Is it a bird, a plane? No, It’s a UPO!

Look around your room or office, how many property items can you identify?

· Manufacture of window frames and doors

· Heating system specifications i.e underfloor, central, heat pump?

· Type of tiling, bricks, carpeting or flooring

· etc.

If you can’t identify any of these yourself, do you know where you could easily find the information? Or would you have to get a second opinion from family members, googling the internet or property experts?

These are UPOs!
(Unidentified Property Objects)

Why does this matter? If you need something fixed, maintained or replaced, you’ll probably need to know details about it first so you know what to look or ask for. Otherwise, you might find yourself in a situation similar to that of Russell’s.

Russell’s Story

A roof tile had slipped, or was blown away, which meant that some maintenance was in order. Russell’s home was in a conservation area so his type of roofing was very particular and difficult to identify. Furthermore, he didn’t have a home owner manual with the relevant details so as far he was concerned — it’s a UPO!

So despite fair winter weather, Russell grabbed a ladder and climbed it to his roof to get pictures of the tiles. He then visited local roofing stores, showing them the pictures, to get a second opinion but they simply advised him to call a professional roofer on-site.

This had already cost Russell a lot of time, effort and petrol from driving back and forth. And climbing a ladder in that oh-so cold and slippery weather, he could have been killed by this UPO!

Given that it was nearing Christmas, and that the job was so small, it was difficult getting a professional roofer to commit to an on-site visit. Russell’s friends weren’t roofing experts so he couldn’t ask them, and it would take too long to get a reliable response on the internet.

Eventually, someone was able to come over, identify the type of roofing and help Russell fix his roof on a later date. Of course he was charged for both visits , one of which would not have been required if the tile could be identified beforehand.

It should not have been so difficult.

Would it not be easier if there was a home manual app where all this data and information could be stored for easy access and sharing, just in case it was needed some time down the line? It would assist professionals in their work whilst also save occupiers a lot of time, effort and money whenever something in the house needs fixing, changing or maintenance.

And there’s almost always something in the house that needs fixing, changing or maintenance.

Do you have any UPO stories you’d like to share? Feel free to reach out at team@dadshed.com and suggestions on how our platform could be used to hold this information.

Originally published at dadshed.co.uk on August 27, 2021.