For managing agents

A public page for the works. Residents report to the site team, and every issue is timestamped.

Noisy Neighbour is a public web page for a building site. Residents scan a QR code in the lobby to see the working hours and what is coming up, and to report a problem straight to the site team. Each issue is logged with the time it was raised, acknowledged and resolved, and the page shows your average response time.

Noisy Neighbour — Elm Court · external works
Notice

Scaffold on the north elevation comes down on Thursday. Lift 2 is out of use from 8am to 1pm.

Flat 12 · residentTue 07:48

The grinding started before eight again this morning.

Breaking-out moved to after 8am from tomorrow. Sorry about this morning.

Resolved · Site team · Tue 08:05 · confirmed by Flat 12

  1. 01

    Reports go to the site

    A resident's problem goes straight to the site team, who can fix it. Your office reads the log instead of relaying calls.

  2. 02

    Every issue timestamped

    Raised, acknowledged, resolved, and whether the resident agreed it was fixed. Kept for the life of the works.

  3. 03

    Response time on the page

    The average response and resolution time is shown to residents as well as to you.

What you get

  • Residents read the page with no password and nothing to install. Notices about noisy days, deliveries and the scaffold coming down go out once, by email to everyone who has joined.
  • Problems go to the site team, with a photo if it helps, and the reply comes back in the same thread. Your office is not in the middle of it.
  • Every issue records who raised it, when it was raised, when it was acknowledged, when it was resolved, and whether the resident confirmed the fix.
  • You, the contractor and the RTM board all see the same log. The average response and resolution time sits on the page for residents to see too.

How it plays out

The record cuts both ways

If your complaints procedure promises a response in three working days, the log proves you met it. If the site is taking a fortnight, the log shows that too. Residents see the same figures you do, which is why the record is worth anything.

What it costs

A building is billed on its dwellings, at £1 per dwelling per week. A single job on one site is £5 per site per week. Residents join free, and the record is kept for the life of the works.

The full picture of a block, with what residents, the contractor and an RTM board each see, is on major works on a block. The same arrangement on an estate is on housing association estate works. The residents' side is for residents in a managed block, and none of it changes the Section 20 consultation, which finishes before the works start.

Questions

Questions people ask

Who sets the page up, the agent or the contractor?

Either can, and it matters which. If the contractor sets it up, the record belongs to a firm that leaves at the end of the contract. If you set it up and invite the contractor, the record stays with the block and with you across more than one programme of works.

Does this add another inbox for my office to watch?

It takes one away. Issues go to the site team, who are the people who can act on them, and the office watches the log rather than relaying messages by phone. You see every issue and every reply without being in the middle of them.

What does the average response time actually measure?

It is worked out from the issues residents raise on that site: the time between an issue being raised and the site team acknowledging it, and the time between raising it and it being marked resolved. It is shown on the page to residents as well as to you, which is the point of it.

How does the record help if a leaseholder asks for a service charge reduction?

It gives you a dated account of what was reported and what was done, instead of two conflicting recollections. It does not decide whether a charge is reasonable, and it will show a slow response as plainly as a quick one.

Do residents need an account or an app?

No. The site page is a public web page that anyone with the link or the QR sheet can read, with no password and nothing to install. A resident who wants notices by email, or who wants to report a problem and follow the reply, joins with an email address.

What does it cost across a portfolio?

Each building is billed on its dwellings, at £1 per dwelling per week — so a block of sixty flats costs ten times a block of six, and a portfolio's bill is the sum across every building you manage: five buildings of five flats each is twenty-five dwellings. A portfolio account lists every building you manage in one place, lets you assign colleagues to particular blocks, and keeps each building's resident list so the next programme of works starts with everyone already invited. Whoever sets a building up pays for it, and can ask another account — the contractor, or the client — to take the cost over. A single job on one site, rather than a standing building, stays at £5 per site per week. Everything is free for your first 7 days.

Can we use it for a short reactive job rather than major works?

Yes. A page can run for a fortnight of roof repairs as easily as for a year of external works, because weeks are bought as you need them. The record of what residents raised stays readable after the page is marked complete.

Set up your site

A public page for your site, from £5 a week

Enter the site address, print the QR sheet and put it on the hoarding. Everything is free for your first 7 days, then it is £5 a week per site, with no payment needed to start and no charge for neighbours.

Spotted a bug, or got an idea for Noisy Neighbour?

Tell us here. It goes straight to the team, and a person reads every one.

Prefer to talk? email info@noisy-neighbour.com.