London-based aftercare experts attend clixifix?? ‘Defects & Aftercare’ focus group

To discuss the evolving aftercare challenges, we conducted an in-depth focus group in the heart of the capital. This focus group helped us to receive vital constructive feedback that allows us to continuously develop our platform to suit the ever-changing needs of our customers.

Designed to build stronger relationships with our customers and understand their requirements, this focus group is the perfect platform to generate ideas and improvements that can help us develop ever-improving solutions and services.

clixifix? is a dynamic ConTech and PropTech business that delivers innovative and leading defect management software to housing associations, housebuilders, principal contractors and subcontractors, across the UK.

As our third focus group we have been able to build up a bank of knowledge to be able to adapt and develop clixifix? to meet the needs of all customers.

The focus group featured our clients that operate in and around London.

The attendees of the focus group were:

Julie Driver – Eastlight Community Homes (Housing association for the East of England)

Jenny Welbourn – Grace Homes (Luxury property developer)

Mandy Geeves – Hill Partnerships (Award-winning housebuilder)

Paul Deene, Crystal McCullough – McCulloch Homes Limited (Bromley based house builders)

Lee Blackhouse, Robert Watson – Ballymore (New homes and property developer)

Dani Wells, Dean Middleton – Stonebond (Property developer based in Chelmsford)

Helen Slyvester – Joseph Homes (London based Property Developer)

The themes throughout the focus group focussed on the functionality of our platform and how it is adapting to the challenges that our customers face.

Themes included:

Defect Management

Nominations

Subcontractor communication

Reporting

Technicians App

Exporting information

Inspection lists

General functionality

The focus group gave our customers the opportunity to discuss areas of development and technical understandings of our platform that they may be struggling with. It gave us the opportunity to go through each element of our platform and explain how we are developing it.

Areas that were discussed included the development of the reporting software, the technicians app, nominations and general functionality of the platform.

Thoughts and discussions

Throughout the focus group it was clear that each attendee required clixifix? for different purposes.

Mandy Geeves at Hill Partnerships highlights the need to enhance the mass nomination side of her work as well as being able to change the information relating to the ticket when her calendar has been changed. She focuses on the need for improvements to communicate with a large number of operatives ensuring if there is a change in the calendar the ticket is also changed to avoid confusion. Also having the ability to see all the operatives via a map will allow for Mandy to nominate the closest operative to the relevant job, reducing time and waste. Having feedback like this will allow us to expand our platform and offer more functionalities is invaluable.

Lee Blackhouse and Robert Watson at Ballymore Group spoke about their ticketing, bespoke reports and subcontractor communication. The key talking points were about the functionality of the bespoke reports such as sensitivity, processes, notification influxes and user access control. Another discussion point was around enhancing the communication coming via clixifix? and being able to filter the ability for certain people to see certain information within the homeowners portal.

Helen Sylvester, Head of Customer Service at Joseph Homes spoke about the community approach to communicating with everyone about an update and how it will help improve mass housing plot discussions, distributing messages to certain groups of people and the process of tailor messaging and deleting messaging. The focus for us was to issue accountability and transparency for all parties, having all communication saved and unable to be removed means everyone involved understands the process.

Jenny Welbourn, Quality & Customer Care Coordinator at Grace Homes, highlighted the impressive real-time capabilities of clixifix?? while discussing potential enhancements. She expressed interest in understanding more about the platform’s offline functionality, particularly for completing home demonstration forms onsite. Jenny’s insights are driving us to explore ways to enrich clixifix??’s offline capabilities, thereby enhancing the efficiency of delivering bespoke reports onsite. This evolution will complement the existing strengths of our system, ensuring that filling in forms, signing documents, and writing feedback can be as seamless offline as it is online. It’s a testament to our commitment to continuous improvement and meeting the evolving needs of construction professionals.

Paul Deene from McCulloch Homes Limited, his key area of discussion was the subcontracting reports and the subcontractor portal. Paul wanted to understand the communication with the subcontractors and how clixifix? can improve the efficiency and simplicity of enhancing the responses from the subcontractors. This will mean that the subcontractors are more inclined to send more expansive responses. More detailed responses will make it easier for housing associations to understand if tasks have been completed or if a defect has been raised.

Technicians App

The Technicians App, a vital component discussed in our focus group, currently facilitates dynamic on-the-move communication, significantly enhancing subcontractor engagement and improving dialogue across all parties involved. Demonstrating the app’s current capabilities at the event highlighted how it effectively supports our users in real-time. The clixifix?? Technicians App is known for providing real-time updates to residents about the scheduled arrival times for repair work, utilising the GPS location of the contractor. This feature has been instrumental in streamlining the communication process. We are excited to share that the app is in an ongoing phase of development, with a forthcoming update aimed at further empowering subcontractors, thereby elevating the level of service we provide to our clients.

Our thoughts

The focus group allowed us to receive constructive feedback from our customers, in turn this will help us develop the platform in a way that is tailored towards house builders, housing associations, principal contractors and subcontractors up and down the country.

All three focus groups that we have conducted have been very insightful, they have been eye opening processes that have allowed us to receive direct feedback. We have been pleased about the level of discussion and engagement from all three focus groups.

A word from our CEO

James Farrell, CEO and co-founder of clixifix?, said:

“Our focus group was extremely insightful, being in front of our customers gathering data and their thoughts on clixifix? was invaluable. I don’t think there is a better way of improving our product than getting clear concise feedback from people that use clixifix? on a daily basis. It is evident that this focus group is important to us, but we also got really positive feedback from our customers about having an opportunity to sit down with the people that develop the platform and being able to express their thoughts. This was our third focus group, we have covered the length and breadth of the country speaking to our customers and it has been hugely beneficial. We are looking forward to hosting a number of these up and down the country in 2024.”

At clixifix?, we believe in the ‘right first time’ approach. Our defect and repair resolution software is designed to help you manage and resolve defects efficiently, saving you time and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Why not see it in action? Book a demo with us today and discover how clixifix? can help you minimise defects, reduce costs, and improve your relationships with your customers. Let’s work together to make ‘right first time’ a reality for your business.