• June 2020 update – guidance on reopening

    4 Jun 2020 Luke Smith Comments Off on June 2020 update – guidance on reopening

    To all of my wonderful customers, I hope that you are all safe and well. Please find our latest update below. It’s a long one but it’s important!

    Reopening the business

    Having temporarily closed the business for 3 months in order to observe lockdown, we will be starting a gradual, phased reopening of the business from Monday 8th June.

    As you will appreciate, this will not be as straightforward as re-booking in the work in the order in which it was previously booked. I will need to change the way I work in order to manage the risk. This will involve enhanced PPE, reduced customer contact and other working practises, which are summarised in this important information sheet.

    I will also need to consider everyone’s individual situations, including whether they fall into high risk categories, are shielding or isolating.

    The other vitally important way that I can manage the risk is by reducing the number of households that I would normally visit in a day/week/month. This reduces the number of people that I come into contact with and therefore also reduces the risk to myself, my customers, our families and extended networks. This means that I will not be able to return to full working capacity for the time being.

    In order to restart as safely and sensibly as possible, I am beginning with the jobs that involve me being in one residence for a number of days. I have already contacted those of you who I will be in a position to visit in June, and some of July.

    Lisa (who is currently furloughed from her usual job) will be assisting with emails and general administration but we also still have school aged children at home so please bear with us while we work out the safest and most sensible way to re book all of my postponed work in.

    Delays due to isolation

    It is reasonable to expect at some stage that either myself or one of you will need to self-isolate due to either having COVID-19 symptoms, sharing a house with someone with symptoms or having tested positive or been in contact with someone who has subsequently tested positive. Should I need to isolate, all work will be delayed for that period and simply recommence once my isolation period is over. Should you need to isolate, it is important that you tell me. I will not be able to enter your premises, but will do best to re-book the work in as soon as possible, taking in to account other jobs.

    Boiler Services

    Unfortunately, due to the above, it is highly unlikely that I will be able to catch up with all of the outstanding boiler services that are due this year. Boiler services involve me being in several houses for a short period of time (it is not unusual for me to normally visit 20-25 houses in a week) and therefore it not realistic in the current climate for me to carry out the volume that I normally would.

    If you have a Baxi boiler that was fitted by me and is still under warranty:

    Baxi have relaxed the rules relating to annual boiler services and warranties in order to allow more time for engineers to complete them whilst observing social distancing.

    I will endeavour to prioritise these services, as well as Landlords Safety Inspections.  If you fall into either of these categories and your boiler was/ is due a service between March and September I will email you in the next few weeks to offer you a service appointment in August / September. The October – December services that fall into these categories will be the next batch to be reviewed and I will email you later in the year.

    If I am able to re-book more services in before the end of the year I will certainly do so but at present it is unfortunately not feasible.

    New customer enquiries

    I will be prioritising confirmed bookings that were postponed due to lockdown and it will take me some time to work through these (I estimate that it will be the end of August before this work is completed).

    If any of my existing customers have enquiries for new work to be booked in for after this, I will do my best to answer these enquiries and schedule in surveys from August/September onwards.

    In an emergency such as a gas leak, major water leak or no heating/hot water, please do telephone 01473 353636, selecting option 3, and I will advise you over the phone the best course of action.

    I will not be able to take on work from any brand new customers until my existing client work is completed.

    A BIG Thank you

    I would like to thank you all so much for your ongoing patience, understanding and flexibility. This is an uncertain time for us all during which figures, advice and guidelines are ever changing. We will continue to keep in contact with you all and update you as and when things change.

    My very best wishes to you all,

    Luke Smith

     

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