Why going paperless will help you, your client and the environment

How many times have you wished for easier Handovers? Or wanted to find an important project file quickly but couldn’t find it? Going digital may seem daunting, but it can make the entire process so much easier and more efficient for everyone involved, throughout the life of the property. 

Digitising the Handover process can help to reduce admin costs, time, and post-build issues, improve transparency and brand perception, and stop paper wastage – making your company more competitive and environmentally friendly.

Going digital with inndox is a win-win situation for everyone!

inndox helps you maintain your biggest asset

How do I set Maintenance Reminders

inndox has a property maintenance feature to help you care for your property.

Step 1. Go to the Maintenance Reminders section on your inndox dashboard

Step 2. Select the View all button

Step 3. Click on Add maintenance button

Step 4. Enter in the details: Title, Due Date, select if Recurring & End date, if additional person for reminder, Who it is scheduled for & add any notes

Step 5. Finally click on Add maintenance item 

Your important maintenance reminder is now scheduled and you will receive alerts from your inndox app, 2 weeks in advance.

Examples of some typical maintenance checks:

• Annual Termite inspections

• Annual Pest Sprays

• 6 monthly gutter cleaning

• Annual Smoke Alarm battery replacement

• Annual air-conditioning service

• 6 monthly window cleaning

• Monthly garden maintenance

• Annual timber deck re-coating

• 5 yearly hot water system valve replacement

• Annual water tank service

• Annual water filter replacement

• Annual pressure wash of pavers, driveways

• Fortnightly pool checks and cleaning

• Annual pool equipment inspection

• Annual carpet cleaning

• Annual curtain & blind cleaning

Here are some consequences for not caring for your property:

***spending thousands of dollars on repairs such as structural integrity issues (a result of not having your property's timber decking recoated)

***potential fire hazard or drainage issues by not having your guttering cleaned on an annual basis

***termite infestation due to unexpected termite invasion by not having annual termite inspections 

By using inndox to manage all of these important tasks, you will feel more relaxed.

For example, you will have peace of mind that your painter gets notified two weeks in advance when the timber decks need re-coating, your plumber will be notified two weeks before the water tanks, hot water system and refrigerator filter services are due, the air-conditioning technician gets advance notification that you want your air conditioning units serviced, and the window cleaner gets notice that your windows need cleaning. 

No more diarising or simply forgetting. You can become a paper-less and care-free property owner.

Why construction companies should consider a digital handover

Builders go digital

Why Builders are moving to automated customer care

Proptech (or property technology) is booming with new smart home gadgets like Google home and Alexa are becoming commonplace in the home. The smart home of the future is getting closer to reality every day.

As well as hardware products, consumers today are demanding digital solutions for their houses to match their digitally mobile lifestyle. Back in the day, like 10 years or so, paper was massive and would be the go-to for all documentation. 

Times have changed though.

Handovers

Traditionally, home builders have relied on a handover pack that consists of a folder, USB stick or email attachment to deliver the handover documents to the new owner. Nowadays this clashes with the expectations of a tech-savvy customer who uses their mobile phone to manage their work and personal life.

This move to digital, coupled with the ever-evolving internet, has brought with it many opportunities to update this process. We now have all this software that can help homeowners, builders, inspectors, and developers create, transfer, and keep their documents online.

The builder gets the most out of this when it comes to handovers, which can be one of the most painful experiences in property development. The transfer of the property from the builder to the homeowner can be full of pitfalls. Lost documents, in particular, can draw out the process and can lead to unhappy homeowners.

This is where a digital handover process comes in to help ease the process.

Customer Service

The first thing digital handover can help the builder with is customer success. With property specific information and access to approvals, plans, warranties, among others, the owner will feel more connected with the process overall. This leads to high success rates with each and every owner.

As we said, losing documents during this process can put a large strain on the builder, and their clients. This also lengthens the time it may take for the process to be completed.

