Forty blocks, one spreadsheet
You won a housing association's cyclical redecoration programme: communal stairwells, landings, entrance doors and external timber across forty blocks this year. The programme lives in a spreadsheet the contracts manager updates on Friday. Residents need letters before work starts in their block. The client's surveyor wants weekly progress, and signs off each block before it can be valued.
By month three, a block was started before its residents were notified, two blocks are finished but not signed off, and the progress report takes a day to put together.
Why programmes get out of hand
Each block has several elements, each element moves through stages, and each stage has a party responsible: your team, the residents, the client. A spreadsheet can list them but cannot drive them.
- Stages are tracked in a spreadsheet updated weekly.
- Resident letters are sent by hand and not linked to start dates.
- Photos and records by element are on painters' phones.
- Client sign-offs are requested by email and chased by memory.
- Progress reports and valuations are built by hand.
What losing track costs
Residents who were not told before work started complain to the client, which damages your standing on the contract. Blocks finished but not signed off are not valued, so payment is delayed. The contracts manager spends days on reporting. And at contract review, poor records count against you.
Programme work is also judged on the whole, not just the finish. Housing providers look at how residents were treated, how complaints were handled and how easy the contractor was to work with. A contractor whose painting is excellent but whose records are patchy can lose ground at renewal to one whose painting is fine and whose reporting is clear.
The residents matter most. People living in the blocks have to put up with dust sheets on stairwells, wet paint signs and restricted access to entrances. Clear notice beforehand and quick answers to queries make the difference between residents who tolerate the work and residents who complain about it.
The programme tracker we build
- Every block and element in the programme is loaded with its scope and planned dates.
- Resident notices are generated from the plan and sent by letter or text in the client's approved wording, a set period before work starts, and recorded.
- Supervisors record works on their phones by element: prep, coats, completion, with photos.
- When a block is complete, a sign-off request goes to the client's surveyor with photos, and their sign-off or comments are recorded.
- Progress reports are produced automatically in the format the client wants, and valuations are built from signed-off elements.
- Resident queries and complaints are logged against the block, so the client sees they are handled.
| Stage | Recorded |
|---|---|
| Planned | Dates per block and element |
| Residents notified | Letter or text sent, date |
| Works | Progress by element, with photos |
| Client sign-off | Surveyor approval or comments |
| Valued | Included in valuation |
Running the programme, not the spreadsheet
Nobody starts a block before residents are notified, because the tracker shows it. Sign-offs are requested the day a block finishes. Progress reports go to the client on time without a day of work. And valuations include everything signed off, so payment follows the work.
The contracts manager's week changes most. Instead of rebuilding the spreadsheet every Friday and chasing supervisors for updates, they spend their time on the blocks that are stuck, the residents who have raised concerns and the next phase of the programme.
Is your programme running you?
- Progress reports take a day to build.
- Residents have complained about not being told.
- Finished blocks are waiting for client sign-off.
- Photos by element are hard to find.
- Valuations lag behind the work.