Working Maintenance Manager

Working Maintenance Manager – Job Specification

Reports To: Heads of Property
Employment Type: Full-Time
Salary from: £40,000 + bonus

Role Overview

We are looking for a practical, experienced and proactive Working Maintenance Manager to take day-to-day ownership of the maintenance function across our property portfolio.

This is a hands-on role. The successful candidate will be capable of carrying out general maintenance themselves while also managing the internal maintenance team, allocating workloads, monitoring productivity and ensuring all works are completed efficiently and to a high standard.

The Maintenance Manager will act as the main link between the Heads of Property, the office/property team and the maintenance team and will take responsibility for ensuring the maintenance management system is kept accurate and up to date.

Key Responsibilities

• Receive, assess and prioritise maintenance jobs raised by the office/property team.
• Take day-to-day ownership of the maintenance management system, ensuring all jobs are correctly logged, prioritised, allocated, updated and closed upon completion.
• Use the system to manage and allocate workloads, monitor outstanding works, track job progress and completion times, and provide visibility of the maintenance team’s workload and performance.
• Allocate works to the appropriate member of the internal maintenance team.
• Manage the team’s daily and weekly workload and ensure resources are used efficiently.
• Monitor productivity and ensure the business is getting the most from the internal team.
• Follow jobs through to completion rather than simply allocating them.
• Check completed works and ensure repairs are carried out to a high standard.
• Address incomplete or poor-quality workmanship.
• Personally undertake general maintenance where appropriate, including basic plumbing, carpentry, decorating, minor repairs, snagging and general property upkeep.
• Recognise when works require a specialist contractor or qualified trade.
• Reduce unnecessary use of external contractors by maximising the capability of the internal team.
• Identify defects that may fall under a building or developer warranty and ensure these are directed through the appropriate route.
• Carry out regular site and property inspections and identify planned or preventative maintenance requirements.
• Oversee grounds, communal areas, waste, CCTV, access control, lighting and general reactive maintenance.
• Manage maintenance materials, tools and stock to ensure the team is properly equipped.
• Liaise professionally with tenants and ensure properties are left clean and tidy following works.
• Review and action Health and Safety requirements.
• Conduct and monitor tool and van inventories.
• Arrange ladder, tool and PAT testing/inspections.

Cost Control & Forecasting

• Assess upcoming maintenance, renovation, refurbishment, check-out and property turnaround works and provide realistic estimates of likely labour, material and contractor costs.
• Prepare projected maintenance expenditure to assist the Heads of Property with budgeting and cash-flow planning.
• Provide estimated costs for check-out works and property renovations/refurbishments before works commence wherever practicable, highlighting any potential significant expenditure at an early stage.
• Monitor actual expenditure against estimated costs and identify material variances.
• Obtain and review contractor quotations where external works are required and make recommendations based on cost, quality and timescale.
• Look for opportunities to reduce costs through effective use of the internal maintenance team, sensible purchasing and appropriate use of warranties, while maintaining the required standard of work.
• Identify recurring maintenance expenditure and recommend where a longer-term repair, replacement or planned investment would provide better value than repeated reactive repairs.

Reporting & Accountability

The Maintenance Manager will report directly to the Heads of Property and provide regular updates on:

• Outstanding, ongoing and completed works.
• Maintenance system records, including job status, ageing and overdue works.
• Team workload, productivity and performance.
• Significant property or maintenance issues.
• Larger expenditure and contractor quotations.
• Forecast versus actual maintenance expenditure, including anticipated costs for renovations, check-out works and property turnarounds.
• Recurring defects and recommended long-term solutions.
• Potential warranty issues.
• Health, safety or compliance concerns.
• Planned maintenance and future expenditure.

The Maintenance Manager will have day-to-day responsibility for the maintenance operation, with the Head of Residential retaining overall oversight of the residential portfolio.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will have:

• Strong hands-on residential maintenance experience.
• Previous experience supervising or managing a maintenance team or tradespeople.
• Good practical fault-finding and problem-solving skills.
• The ability to organise multiple jobs and priorities.
• Confidence managing staff productivity and quality of workmanship.
• Experience dealing with contractors and suppliers.
• Experience using a maintenance, property management or job management system to allocate, monitor and close works.
• The ability to estimate maintenance and refurbishment costs and monitor expenditure against budget.
• Strong organisational and communication skills.
• A commercial and cost-conscious approach.
• A full UK driving licence.

Overall Objective

We are looking for someone who will lead from the front, take ownership and ensure maintenance issues are properly resolved.

The successful candidate should always know:

What needs doing, who is doing it, when it will be completed, what it is expected to cost, whether it has been completed properly, whether the system accurately reflects its status, and whether the business is getting the best possible output and value from its maintenance team.