Banksia Court · Episode 2
How to stop maintenance requests turning up at your door
7:42 pm. Dinner. Then Gary knocks, and does the noise.
Read the comic as text
Panel 1: 7:42 pm. Deb sits down to dinner. KNOCK KNOCK.
Panel 2: Gary at the door: "Deb. The gutter is making a noise."
Panel 3: Gary, arms up: "GLUG... GLUG... plink." Deb stares.
Panel 4: Deb: "Can you send it with a photo?" Gary: "I did the noise. Isn't that enough?"
Why the door knock happens
Most residents are not trying to ruin your evening. They knock because they do not know a better way to report a problem, or because the last time they emailed, nothing seemed to happen. The result is the same: a vague description, no photo, no unit number written down, and a job you have to remember until the morning.
Five ways to move requests off your doorstep
- Give people one place to report. One QR code or one link, the same for everyone. If there are three ways to report, people will use a fourth.
- Ask for a photo and a location every time. "Gutter above unit 14, back side" with a photo saves a walk around the complex.
- Say "got it" quickly. A short reply that you have seen the report stops most follow-up knocks and calls.
- Show the status. Got it, underway, sorted. When residents can see where the job is, they stop asking.
- Be clear about urgent problems. Burst pipes and power faults need a phone number. A noisy gutter can wait until the morning.
How Verge does it
Verge is a small app for townhouse complexes of 8 to 200 houses. Residents report problems with a photo, you send notices to the right people, tradies get one link with everything, and the monthly report builds itself. Residents do not need to install anything from an app store.
See the 2-minute demo