A new app is aiming to speed up communal housing repairs in Dundee.
Shared Repairs by Novoville is designed to help organise work in buildings that have several owners – which can often be a drawn-out and complex process.
Launched in collaboration with Dundee City Council, the app lets private homeowners arrange work in their tenement or block directly from their phone.
That includes getting quotes from traders, voting for work to take place and arranging payments.
Users can create a ‘virtual tenement’ and report an issue or repair to fellow proprietors.
Shared Repairs app ‘tackles long and daunting process’
The app then helps them get quotes from members of Dundee’s Trusted Trader scheme – though it is possible to work with other traders too.
A digital payment account also allows homeowners to gather funds for the work and pay contractors.
The app is free to download from Google Play and Apple App Store but a small fee is payable when a project is successfully completed.
Shared Repairs is already available in Perth and Kinross as well as several other areas of Scotland.
Councillor Heather Anderson, convener of neighbourhood services at Dundee City Council, said: “Managing common repairs can be a very long, drawn-out and daunting process, but Novoville makes it easier for people to access quotes for repair work from trusted traders and manage payments to the contractor doing the work.
“We are delighted to now be able to offer this service to people in Dundee and hope it will make the job of organising common repairs easier.”
Louis Daillencourt from Novoville said: “In conjunction with the services they offer homeowners, the app will be very powerful.
“We have big plans for the future, too: we’re giving people a tool which, later, they can use to reduce their energy bills and make their houses more comfortable by assessing and procuring energy efficiency renovations.”
Conversation