Maintenance contractors of housing associations in the Netherlands: State of the art and future perspective

Together, the housing associations in the Netherlands spend about ¿ 3 billion per year on the maintenance and minor improvements of their 2.4 million social rental dwellings. By far the greatest share of the maintenance is contracted out to external contractors. Frequently heard justifications for this are that they are better equipped for such work, they work more efficiently and innovatively, and so they are cheaper. However, for day-to-day maintenance tasks, the housing associations draw frequently on their in-house maintenance contractor. At the present time, in-house maintenance contractors are being put under considerable pressure to work in a manner that better meets market requirements. The housing associations draw up agreements with their in-house contractors with respect to productivity, the quality of the management, and the quality of the service provision to tenants. Automation and data processing support the drive for enhanced professionalism. In the paper, attention will be paid to the factors housing associations have to weigh up when deciding whether or not to introduce outside maintenance contractors or retain their in-house contractor. There then follows an outline of the important discussion points and dilemmas that in-house maintenance contractors will have to address in the next few years. Consideration is given to the focus of the package of tasks and responsibilities, the organization, and the business assumptions. Finally, the drive for professionalization and the future perspective of the in-house maintenance contractors is outlined.