Press Feature: Heating and Ventilating Review (HVR) – Social Housing August 2025

Amid rising costs and regulatory demands in the social housing sector, Dave Carr, Managing Director of Propeller, explains how new technology is enabling more efficient repairs and maintenance services.

Housing providers in England are spending record amounts on repairs and maintenance, with expenditures exceeding £8.8 billion in 2023-2024, according to the Regulator of Social Housing. This sharp increase is driven by rising volumes of responsive and compliance repairs, fire safety remediation, and building safety work.

For M&E contractors responsible for delivering these services, the scale of demand presents many challenges. The sheer volume of work can make it difficult to plan efficiently while no-access visits and missed appointments can further strain stretched resources.

Meanwhile, new and evolving regulations are raising the bar. The Social Housing (Regulation) Act, Awaab’s Law and Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) are pushing the sector towards greater responsiveness, transparency and tenant engagement.  

The efficiency challenge

Without the right systems in place, meeting these expectations is difficult. Relying on manual processes or outdated IT platforms to manage scheduling and compliance can waste time and lead to errors.

One of the most significant consequences is poor resource utilisation. Engineers may be assigned to jobs that don’t align with their skillsets, or they are not fully prepared for, risking delays, repeat visits, or incomplete repairs. In some cases, operatives must travel long distances between appointments, driving up costs and reducing overall productivity.

If left unaddressed, these inefficiencies can ripple through the entire repairs and maintenance operation, quickly escalating into wider service failures and missed performance targets.

Smarter scheduling

Thanks to advances in technology, cloud-based software can help M&E contractors to navigate these challenges and the social housing sector’s changing demands.

Intelligent scheduling enables thousands of servicing appointments to be booked in bulk, up to three months in advance and within seconds. Visits for both planned maintenance and responsive repairs can also be automated, including jobs requiring multiple trades on different days.

Artificial intelligence (AI) enhances engineers’ productivity by continuously analysing the workforce to optimise workloads. Appointments are allocated based on factors such as skillsets, travel time, and the estimated duration of the job. Over time, the system self learns from this data to further enhance efficiency and increase first-time fix rates.

Compared to conventional scheduling methods, this approach can reduce operational costs by up to 40 per cent. It also has the potential to cut travel costs by up to 25 per cent and lower carbon emissions through more efficient routing.

Fulfilling new requirements

The introduction of TSMs means M&E contractors have a bigger role to play in reporting, communication and tenant satisfaction.

Technology supports this in several ways. Appointment details can be automatically sent to customers, and additional functionality added to manage no-access scenarios and automate follow-on visits. Two-way messaging via SMS or WhatsApp keeps tenants informed and allows them to easily reschedule, reducing missed appointments and improving engagement.

On site, engineers can instantly access key information such as details of previous repairs, appliance conditions and asbestos registers. This data can be viewed via a mobile app and updated in real time. Gas and electrical certificates can also be validated on-site, further improving efficiency.

All data captured in the field is consolidated into a central analytics dashboard. This provides real-time visibility across key metrics including compliance status, engineer performance, no-access reasons, and customer satisfaction scores.

This centralised reporting structure not only supports regulatory compliance, but helps both contractors and social landlords to improve service delivery.

Streamlining delivery

As speed is critical to service delivery, technology that takes too long to roll out or integrate can become a barrier rather than a benefit, delaying improvements, disrupting workflows, and adding unnecessary costs.

Opting for a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform means systems are accessed via the web, eliminating the need for M&E contractors to install or manage their own IT infrastructure. This allows for rapid deployment, minimal disruption, and a far more cost-effective approach to digital transformation.

Raising the bar

The rising pressures in social housing demand faster, smarter, and more transparent service delivery. By embracing cloud-based platforms, M&E contractors can not only meet new regulatory requirements but drive efficiency, reduce costs, and improve tenant satisfaction while delivering greater value to housing providers.