How Values Drive the Decisions in Repair and Maintenance Delivery

The behaviour of every organisation is driven by something. Understand what drives an organisation and you’ll have a pretty good insight into how they will make decisions and behave.

Greater awareness of the link between corporate drivers and project behaviour is making company culture a more significant factor in many areas of procurement. There’s a growing realisation that value is often determined by what’s outside of the wording in the contract – it’s about behaviour, priorities and the beliefs that guide everyday decisions.

Because of this, procurement teams increasingly seek to explore behaviours as much as technical competence before awarding contracts.

Choosing a partner for something as complex and dynamic as repair and maintenance (R&M) of social housing has many facets. A positive culture and flexibility are important, but so is the scale needed to implement systems and processes that can deliver greater efficiency and control.

Is Bigger Better?

Working with large organisations offers the perceived security of scale and a partner with significant resources at its disposal. But in large corporate businesses, shareholder value rules the roost. The needs of individual projects and contracts can have less influence on overall priorities and corporate behaviour.

At the other extreme of the repair and maintenance market there are small, local providers. These can be highly responsive, and customer focused. An R&M contract with a large authority is likely to be a significant part of their business.

The question is whether they have the depth and breadth of experience needed, along with the systems that allow customers to feel completely in control.

A Perfect Fit?

Major R&M partnerships can be complex with many moving parts. Asset Management relies on detailed data, meticulous planning and a diverse skill set. And exceptional customer service is increasingly served by sophisticated IT. Small providers may be unable to invest in the skills, systems and tools to deliver a comprehensive value-added service.

The advantage Osborne offers is to combine the scale needed to deliver large work programmes with the customer focus that comes from being a family-owned business. Our behaviours are driven by the needs of the project, the needs of our customers and the priorities of their customers. That is the most effective way for us to deliver our business objectives. It also aligns perfectly with what modern social housing needs.