Disrepair Surveyor

Origin – shaping communities; building lives 

Origin exists to make change happen for the good of communities. We help people by providing affordable homes – but that’s not enough. We support vulnerable residents to lead happy and better lives. We empower our staff to take action and rise to every challenge with ‘can do’ positivity.

Good people are the future of our innovative, working community. We have placed a brand new and exciting ‘People’ strategy at the heart of our culture – to support training and personal development, to deliver our values, to move Origin forward.

We describe this new approach as OWOW: Origin Ways of Working. OWOW is about meeting business outcomes, you’ll enjoy greater autonomy over how you deliver your role, how you manage outputs and when you spend time at work, allowing you to benefit from any productivity gains in the course of delivering your role.

This shift in culture will be built on a mature and mutual relationship of trust between managers and yourselves, ensuring we live up to one of our key values of Build Trust. By working with this new relationship model we can aim toward focusing on ‘outputs’ and not ‘outcomes’. Space is allocated to ‘activities’ and not ‘individuals’ by providing a range of flexible working options that benefit both customers and staff. As a result your work can takes place at the most effective location and at the most effective time. Put simply, flexibility becomes the norm rather than the exception. This is the new Origin Housing way of working.

The opportunity 

We’re looking for a committed and motivated person to deliver a responsive, high quality and customer focused repairs service to our residents. You will ensure that resident’s homes and estates are well maintained and meet legal, contractual, and regulatory standards and that any repairs which require surveyor oversight are properly diagnosed, accurately specified and competently carried out through Origin’s designated contractors, ensuring value for money. You’ll carry out regular estate inspections ensuring that estates and blocks are well maintained and safe, that residents are involved and kept informed and remedial and approved improvement work is carried out. You will be experienced in l putting residents views and experiences at the forefront, ensuring they feel listened to, and their concerns are acted on and communication is proactive. You’ll live our values meeting Origin’s customer service standards and the Origin Oath – I’m on your side; I’ll keep you informed; I’ll see it through. 

You’ll be comfortable working collaboratively with relevant teams and engaging with residents to develop and deliver on maintenance plans. You’ll be experienced to working with contractors and different types of contracts, feeding into the contract management process. 

What you’ll do 

Take the lead  

• Ensure effective, pro-active co-ordinated communication with residents in relation to disrepair issues which responds to their concerns and delivers on commitments  

• Progress repairs on disrepair claims through to completion in properties, review expert reports and disrepair letters of claim, carry out pre work surveys and use SOR codes to create job specifications for the works to be carried out by the contractors and sub-contractors 

• Provision of surveying services including the delivery of works and services programmes and projects to time, cost and quality.  

• Undertake physical pre-inspections of stock in tenanted properties.  

• Identification and accurate diagnosis of complex repairs for occupied properties, ensuring all works are completed in a timely and effective manner to prevent unnecessary financial loss in disrepair claims.  

• Work closely with Disrepair Case Officers and undertake inspections and write specifications relating to new disrepair claims and EHO’s under Section 11 and Environmental Protection Act claims (EPAs). 

• Ensure appropriate and effective consultation with residents.  

• Liaison with and efficient monitoring of repair contractors.  

• Devising and recommending cost effective solutions to repair problems.  

• Undertake quality checks and Post Inspections of completed works orders when selected.  

• Liaise with the Repairs Team as appropriate to ensure value for money with regard to quantities in, and cost of disrepair orders.  

• Apply “Safeguarding” principles when visiting resident’s homes, ensuring any concerns about vulnerable residents and children are reported via Housing Staff 

• Any other ad hoc surveying duties as per your line managers request 

Give your time  

• First line contract management for a designated portfolio of Origin properties, assisting on other portfolios as required  

• Assist in the design, specification and management of contracts  

• Technical support for the contract management team, particularly (but not exclusively) in relation to leaks, damp and mould, complex repairs and insurance claims on occupied and vacant properties  

• Support the organisation in ensuring that buildings remain safe for use and compliant with the law  

• Investigate and comprehensively address customer complaints and enquiries 

Bring people together  

• Support in the management of relationships with local councils including Environmental Health teams  

• Maintain and lead a programme of estate/block inspections ensuring that residents are included, remedial action is taken, and residents are kept informed 

Come forward with a can-do attitude  

• Budget control and forward planning to ensure required budget spending levels are met  

• Pro-actively manage your own performance taking responsibility to meet performance targets and achieve customer satisfaction outcomes  

• Support the organisation in ensuring that buildings remain safe for use and compliant with the law  

• Responsible for assessment, specification and budget approval of repairs including significant repairs 

Go the extra, extra mile 

• Targeting continuous improvement in the team, department and business to support delivery of corporate objectives what you’ll need 

What you’ll need 

A motivational approach 

Demonstrable experience and skills managing customer and client/stakeholder relationships to ensure a high level of customer care and satisfaction. 

Relationship building skills 

Proven experience of working with contractors and internal teams in the delivery of services to customers 

Proven ability  

Excellent knowledge of building construction, standards and legislation and experience in diagnosing and specifying remedies to building defects Experience of managing contractors and delivering building works ideally in a social housing setting. Time management and organisational skills to manage a busy workload You’ll ideally have a relevant technical qualification ( eg HNC RICS or CIOB ) 

A strategic brain 

We move things forward and get things done; you’ll need experience of developing action plans and delivering strategies. 

We move things forward and get things done 

You’ll be a good problem solver and able to find solutions to resolve complex issues In depth knowledge of Schedule of Rates and methods of measurement. Enthusiasm for identifying and embracing new ways of working and good practice Take responsibility for monitoring your own performance to meet targets and corporate objectives 

Confident writing skills 

You’ll need to be a confident communicator across all channels but, specifically, you’ll need experience of producing technical specifications and responding to resident complaints and enquiries 

Do you share our values? 

The ideal candidate will work in conjunction with the Head of Governance and Assurance to ensure a consistent and evidence-based process for the development, approval, review and management of all our policies and procedures. This is a rewarding and exciting position, responsible for building relationships and trust internally within your Origin team.  

Additionally, we would like you to:  

• Support your own personal development by attending training events  

• Comply with the Association’s health and safety policies  

• Comply with the Association’s Code of Conduct by behaving in a professional manner at all times

• Demonstrate commitment to valuing diversity and upholding the Association’s equal opportunities policy at all times 

Tell us your story 

We are looking forward to learning about you. Please help us get to know you by sending your latest CV and covering letter detailing how your experience meets the role above. To find out more about us simply visit www.originhousing.org.uk  

Please note we will be asking for satisfactory references and DBS check. 

Benefits for the right person 

We reward our people for the work they do. We appreciate commitment, initiative and going the extra mile. At Origin, our comprehensive range of benefits care about the ‘whole’ person. As well as offering you great-to-have discounts, we look after your health and well-being too – personalising your benefits package to you. We offer: 

• Access to a range of discounts on services, products and experiences. Not simply picked at random but personalised to you 

• Tailor-made Healthcare plans and/or insurance plans – let us know your preference 

• An Employee Assistance Programme that supports your well-being and is there to provide valuable help at all times 

• A choice of rewards that you choose where to spend 

• An Awards recognition scheme that champions individual achievement 

See our new benefits portal where you can select the options that suit your lifestyle. 

Closing date: Wednesday 4 December 2022 

Interview and assessment date: Friday 6 December 2022