Introduction

2022 was a busy year for POD.  We saw steady growth in our client base and an increase in demand for our residential estate and block management services by freeholders, resident management companies, right to manage companies, developers, and investors.

But what exactly does a property manager do?

We are responsible for managing, maintaining, and repairing the common areas of a building or block of flats, ensuring they are in good condition and safe to use at all times.  This includes entrances, stairwells, hallways and corridors as well as windows, walls, carpets, gardens, and parking areas. In some cases, this also involves looking after amenities such as gyms, cinema rooms, pools and play areas. 

We are responsible for keeping the building running which involves arranging things like water supply, heating, lighting, drainage and the collection of rubbish and waste. Our specialist team procures insurance, utilities, telecoms and provides highly trained onsite staff for the buildings we manage.

We are contracted to provide all aspects of building management, including collecting service charges and ground rents, dealing with maintenance issues and providing support to residents.  This involves dealing with day-to-day matters, keeping records of all works carried out and managing the finances of the building by setting a budget, managing income and expenditure and producing accounts. We also ensure that both the landlord and residents comply with their lease terms.

Here’s a glimpse inside POD and what we did for our clients and customers alike:

Thousands of satisfied customers

Our customers are very important to us. And we want to make sure we're doing everything in our power to make them happy. That's why we continuously track how well we're doing and rectify any issues quickly if they arise.

We are proud to have interacted over 300,000 times with residents in the past year. This is a significant achievement and we're excited by the growth in our customer base, as well as their satisfaction with our service.

Our approach to customer service is simple: we aim for all interactions with our customers to be positive experiences.  We pride ourselves on being friendly, responsive, and helpful at all times.  When a customer contacts us (be that via email, telephone or social media), they are dealt with by a dedicated support representative who is equipped to handle their query efficiently.  In fact, over 90% of queries are dealt with directly without referral to a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager, or Property Manager as other might call them!).

Our tracking systems and collaborative working ethos means there is no single point of failure, and we are able to respond on average in less than four hours and resolve issues in less than sixteen hours. 

Our customer reviews are all based on the experience of real people.  In 2022, we received an average 90% happiness rating from 640 customers and an excellent 4.3 Trustpilot score which demonstrate our commitment to excellence and speak volumes about the quality of our service provided by our team. 

A year of growth

We are proud to work with some of the biggest and best developers in the UK across multiple sectors including built for sale, built for rent and commercial industries. From Bellway to Quintain to Berkeley, we've worked on some of the best developments in and around London.

We are proud to report that POD experienced a 32% increase in portfolio size with 9 new client relationships alongside an increase in the number of employees to 156. 

Some notable examples include Sovereign Court (422 units), Boulters Meadow (419 units) and Kings Road Park (which will be over 1,843 units when fully built out).

Keeping people safe

Safety is a major priority for us, and we work hard to ensure that all the buildings we look after are safe and secure for our residents.  In 2022 we resolved 1,694 risks and completed 41,123 PPMs (preventative maintenance procedures) which were carried out on equipment such as boilers and lifts.

The safety team's work doesn't stop there though - they also monitor hazards such as fire alarms, emergency lighting systems and CCTV cameras throughout the year. They carry out regular testing on these systems to make sure they are working correctly so that any faults are picked up early before they can cause an incident or accident within the building itself.

Last year £11.9m was spent on pro-active maintenance projects across our sites including refurbishment works with a further £3m spent on reactive maintenance.

We recently scored a 90% rating from an independent British Safety Council Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit which demonstrates our ongoing commitment to high standards. The auditor found that there are excellent standards of Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing (OHSW) management at POD, with enthusiastic support from senior management and the staff.

Managing a wide range of amenities

Looking after buildings is what we do and sometimes that means we get our hands on some cool stuff to look after. These range from gyms to keep residents fit and healthy, to golf simulators to channel your inner Tiger Woods, cinema rooms to enjoy the latest box office release, to private dining areas for socialising, to spa areas including sauna, steam rooms and hot tubs for relaxation and much more. An eclectic mix we’d say, all expertly managed by POD.

Adding Lettings to our services 

We have recently launched a new division of POD to take care of all aspects of managing a rental property.  This includes advertising and finding the best renters by screening applicants and performing credit checks on them.  Plus collecting rent cheques from tenants; making repairs when necessary; paying bills; and finding new tenants when leases expire. We ensure that tenants have a safe place to live, handle complaints from residents (or neighbours!) and oversee any other issues that arise at the property.

By using us, owners avoid having to deal directly with tenants and we manage all aspects of running a rental portfolio, so you don't need to spend valuable time doing so. We can also offer advice about ways to improve the property's performance as well as how best to procure its resources (like utilities).

Get in touch!

We have a broad range of skills and experience in all areas of property management with a team who can help, no matter what your needs are.  We work for developers, investors, freeholders, and resident management companies (RMCs).

If you’d like us to take care of your scheme and have our dedicated team of highly experienced property experts on hand to help you, get in touch today!