Insights — Grhum

Case file 01Insurance · escape of water · Greater Manchester

Family of five, a burst pipe and a school run that could not change.

The brief: A loss adjuster called at 16:40 on a Friday. Ground floor uninhabitable, two children at a primary school in Sale, the youngest with a nursery place a mile away, one dog. Reinstatement estimated at 14 weeks.
What we did: No hotel. A three-bedroom house in Sale was contracted and cleaned by Saturday afternoon; the family slept in it that night. Contents storage was booked through a removals partner on the Monday. Two extensions when the drying-out overran, both agreed as date changes.
The result: One property for the whole claim, one invoice per month to the insurer, no school moves.

22 hcall to keys

19 wkssingle placement

0moves or hotel nights

Case file 02Emergency & decant · fire · South London housing association

Four households out of a converted house by 2am; all rehoused within 72 hours.

The brief: A kitchen fire on the top floor of a converted house left all four flats unsafe to reoccupy until the shared stair had been inspected and made good. The housing officer rang the duty desk at 01:50 with four households on the pavement, one with mobility needs and one with a newborn.
What we did: Hotel rooms held within twenty minutes so nobody spent the night on the pavement. By Sunday evening three households were in serviced flats within two miles; the step-free requirement took a further day to source and contract, so that household had a second hotel night. Welfare calls at 24 and 72 hours, then weekly.
The result: Everyone stayed in the same borough, the same GP and the same schools. The house reopened after nine weeks; three households moved straight back and one chose to stay on and was handed over to a tenancy.

4households

1–2hotel nights, then a home

72 hto full decant

Case file 03Insurance · surge event · West Yorkshire

Nine households from two streets in one week after the river came up.

The brief: Two insurers instructed us on the same Monday after flooding along the Calder. Most households wanted to stay within walking distance of the affected streets; the nearest hotels were already full of contractors.
What we did: We contracted four new properties in the valley within five days and used existing stock in Halifax and Huddersfield for the rest. Every household had a named coordinator and a welfare call inside 48 hours; pets and parking were the two questions that decided most placements.
The result: Eight of nine placed within seven days; the last, with an adapted-bathroom need, within twelve. Average stay 21 weeks, all billed on the insurers' own claim references.

9households

4properties contracted in 5 days

8 of 9placed inside a week

Case file 04Corporate relocation · financial services · Belfast

A graduate intake of six, landed and settled before induction week.

The brief: A firm expanding its Belfast office needed six graduates housed for their first ninety days, arriving over two weekends from three countries, with a fixed policy band per person and a single monthly invoice to HR.
What we did: Two shared apartments in the Cathedral Quarter, both within a fifteen-minute walk of the office, contracted for the full quarter. Arrivals met at the door, Wi-Fi and a proof-of-address letter for the bank on day one, and a WhatsApp line for the group.
The result: All six in post on day one. Four asked for help finding a longer tenancy at the end of the ninety days and were handed to partner letting agents; the client booked the same arrangement for the following intake.

6graduates

90days, one invoice a month

4handed to tenancies

Case file 05Construction & industrial · nuclear · Suffolk coast

Eighteen M&E operatives on a 3-on/1-off rotation, priced at tender stage.

The brief: A subcontractor bidding for a package on a new-build nuclear site wanted an accommodation budget it could stand behind: eighteen operatives, three weeks on and one off, forty minutes maximum from the gate, drying rooms and van parking essential.
What we did: An indicative budget in 24 hours and a firm rate card at award. We took six houses in Leiston and Saxmundham on direct agreements, arranged so the off-week was never paid for, with one purchase order and a weekly bed-night report to the site office.
The result: Occupancy ran at 92% against the contracted beds across the ten-month package; the client's commercial team reported accommodation at 5% under the tendered figure.

18operatives

6houses, one PO

-5%against tendered budget

Case file 06Construction & industrial · offshore wind · Humber

A Portuguese blade-repair crew of six housed in their own language, forty-eight hours from the call.

