3 ms·

I don't understand why the article assumes there's an either/or situation here (maybe it's written from a US-centric POV?); there's a lot of good money to be ma

I don't understand why the article assumes there's an either/or situation here (maybe it's written from a US-centric POV?); there's a lot of good money to be made from maintenance and waste management. For example here in the UK, cars have to pass an annual road-worthiness test, which gives car owners and garage owners a chance to fix things before they break. In homes, it's a requirement to have gas boilers checked annually - again maintenance. Councils and private housing associations regularly come round to check and refurbish exteriors, wiring, plumbing, etc - waiting until the house floods or burns down doesn't make economic sense to them. I worked on England's waste strategy published back in 2000. The waste hierarchy back then was "Reduce, Reuse, Refurbish, Recycle" - the promotional focus at the time was on recycling (our recycling rates were abysmal), but maintenance ( == Refurbish) was definitely part of the mix.

switch007 4y ago
I’d love to know what housing associations you know of that do regular proactive maintenance. My family has decades of experience as tenants and I can’t agree at all. I feel they do the complete opposite - hope that only fixing when things break be the cheaper option. Any regular checks they are a complete farce and on many occasions have actually broken things, especially regarding boilers (I wish I were joking) I do agree good money is being made on maintenance. The service is sold, it just doesn’t properly get carried out The people they send round to fix things are bluntly thick as shit and often damage more than they fix
- rikroots 4y ago
  In my (limited) experience, smaller housing associations seem to show more care and attention than larger ones. It shouldn't be that way. As to the quality of subcontractors - I have good experiences and bad experiences. I always give feedback, even when not invited to do so.

switch007 4y ago

I’d love to know what housing associations you know of that do regular proactive maintenance. My family has decades of experience as tenants and I can’t agree at all. I feel they do the complete opposite - hope that only fixing when things break be the cheaper option. Any regular checks they are a complete farce and on many occasions have actually broken things, especially regarding boilers (I wish I were joking) I do agree good money is being made on maintenance. The service is sold, it just doesn’t properly get carried out The people they send round to fix things are bluntly thick as shit and often damage more than they fix

rikroots 4y ago
In my (limited) experience, smaller housing associations seem to show more care and attention than larger ones. It shouldn't be that way. As to the quality of subcontractors - I have good experiences and bad experiences. I always give feedback, even when not invited to do so.