Colin Stokes: Providing Support for Leaseholders 24/7

Leasehold Life is very pleased to introduce Colin Stokes, co-founder of Adiuvo, with not only his story of how the company was created but with (as he puts it) some shameless promotion and good advice thrown in....

Adiuvo (which is Latin for 'to help or assist') was formed in 2006 when two London Property Managers decided there must be a better solution to managing agents 'out of hours' provisions. Both myself and my wife were working on-call via mobile phones, which was one way agents dealt with the necessity of out of hours emergencies. Other options included answer machines or using contractors to speak to residents but none of these were satisfactory - even if an experienced Property Manager took the call they would need to be in possession of all relevant information and numbers which was not always possible.

So with several mobile phones, but permanently based in an office/kitchen table we began to offer a 'professional' out of hours service; agents would provide us with portfolio details and their preferred contractors and we would progress calls suitably if and when necessary and email agents with the information.

As the first (and only) company to offer this service with only trained and knowledgeable property managers we have soon grown to managing 112,000 properties out of hours and are open 128 hours a week, 365 days a year with a fully reviewed and quality controlled bank of contractors.  In place of the kitchen table is a fully functioning service centre, 10+ staff, bespoke IT systems that automatically updates designated contacts and a phone system with call recording and 100 virtual lines.

We deal with true emergencies from fire to flood and health and safety issues including unfortunately, vomit and (human) excrement in common parts, politely refering non-emergencies back to the relevant office during the next working day (we cannot progress service charge enquiries at 2am!).  The value comes from swift actions preventing further damage and costs plus the fact that as experts we only send contractors when really required.  We work by charging a fixed yearly fee for call handling and not directly employing contractors or earning commissions from their instruction means we have no conflict of interest. 

Although we can do all this (obviously at very reasonable rates!) we would say there are several key things buildings can do in order to reduce the need for call outs and more importantly reduce possible costs when emergencies do occur if sites do not have cover via their agents or self manage;

1. Stopcocks - it is so important to ensure residents know where their stopcock is (or in some cases what one is); out of hours our only concern is to prevent material damage so we look for our contractors to isolate the issue, which 9 times out of 10 can be done by shutting off the stopcock.  Doing this immediately an issue starts not only obviates the need for a call out and cost to the service charge but can prevent an hours worth of damage from water whilst the contractor is en route.
2. Fire or Smoke Alarms - make sure the contractors servicing the alarms provide the directors with a code or the key for the panel - then when an alarm is faulty or fails to stop sounding again a call out can be avoided.  This may not save money as the alarm company, more often than not, will be on contract but it certainly improves residents lives if you are not waiting for an engineer to attend at 3am.
3. Vehicle or Pedestrian Access Gates - if there is a code or manual override key make sure the Director's have one for those inevitable occasions mechanical installations fail.
4. Qualified Contractors - this is possibly more important than anything else to have a/several (as applicable) contractors that are qualified and provide out of hours response that is available to you. There are plenty of companies out there but good ones are not easy to find when water is pouring from one flat to another at midnight and the stopcock has seized.  If you are a small or single building enquire with your current contractors or look to add a 24 hour one to your list of service providers. Give them some daytime work to test them out and make sure they are aware of the building.  Your list of required trades should include a plumber, an electrician, a locksmith and a drainage company.

We primarily offer our service at present to managing agents but are as happy to work for individual buildings/RMC's as well.

If any buildings/lessees/Directors would like further (and free) advice then please contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .