In Coventry, Citizen Housing Group (WM Housing) have a large number of solid brick properties. These were mostly built in the 1930s and 1940s. The properties are a mixture of two, three and four bed properties throughout various locations in Coventry.
Works comprised of external wall insulation to 133 properties (at 44 different postcodes), including EWI to solid brick wall properties, fascia, soffit and guttering replacement.
The works included the installation of a Wetherby insulated render system with a silicone render finish to solid brick wall properties together with removing and replacing fascia’s, soffits, gutters and rainwater goods, removal and replacement of canopies and signage and associated works to attached services, shrubs, garden walls and the replacement of corrugated roofing to garages. The scheme also included asbestos removal works to flues, downpipes, SVP’s and garage roofs.
Our team had a number of challenges on the scheme including the distance between the properties, the different subcontractors responsible for each element of the works and the residents availability to facilitate the works. During a ‘Black Hats’ morning briefing, two main issues were discussed:
1. Site Managers were spending a lot of time and effort to-ing and fro-ing between different subcontractors to solve even the smallest of issues; and
2. Time was lost by contractors when residents failed to keep appointments and on one day a number of contractors visited the same address but they hadn’t reported it to each other.
The subcontractors decided they needed to start working together as one team and set up a WhatsApp group chat and Supervisors agreed to join and abide by a simple set of rules, with items highlighted for the group to see, with the Site Manager deciding what action needed to be taken.
This simple tool helped reduce the amount of time lost and the number of wasted visits. The chat history also acted as a record of events, which eliminated disputes that the contractors had failed to turn up.
