 The skill set of operatives.
 Under performance of operatives.
 Management capacity and capability.
 Sickness management.
 Effective re-sourcing of plant requirements.

9. Solutions in overcoming
these barriers

10. Existing employment terms and conditions
Barriers
 Many IHMT employees are approaching retirement age, and are likely to be on
£25,000 plus final salary pension schemes.
 Holiday entitlement up to 30 days.
 Sickness pay.
 Set working hours.
 Most of the obstacles can be attributed to outdated terms and conditions of
employment. We need to arrive at a solution that simultaneously delivers good
employer/employee relations and delivers a service around what the customer
expects.
Solutions
Excellent performance should be incentivised. Consider the implementation of a
incentive scheme.
Apprentices : how better to build strong foundations than training a new
generation through apprenticeships? ‘It changes the dynamics of the business,’

11. Uncompetitive levels of overhead recovery and a lack of
detailed knowledge of what works actually cost.
Solution
 Job Costing is the process of tracking the expenses incurred on a job
that can be tracked against the original budget, or an estimate for
that job. Direct and indirect costs can be assigned to each open job;
direct costs include the materials used, transportation costs, any
rental equipment required and the associated staff costs for carrying
out the work. Indirect costs can be amortised across jobs to give a
complete job cost profile.
 Actual costs such as payroll, administration and purchases can also
be fed into the costing system to reflect actual, real costs and refine
the level of charges. The main advantage of tracking this data is that
it allows us to build up an accurate cost of works undertaken and
improves the estimation for future similar jobs.

12. Support services
Barriers
 Linked to outdated provision models which may no longer
meet needs of the current service.
 Not delivering to budget, time or quality.
Solutions
 Ensure that any service support provision is justified by
conducting a best value review.
 Ensure that we secure reasonable cost and service
performance from support services, if it is deemed that the
service is relevant.
 Flexibility to purchase goods from external providers in those
areas where internal provision is not cost effective.

13. High fleet management cost
Barriers
 High cost of fuel.
 Vehicle cost.
 Vehicle servicing.
 Fleet management system.
 Green and CO2.
Solutions
 Vehicle Procurement method that offers value for money.
(Servicing and tyres included)
 Ensure that the procurement method offers flexibility to change specification.
 Using low-CO2 vehicles.
 Consider acquisition of fleet rather than lease.
 Fuel suppliers , go to the market place to achieve best rates. No tie in.
 With the high cost of fuel, making the most productive use of our fleet has become a
business imperative. Optimising fleet planning mileage and productive use can improve
utilisation, reduce costs.

14. Poor stores management
Barriers
 Poor management of stock requirements.
 Unable to cope with capacity and demand of operatives ordering
materials, leading to delays in operatives leaving stores.
 Poor layout of depot.
 Security.
 Performance statistics.
 Substandard Quality.
 Stoppages on account.
Solutions
 Review materials used over previous periods and establish which products
are in high usage.
 Materials ordering to be linked with van stock.
 Use planned programme product information to establish future
requirements for van stock.
 Ensure that material specifications are being met via quality auditing and
post inspection.

15. Materials procurement / Supply Chain
Barriers
 Not reviewing Materials / Supply Chain cost to ensure that VfM is constantly being
achieved.
Solutions
 Look for economies of scale through purchasing via national framework.
 Internal stores.
 Outsourcing to major retailers .
 Reduce paper usage internally and enabling e-billing and email usage reports.
Benefits including CSR
 Rebate percentage for achieving turnover targets.
 Discount rates for customers and staff.
 Ability to offer discounted material purchasing to other local providers.
 Purchase and use sustainable products.
 Only use suppliers whose supply chains do not exploit operatives and do not
contribute to the destruction of local eco-systems or human rights abuse.
 Evidence of recycling products.

16. The skill set of operatives
Barriers
 The skill set and operating practises of the operatives not matching
the service required and affording the flexibility needed.
 Operatives not being able to drive a vehicle effects the ability to
optimise productive output.
Solutions
 Re-balance the skill set of operatives in order to align it with the
stock and customers requirements for future delivery of
maintenance.
 Invest in additional trade training for operatives in order to improve
the level of multi-skilling and reduce waste.
 An incentive to take the driving test.

17. Under performance of operatives
Barriers
 Operatives not reaching productive output.
 Managers not challenging performance.
 IT system unable to measure productive output of the workforce.
Solutions
 We need to challenge a poor performer, agree an improvement plan
and move forward.
 Ensure that IT systems are able to provide performance data that is
fully usable as a tool for identifying failure.
 Instinct and experience tells us that it will always be the people not
the model that will be the critical factor for success. A ‘team’ that is
motivated and organised to focus on the needs of service users via
their performance should always be the primary aim of the service
delivery model.

18. Management capability
Barriers
 Managers and supervisors monitoring rather than managing
performance.
 Not catching and correcting poor performance in a timely
manner.
 Low level of awareness regarding optimum performance.
Solutions
 Develop managers and supervisors by investing in their
training, empowering them to develop and implement their
ideas.
 Change the prevailing culture highlighting the need to be
aware of productive output and optimum performance.

19. Sickness management
Barriers
 Existing terms mean that some operatives view sickness
allowance as an extension to leave entitlement.
 Managers not challenging/scrutinising reasons for sickness.
Solutions
 Sickness to be reported by the individual concerned to a senior
manager, both in the morning and the afternoon stating the
exact reason for absence, this needs to be on a daily basis until
returning to work.
 Back to work interviews conducted by line managers. Placing
ownership of the potential additional workload on their
colleagues whilst absent from work.
 An incentive for staff who take no sick leave in a 12 month
period.

20. Effective re-sourcing of plant requirements
Barriers
 Hire costs not being recovered in the job cost.
 Plant not being directly available for jobs booked in, eg
scaffold towers, de-humidifiers, generators ect.
 Time taken to collect from hire stations.
Solutions
 Consider outright purchase.
 Benchmark cost against other hire companies (VfM)

21. Conclusion
 In order to be effective, efficient and economical there has to be
competent management, and a workforce who embrace change.
 By bringing the 3 factors above together and benchmarking
performance against other IHMP, we can ascertain whether an
optimal balance exists between all 3. The outcome desired;
1. Low costs.
2. High productivity.
3. Successful outcomes.
 What the IHMP offers is flexibility, where the workforce are able to
be deployed to where the immediate demand is.
We know that the repairs service is one of the most ‘customer
facing’ and the highest incidents of customer contact, so we have to
get it right. But the added value from the IHMP should be tangible
and measurable in enhancing the customer experience.