On 25 February 2008, Housing NSW placed advertisements in newspapers calling for tenders for the new maintenance contracts.
The purpose of the new maintenance contracts is to deliver better service to tenants and to encourage maintenance contractors to invest in good workmanship and materials. Contractors will also be asked to come up with innovative ways to provide greater value for money and to reduce the backlog of maintenance. The new contracts will commence in late 2008.
To prepare for the changeover, we will be conducting surveys over the coming months to check what maintenance needs to be done on each property. This should see maintenance work carried out in a more planned way rather than Housing NSW responding to a lot of urgent maintenance call-outs.
Of course, 24-hour urgent maintenance will continue to be carried out for anything that is a safety risk. Other urgent maintenance will be carried out within three days and normal maintenance within 20 days or on a maintenance schedule.
Once the new contracts are in place, we will be asking all tenants to report maintenance through the Housing Contact Centre (131 571) rather than through the local office. Housing NSW will be running workshops with tenants to outline the changes and to get feedback.