Residence Life Work Orders
Residence Life Facilities handles the maintenance and repair associated with the department owned fixtures, furniture, equipment, and campus apartments/townhouses, residence halls, buildings, etc… under the department umbrella. All work orders are taken seriously, with safety and health issues receiving the highest priority. It is the responsibility of any student/resident, who notices a needed maintenance or repair work item, to complete a work order.
In case of emergency work requests such as flooding and/or safety concerns, residents should contact the On Call Duty phone, respective Resident Assistant (RA), Assistant Resident Director (ARD), or Area Coordinator (AC) immediately before putting in a work request.
Work orders submitted any time after 3:00pm on Friday or during the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) will be processed the following Monday. Work will be completed as soon as possible, but will be prioritized based on a campus-wide rationale, then sorted according to its urgency, type of repair, and date received.
As work orders are submitted on a daily basis, we are constantly prioritizing and re-prioritizing items needing our attention. Furthermore, there is a limited number of staff within the department available to respond. This may cause a delay in our ability to respond to your specifically reported issue as quickly as we like. The standard response time for a typical work order item is three (3) to five (5) working days. During peak periods such as move-in and move-out when there is a high volume of work order requests, this time period can be much longer.
One item to consider when placing a work order is that if the reported damage is normal wear and tear, there will be no charge to the resident. However, if the damage was caused by the resident, there may be a charge associated with the work order placed upon the account on or before move-out. Even if the work order was completed before final inspection, charges are still applied as applicable.
There are some facility issues which may be beyond the current scope of our trained, unionized personnel. In these situations, work is deferred to one of our partnered independent contractor agencies. Any delays in completion are directly associated with the scope of work and their ability to secure the needed materials in a timely manner. For “project” work requiring multiple trades and multiple days of attention, students will be notified in advance, when possible, of this necessary work to be completed.
Please alert your roommate(s)/apartment mates of a work order you have submitted so that multiple work orders are avoided and everyone is aware that maintenance staff may be entering the unit.
Normal Work Order Requests
When you are experiencing a mechanical problem or facility related problem within your residency, the first means of informing Housing of your issue is through a Work Order (MaxPanda). A Work Order is a request for work to be done in your residency. Your request is then reviewed for approval. Once approved, your request is officially considered a Work Order and is assigned to the appropriate technician (carpenter, plumber, repair, or electrician) who will address the problem.
You will not be able to schedule a work order response as the schedule of staff may vary depending upon the appropriate technician. Also for those that have approved ESA animals, please remember that it is required that the animal is contained and not loose in the apartment. Technicians may not be able to service a work order if the animal is not contained.
There are times when you may receive an email communication from either the Department of Residence Life, Facilities Manager, or the Assistant Director of Residence Life providing additional information, seeking additional information, or providing instructions on how to resolve the work request without the need to wait for staff to handle the matter for you.
Every time the work request has a change in status or is updated, an email with the change as well as any updated notes is sent to the person that submitted the work request (if they provided a working UIS email address). Be sure to include both your email and phone number for better communication about work requests.
Emergency and After Hour Call Outs
Emergency requests refer to repairs that are necessary to either eliminate a clear threat to life or safety or to prevent extensive building damage. (Please refer to the UIS Residence Life Community Handbook regarding emergency work orders.)
In case of an emergency, during normal business hours, contact the Residence Life Office at 206-6190.
After hours, call the Resident Assistant On Call (RAOC):
All numbers listed at your areas front desk.
The RAOC may be contacted directly or through the UIS Police non-emergency number at (217) 206-6690 if needed.
For emergencies that include life safety conditions, you should contact 911 or the UIS PD emergency number (217) 206-7777.
If it’s determined that your maintenance problem cannot wait until the next day, a member of our facilities team will be contacted to respond as soon as possible.
If it is discovered that repairs are necessary due to carelessness and/or neglect, a charge for the overtime labor (a minimum of 4-hours) and materials may be assessed.
What Happens When a Request is Made
Work Orders are prioritized based on the urgency of the situation. Some items will require a greater amount of attention, thus taking more time. When this happens, a delay in your request may occur. Keep in mind, an item you may consider urgent or an emergency, may not necessarily be so.
Submitting Multiple Work Orders
Submitting multiple Work Orders will not speed up your request. On the contrary, it will slow down the efforts of the facilities staff by creating additional administrative work. When you submit more than one work order in a short period of time, we have no way of knowing if the problem has escalated to something more severe or if there is a communication error on the part of the occupants in the residency. This causes us to research the problem further wasting time hunting for a problem which may have already been reported or recently resolved. Please alert your roommate(s)/apartment mates of a work order you have submitted.
Multiple Problems in Your Residency
Not all items inside your residency will be handled by one person during a single visit. Plumbers do not handle electrical work and carpenters do not handle plumbing issues. Please complete an individual work order for each problem in your residence.
Recommendations
When you submit a work order, it is important to provide your name, phone number, and university email in case staff cannot locate your issues and will need to call or email you for assistance.
You do not need to provide instructions on how to solve the problem or an opinion of what you think is needed to correct the issue. Our trained staff will know what to do once they arrive and investigate the issue. However what you can provide is a a brief but detailed description of the problem. It is important you provide accurate details so facilities staff will know how to respond.
Some examples of how to describe a problem are listed below:
Good – “The toilet in upstairs bathroom is not flushing when you use the handle. Handle appears to be broken.”
Not So Good – “The toilet is broken”
Good – “Window is leaking cold air after I’ve closed and secured it.”
Not So Good – “Window is broken.”
Good – “Front door deadbolt lock is not working properly. I cannot lock the door from the outside.”
Not So Good – “The lock is busted and won’t work.”
Good – “Blinds do not open or close with plastic rod.”
Not So Good – “Blinds are all broken.”