Property maintenance operative

Apprenticeship summary

Occupation summary

This occupation is found in the construction and built environment sector, where properties across the housing, healthcare, social care, hospitality, education, commercial, leisure, retail, and private and public sectors, require maintenance to keep them in a safe working condition, and to optimise their quality or performance.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to conduct the general day-to-day maintenance required to keep a range of properties in a good state of repair. Property maintenance operatives conduct routine maintenance tasks, and minor planned and responsive repair works, using a broad range of fundamental trade skills including carpentry, joinery, plumbing, plastering, brick and block work, external works and associated finishing trades including tiling, painting, and decorating. Operatives use a wide variety of hand and power tools, materials, components, fixtures and fittings, ensuring work that is carried out is compliant with health and safety requirements, and meets building safety regulations and legislation. This requires them to know and understand the key principles of buildings and their construction, the range of building services that support a buildings operation, including electrical, plumbing, plant, safety systems and equipment, the techniques, and processes to prevent damage. Operatives are also keenly aware of the limits of their own competence, and will respond appropriately to, and report faults and defects to, others as necessary. Increasingly, property maintenance operatives are required to support in the optimisation of building performance and minimisation of environmental impact; operatives now need to record and report building information digitally, and consider sustainability and environmental choices, such as the use, recycling, and disposal of materials and components, in order to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with other maintenance staff, specialist trades people, landlords and property owners, and the staff that work within or the residents that occupy buildings. Property Maintenance Operatives assist in the location of the repair works to be carried out, and to obtain further information and clarification as required from the customer, using a range of information gathering and communication techniques, whilst recording and reporting information in a variety of ways, including using digital technologies. Whilst much of the time may be working inside properties, operatives will be regularly required to work outside, conducting maintenance and repairs to properties, including to external drainage, brick and blockwork, glazing, fencing and groundworks.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for performing planned maintenance and responsive repairs to properties, maintaining a high level of quality to the works they complete, providing maximum satisfaction to customers, clients, staff or residents within those properties. Generally, operatives work alone, but receive their direction from their supervisor or manager who selects and allocates jobs relative to the skills and experience of the operative. If on arrival the job is not as originally outlined, operatives have the responsibility to recognise their own level of competence, and report back to their supervisor or manager who will make the decision to amend the works required within the competence of the operative or assign the job to a more senior colleague or specialist professional.

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