I am Chair of ARMA Practice Committee and a Governor at the IRPM and I have seen it all in my long involvement with residential management. But with few barriers to entry and the impact of regulation still some way off the residential block management industry can still feel like the Wild West to the uninitiated.
All sorts of amazing schemes to reduce costs, increase service and provide the panacea to all your management woes abound as the unregulated utilise the other great unregulated space - the internet - to make bold claims about their service.
For most of us this is now a part of life, negotiating through the noise to find the genuine experienced service provider. But there are plenty of vulnerable people taken in by these claims and we are starting to see the outcomes of those errors of judgement more often in our sector. These include massive loss of value on neglected developments, individuals bullied for standing up and huge costs associated with unravelling poor and misguided attempts to cut costs to the bone instead of looking at the longer term impacts.
However, nothing upsets me more than individuals and firms pretending to have qualifications and accreditations that they do not possess. Holding oneself or one's company out to be expertly qualified without having worked for those badges and post nominal letters is criminal in my opinion. In these tough times it seems to be more common than ever and efforts to win business in a highly competitive market lead to some giving themselves credibility that they simply have not earned.
There are one or two in our sector doing just that - right now. Holding themselves out to be expertly qualified, to be members of specific bodies and schemes and using the internet to promulgate their views. One of them has been widely quoted. I wouldn't go as far as to name them (although if you call me I may be tempted) - but they are all being investigated and reported to Trading Standards.
Before you utilise the services of a new supplier, do check them out properly. If they purport to have qualifications, or their website has trade logos, they must have at the very least paid a fee, sat an exam and/or agreed to behave in accordance with a code of conduct. For those who have played by the rules, worked hard for their qualifications and accreditations, this is unbelievably unfair. Nearly all bodies list their members. IRPM, ARMA, the various Ombudsman, CIH, RICS, FSA etc. all list members on their websites. They are keen to hear from you if their logo or post nominals are being abused.
This small step will, at the very least, save you some embarrassment later and, at most, might save you a fortune.
All sorts of amazing schemes to reduce costs, increase service and provide the panacea to all your management woes abound as the unregulated utilise the other great unregulated space - the internet - to make bold claims about their service.
For most of us this is now a part of life, negotiating through the noise to find the genuine experienced service provider. But there are plenty of vulnerable people taken in by these claims and we are starting to see the outcomes of those errors of judgement more often in our sector. These include massive loss of value on neglected developments, individuals bullied for standing up and huge costs associated with unravelling poor and misguided attempts to cut costs to the bone instead of looking at the longer term impacts.
However, nothing upsets me more than individuals and firms pretending to have qualifications and accreditations that they do not possess. Holding oneself or one's company out to be expertly qualified without having worked for those badges and post nominal letters is criminal in my opinion. In these tough times it seems to be more common than ever and efforts to win business in a highly competitive market lead to some giving themselves credibility that they simply have not earned.
There are one or two in our sector doing just that - right now. Holding themselves out to be expertly qualified, to be members of specific bodies and schemes and using the internet to promulgate their views. One of them has been widely quoted. I wouldn't go as far as to name them (although if you call me I may be tempted) - but they are all being investigated and reported to Trading Standards.
Before you utilise the services of a new supplier, do check them out properly. If they purport to have qualifications, or their website has trade logos, they must have at the very least paid a fee, sat an exam and/or agreed to behave in accordance with a code of conduct. For those who have played by the rules, worked hard for their qualifications and accreditations, this is unbelievably unfair. Nearly all bodies list their members. IRPM, ARMA, the various Ombudsman, CIH, RICS, FSA etc. all list members on their websites. They are keen to hear from you if their logo or post nominals are being abused.
This small step will, at the very least, save you some embarrassment later and, at most, might save you a fortune.
