Brand Assets

Associated logos

Under the SES umbrella is a range of associated brands. Here are some of the most commonly-used ones.

Accreditation logos

SES Home Services is proud to be accredited by a number of leading industry organisations. These logos should be used on documentation in the footer to demonstrate the professional standards we uphold and demonstrate our compliance.

SES Home Services holds the current accreditations:

• Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors

• British Safety Council

• Gas Safe Registered

• Lloyd’s Register EMEA

• National Association of Drainage Contractors

• SafeContractor

• Water Safe

Sister company logos

SES Home Services is a part of a wider organisation called East Surrey Holdings Limited, which includes five other sister companies. As a brand it is important for customers to know that we are a part of a large reputable organisation so they can feel reassured that they are in safe hands with a long standing professional organisation. Our sister companies are:

• Advanced Materials

• Allmat

• SES Business Water

• SES Water

• Surrey Downs Property Investments Limited

Printed Material

Written voice

Creating bespoke communications

Proofing

Business cards

Letterheads

Compliment slip

A5 Flyer

A4 Flyer

Document folder

A3 Poster

Document covers

Brochure cover

Exhibition banner

Advertising

Written voice

We refer to ourselves always as ‘SES Home Services’ in full. ‘Home Services’ is two words and always prefixed with SES.

We’re never ‘SES’ or ‘SES HS’ or any other abbreviation. We always capitalise the H in ‘Home’ and the S in ‘Services’.

When writing, use an active voice. This is when the subject of the sentence does the action. In passive voice, the subject of the sentence has the action done to it. For example:

Mrs Carey logged a claim

A claim was logged by Mrs Carey Words like “was” and “by” may indicate that you’re writing in passive voice.

One exception is when you want to specifically emphasise the action over the subject. In some cases, this is fine.

For example “Your account was flagged by our renewals team.”

Focus your message

Think like a newspaper editor - you need to get the most important message across first and foremost. You can achieve this by creating a hierarchy of information.

Lead with the main point or the most important content, in sentences, paragraphs, sections, and pages.

Capitalisation

We use different forms of capitalisation. Title case capitalises the first letter of every word except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. Sentence case capitalises the first letter of the first word. When writing an email address or URL, use lowercase.

bob.the.builder@seshomeservices.co.uk

Don’t capitalise random words in the middle of sentences.

Abbreviations and acronyms

If there’s a chance your reader won’t recognise an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out the first time you mention it, then use the short version for all other references. If the abbreviation isn’t clearly related to the full version, specify in parentheses.

Write for all readers

Some people read every word you write, others just skim. By grouping related ideas together and using descriptive headers and sub-headers, you can ensure everyone understands what you are telling them.

Consistency

When writing, it is good to keep consistency with how we write dates, numerals, and punctuation. Here are some tips to remember: Contractions - they’re great! They give your writing an approachable and friendly tone. Percentages - use the % symbol instead of spelling out “percent”.

Dates - generally, spell out the day of the week and the month. Abbreviate only if space is an issue.

& - please use ‘and’ instead of ‘&’.

Exclamation marks

Use exclamation marks sparingly and never more than one at a time. They’re like highfives: A well-timed one is great but too many can be annoying. If you are using them to make your writing sound exciting, go back and change the language to be more exciting not the punctuation.

Never use exclamation marks in failure messages or alerts. When in doubt, avoid.

Numbers

Spell out a number when it begins a sentence. Otherwise, use the numeral. “Ten new employees started on Monday and 12 start next week.”

If it’s an expression that typically uses spelled-out numbers, leave them that way.

Ranges and spans

Use a hyphen (-) to indicate a range or span of numbers. It takes 20-30 days.

Time

Use numerals and am or pm, with a space in between. Don’t use minutes for on-the hour time. Use a hyphen between times to indicate a time period.

Plain English

The Plain English Campaign was set up in 1979 and believes that everyone should have access to clear and concise information. At every moment you should take the opportunity to write for everyone, simply and to the point. This is how we will build trust with our customers.

We follow the principles of the Plain English Campaign, outlined on the right.

Grammar

We value good grammar but don’t get caught up in the myths. You can start a sentence with: and, but, because, so or however.

You can split infinitives. So you can say “to boldly go.” You can end a sentence with a preposition. In fact, it is something we should stand up for. And you can use the same word twice in a sentence if you can’t find a better word.

Remember:

Use short sentences. Use active verbs. Clear use of ‘you’ and ‘we’. Use the simplest words that are fit for purpose.

Give instructions when needed.

Legal content

The way we write, review, and publish legal and contractual content is different to other written comms at SES Home Services. The most important difference is that all legal content either starts with or passes through our underwriter for checking.

This doesn’t mean legal content has to be difficult to read. Compliance doesn’t have to mean complicated. Try to remember not to use the need to be compliant as an excuse to use jargon.

Accuracy

Our first and foremost concern is that we present the correct information in a truthful way.

Clarity

We try to avoid legal jargon and overly formal wording. Our customers need to understand the agreement they’re making with us.

Time

Use numerals and am or pm, with a space in between. Don’t use minutes for on-the hour time. Use a hyphen between times to indicate a time period.

Succinctness

We want our customers to read and understand our legal documents whilst also respecting their time.

Technical content

Someone reading technical content is usually looking to answer a specific question. That question might be broad or narrowly focused but either way our goal is to provide answers without distraction.

We don’t want to overload our customers with unnecessary information, choices or complex ideas or phrases when we don’t have to. This is particularly critical when a customer may be new and/or frustrated.

Simple rules to follow when talking technical

Stay relevant to the title of the content.

Emphasise that we have the right tools for the job. Keep headlines and paragraphs short and scannable.

Use second person and describe actions to a customer. Strive for simplicity and clarity. Provide context through images, videos, and graphics.