The Tpas accreditation is much more to us than a mark of quality
Monday 22nd of July 2019
Wates Living Space are proud to have been accredited by Tpas for their approach to tenant and community engagement. We invited Steve Jackson, Director of Operations at Wates Living Space to tell us a litle more about what achieveing the accrediation means for their business.
“Being a Tpas accredited repairs and maintenance provider gives our clients and their customers a great deal of assurance of the quality of service we provide; this is indisputable.
Wates Living Space first became Tpas accredited in 2008 and with it came a formal acknowledgement of what we continually strive to achieve - to be a service provider that puts the needs of tenants at the forefront of everything we do.
Tpas’ recognition is a badge that tells the industry that we are competent, trusted and respectful but the true benefit it brings to our business is the process by which we become accredited. It is rigorous and as such, it drives continuous improvement.
“The Tpas accreditation process is evidence-based, which essentially ensures that landlords, contractors and suppliers are putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to tenant engagement.
I recall our first accreditation process well. The team was required to drill down into our entire tenant engagement strategy, research best practice within our business and the wider industry and evidence the breadth of our liaison with our clients’ customers.
“What this soon showed us was that there is a great deal of work that goes into our tenant engagement. At a macro level the business adopts a broad approach to ensuring all of our work is done in a considerate manner; we have created a standard that our teams are responsible for upholding.
When you’re entrusted with the repairs and maintenance of 500,000 properties across the UK, this high level of operational management is essential but I think our business’ true excellence lies in the day-to-day gestures of our tenant liaison officers.
They are the ones on the ground, listening to tenants and taking steps to ensure their well-being at all times and this is so important.
“The key aspect of this work is listening. So often businesses confuse communication with one-way broadcasting of a desired message. The Tpas accreditation process challenges this with an emphasis on engagement - to engage is to empower tenants to participate in the services they are receiving.
They have a very important voice and if their voice isn’t being heard, then we simply aren’t doing our jobs properly.
Over the years this has been a priority to which we have continually re-focussed our attention. We regularly review our tenant engagement practices and our Tpas accreditation is a huge catalyst for this. No business should ever rest on its laurels. Interrogating your operations is the most effective way to excel at what you do and with over ten-years as a Tpas accredited repairs and maintenance provider, this is as true for us now as it was back in 2008.”
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