Christmas Without Heating for a 10mins Job

2nd June, 2021

1 in 3 trips to manage properties are just to look at an issue, and gather data that should have been previously available, before considering how to address, repair and/or resolve. This has major sustainability implications and, depending on the severity of the issue(s), can be incredibly stressful for property occupiers and reflect negatively on property managers i.e., landlords, real estate agencies, developers.

If your vehicle or computer were to break down, you wouldn’t need to book separate appointments to have them looked at first, troubleshoot second, gather prerequisites third then address, repair and/or resolve fourth. All steps are generally attended to during your first visit, call or online communication. According to MetricNet, the average time it takes for IT issues to be resolved remotely is just over 10 minutes.

Why do we not share similar standards within the property industry? In a rapidly digitising world, why is property management still largely DIY, manual and/or paper-based?

On the days leading up to New Year’s 2021. My family and I noticed the smell of gas coming from our kitchen so we called the provided line and had an emergency technician visit our home 2 hours later who confirmed that there was a gas leak, apparently due to a fault with our boiler.

As such, for our safety, the boiler was deactivated — effectively disabling all central heating in the house — and we were advised to contact our property manager so they can send a gas-safe engineer to address the issue. Given that it was Christmas Eve, it was difficult to get an immediate appointment. My family and I had to endure almost 72 hours without hot water or central heating before someone finally came.

Worse yet, when the engineer arrived, they diagnosed that the issue wasn’t even with the boiler but instead with our cooker! They disconnected the cooker, allowing us to safely activate our boiler again, and issued a replacement which arrived later that week.

Would it not have been better if, during my first call to report the gas leak, they were able to remotely (and accurately) identify and address the issue? Or at the very least, if they could have provided the emergency technician with all the information and/or tools they might need to do so?

The prevalence of IoT integration into locks, boilers, cookers, thermostats, laundry systems etc. highlights a clear demand for ‘smart homes’ yet we often rely on many unsustainable practices to manage them. We are on a mission to alleviate the difficulties of property occupiers, managers and developers alike with a platform that provides a new way of working that is predictive, less adversarial and economically facilitative for all parties.

This is one of many stories of frustration with our current means of managing property, do you have any of your own you’d like to share? Please contact us at [email protected] if you would like to get in touch.

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