A card through the door, and the job goes back in the queue
The operative arrives at 10am for a leaking tap booked three weeks ago. Nobody answers. They wait, ring the number on the job, get voicemail, leave a card and move on. The job is marked no access. The tenant, who had to take their child to a hospital appointment that morning, rings the contact centre in the afternoon and the job is rebooked for another three weeks.
Multiply that by the number of operatives and days in a year, and a surprising share of your repairs capacity goes on driving to doors that do not open.
Why tenants are not in
Most no-access visits are not refusals. They are communication problems. The appointment was made long ago, the slot was wide, the phone number is out of date, or the tenant could not easily tell you they needed a different day.
- Appointments are booked weeks ahead with one confirmation at the time of booking.
- Reminders, if any, go by one channel, often a text to an old number.
- All-day or half-day slots make it hard for working tenants to be in.
- Rearranging means calling the contact centre and waiting.
- No-access jobs are closed or re-queued without anyone asking why.
What each wasted visit costs
Operative time and van miles are the obvious cost. The less obvious costs are the repair that is not done, the call back to the contact centre, the frustrated tenant and a repair timeline that looks worse than the work really was. For repairs that matter, such as damp, leaks or safety items, a no-access visit can leave a household living with a problem for longer.
The appointment process we build
- When a repair appointment is booked in your repairs or housing management system, the tenant gets a confirmation by their preferred channel: text, email, WhatsApp or a voice call for tenants who prefer one.
- Contact details are checked at booking, and tenants with no working number are flagged for the contact centre to update.
- Reminders go a few days before and the day before, each with a simple way to confirm, rearrange or say someone else will let the operative in.
- Rearrangement requests offer available slots from your scheduling system where it allows, or go to the contact centre as a task.
- On the day, the tenant gets a message when the operative is on the way, with a rough arrival time from their schedule.
- If there is no access, the operative records what happened. The case goes to a follow-up route: automatic rebooking offer for routine jobs, and a call from a person for priority repairs or households with vulnerability flags.
- Repeated no-access at the same address is flagged to the housing officer, as it can point to a tenancy or welfare issue.
| Moment | Today | With the process |
|---|---|---|
| Booking | One confirmation | Confirmation in the tenant's preferred channel |
| Days before | Nothing | Reminder with confirm or rearrange |
| On the day | Nothing | On-the-way message |
| No access | Card, job closed or re-queued | Follow-up route by priority |
| Repeated no access | Unnoticed | Flag to housing officer |
Your repairs policy, priorities and no-access procedure stay as you set them. We build the communication around them.
What operatives and tenants notice
More doors open, because tenants were reminded and could rearrange easily. When they cannot, you find out before the van leaves. Priority repairs that hit no access get a person's attention the same day. Housing officers learn about homes where repeated no access might signal something else going on.
Is this happening in your repairs service?
- No-access visits are a regular part of operatives' days.
- Tenants tell you they never received a reminder.
- Rearranging an appointment means calling the contact centre.
- No-access jobs are closed without a follow-up.
- Nobody looks at repeated no access at the same address.