Letter Drops

Why Carry Out Letter Drops?

Letter drops are a really good way of keeping in touch with your site’s neighbours and keeping them informed about the work going on in their locality. If you want to do well on Considerate Constructors Scheme or NHBC Pride in the Job award you should seriously consider this sort of communications. They can be produced fairly quickly and, importantly, at minimum cost. You don’t need to be a literary genius to knock out a good letter but there are some basic rules to follow if you want to avoid a disaster. In addition, your letters advertise your company so it is important that they should present the organisation in the best possible light.

First of all, always follow your company’s procedures when producing letters for sending to the neighbours for instance some companies require all letter drops to be vetted by their public relations consultant before they go out. Similarly, always get your line manager to OK the content before sending it and always use your company’s branded letterhead rather than plain paper.

Planning Your Letter

Before you put pen to paper it is a good idea to plan your letter and a good structure to use is this:

Introduction
Body
Conclusion
Call to action
Thanks

The introduction should briefly introduce who you are and why you are writing. The body of the letter should consist of the detailed information that you want to give the reader. Then the conclusion should briefly sum up what you have written.

The call to action should state clearly what you want the neighbour to do: e.g. "vacate the parking areas by 9.00 am to allow white lining works to be carried out", and it is a good idea at this stage to include a contact number for the neighbour to call in case they have any queries.

Lastly always thank the recipient for their help.

The Basics

Keep the appearance simple. Use a plain modern font like Arial or Helvetica at 12 point size. (This may be the default setting on your computer anyway.). Avoid using technical jargon as your neighbours may not understand what a diaphragm wall or a pile cap is even if you do. And definitely avoid acronyms, (e.g. just using capitals only like PPE or DBM). OK there are a few acronyms you will get away with such as JCB but in the main they are best avoided.

If you are also including the site address in the letter along with your main office address then use the following Royal Mail approved format:

Mr Joseph Bloggs,

123 Acacia Drive,

ANYTOWN,

AN1 2BD.

Note that the town or city is written in capitals and the postcode is in bold.

Don’t forget to date your letter.

Start your letter "Dear Sir or Madam" and then on the next line include a title for your letter. Then include the detailed information that you want to get across to the recipient in the next paragraph and finally add the conclusion.

If the letter is just for information then you can end it there but if the neighbour is likely to be put to any inconvenience then ending with a brief apology will go a long way.

End your letter Yours faithfully (unless you are addressing it to a specific person in which case you use Yours sincerely). Some site managers like to paste in a small thumbnail photo of themselves after their signature but that is a matter of personal preference.

Suggestion

So to give you an idea of a good style to use here is one that I prepared earlier:

21st December 2050.

By hand.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re. Longard Chase Housing Development.

Works in the parking area rear of No.s 20 to 25.

I am writing to advise you about some works that we want to carry out on Monday 25th December 2050 in your parking area.

Although your parking area is substantially complete now we still have to apply the white lines which will mark out the parking bays. We would like to carry this work out on Monday next (25th December) but we will need the parking area to be clear of cars so that our operatives can complete the work. We think that the work will take about four hours. Could you please arrange to vacate the parking area before 9.00 am on that day.

Your cooperation with this would be much appreciated as it will enable us to carry out the work promptly with the minimum of inconvenience.

Should you have any questions about this please do call me on 012 345678. My apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. Many thanks for your help with this.

Yours faithfully,

D. Smith.

Assistant Site Manager.

N.B. But remember to make sure that your letter complies with your company procedures and if you are not familiar with those then check with your line manager.

When advising the length of time the work is going to take, try to over-estimate so you will finish early rather than under-estimating and risking finishing late.