Grounds maintenance consultation

Recommendation

LG comments

Customers would like to be informed about approximate times of visits and what is being done via a portal.

Sharing visit times with customers can be done in a number of ways eg - leaflets, communal posters and via a portal. We will ensure this detail is available to all customers.

We anticipate that our contractors will provide an online portal with evidence of their visit and the works undertaken.

A leaflet is a popular choice for finding out times of visits. This could also outline the tasks specific to the service. This leaflet could be held as a printable PDF and included in new customer welcome.

As above, we will ensure a “What to expect” leaflet is produced. We will provide a copy to our Lettings Team for inclusion in welcome packs.

We will also produce a summary of the works our contractor will undertake and when (dependent on time of year). This information will be made available to all customers.

Customers would like to know if grass cutting will include taking away grass cuttings, hedge trimming, tree maintenance, weeding beds, and weeding of paths and walkways, litter picking

Our specialist consultants and in-house team are proposing to collect and remove all grass cuttings for the first and last cut of the ‘growing’ season (March – October) as well as on any further cuts during the winter period (November – February).

During the rest of the growing season, grass cuttings will be “mulched” and spread thinly and evenly across the green areas. When treated in this manner cuttings should disappear within a few days.

We have taken this approach for a number of reasons –

1) Provides value for money to our customers.

2) Protects our green areas during dry seasons.

3) Returns nutrients to the ground which improves the quality of the grass.

Hedge trimming and any tree maintenance foliage will all be removed from site. It will be shredded and sent to a green-waste recycling facility.

All further items noted in the question are included within the specification to be undertaken.

Customers would like to access to the maps used by contractors.

Longhurst Group can make these maps available at customer request and support with answering any questions which may be raised. If helpful, we could post these plans on a communal noticeboard.

Any customer feedback can be captured by our team and we’ll ensure contractors receive updates as required.

There should be reliable methods to track if the contractor has been on site, length of time and quality of work.

We'll use the ‘portal’ to ensure our contractors have attended site and completed the required works to the appropriate quality / standard. This will include photographic, time-stamped, evidence.

Some contractors use a live tracking system so we can ensure visits are taking place and the correct amount of time is allocated to sites.