Company Focus

A life in the day of…

Tim Telcs, our hard-working Maintenance Supervisor knows exactly what it takes to keep our Owners’ properties in tip-top condition all year round. Find out what he and the rest of the Maintenance Department get up to on a typical working day...

We catch up with Tim, who is with Danny and Paula - our Maintenance Technician and our Operations Manager respectively - in our administration office early on an already stiflingly hot morning in mid-August, the busiest time of year for them.

“What’s a typical day for the maintenance department? There’s no such thing!” laughs Tim. “But that’s one aspect that I love most about my job - the variety.”

With a great many of our Owners down on the Coast for their holidays, plus a large number of holiday rental guests staying too, long days are the norm for the team at this time of year, so it’s important we get an early start.

The first issue for the team to tackle is their schedule for the day, and with so many maintenance requests to deal with, this can be quite a tricky balancing act.

“It’s vital that when a maintenance request comes in, especially an emergency, they get a quick response from us,” explains Paula, who’s in charge of managing the workload of the team. “Even more so at this time of they year, when Owners and guests are trying to relax and enjoy their holidays and quite frankly don’t need any hassle.”

“It’s a question of prioritising the tasks at hand,” Danny chips in. “For example, today we’ve got a blocked drain at an owner’s villa in Benalmadena, the jammed front door lock at a holiday apartment in Sotogrande, and the electricity is constantly tripping at a long-term rental townhouse in Marbella. And those are just the urgent ones…”

But then of course, during a typical day other emergencies crop up, like the flood at an owner’s third floor apartment last week, which the team had to deal with immediately to avoid major damage both to the owner’s and the surrounding properties. This often means even the most meticulously planned schedule can change in an instant.

Having confirmed their schedules with Paula, Tim and Danny jump in their vans and head off to tackle their first jobs of the day.

Between them, they boast an impressive range of skills, so they’re more than qualified to deal with most things that are thrown their way.

“Really, our department should be called the repairs, installation, emergency, plumbing, electrical, building, home improvement, woodworking, kitchen fitting, tiling, plastering, product testing, fault fixing, problem solving, painting, decorating, paving, damp-proofing, welding and anything else you care to chuck at us department,” jokes Tim. “But that wouldn't fit on the side of the vans so Maintenance Department will have to do.”

Tim is keen to point out that although much of their tasks involve fixing problems, they’re also qualified to handle everything from upgrading owners’ kitchens or bathrooms, painting and decorating, and supplying and installing all the fittings such as lights, curtain rails and bathroom accessories on newly finished properties.

“You name it, we’ll provide a quote and do it,” says Tim.

And thanks to the excellent relations they have established over the years with local suppliers, they can be sure of the quality of raw materials they use on behalf of our clients too.

“We only recommend materials that we’ve thoroughly researched and tested ourselves, from trusted suppliers. Only once we’re 100% satisfied materials meet our strict quality standards, will we use them.”

Tim’s first stop is an unscheduled one along the way – a call comes in from our office to say an empty owner’s property has just been broken into and burgled.

As we arrive, the police are already there, but the thieves have long since gone, damaging a window frame and taking a widescreen TV with them.

Tim’s immediate task, after dealing with the police and the necessary paperwork, is to secure the property.

“Sadly, security is something all owners on the Coast have to take seriously these days. Lately, we’ve installed everything from protective window and door bars, to bolt locks and secure windows, alarms, security lighting and roller-shutter locks to try and prevent this sort of thing happening.”

In fact, one of the services the maintenance department provides, that owners might not be aware of, is a complete security check to thoroughly assess and advise on an owner’s property’s vulnerability to help prevent break-ins.

“We obviously don’t want owners to get burgled, but we’d also rather not get called out in the middle of the night following a robbery! But, of course, when it happens, we’re there.”

As well as their normal working hours, the maintenance department are also on emergency stand-by 24-hours a day.

Back in the van as the day progresses from job to job, it’s clear Tim really rather enjoys what he does for a living. He talks about it with the kind of enthusiasm most of us normally reserve for a hobby.

He’s currently researching new electrical products, he tells me. In particular, ranges of remote control switches that look like normal switches but can be placed anywhere such as desktops and armchairs without the need for burying cables – especially good for properties with tiled walls.

“Recent advances in LED lighting technology have made them cheaper to buy and run. The quality of light they now produce is on par with traditional or halogen bulbs. Their low consumption and longevity make them extremely environmentally friendly too. One item I particularly like is an LED pool light which can change the colour of the whole pool at the push of a button, with a life expectancy far greater than standard bulbs.”

The last job of the day, late in the afternoon as the heat finally simmers down, is to install a wall safe on behalf of an owner at their holiday apartment ready for their arrival next week.

Tim feels that fixed safes are essential for all properties these days - an extra security measure which even if you get broken into means your valuables can still be kept secure. He says the maintenance department has fitted many over the last few months.

“We’ve installed both basic fixed safes for people to store important documents, or jewellery, cash and so forth, plus more hi-tech ones like the safe I’m installing now, which is especially designed for laptop computers and even has an integrated power supply so the laptop can be charged while locked away.”

On the way back to the office at the end of a long day, I ask Tim what he will be doing tomorrow. “We’re doing a post-summer holiday ‘spruce-up’ for an owner with a townhouse in Calahonda. Replacing some damaged tiles out on the patio, repainting the interior walls, waxing the garden furniture… at least, that’s the plan!!”

If you have any maintenance requests, or issues with your property that you’d like Tim and the team to take care of, you can let us know via your Owner's Area of our website, or by calling us on +34 952 83 95 95. Alternatively, you can email us at info@HomeCareontheWeb.com and we’ll be only to be too happy to help you.