Annual Report 2019

Value-add Strategy

The Value-add strategy supplements our core business to include customer-oriented services, e. g., services that are closely related to or influence the rental business. As part of this strategy, we continually evaluate additional service ideas to boost customer satisfaction and add the corresponding services to our offering. Those areas of the Value-add strategy that have already been established successfully largely include the caretaker organization, the craftsmen’s organization, the residential environment organization, multimedia services and metering services. In addition, we are expanding our services into the areas of energy generation and supply and home automation.

The capability of having our own craftsmen’s organization cover the entire portfolio, in particular the maintenance and modernization services, allows us to make the residential units more attractive in general and help to boost customer satisfaction. In addition, our residential environment organization consisting of our own employees is responsible for looking after outdoor areas, green spaces, playgrounds and refuse collection points within our properties, particularly in conurbations. Our own caretaker organization, which we have established in recent years, provides on-site support for our existing properties. This systematic insourcing allows us to increase the proportion of services we provide ourselves on an ongoing basis, allowing us to ensure that our own employees are on site in the various property locations. Especially in a nationwide portfolio that is as large as Vonovia’s, improved reaction times to customer inquiries and the easier coordination of services, combined with craftsmen’s availability that is ensured thanks to insourcing and the associated quality assurance of repair work translate into higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Vonovia’s Value-add strategy is rounded off by the condominium administration business, property insurance and the management of properties for third parties.

Maintenance
Maintenance covers the measures that are necessary to ensure that the property can continue to be used as intended over its useful life and that eliminate structural and other defects caused by wear and tear, age and weathering effects.