Saturday night, 11pm
The duty phone rings. A resident says water is coming through the ceiling of the communal corridor at a block the duty manager has never visited. Where is the stopcock? Who is the approved plumber for that block? Is there a concierge? Does the cupboard with the water main need a key and who holds it?
The duty manager searches emails on their phone, rings a colleague who does not answer, then calls a plumber they know from another block. The next morning the property manager for the block finds out from a resident, not from the duty manager.
Why the out of hours rota is so fragile
Block information lives in the block management system, the property manager's head and a few PDFs. None of that is easy to reach on a phone at night. Many firms rely on a laminated list or a spreadsheet of emergency contractors that was accurate a year ago.
There is also no consistent log. Calls are handled, but not recorded in a way the next person can pick up. So the morning handover depends on the duty manager remembering to send an email.
What that costs when it goes wrong
A slower response means more damage, more angry residents and, in some cases, bigger insurance claims. Calling a contractor who is not approved for that block creates payment and liability questions later. Missing handovers leave the property manager unprepared when residents call on Monday.
And the duty rota becomes something staff dread, which makes it harder to fill.
The out of hours system we build
We build a phone-friendly system for whoever is on call, backed by your block data, and connected to your call handling if you use a call centre.
- Block cards: for each block, a single page on the phone shows address, access arrangements, key holder, location of stopcocks and plant, lift and alarm contractors and any special notes. It is built from your block management system and kept current by property managers.
- Emergency contractors: each block lists its approved contractors by trade with numbers, and a fallback where your policy allows one.
- Call routing: a Twilio number can route calls to the person on the rota, or to your call handling service, with the caller's block identified from their number where it is known.
- Call log: each call is recorded with what was reported, what was done and who was called, in a few taps.
- Morning handover: logs are sent automatically to each block's property manager first thing, and open issues become tasks.
- Rota: the on-call rota is held in the same system so calls go to the right person without anyone forwarding phones.
| At 11pm the duty manager needs | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Block address and access | Block card |
| Where the stopcock or plant room is | Block card, maintained by the property manager |
| Approved emergency plumber | Emergency contractors list for the block |
| A record of what they did | Call log on the phone |
| To tell the property manager | Automatic morning handover |
How the rota feels with it
The duty manager handles a call with the facts in front of them and calls the right contractor. Everything they do is logged without a separate write-up. The property manager starts the next working day knowing what happened.
Being on the rota becomes less daunting, especially for newer staff who do not yet know every block.
Is this your out of hours set-up?
- Out of hours calls go to a personal phone with no block information.
- The emergency contractor list is a spreadsheet or a laminated sheet.
- Property managers hear about weekend incidents from residents.
- Contractors outside the approved list get called at night.
- Staff are reluctant to take the duty phone.