Students who want their cracked floor repaired must log on to the Web to request service from GW. The University stopped taking non-emergency phone requests this year in order to improve maintenance response times, GW officials said.
The service, which is available at all times, will be more convenient for students because they no longer have to wait for their residence hall office to open, said Courtney Flaherty, associate director of Property Management Services.
Students should use the online maintenance request for non-emergency maintenance requests, such as floor repair, appliance repair and light bulb replacement, Flaherty said.
All emergency maintenance, such as clogged toilets and loss of air conditioning or heating, should still be reported to residence hall offices or to a community facilitator, according to the Residence Hall Maintenance Request Guide.
The new online system is designed to improve communication between students and Facilities Management, the office in charge of making repairs, Property Management officials said.
Sometimes if a part is needed, that information doesn’t always get back to the requester, said Michael Peller, managing director for Property Management and Real Estate.
The online system will give students feedback about their maintenance requests, Peller said.
Students can make requests by completing an online form explaining the nature and location of a problem. Residence hall staff members and Property Management assistants look over the form before they pass it on to Facilities Management.
Student Property Management assistants hold regular office hours in residence halls and act as a liaison between students and Facilities Management workers.
When a maintenance request is 10 days old, the Property Management assistants call the student who placed the request to ensure the maintenance repair has been completed, said Abbey Rathweg, a Property Management assistant in Munson Hall.
There will be consistent follow-up, Flaherty said. (It’s) a new element that was not done before.
Students said the new system could work if GW handles requests efficiently.
I think (the new system) can work if people are monitoring it all the time, said Heather King, a junior in Munson Hall who plans to use the online form to request maintenance on her stove. It never hurts to have someone backing up departments.
Flaherty said she could not determine the number of requests that have been placed online this year, but students are quickly grasping the Web site concept and putting it to use.
Students can submit requests at gwired.gwu.edu/fixit.
