We won the Tenant Focused Contractor award at the TPAS awards. This award celebrates contractors who consistently put tenants first in how they plan and deliver their work.
When we launched Llanw in April 2024 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Valleys to Coast, we set out to transform our reactive repairs department into a dynamic, customer-centric property service.
Driven by a desire to improve historically low tenant satisfaction, we built this service from the ground up with a “commercial engine and a social heart”.
Over the past two years, we have worked tirelessly to grow our service, and we’ve driven post-repair satisfaction from 65% up to an impressive 95%.
The night was made even better because we invited some of our customers along to celebrate with us. A huge thank you to Jennifer Smith and Colin Battrick for joining our table. They constantly support us, challenge us, and genuinely act as the voice of our customers to help us improve our services. It was fantastic to have them with us.
Here is a look at how we put you, our customers, at the heart of everything we do across the three assessment criteria that won us this trophy:
- Our entire identity and operational model were designed around your lived experiences, needs, and circumstances. In fact, before our vans even hit the road, we asked our community on social media: “What should our repair service feel like?” Your answers, politeness, reliability, and consistency inspired our name. “Llanw” is the Welsh word for ‘tide’, representing dependable, continuous renewal.
- We expanded our trades team’s working week to 40 hours, opening up evening and weekend appointments so our service flexes around you.
- You told us you wanted to know exactly when we were coming. We launched tracking software that sends a text link with an estimated arrival time, so you can plan your day safely and know exactly who is at your door.
- We prioritised Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training. Following focus groups with visually impaired tenants, our tradespeople now verbally explain their progress and strictly ensure no loose cables are left as trip hazards. We’ve also introduced an EDI questionnaire for our contractors to ensure they meet these high standards too.
- We do not just collect data; we take immediate action to shape how our work is delivered. Every single repair triggers a simple text survey, and if anyone expresses dissatisfaction, our team calls them directly on ‘Feedback Friday’ to get to the root of the problem and actively resolve it.
- When data from our external survey provider, Acuity, showed we needed to improve repair timeframes and communication, we restructured our Business Support service. This allowed us to book follow-on work more quickly and make hundreds more outbound calls every month.
- Through weekly and monthly root-cause analysis, we have reduced our complaints by over one hundred, allowing us to train colleagues and stop repeat issues before they happen.
- We tried updating our phone lines to ask customers to select their repair category (like plumbing or carpentry), but you told us it was too complicated. We listened immediately and reverted to two simple options: “New Repairs” or “Existing Repairs”. Your feedback dictates our processes.
- By focusing on clear communication and respect before, during, and after a job, we have achieved a 95% overall customer satisfaction rate and a 92% first-time fix rate.
- We introduced dedicated Scheduling Assistants to proactively call and arrange appointments, which has drastically improved our average call wait time. Customers can now reach us on average in just one minute, making the experience much more accessible. Plus, if a call is abandoned, we call back every single person that same day.
- We also hired a Welsh speaker onto our team, meaning our Welsh-first language customers can comfortably report repairs in their native language.
Hearing your feedback is the ultimate reward, but being recognised on the national stage by TPAS is a testament to the hard work of our entire team.
We promise to keep rising to every challenge, riding the wave of renewal, and ensuring we deliver the high-quality, supportive service you deserve. Thank you to all of our amazing tenants and the team at Valleys to Coast for making this win possible!
