How Decent Homes Work Will Affect You
This information aims to advise you about the type of disruption you may encounter whilst improvement work is being carried out on your home and in your area.
How you will be kept informed of improvements to your home
All customers will be given the opportunity to find out about work to their home and estate through consultation meetings and events, held in their locality, to discuss the exact details of the schemes proposed. This will take place prior to any work commencing on site. In addition, you will be individually consulted on the specific plan for your home, the way in which the work will be carried out, any choices you will have and any special arrangements you may require. Formal written notice will be given to all tenants prior to work commencing.
You will also be given an opportunity to comment on the quality of the work, while it is being carried out and once it has finished. This is normally in the form of a survey.
We will take every precaution to cause as little disruption as possible to you and your family, but due to the nature of the work, some disruption cannot be avoided. We will also give you as much notice as possible as to when works will commence in your home.
We operate a Customer Care Policy. Our operatives will take every possible measure to respect your privacy and look after your property.
Pre-Entry Survey
The Pre-Entry Survey will take place in your home enabling you to discuss any queries/concerns you may have, on a one-to-one basis with your Customer Liaison Officer or Site Manager. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss matters such as access into your home so that the work can be carried out. Through resident profiling, we can create a picture of the people who live in your home to assist in the smooth running of the programme. We can work together to ensure we keep disruption to you and your family to a minimum, taking into account such matters as special needs, disabilities, the elderly, families with young children and pets in your home. We will be using a video recorder or camera to assist in our survey.
Re-Roofing
To carry out this work, scaffolding will be erected. The work will unfortunately encroach on the surrounding areas of your garden. If you have any plants you wish to preserve, garden ornaments or furniture, please remove them from the area that falls within 4 feet of any wall. If removal is impossible, please cut back the vegetation to minimise damage. We may also need to erect a walkway, which will link the scaffolding with the boundary to enable us to remove debris from the roof into a skip. If you are concerned about the position of the scaffolding, please speak to the Customer Liaison Officer or Site Manager, who will be happy to advise you.
We are sure that you do not need to be reminded that climbing on or interfering with scaffolding is dangerous. Please ensure that children and teenagers are aware of this fact and report any incidents to the Site Manager. Areas surrounded by scaffolding should be avoided, unless entering or exiting your property. Satellite dishes can often be affected by the erection of scaffolding and may have to be temporarily re-sited. We would ask you to report any disruption of the signal to the Customer Liaison Officer or Site Team, so an engineer can be called out to reposition the dish. We will endeavour to correct the problem, but would ask for your co-operation on this matter as correction of the problem whilst works are on-going can sometimes be difficult. The re-roofing will have an affect on any items stored in your loft as tiles and under felt will be totally removed. Please ensure your loft is free from any goods, which may be damaged by weather, dust or debris, which will fall when stripping the tiles.
Due to vibration caused, it is also advisable to remove any pictures, paintings or wall clocks from wall areas.
While the roofing works are being undertaken a skip may be positioned outside your property, this is solely for the purpose of disposing debris removed from the roof.
Fascias, Soffits, Gutters and Rainwater Goods
As this work is external there will be minimum disruption caused to you.
The task involves removing the old and replacing with new. Whilst this work is being undertaken we strongly advise that you keep your windows closed as dust may be generated.
External Door and Window Replacement
No major problems are envisaged when replacing these items, although we will require the area around your windows and front and rear doors to be free of furniture and personal items. Any net curtains or blinds, which are fixed to the windows, will be re fixed.
Any cables which are drilled through the frames, will be repositioned.
Window installation will take no longer than two days. It may, however, be necessary to return at a later time, agreed with yourself, to install the entrance doors. After installation, making good to the surrounding areas may be required, this could include: Plaster patching; Wall tiling; Minor joinery repairs but not decoration.
Porch Roofs/Door Canopies
This work causes minimal disruption. We will ask that you do not use the door whilst the work is being carried out and strongly advise that you keep the door locked. Once the work is completed, you will be able to use the door.
Loft and Cavity Wall Insulation
Both these operations take a minimum amount of time and cause a minimum amount of disruption.
The cavity wall insulation is installed from the external face of the brickwork and will not have any effect internally.
The loft insulation is manually installed; access to carry out the works is gained through the loft hatch. The task will be completed quickly if the loft is free from clutter.
