Surplus is a regional institution providing care, housing, welfare and child care. It has subsidiaries in the Western and Central Brabant regions. Surplus focuses on two chains in its activities: one for housing, welfare and care services, and one for young people. The Real Estate & Facilities staff department manages 110,000 m2 of real estate property, some of which is owned and some leased. This makes it possible to provide care, housing, welfare and child care services on a small scale, and close to where its clients live.

How can we make optimum use of the organisation’s real estate, with a combined focus on customer satisfaction and cost reduction?

During the first two months of the project, a number of encouraging results were achieved. New contracts for electrotechnical and mechanical engineering related maintenance were purchased at a price that was 15% lower than previous contracts, and corrective maintenance decreased through tighter control over failure reports. The costs of the repair services were reduced substantially through the simplification and reduction in failure reports, and the conclusion of keenly priced contracts with suppliers.

Capacity problems in occupancy were the reason Surplus decided to engage the services of CFP. In addition, it became necessary to improve the management and maintenance for all 56 buildings, and to increase the quality of the service. In the previous situation, customers had difficulty finding the services they were looking for. CFP took stock of the customers’ wishes. Steps necessary to elevate the real estate department to the desired level of quality were analysed and implemented. In addition, policy was developed for management and maintenance. Long term objectives involve supplier and customer management. Maintenance of the buildings will be optimised and costs reduced. Special attention is also placed on managing Surplus’ customer expectations. The market will be reviewed for opportunities to acquire new customers.