Wear & Tear Group

We look after the buildings, so our clients don’t have to.

Wear & Tear Group is a UK facilities services provider. Our own mobile engineers and a network of specialist subcontractors keep around 40 client sites running, from office campuses and retail parks to private hospitals, universities and distribution centres.

London and South East, 12 sites

Midlands, 8 sites

North, 9 sites

South West and Wales, 7 sites

Scotland, 4 sites

One client site

About Wear & Tear Group

Wear & Tear Group maintains buildings for other businesses, so they can get on with running theirs. We look after heating and air conditioning, electrical and mechanical systems, lifts and general repairs, on both reactive call-outs and planned maintenance contracts.

Our national portfolio covers around 40 client sites across England, Scotland and Wales, including office campuses, retail parks, private hospitals, two universities, distribution centres and a bonded wine warehouse in Bristol.

Our head office is in Milton Keynes, with regional hubs in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Glasgow. Each region is run by a Regional Operations Manager, who looks after the engineers, supervisors and client sites in their area.

Most of our work is delivered by our own mobile engineers, who cover a region from their van and often move between several sites in a day. Specialist work such as roofing, asbestos, fire systems and specialist lift work is delivered by approved subcontractors.

We are certified to ISO 45001.

Employees
Around 550
Mobile engineers
Around 360
Subcontractor firms
Around 90
Client sites
Around 40
Annual turnover
Around £65m

What we do

Reactive maintenance

A 24/7 call-out service for breakdowns and building faults. Most reactive call-outs are single engineer jobs, so our engineers often work alone in plant rooms, basements, roof spaces and lift shafts, including out of hours.

Planned maintenance

Scheduled servicing of heating, air conditioning, electrical and mechanical systems, lifts and plant, under planned maintenance contracts with our clients. Jobs are scheduled and logged in our maintenance system.

Repairs and small works

General building repairs, including drilling, breaking out, cutting and grinding. Our engineers use powered hand tools every day, so we treat hand arm vibration as a key health risk.

Specialist services

Roofing, asbestos, fire systems and specialist lift work, delivered by approved subcontractors under our management, with 200 to 250 subcontractor operatives working on our client sites on rotation.

Health and safety

Our people and our subcontractors should get home safe from every job. Our health and safety management system is certified to ISO 45001 and is led by our Health and Safety Manager, Sarah Holt, who reports to our Operations Director, James Whitfield. Sarah is supported by a Health and Safety Adviser and a part-time administrator.

Site inspections

Sarah owns the inspection programme across our national portfolio of client sites. Inspections follow a schedule planned by region, and are carried out using our standard paper inspection checklists, with photographs taken on site. Completed checklists come back to head office and are tracked in our inspection spreadsheet.

Lone working

Engineers working alone phone the office to check in at the start of a job and check out when they finish. Check-ins and check-outs are logged by the office team.

Incidents and near misses

Engineers and subcontractors report incidents and near misses using our incident report form, which is sent to the Health and Safety team for review and follow up.

Hand arm vibration

Engineers using vibrating tools record their trigger times on paper exposure sheets, which supervisors collect and review. Exposure is managed against HSE action and limit values.

Audits

Our ISO 45001 certificate is due for recertification in March 2027, with a full audit by our certification body. Two of our largest clients also audit our health and safety performance every year as part of their contracts.

Working with our subcontractors

Around 90 subcontractor firms work with us across the UK. Our Supply Chain and Contractor Manager, Dean Okafor, approves every firm and manages their compliance.

What we need from every subcontractor

  • Current insurance certificates
  • Training and competence tickets for every operative
  • Risk assessments and method statements for the job
  • A valid permit to work for hot works, working at height, confined spaces and electrical isolation

How documents are managed

Subcontractors email their documents to our supply chain team, who save them to our shared drive. Permits and tickets are checked when operatives arrive on site, before any work starts.

Projects

Alongside maintenance, we deliver refurbishment and upgrade projects for existing clients, such as plant replacements, lighting upgrades and washroom refurbishments. Every project involves our engineers, subcontractors, the client’s facilities team and often the client’s consultants, so instructions, variations and approvals are agreed by email across many people.

Our team

James Whitfield

Operations Director

Responsible for our engineering workforce, client contracts and health and safety. James signs off investment in operational systems.

Helen Carter

Finance Director

Leads finance, procurement and insurance. Our financial year runs from April to March.

Sarah Holt

Health and Safety Manager

Owns health and safety across the group, including inspections and audits across our national portfolio of client sites and our ISO 45001 certification.

Dean Okafor

Supply Chain and Contractor Manager

Owns subcontractor onboarding and compliance across around 90 subcontractor firms.

Regional Operations Managers

London and South East, Midlands, North, South West and Wales, Scotland

Five Regional Operations Managers lead our engineers and supervisors in each region.

News

Preparing for ISO 45001 recertification in March

Our ISO 45001 certificate is up for recertification in March 2027. Sarah Holt and the Health and Safety team are working with every region to make sure inspection records, incident reports, lone working logs and subcontractor documents are complete and ready for the auditors.

A reminder for our subcontractors

Dean Okafor has asked every subcontractor to send insurances, tickets and permits ahead of each job. Too many operatives are still waiting on site while their paperwork is found and checked.

Getting better at keeping project records

After a refurbishment project where it took weeks to agree the final account, because the variations agreed with the client were spread across different people’s inboxes, we are reviewing how project emails and approvals are filed and shared.

Our plans for the year ahead

Our budget for the financial year to March 2027 is focused on our existing client contracts. James Whitfield confirmed that a review of how our engineers record safety checks and inspections will be considered in the budget for the following financial year, starting April 2027.

Careers

We are recruiting engineers and support staff across the UK.

Mobile Maintenance Engineer

Manchester hub, field based, full time, on call rota

Carry out reactive and planned maintenance across client sites in the North from your company van. You will often work alone, including out of hours, in plant rooms, basements, roof spaces and lift shafts, so you must follow our lone working check-in procedure on every job. Some repair work involves vibrating power tools.

Health and Safety Administrator

Milton Keynes head office, part time

Support our Health and Safety Manager by chasing and filing inspection checklists, photographs and incident reports from our regions, keeping our inspection spreadsheet up to date and helping prepare evidence for our March 2027 audit.

Project Administrator

Milton Keynes head office, full time

Keep track of project emails, client instructions, variations and approvals, so we always have a full record of what was agreed on every project.

Contact us

Head office

Wear & Tear Group
Unit 7, Marlow Court
Milton Keynes
Buckinghamshire
MK14 6XX

01632 960 400
hello@weartear-group.co.uk

Regional hubs

Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Glasgow

24/7 call-outs

Clients can log a call-out with our office at any time of day or night.