The brief: An operations and maintenance base needed six technicians for an unscheduled campaign, arriving in two days. None spoke confident English; the site manager wanted the booking, the house rules and the support line in Portuguese.
What we did: Two three-bedroom houses in Grimsby within twenty minutes of the quay, welcome packs and check-in instructions in Portuguese, and the duty desk briefed on the crew's shift pattern so calls at 05:00 were expected rather than a surprise.
The result: The campaign extended twice, from four weeks to nine, without a move. One further campaign booked on the same terms since.

6technicians

48 hcall to arrival

2campaigns, same houses

Case file 07NHS & healthcare · international recruitment · East Midlands trust

Eight overseas nurses, one cohort, placed together and still in post a year later.

The brief: An acute trust recruiting from overseas wanted a cohort of eight housed for the first three months within walking distance of the hospital, on the healthcare tariff, invoiced to the trust rather than to individuals who had not yet opened a UK bank account.
What we did: Three shared flats within a mile of the main entrance, arrivals staggered over two weekends and met at the airport by the trust with our address packs. No deposit, bills inside the rate, and a Sunday-evening WhatsApp check-in for the first six weeks.
The result: All eight passed their OSCE and started on the wards; seven were still with the trust at twelve months. Five were helped into private tenancies through partner letting agents when the three months ended.

8clinicians

< 1 milefrom the ward

7 of 8retained at 12 months

Case file 08TV & film · returning drama · Antrim coast

A unit of twenty-four on a coast with little bed stock, housed for a five-week block.

The brief: A production coordinator for a returning series needed cast and crew tiers within forty minutes of a rural unit base for five weeks, with weather cover extensions likely, kit storage, and every line cost-coded to the production's accounts system.
What we did: Nine properties across Ballycastle, Bushmills and Portrush, split by tier: two cottages for cast, shared houses for crew, and serviced apartments for daily crew and visiting cast. A block-extension rate agreed up front so weather days were a phone call, not a renegotiation.
The result: One weather extension taken, not disputed. Accommodation closed 3% under the line producer's estimate and the series booked its next block through the same desk.

24cast and crew

9properties, three tiers

1extension, no dispute

Case file 09Holiday & long stays · family sabbatical · Edinburgh

A family of four for a five-month stay, then a tenancy without a move in between.

The brief: A family relocating from Toronto for a university post wanted a home from August, near a particular primary school, with the option to stay on if the city suited them. They did not want to move twice.
What we did: A three-bedroom flat in Marchmont on a monthly rate stepping down at month two and month four, a proof-of-address letter for the school enrolment supplied on our headed paper, and a partner letting agent introduced in month three.
The result: The family took the same flat on a twelve-month private residential tenancy through the agent. No second move, no second set of deposits, and the owner kept a tenant they already knew.

5 moserviced stay

1home, then tenancy

0moves

Case file 10Emergency & decant · planned works · Glasgow

A phased decant of twelve households for external works, on a fixed programme budget.

The brief: A housing provider carrying out external and window works on a low-rise block needed tenants out floor by floor over twelve weeks: one or two households moving each Monday, two with care packages that could not be interrupted, and a budget fixed at the start of the programme.
What we did: A rolling pool of four serviced flats within the same postcode district, each turned around and cleaned between households, care providers given the new addresses a week ahead, and a single weekly report to the project manager showing who was where.
The result: Twelve households moved out and back on schedule; the programme closed within 2% of the original accommodation budget and no care visit was missed.

12households

12 wksphased programme

+2%against fixed budget

Client names, property addresses, guest names, contractors and other parties are withheld throughout, and figures that could identify a household are rounded. Each file shows how a placement of that kind runs from the first call to the last invoice.

Somewhere
tonight.

Insurance claims

Emergency & decant

Corporate relocation

Construction & industrial

NHS & healthcare

TV & film production

Holiday & long stays

Grhum Travel Solutions

What we'velearned placingpeople.

The long reads.

The alternative accommodation process, start to finish

Costing accommodation at tender stage

Bringing a European crew into a UK site

Serviced apartment or tenancy?

Housing incoming overseas clinicians

Housing a unit where there are no hotels

Surge events: placing nine households in one week

How the placements actually ran.

The questions we get asked.

How fast can you place someone?

Do you own the properties?

Who do you invoice?

Send us the requirement.

Fires and floods don't wait for Monday.

136 locations. Five nations. One phone call.