Central Heating
This work will require an area of your flooring and floorboards to be lifted to allow pipe work to be layed, the heating engineers will carry this out. Radiators will be mounted onto walls. A standard position has been agreed for all boiler locations, which will be discussed with you prior to installation.
It usually takes two days to install a central heating system. On the first day, engineers will arrive and install most of the system in the same day. On the second day, the engineers will complete the installation and the Electrician will arrive and complete the wiring of the system. Prior to the system being available for use a commissioning process will be undertaken.
Once the system has been commissioned and tested an instruction booklet will be issued. The engineer will also talk you through the system and show you how the boiler and heating system should be used.
Following the successful installation of the system, a plasterer will “make good” any holes in walls or ceilings etc. A joiner will fix any pipe boxing that is necessary.
Once the system has been working for a few days, a build up of air may occur in the system. This may cause a loss of pressure or stop the system working. If this happens, or you have any other problems with your new Heating System, please inform either the Customer Liaison Officer or the Site Team.
As this work involves lifting flooring and floorboards, we ask that you limit movement around your home, avoiding the areas where work is being carried out.
Rewiring
This work will cause a high level of disruption and affects every room in your home. To disruption to decoration to a minimum, we will use a Stanley knife to create a neat edge to wallpaper removed. The procedure of channelling out the walls to access the electrical wiring causes dust that can take time to settle fully. All wall areas which have a light switch or plug socket will be channelled and all light fittings will be replaced.
Floorboards will need to be lifted to allow the installation of the new cables, and flooring will be lifted to allow access to the boards. We ask that you limit movement around your home avoiding the areas where work is being carried out.
Furniture will have to be moved into the middle of each room. Dustsheets will be used to protect your property.
The supply will need to be disconnected at times throughout the installation. This will not however have an effect on goods in your fridge and freezer, but please check that they are working at the end of each day.
Any electrical clocks or alarms etc will need to be reset.
Repointing & Rendering
This work can cause quite a lot of dust, debris and noise. We strongly suggest that you keep all your windows and doors closed when these works are being carried out and ensure that no laundry is hung out on these days.
Scaffold will need to be erected and power tools will be used to either grind out old pointing or remove rendering.
The whole operation should not take longer than five working days, however, we will be unable to carry out this work in poor weather conditions.
If this work is being carried out to a neighbouring property, we would again suggest that you keep all windows and doors closed.
If you have any plants you wish to preserve, garden ornaments or furniture, please remove them from the area that falls within 4 feet of any wall. If removal is impossible, please cut back the vegetation to minimise damage. If you have a garden pond, it may be advisable to cover this whilst the works are being carried out.
General Information for Preparation of the Works
External
Any items in the gardens around your property and along the pathways leading to the front and rear door should be removed to allow access for the trades people.
If you think you are going to have difficulty clearing areas of your home, due to any circumstances, then please discuss this with staff during the pre-entry survey. During the works, the trades people will provide dustsheets to protect carpets as far as is practicable. They will also tidy up where they have been working and ensure your property is left safe and secure.
Children
Please ensure that children are kept away from the working areas and away from any tools. Please also ensure that children are aware of the dangers of scaffolding and site compounds. Please report any breaches of security to your Customer Liaison Officer or Site Manager.
Pets
Building operations can upset pets, they can become distressed, can be injured or cause accidents. Please ensure that they are kept away from the working areas whilst work is in progress.
Summary
When you have been notified of commencement of work and you have discussed all areas of work with your Customer Liaison Officer or Site Team at the Pre-Entry Survey, please prepare your home. Placing your personal items in boxes at the beginning of any of the elements of work, and leaving them boxed until your property is handed over, will assist in ensuring your items are protected.
We will do all we can to minimise the level of disruption to yourselves and your family during the refurbishment work in your area. We thank you in advance for your patience and co-operation, which will ensure the scheme runs smoothly.
Once works are complete, your Customer Liaison Officer or Site Manager will issue you with a Handover Pack, which will include operating instructions for the new systems installed within your home. In addition, you will be asked to complete a Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire to provide feedback to the team as to how satisfied you are with the works carried out.
Contact Details
For more information please contact your local housing office.
Or email: fcho.home.improvements@oldham.gov.uk