Safe hands, long after the build

Properties, like people, need ongoing care and attention. With this in mind (and having been asked by client after client!), Barr Build set about finding the best way to help. 

Since last year, wherever needed, our dedicated Aftercare & Maintenance team has been there to pick up where the build leaves off, carrying their hard-won knowledge of each property forward long after the build is complete.

We’re all familiar with the RIBA Plan of Work, which is set up to guide a build project from first ideas through design and construction to handover. Its final stage, Stage 7 'Use', covers everything that follows: day-to-day running, maintenance, real-world performance and up-to-date records, for as long as the building stands. Yet it’s the stage most often left without an owner, as it usually falls outside design and construction contracts.

By the end of a Barr Build project, which includes the defect period and all elements related to the build, our site and contracts managers know the property inside out, and have often formed strong relationships with clients, property managers, housekeepers and estate teams. Keeping that knowledge working for the home makes perfect sense.

“You get to know what’s behind every wall and how every system was commissioned, so you can spot the small things long before they become problems,” says Liman Metolli, Barr Build Aftercare & Maintenance Manager. “Construction is often the shortest part of a property’s life cycle. What comes after is where a building spends the vast majority of its life, so it’s where dedicated property care really matters.”

For existing clients, the transition is seamless: the A&M team simply picks up where the build team left off. Over the past year, we’ve also begun caring for the homes of clients new to Barr Build. For these clients, we start with a rigorous property assessment and a thorough conversation about lifestyle and logistics before tailoring a maintenance proposal. Either way, the same exceptional standards apply. 

The process is very simple. We survey the property and its systems, agree a written plan, then visit at set intervals, coordinating trusted trades to keep disruption to a minimum. With our Field Farm HQ on the Oxfordshire–Buckinghamshire border and our Cotswolds office near Chipping Norton, we’re never far away.

Whether you’re an existing Barr Build client or new to us, we’d be delighted to discuss a personalised A&M plan for your property. Contact maintenance@barr.group or call +44 (0)1844 217706.