As it marks its sixth birthday, leading maintenance company RFT can celebrate carrying out a massive 60,000 responsive repairs each year.
The facilities, repairs and maintenance specialist, part of the Flagship Group, was set up in 2013 to take a new approach to looking after the Group’s homes.
Over the last six years, the company has done just that. It has grown significantly to offer responsive and planned repairs, grounds maintenance and cleaning, ensuring a joined-up service for the customers of its 28,000 properties.
This is complemented by the gas maintenance service provided by Gasway, which Flagship Group acquired in 2017.
With an area of operation the size of Wales, RFT has some 232 vans on the road and each year it brings 1,200 empty homes back into use. It also renews in excess of 1,500 bathrooms and kitchens.
In the last year alone, RFT fitted more than 900 kitchens and 600 bathrooms.
Warren Gannaway, Operations Director with RFT Services said: “When RFT was set-up, the overriding goal was to provide a great service to the Flagship customers by bringing all these areas of expertise in-house. It was a huge challenge and opportunity to set up a new company completely from scratch and the RFT staff should be proud of what they have achieved in that time.”
The partnership with Victory Housing in January 2019 brought an additional 5,000 homes in North Norfolk into RFT’s remit. And, RFT – which offers a 24/7 service – now also works with other housing associations, local associations and businesses.
RFT’s growth has been supported by technology and the development of an in-house developed IT operating system which supports the team’s work across such a large geographical area. Further improvements are planned as RFT looks to the future. Warren said:
“We are focused on continuous improvement and making our service even better for our customers. Innovation is at the heart of how we work and we have plans for further enhancements, such as electric vehicles.
“RFT has made a huge difference over the last six years and that is down to our great staff, both in the support roles and our customer facing operatives, who are empowered to make the right repair, first time to meet the customer’s needs.”