Mind your maintenance

How do homeowners react to receiving maintenance information once the build is complete?

Firm: Salamander Build Ltd 

Principals: Charlie Bailey and Mark Travers 

Location: AKL  

Staff: 1

Once all trades are completed onsite and all the relevant documentation is in order, we book a final council inspection.

We make sure we are present for the inspection, so we can answer any queries that may arise or do any little jobs that may have been overlooked.

After the inspection is passed (fingers crossed!), we sit down with our customers and talk them through the specific maintenance information for their build. We discuss the different ways that each part of their build needs to be maintained and the consequences that will occur if proper maintenance is not done.

The majority of customers are pleased to be provided with this information and appreciate having set guidelines on what is expected of them as homeowners. However, it can have the opposite effect on some people, creating added stress on already busy lifestyles.

I think that while the maintenance schedule may be a daunting prospect for some homeowners, it is a minor aspect when you consider the value of the current housing market.

---

Firm: Peter Goodger Builders

Principal: Peter Goodger

Location: Gore

Staff: 5

We don’t receive a lot of comment on them, and I suppose if there was ever any problems they’d come back to us.

I think it’s good, because it reinforces to homeowners that they’re responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the building and I don’t think a lot of people are aware of how important it actually is.

It also keeps builders aware of what needs to be done to maintain different products. It’s not really a hassle to put together either.

We have a design component to our business, which I think helps us when putting together the maintenance schedules, because design requires you to have fairly extensive product knowledge.

Being involved at the design stage also allows us to consider how maintenance-heavy a product is. If you were building a two-storey house or working on a hard-to-access area, you wouldn’t want to use a product that is going to require expensive scaffolding to maintain or need yearly maintenance.

---

Firm: O’Leary Homes

Principal: Greg O’Leary

Location: Hawke’s Bay 

Staff: 4

I’ve done a few so far and the majority of people have just laughed – I think most of them are surprised we have to supply so much information.

I try to keep it simple and put the focus on exposed features and internal things such as paint and plasterboard. Because we work in a small community, I’m generally in touch with all my clients after the project anyway.

Any questions they do have, they just ask. If any minor fixes are required, such as door handles, we just do those ourselves. I don’t think the schedules change a lot, but it makes it a more formal part of the process. It did came in handy recently on a black iron build we worked on.

The iron was getting covered in dust all the time, and the owner got in touch to find out what maintenance was required. I didn’t know off the top of my head, but he was able to look it up in the maintenance schedule.

Putting them together isn’t that hard or time-consuming either; we just get all the required info off our suppliers.

---

Now have your say…

Do you think homeowners are aware of why and when licensed building practitioners are required? If not, how could awareness be improved?

Answer this question to enter our quarterly prize draw

Email your answer with your full name, contact phone number, company name, number of full-time staff and the city or town in which you’re based to editor@pmundersconstruction.co.nz. All responses must be submitted by 25 October 2016. The answers to this question will be published in Under Construction December 2016.