Document Tracking

The next thing that a digital handover can help with document tracking. As we mentioned above, having your documents kept digitally will decrease the chance of losing them. It’s easy to see why you could lose them, you have approvals, plans, warranties, photos, policies, manuals and any other records pertaining to the property.

Keeping these documents safe and secure in an online capacity means no searching for physical copies. The added benefit is you can also keep track of what is the newest versions of your documents. Neither side, builder and homeowner, want to end up with an older version and making decisions based on it. 

After Care

One of the most important parts of digital handovers is what happens after. Every builder wants to make sure they are making their client smile. How they do this is the little extras they may give to them. The guides, the tips and tricks, local contacts to other property professionals they trust. 

If the homeowner feels like their builder went above and beyond, they’re more likely to tell their friends about them.

In the end…

Digital property handovers are an afterthought of the handover process when you give the keys to the homeowner. They want the keys to their new house, but they need the documents. Not only do they need the keys, but they also need those property documents to help them maintain their property now and into the future.

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At inndox, our goal is to make it easier for builders to make their clients smile. We’re here to take care of your documentation storage, so you can easily give them over to your client at the touch of a button. 

If you want to know more about how we can help builders, you can contact us here.

How to know if the defect is urgent or minor

Whether it is during Practical Completion or in the after-sales period, Owners or tenants may find defects in the property that need to be fixed. But what constitutes an urgent defect compared to a minor defect? 

Urgent defects are anything that involves a health and safety issue, security issue or leads to loss of essential services, like water and flushing toilets, that are within our control. 

Minor defects are anything that cause a minor inconvenience, like loose fittings and specific items that should be checked for before the end of the defects period, such as cracks, split wood, loose kitchen drawers, decorating blemishes, etc. 

Pro tip: During Practical Completion, make sure you document and take photographs to record any minor defects that you discover during the inspection. Make sure both you and the builder (or your respective representatives) sign that document noting the defects. Ensure you include the agreed dates as to when the items will be fixed.

What is Subsidence of a house?

A property investor we know engaged a buyer’s agent to find them a suitable property. The buyer’s agent found a renovated, older style home on a large corner block near a major shopping centre that ticked all of the boxes and was about $20,000 less than comparable properties on the market. The buyer’s agent noticed that there was a 25mm gap between the floor slab and the skirting board in the living room and mentioned this to me at the time of booking the inspection.

Here are some of the observations made at the inspection:

1.     The external brick walls of the house had been rendered. Cracks up to 3mm wide were present in the rendered external brick walls.

2.     I noted neat rectangular patches of newer concrete to the paths around the external walls of the house.

3.     Some vertical joints had been cut into the external brick walls.

4.     The door frame to the garage was out of square by 60mm.

5.     The large timber patio was located only 500mm from the rear boundary.

6.     The garage was built right onto the side street boundary without a fire-rated wall.

Here is some of the advice given to the buyer’s agent from the Building inspector:

1.     It appears that the house has had significant damage from subsidence. The owner had the house underpinned, rendered and articulation joints were installed. Some damage, such as the tiled concrete floor of the living room being out of level and the garage door frame being out of square, were not rectified. Further cracks indicate that there has been more movement since the rectification works have been carried out.

2.     The garage and patio are built less than 900mm from the boundary without a fire-rated wall. This indicates that these structures are illegal.

The buyer’s agent decided not to proceed with the purchase mainly because:

1.     More damage had occurred since the underpinning. The long-term consequences of more damage could not be known. There is excessive risk of future repairs and therefore a chance of reduced re-sale value.

2.     Illegal structures will make the property more difficult to insure and could reduce re-sale value.

One day I hope that every property will have an inndox and serious defects like subsidence will be disclosed to buyers. Unfortunately we still have “Buyer Beware” laws operating in much of Australia and this means that it is likely that this property was sold to an unsuspecting buyer who will eventually learn that they have bought a problem.