As Multi-Trade Handyperson & Facilities Lead you will be most of the week on the tools, with half a day running quotes, contractors and compliance.
Location: five small bilingual Montessori nurseries across London — Angel, Crouch Hill, Paddington, Tufnell Park and West Hampstead (travel between sites required)
Contract type: permanent
Hours: Full-time (some evening / school-holiday working for disruptive works)
Holidays: 25 days + bank holidays
Salary £40,000 – £50,000 per annum FTE (pro-rata if part-time), depending on experience
About the role
Les Petites Étoiles (LPE) runs five bilingual Montessori nurseries across London. We are looking for a Multi-Trade Handyperson & Facilities Lead to keep all five sites safe, compliant and well-maintained.
Your week: urgent fixes first, always worked around the children; planned jobs batched site by site; a protected admin slot for quotes, compliance records and the maintenance plan; disruptive works saved for closure weeks.
You will be carrying out repairs and improvements across the nurseries yourself. Alongside the practical work, you will be getting quotes, appointing and overseeing specialist contractors, and running larger projects through to completion.
Key responsibilities
Hands-on maintenance (in-house)
- Carry out routine repairs and improvements across all sites such as carpentry, minor plumbing, painting and decorating, and fixing doors, floors, frames, shelving and fittings, etc
- Maintain external areas and structures, such as treating and oiling outdoor woodwork, sheds and fencing; repairing canopies; and clearing gutters and roof drainage, etc.
- Respond promptly to requests logged by nursery managers, prioritising anything that is a health-and-safety issue.
- Respond to out-of-hours and emergency call-outs, and carry out work that cannot be done safely while children are present (evenings, weekends or school holidays as needed).
- Triage incoming jobs and decide what can be done in-house versus what needs a specialist.
Projects, procurement & contractor management
- Scope larger and capital works; obtain and compare multiple quotes; and make clear recommendations to the Directors.
- Appoint, brief, supervise and sign off specialist contractors such as — commercial kitchen extraction and ventilation, air conditioning (F-gas), roofing, glazing, electrical, plumbing and general builders, etc.
- Plan and sequence disruptive works around nursery opening hours, using school-holiday windows or weekends wherever possible.
- Keep projects on time and on budget, and keep the Directors updated on progress.
Compliance, consents & safety
- Ensure all regulated work is carried out by suitably certified trades (Gas Safe, NICEIC / Part P, F-gas, working at height, etc) — never self-performed.
- Coordinate statutory and landlord processes: planning permission, Building Control, Licences to Alter, and Fire Risk Assessment actions.
- Help keep premises compliant for Ofsted and health-and-safety requirements, and maintain records, certificates and warranties.
Systems, budgets & communication
- Own and keep up to date the maintenance tracking system (currently Trello) across all sites.
- Create and maintain a planned (preventive) maintenance programme across all five sites, scheduling recurring checks and servicing so problems are caught early.
- Track spend against budget and flag variances early.
- Build good working relationships with nursery managers, the existing part-time facilities colleague, contractors, landlords and the Directors.
Working as a team
- Work within a small facilities team which consists of this role and one other part-time person.
- Take primary responsibility for quotes, procurement, contractor oversight and project management, and coordinate and support colleagues so that a hands-on colleague can concentrate on practical work.
- Get the best value from in-house time — deciding what the team handles directly and what is better sent to a specialist.
Person specification
Essential
- Proven hands-on maintenance / trades background with a broad practical skill set.
- Experience managing building or refurbishment projects: scoping, quoting, and appointing and supervising contractors.
- Basic knowledge of plumbing, carpentry and decorating,
- Sound working understanding of building compliance — Building Regulations, planning, and fire-safety basics.
- Highly organised and self-managing; able to run several sites and priorities independently.
- Good communicator and record-keeper; comfortable with simple digital tools (e.g. Trello, email, spreadsheets).
- Full UK driving licence.
- Enhanced DBS check (or willingness to obtain one) and an awareness of safeguarding in a childcare setting.
Equal Opportunities
We are an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified applicants equally regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or disability status.
