Housing contractor gets quality of work complaints

Ian Williams had more than 100 complaints lodged against it by Surrey residents last year

A housing contractor employed by Waverley Borough Council has had dozens of complaints upheld against it over the quality of its work.

Ian Williams, the Surrey authority’s largest housing repair team, had more than 100 complaints lodged against it by residents last year.

The most common issue raised was the firm's poor communication, followed by the time it took for work to be completed.

An Ian Williams spokesperson said the complaints represented 0.008% of the jobs the firm completed.

According to the council’s Annual Complaints and Service Improvements Report, 17 complaints were made over the quality of work, while a further 11 were made over damage caused during works.

Repair targets would be missed as often jobs required multiple visits to identify issues, the report added.

“This was worsened in some cases where follow-up appointments were attended without the information that was identified in the previous visit leading to duplication of work and further delays”, it said.

The complaints spanned a range work including external decorations, bathroom and kitchen replacements, drainage, void works and window repairs.

'Improvements to make'

Councillor Paul Rivers, co-portfolio holder for housing, said the council had increased the number of staff carrying out inspections in an attempt to identify issues at an earlier stage.

Ian Williams said it carried out 12,332 work orders in 2023/2024.

A spokesperson for the firm said it was addressing every one of the 100 complaints.

The firm also said it had increased staff to cope with higher demand, increased its resource base and pledged a new IT interface.

“We still of course have improvements to make which will build on the above commitments, but in partnership with Waverley, our continued investment and focus will achieve this and continually improve the customer experience as marked in the most recent satisfaction surveys,” the spokesman added.

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