Delivering Facilities & Inventory Management Expertise for Get Living

Background

Get Living is one of the UK's most innovative build-to-rent operators, redefining the private rental sector through a customer-focused approach to residential living. Managing homes on behalf of long-term investors, the organisation has built a reputation for resident experience, operational quality and community-focused developments.

With major residential and student accommodation developments expanding across London, including significant growth in Elephant & Castle, Get Living engaged Maxwell Stephens to recruit a Facilities and Inventory Manager to support the efficient operation of its resident-facing services, facilities infrastructure and inventory management functions. The appointment was critical to operational consistency, regulatory compliance and service standards across both the Welcome Office and Home Plus operations.

The Challenge

Get Living needed a Facilities and Inventory Manager who combined facilities management expertise with strong operational, inventory and supplier management skills. The successful candidate would support the smooth operation of key resident services while maintaining high standards of health and safety, compliance and inventory control. Key areas of responsibility included:

• Facilities management and workplace operations
• Welcome Office management
• Inventory and stock control
• Health, safety and compliance management
• Contractor and supplier management
• Service contract oversight
• Budget management and financial reporting
• Procurement and purchasing processes
• Operational administration and reporting
• Resident support services
• Emergency response and out-of-hours support
• Continuous improvement and service delivery

Build-to-rent is a demanding setting for a facilities role. Residents are customers rather than colleagues, the building is their home, and service failures are felt immediately and personally. The role therefore required someone able to manage both operational and administrative responsibilities while supporting a fast-growing residential portfolio, with the organisational skills, commercial awareness and customer-focused mindset needed to keep services aligned with Get Living's commitment to the resident experience.

Our Approach

Understanding the Requirement

Maxwell Stephens worked closely with Get Living to build a detailed understanding of the organisation's operating model, service standards and long-term objectives. The successful candidate needed to show strong facilities management capability while having the flexibility and interpersonal skills to work well in a customer-centric build-to-rent environment.

Specialist Search

Drawing on our established facilities management and residential property network, we ran a targeted search for candidates with experience across facilities management, residential property operations, build-to-rent environments, inventory and asset management, health and safety compliance, contractor and supplier management, budget and procurement management, customer service operations, and workplace and facilities coordination.

Particular emphasis was placed on candidates able to balance operational efficiency with high-quality resident and stakeholder engagement.

Candidate Assessment

Candidates were assessed against technical, operational and behavioural competencies:

• Technical. Facilities and operational management expertise, inventory and stock control experience, and health, safety and compliance knowledge.
• Commercial. Supplier and contractor management capability, and budget management and financial administration.
• Behavioural. Project coordination and organisational skills, stakeholder engagement and communication, and a customer service and resident experience focus.

The process focused on identifying an individual capable of supporting both operational performance and the wider customer experience objectives of the organisation.

The Outcome

Maxwell Stephens appointed an experienced Facilities and Inventory Manager who demonstrated the technical expertise, organisational capability and customer-focused approach the role required. The successful candidate brought strong operational management experience together with a proven ability to manage facilities services, inventory control and supplier relationships. Key strengths included:

• Extensive facilities and operational management experience
• Strong health, safety and compliance expertise
• Proven inventory and stock management capability
• Effective contractor and supplier management skills
• Strong budget management and reporting experience
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication abilities
• A proactive and solutions-focused management style
• Strong alignment with Get Living's customer-centric culture

Following their appointment, the Facilities and Inventory Manager took responsibility for supporting operational performance across key resident service functions while helping to maintain the standards expected across the portfolio. Across Get Living's operations, the appointment brought better management of facilities and workplace operations, improved inventory control and stock management processes, stronger health, safety and compliance oversight, improved supplier and contractor performance management, tighter budgetary control and operational reporting, greater efficiency across resident support services, improved operational resilience and service continuity, and continued support for the resident experience.

Why This Placement Worked

Hybrid roles that pair facilities management with inventory and Welcome Office responsibilities are easy to under-specify. Recruit for the facilities half alone and the stock control and resident-facing work suffers; recruit an administrator and the compliance and contractor management is exposed. This search assessed both halves directly, and weighted cultural fit with a customer-centric operator as heavily as the technical criteria.

Maxwell Stephens supports build-to-rent operators, residential landlords, property owners and managing agents with specialist recruitment across facilities management, residential operations and property services. If you are recruiting for a resident-facing facilities role, get in touch with our team.