BEST PRACTICE SPONSOR 2020
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
40 | ETHICAL MAINTENANCE
Kevin Wilkinson, Managing
Director
Owners meeting to decide
on property maintenance
Kevin Wilkinson has previously worked in social and
community forestry. In 1993, he entered the property
management sector through the greening of derelict land
around Glasgow. In 2007, he formed Ethical Maintenance CIC
to seize an opportunity in Scotland to “do the right thing” in
the management of common areas in apartment blocks and
on housing developments. Kevin tells
The Parliamentary Review
that these communal areas were a serious topic of debate for
homeowners, and explains how Ethical Maintenance seeks to
empower homeowners to manage the services they receive.
In 2007 the debate about property management in Scotland was in full flow in
the newspapers, on TV and in parliament. It was clear that many homeowners felt
trapped in a service that didn’t meet their aspirations. As such, we put ourselves in
our homeowners’ shoes and asked ourselves if we would be happy with the service
we provided. We wanted to show we cared, to be responsive and to make the
market a better place. These values shaped Ethical Maintenance to be different.
The Office of Fair Trading and Consumer Focus Scotland both reviewed the
industry and drew unfavourable conclusions. Five years later, the Glasgow Factoring
Commission reported on “the negative image and reputation … of individual
factors … which has become ingrained in the public psyche”.
In our experience, homeowners were happy when they were involved and were
provided with a good service. The basics of the industry – building maintenance, repairs,
cleaning, gardening, and health and safety – were not difficult, but the governance
of the service was clearly a challenge. That’s where we set out to be different.
FACTS ABOUT
ETHICAL MAINTENANCE
»Managing Director:
KevinWilkinson
»Founded in 2007
»Located in Stirling and
Aberdeen, Scotland
»Services: Management of
common areas in flats and
housing estates
»No. of employees: 9 in
the office; more than 50
maintenance, cleaning and
gardening contractors
Ethical Maintenance
41ETHICAL MAINTENANCE |
We set out to empower homeowners
to control the service we provided.
To give owners confidence, we
set up differently from the other
companies, forming as a community
interest company – a new corporate
structure created by the Companies
and Community Enterprise Act 2004.
We are a social enterprise serving our
communities and are governed by an
external regulator. The ethical part
of our name refers to putting people
first. We are in a unique position
in the market as the only property
manager which gets all its work from
homeowners switching to us.
The recession meant lean times, so we
kept our overheads low and reinforced
our focus on communication, quality
of service andtransparency.
Quality of service and value
for money
We ensure the quality of workmanship
through having a good relationship
with our workforce. We work with
local contractors and where possible
invite social enterprises to tender. We
find good value comes from the smaller
local firms and through tendering those
works with a significant cost.
Our ethos is that the owners have
control over how their property is
managed. Two meetings are held
each year to review the work that
has been done and to plan the work
ahead. We recommend best practice
and bring in professionals to advise on
complex works. The final decision is
always taken by the owners. Additional
meetings are held for major works,
and if works are expensive, payment
plans are arranged.
Once works are agreed, the
tasks are recorded in our unique
database behind our website portal.
Contractors report on jobs done,
and the homeowners can review
what’s planned and what has been
completed, and comment on each of
the tasks. This style of communication
keeps everyone informed and helps
maintain the quality of the work.
Homeowners in control
By supporting owners’ meetings, we
empower them to come together to
make decisions. At meetings we advise
but always bring it back to an owners’
decision. Consumer Focus Scotland
reported on a “conspiracy of silence”
towards new homeowners in that the
sellers, housebuilders or owners, and
conveyancing solicitors rarely explained
the responsibilities in the deeds.
As every set of title deeds is different,
we provide a unique service, explaining
the document and how owners
collectively come to decisions, and
providing a plain English extract
of the process. One of the most
powerful ways we stay accountable to
homeowners is to ask if they want to
reappoint us each year.
Improving the market
The challenge with the Scottish property
factoring market is that property
managers hold most of the information,
and homeowners understand very little.
Although a great deal has been done
to make information available through
the websites of the government, local
Property managed by
Ethical Maintenance
We wanted to
show we
cared, to be
responsive and
to make the
market a better
place. These
values shaped
Ethical
Maintenance
to be different
“
“
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
