Building Control Positive and Negative Feedback

   Building Control Positive and Negative Feedback 2008

 

In order to make service improvements it is good to receive customer comments whether they are positive or negative.  Service improvement is a continual process whereby procedures are reviewed and evaluated to ensure that the best possible relevant service is being provided. 

The following shows the latest positive and negative feedback for Building Control, January to June 2008, as you can see below the positive feedback out weighs the negative.

 

Building Control Positive Feedback

POSITIVE January – March 2008

 

You will see from the Building Control customer satisfaction survey printed above, most of those who responded were satisfied with the service provided, and as such, most of the comments we have received have been positive.  Here are a few received recently:

“Building Control was excellent in liaising with our builder and the planner.  Excellent guidance from inspectors”

“Easy to set up an appointment and times for inspection”

“Everything went better than expected”

“Very professional service, Excellent”

“Building Control Officer was extremely accommodating and helpful in both information and inspections”

“Well advised as a self builder by Local Authority Building Control”

“As I did most of the work myself, without Building Control I would not have been able to progress confidently with the building work…Both Inspectors I had were excellent and very Helpful.  Thank You”

 
POSITIVE April – June 2008

You will see from the Building Control customer satisfaction survey, most customers were satisfied with the service provided, and as such, most of the comments we have received have been positive.  Here are a few received recently:

“At all times everything was explained to ‘the letter”

“Very friendly, very helpful, courteous and there within the day.  Overall, I would like to say we had a very good experience with all the visits.  Thank you.”

“Very helpful at all times, giving us all the information we needed”

“Good advice given when asked”

“Time keeping was very good and so was the advice throughout the build.”

“The Building Control Officer was very good.  He came out, as our builder required him.  This saves valuable time and keeps the work going.  We were very pleased.  Many Thanks.”

Building Control Ngative Feedback

NEGATIVE January - March 2008

Although we generally gain positive feedback, two customers felt that we could do better and were either very dissatisfied or were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the service they received, but did explain their reasons for doing so:

Very Dissatisfied:

“Various problems from start to finish really with poor communication, lack of knowledge and no customer friendly attitude and gave un-professional attitude and service overall.  No clear clarification of what was needed.  Very dissatisfied with fees and service overall”

As we pride ourselves on offering a high quality customer friendly service, we were concerned at such negative feedback and investigated the cause for the applicants concern. 

During our investigation of the Building Notice application, it became clear that although works were inspected regularly, the applicants were unaware of the requirement for them to submit the relevant details required that would allow us to check the works being undertaken on site, even though these had been requested on two occasions

As such, we were unable to approve the works undertaken on site and the delay in submitting the details requested resulted in a delay issuing the completion certificate.

As we do not approve any details for the work prior to commencement with a Building Notice, as would be the case with a Full Plans application, it was the responsibility of the person carrying out the work to ensure that it is carried out in accordance with Regulations. 

Work was then checked on site by a Building Control Surveyor to ensure that it complied with the Regulations, but without all the relevant information we were unable to accept it.

As a result of this complaint, we have included a note on the rear of the Building Notice Application Form regarding the need for additional information and explaining the onus of responsibility placed upon the applicant when using a Building Notice.  In doing so we hope in future, customer expectations in the level of service they expect to receive are not misplaced.

Neither Satisfied or Dissatisfied:

“Delay with my first application, which was mislaid.  Delay receiving my certificate for the work.  Poor communication.”

 

In investigating this matter, it was found that Building Control did not initially receive the application through the internal postal system and as such, the acceptance of the applicant was delayed. 

Although we had various discussions with the builder, the owner was unaware of the discussions that had taken place.  Should you choose to employ the services of a builder or an agent we will normally liaise with them during the course of the work.  However, should you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask one of our officers.

Unfortunately, as this application was submitted on a Building Notice, delays were encountered in obtaining the relevant information needed for us to approve the works on site.  This delayed the issuing of the completion certificate.  Unfortunately, we did not communicate the reason for the delay to the owner as we were liaising directly with their appointed builder.

Although we must continue to liaise with the person carrying out the work, we have reported the delay in receiving this application to the corporate mail room and hope in future to reduce the number of applications that do not reach us in a timely manner.

In order to make service improvements it is good to receive customer comments whether they are positive or negative.  Service improvement is a continual process whereby procedures are reviewed and evaluated to ensure that the best possible relevant service is being provided.

NEGATIVE April – June 2008

Although we generally gained positive feedback, one customer felt that we could do better and was dissatisfied with the service they received, but did explain their reasons for doing so:

 

“Considering the fact the final sign off was made two years after the building work was completed, I remain fairly unimpressed with the time delay.”

 

During our investigation of the application, it became clear that although works were finished approximately two years before the completion certificate was issued, the delay arose because we were not provided with access to the property to carry out a completion inspection. 

In order to ensure completion certificates are issued at the time of completion, the builder/owner must contact Building Control to arrange for a completion inspection.  If at that time, further works are required, the builder/owner must contact us again after undertaking the additional work to arrange for us to carry out a follow up inspection.  In this case, no further requests were received from the owner, even though a request was made for them to contact us. 

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