Our building repairs services are provided by our subsidiary company Service Solutions Direct.
Service Solutions Direct provides a claims validation and building repair network to the insurance industry utilising directly employed surveyors, restoration technicians and a high-quality subcontractor network of tradespeople. We address every aspect of a property claim from a simple desktop validation report through to major loss repair projects. We also boast specialist repair units to deal with subsidence, oil spills and damage to listed buildings.
Surveying
We pride ourselves on being able to deliver high quality validation reports from site that include the precise cause of any damage that has occurred along with a cost for repair at a very granular level. The reports can be bespoke designed depending upon customer requirements but as a standard will include cause, cover recommendations, repair requirements, repair costs and estimated duration of reinstatement works. If needed we can then provide the building repair services including strip out, drying and restoration.
Where site visits are not suitable, especially in this new age of Teams, Zoom and Skype, we are able to provide secure software solutions to remotely survey customer properties through the video function of their mobile phones. This significantly reduces lifecycles, is often more convenient for the customer and more cost effective for the client.
Reinstatement Repairs
Service Solutions Direct utilises a select number of engineers/contractors across the UK covering multiple trades on a sub-contractor basis. Our ethos is to find quality contractor partners who we can assist in developing and growing their business as ours continues to grow – a method that has delivered significant results in over 10 years of trading. Each contractor is required to sign up to the Insurance Solutions Group Sub-Contractor Agreement which governs the relationship between Service Solutions Direct and the contractor and includes everything from conduct onsite and health and safety to payment terms and data protection. Our team of contractor managers then audits and checks quality to ensure our panel remains competitive and continues to offer the highest level of service.
We work on a National Schedule of Rates that are independently reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that our clients are getting the best value for money and that our subcontractors are being paid a fair market rates.
Alternative Accommodation
Where necessary alternative accommodation can be arranged for customers, but providing cost/benefit analysis is understood, new innovations such as temporary kitchens/bathrooms can be installed where there is sufficient room at the property. This is providers the customer a choice of whether to stay at the property due to having children (therefore needing to be close to schools), pets, elderly etc. & often provides a cost-effective alternative option to moving the customer into short, medium or long term alternative accommodation.
Health & Safety
Often overlooked or considered a nuisance factor by other organisations SSD take the health & safety of its employees, contractors, customers and any other party involved in a claim extremely seriously. SSD is a long term member of CHAS and ConstructionLine and invests heavily in staff training to ensure processes and procedures are understood and followed. Many staff hold IOSH qualifications with
On a job a construction phase plan is completed in every case using the CITB CDM wizard prior to any work taking place.
Upon completion of restoration/drying works a drying certificate will be issued by a technician along with any recommendations or advisory information (e.g. if there is a pre-existing damp issue) to the insurer and any contractors undertaking reinstatement works.
All surveyor reports will carry recommendations to the relevant parties in relation to any health & safety considerations.
Client Philosophies
Service Solutions Direct surveyors are trained in-house in individual client philosophies and policy wordings, so they understand policy exclusions, indemnity limits and wear and tear issues. Many of the surveyors also hold professional qualifications in construction and insurance allowing SSD to become involved in more specialist perils such as oil remediation, caravan repairs, roofing surveys and party wall dispute resolution.
Our clients all have very different approaches when it comes to the way in which they prefer claims to be handled and we look to accommodate these philosophies when building our bespoke processes for them. For example one client may prefer that claim reserve values are calculated based on a ‘best case scenario’ and only costed based on visible damage and risk increases to the reserve, whereas another may wish to reserve based on potential, currently unseen damage, knowing that the reserve is unlikely to increase. Whatever our clients preference is we will listen, solve and deliver what is requested.
Partners
We also have very close relationships with specialist service providers allowing us to become involved in more complex claims that can often take considerable time to deal with at considerable cost to clients. We are able to assist with providing advice, support, reports and repairs in relation to structural reports & repairs, oil spills, environmental contamination, subsidence and root barrier installation to name but a few. All projects are overseen by our team working in close conjunction with our approved partners to ensure the delivery of a cost effective solution within pre-agreed service levels.
Benefits of Utilising SSD
SSD can boast a number of benefits over contractor led surveying and building repair competitor models which include:
- Cost control – no over pricing by contractors that are expecting to win the work – costs are based on NSRM and scoped by a directly employed surveyor with no incentive to increase costs
- Jobs can be put into a tender process (where appropriate) and multiple contractors used on a single job to achieve client savings
- Closer management of surveyor appointments – the Preston operational team have close diary control of the surveyors diaries compared to an outsourced model where SLA’s are often looser
- Control over the training delivered to surveyors to allow tighter management on site and a wider skill set/service offering – this can be seen the services we are able to provide on our first site visit
- Better adherence to client philosophies
- More acceptance of cash settlements/repudiations compared to a contractor led model looking to win every job
- Better insurance knowledge to make cover validations and recommendations
- Faster schedule submissions to clients reducing lifecycles and improving the customer journey
- Point of contact for project management of repair works
- An independent party assessing workmanship
