A Direct Works approach is better for Cunninghame Housing Association
The last few years has seen Cunninghame Housing Association adopt an inhouse approach to repairs and maintenance, and the organisation are reaping the rewards.
We spoke with Jacqueline Cameron, Executive Director of Housing and Property Services at Cunninghame Housing Association, recently to find out why their Direct Works service is enhancing tenant engagement across the organisation.
“We moved away from our outsourced contractors post Covid as performance was starting to drop, turnaround times were getting longer and the satisfaction levels amongst our tenants were deteriorating. We spoke to other landlords who were experiencing similar issues and knew something needed to change.
When we carry out tenant consultations, feedback always highlights that repairs and maintenance are the main priorities for tenants. It is their home, they want to spend time in it, and it needs to be well looked after, safe, warm, and comfortable.
We historically had an inhouse Care and Repair service, which had morphed into the Residents Services Xtra team. The team were providing planned maintenance services for tenants – ie kitchen and bathroom refit programmes. With a fully functioning team already in place, the time was right to bring reactive repairs back inhouse. We expanded the team, rented a bespoke storage unit built by a local business and with Board approval, on the 1st April 2022 the Direct Works Service was launched.
There are now 40+ working in the team, including operatives and support staff. We’ve recently taken on two apprentices so it’s great to be able to see young people take the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills. As part of the change, we introduced one freephone number for all reactive repairs, which is manned 24 hours a day providing an out of hours emergency repairs service.”
Jacqueline shared statistics that demonstrate the positive impact this transition has made.
| Time Period | Who? | Average time to carry out emergency repairs | Number of non emergency repairs |
| 2021/22 | Outsourced contractors | 3.94 hours | 2197 |
| 2022/23 | Inhouse Direct Works Service | 1.92 hours | 5515 |
The new approach was welcomed by everyone. Tenant satisfaction is a massive focus for Cunninghame Housing Association; and response times are a significant contributing factor. If there is a problem with someone’s accommodation, they want it addressed, and quickly.
Feedback from 86 year old Helen Roy, a tenant of Cunninghame Housing Association for over 50 years said “My neighbours beneath my flat were having problems with a leak through their ceiling and contacted the Direct Works Service. A plumber and joiner came out and carried out a very thorough investigation to source and fix the leak. Two young men arrived on the 1st Feb (as agreed) to replace the whole bathroom floor. They did an excellent job, removing and replacing the shower, toilet and sink. They were both friendly, approachable, and told me how long it would take. They stayed until the job was complete and worked constantly while they were in my house. They cleaned up after themselves, removing all the rubbish, and left the bathroom spotless. It was an excellent job and I’m really pleased with whole process from start to finish.”
Jacqueline said, “We now want to be able to monitor the satisfaction levels of our Direct Works Service in real-time and are putting processes in place to make this happen. We also know that having this service inhouse is more cost effective as we’ve been able to absorb some of the non-material cost increases that would have been passed onto us by independent contractors. Keeping tenants satisfied is our number one priority and if we can make our tenants homes safe, warm and comfortable and address any issues quickly, we know that makes our tenants happy.”