Every year, we publish a summary of all our shortlisted entries to showcase our amazing nominees and promote best practice across the sector.

You can read more about the NHMF Awards here.  

NHMF Awards 2024: Rising Star Award

Winner: Jake Evans, Qualis Property Solutions

Others shortlisted (see Appendix)

Ettan Bazil, Help me Fix

James Hiron, Spokemead

Achievements

Jake Evans has progressed from an Apprentice into management and shown great maturity in taking on more services and supporting his team, showing leadership (usually associated with a person much older than him). He has developed continual improvements for services and customers, currently running at 4.1 jobs/day, with first-time fix rate at 85%, as a result of Jake’s use of data and performance information. He is self-motivated, with drive and energy to “get things right,” and his new ideas have been a breath of fresh air.

What made this person a rising star?

Jake Evans started his career aged 18 with Epping Council in 2013 (now Qualis Property Solutions), as a multi-trade apprentice. After two years of hard work, he completed his NVQ Lv2 and went on to be a multi-skilled operative. Jake had an eye for plumbing and decided to self-fund an evening course (NVQ lv2). In 2016 he officially became a qualified plumber and has developed into a very competent plumber who was well respected. Qualis Property Solutions was launched in September 2020. Jake was keen to move into management. His talent and fantastic attitude were spotted early on, by senior management. In February 2021 he was seconded into his first management role as a Trade Supervisor, looking after teams in which he previously worked, which was a challenge. After an impressive four months, the role of trades supervisor was made permanent. He enrolled in November 2021 on an online ILM Lv3 Leadership and Management Course to support his development. He excelled in this role, tackling some of the negative behaviours which had been historically unchecked. A year later, an opening came up in December 2021 for an Operations Manager looking after the responsive repairs team. With his successful track record, he was promoted to this role. As part of his development plan, Jake was given the voids and planned maintenance works stream in July 2023. He quickly got to grips with the challenges. To formalise this, a senior operations manager role was created, which Jake secured in October 2023. He has excelled over the last 10 years, moving from an apprentice to a senior management role, overseeing circa 50 staff. At the age of 28, he has shown great maturity and the leadership of a person much older than him.

What impact have they had on the organisation or sector?

Jake has made a massive impact to the organisation. His leadership style is very calm and reassuring. He is very good with people, with the added benefit of understanding the trades and what is needed, in customers’ homes. He is very personable and helpful and is great with customers and staff alike. Their customer satisfaction has risen in this period, due to the hard work of Jake and his team. Their current customer satisfaction rating is 93% satisfied with overall repairs and productivity has continued to increase, currently running at 4.1 jobs per day and their first-time fix rate stands at 85%. This has been due to Jake’s use of data and performance information. He has used this to create league tables. Jake has tackled non-performance in his team with great vigour. He has supported those who needed greater support. However, he never shies away from tackling those who didn’t reflect their values, in particular around delivering a great customer experience. When Jake took on planned and voids as well as repairs, they wondered whether it would be too much for one person but were proved wrong. Their voids are currently running at 90% on time and returning back on average within 21 days. Planned maintenance customer satisfaction is achieving 95% which before Jake took over was 85%. Jake has been instrumental in supporting others coming into the profession. He has been pivotal at their careers events in attracting young people onto their apprenticeship programme. He has mentored and supported several of their trade apprenticeships. Stanley, a plumbing apprentice, says “It has been a great experience at Qualis. Jake has really supported me every step of the way at work and with my college work.”

Why did he deserve to win this award?

Jake is one of the most self-motivated people you will ever meet. His drive and energy to “get things right” for the benefit of the customer is infectious. He even picks up his tool bag, when needed on our out of hours emergency service. At the age of 28, he has worked incredibly hard to achieve progression, in such a short period of time. His laser-like focus on achieving the ILM In Leadership and Management was impressive. He has taken learning from the classroom and put the theory into practice. He just gets things done! Jake has taken their performance to the next level. As part of a team, he has improved the customer experience. His team have achieved fantastic compliments from customers. One such example, “from the initial first phone call. To the completion of the job. Everyone was polite and friendly and reassuring. Very happy with the service.” Jake is a great leader of people and well respected by his team. His maturity has allowed him to manage staff who are quite a bit older than him, which has never phased him. He manages five direct reports who were all very happy to provide these quotes, John Cattini- “Jake is one of the best bosses, if not the best boss, I have worked for. Apart from being a very nice person, he is approachable, helpful, and very knowledgeable when it comes to carrying out works for Qualis/EFDC” Lee Aldridge- “Working with Jake has been a breath of fresh air due to his new ideas and workings within the voids.” Mark Farthing- "For me, the amazing thing about Jake is his consistency at work. He seems to produce level headed decisions day after day with ease and I have yet to see him flustered.”

What do you see him contributing in the future?

Ben Johnson Managing Director of Qualis Property Solutions says “Jake’s journey is a long way from over. He has the capability and capacity to achieve more. Jake is and will be a great inspiration to those coming into the social housing sector. He will continue to contribute positively to supporting several of their apprentices to achieve their goals. “He will be part of the next generation of senior leaders and if he continues down this path, I can see him achieving director level before he is 40. His positive contribution, enthusiasm and drive will continue to improve the service and the homes in social housing, now and into the future. Jake will play an important part of our story as we roll out our exciting new 4-year plan. Our plan looks to build on our successes and further improve our customer experience and customer engagement around designing a service which responds to our customer’s needs.” We are incredibly proud of Jake. When I joined Qualis I met all staff, on a one-to-one basis. When I do this in a new organisation there are always those who I can tell are the “rising stars.” He stood out to me immediately, he was thoughtful, enthusiastic, and conveyed himself really well. It is a rare person who can bridge the technical into a leadership role. Jakes next natural step will be head of service, hopefully this will be with Qualis.” His line manager, Maria Sharples says “I have worked with Jake for 2 years, his energy and support is what stands him aside from others. He is committed to what he does and manages his team with confidence. Jake has been really focussed on his career, sees opportunities, and delivers.”

Appendix: Download our shortlisted apprentices’ submissions below.