As housing repairs surge and insourcing rises, Dave Carr of Propeller, explains why embracing technology is essential for social landlords and their contractors.

Housing providers in England are spending record amounts on repairs and maintenance, with expenditure exceeding £8.8bn in 2023-2024, according to the Regulator of Social Housing. Rising volumes of responsive and compliance repairs, fire remediation, and building safety work are behind the surge.

As tenants’ expectations increase, financial pressures mount, and regulatory demands tighten, including the enforcement of Awaab’s Law from October 2025, the sector must improve efficiency. Underperforming repairs and maintenance operations not only waste time and money but compromise tenants’ safety
and wellbeing.

The inefficiency cycle

Manual job scheduling and poor contractor management are among the biggest causes of inefficiency in repairs and maintenance.

Relying on Excel spreadsheets to organise visits is time consuming, prone to errors and often fails to allocate the right resources. Engineers may be assigned to jobs that do not match their skillset or they are not prepared for, increasing the risk of incomplete repairs. More complex jobs, requiring the coordination of multiple trades, are often put on the back burner, causing further backlogs. Inefficiency then filters through a repairs and maintenance operation, and snowballs, as performance is not properly monitored. If service level agreements are not met, contractors are rarely held accountable and remedial actions often lack the urgency needed to drive real improvements.

The shift to Direct Labour Organisations (DLOs)

To regain control and improve service levels, an increasing number of social landlords are bringing repairs and maintenance in-house through DLOs. By reducing reliance on private contractors, DLOs can improve cost efficiency, enhance tenant satisfaction and help achieve compliance with new regulations, including Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs).

But for DLOs to be effective, adopting new technology is no longer optional – it is essential. Relying on outdated repairs and maintenance management processes will hinder progress and fail to resolve long-standing issues plaguing the sector.

Selecting the right type of technology is crucial too. If it is going to take a year to fully integrate a new system, it is not fit for purpose, especially for a DLO that needs to mobilise quickly.

Reaching for the clouds

Specialist cloud-based job management software will enable a DLO to hit the ground running and streamline repairs and maintenance processes. Opting for a system delivered by SaaS (Software as a Service) means the software is accessed through the web rather than installed on a computer or server. The provider manages the infrastructure, security and updates, and can easily add new functionality when needed.

This SaaS model enables the software to be cost-effectively implemented and requires no specialist IT skills to operate. New systems can be up and running in a week and fully integrated within two months.

The power of AI

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are also enabling greater efficiency across several areas. Visits for compliance, servicing or responsive repairs can be scheduled in bulk allowing thousands of appointments to be organised at once. AI-powered algorithms plan the most efficient routes for available engineers, optimising scheduling based on priority, availability, location and skillset.  Not only does this functionality increase the chance of a first-time fix but boosts productivity and reduces travel costs.

Automation also improves communication with tenants. Appointments can be scheduled up to 120 days in advance with the flexibility to rearrange as needed, reducing no access rates.

Tech-driven transparency

With TSMs setting new requirements for social landlords to improve service quality and accountability, technology has a crucial role to play.

Engineers have instant access to essential information such as asbestos registers, previous repairs, and appliance conditions. This data can be viewed via a mobile app, updated in real time and consolidated into an online analytics dashboard. The information is presented in statistical charts providing real-time visibility across key areas such as compliance, engineer performance, no access reasons, and customer satisfaction scores. This centralised reporting framework increases transparency, helping social lands to meet new regulatory requirements while continuously improving service delivery.

Each visit can also be analysed in terms of time taken, actions carried out, and costs, enabling social landlords to monitor a DLO’s performance more effectively and remediate quickly if issues arise. Performance trends can be assessed over time to further optimise resources and improve productivity.

No standing still

Record spending on repairs, rising compliance demands, and growing tenant expectations, mean that social landlords can’t rest on their laurels. With the number of DLOs expected to increase in response, the need for cloud-based job management software will intensify too. Adopting this technology will enable in-house operations to be up and running quickly, driving efficiency and reducing costs while delivering better outcomes for tenants.

Dave Carr is managing director of Propeller