If you’re a business owner, there’s no doubt that you have a lot to keep up with. You’ve got to make sure that your operation is running smoothly. You’ve got to make sure that you have enough inventory. You got to make sure all of your employees are doing what they’re supposed to be doing.
For even the most successful business owners, business repairs and maintenance might be one of the last things on their minds. But if you run a successful business, there’s no question you need to take business maintenance very seriously. Even the smoothest of operations has things go wrong sometimes and you need to keep up with everything going on in and around your building.
In some cases, ignoring regular business repairs and maintenance can actually get business owners in trouble because they may be violating the terms of their lease agreement. But perhaps more importantly, by ignoring needed maintenance and repairs, business owners risk putting themselves out of business. If there are concerns about electric safety, structural problems and other issues, businesses can be closed for a long time, if not permanently shut down.
So what kind of business repairs and maintenance do you need to do? What do you need to be looking for? The best thing you can do is to be vigilant and constantly monitor things instead of waiting for maintenance problems to present themselves.
Make A Checklist
One of the first steps you need to take if you’re going to be serious about regular building maintenance is to make a maintenance checklist. Really take some time to think about your building and what needs to be fixed, changed, or just flat out replaced. It’s true that every building a business resides in is different as are the location of the business and the climate that business is in. But making a checklist ensures that nothing gets overlooked and allows you to prioritize maintenance, especially if you’re on a limited budget where maintenance may have to be done in stages.
That being said, here are a few things you need to throw in your checklist, depending on the season.
In the spring, you need to:
- Have your building’s HVAC ducts inspected for any dust buildup.
- Have your building’s air conditioning units serviced by a commercial air conditioning unit maintenance service.
- Prep for any landscaping projects by having trees trimmed, grass mowed, and gardens landscaped.
- Get your grass and plants on a watering schedule.
- Inspect your building’s outdoor lighting for any damage that may have been sustained during winter.
In the summertime, you need to:
- Have debris cleaned from your building’s roof and have it inspected for damage.
- Have your building’s drains cleared and gutters cleaned.
- Have your building’s windows inspected to make sure they are operating efficiently.
- Have the condition of your building’s parking lot inspected, especially the asphalt striping and any signs that are in the parking lot.
- Have your building’s structure inspected, especially for any spots of rust, rot, or peeling paint.
In the fall, you need to:
- Have fallen leaves raked and removed.
- Have your building’s boiler or furnace serviced.
- Have your building’s plumbing fixtures inspected for any leaks by a local plumber.
- You also might want to mark your building’s driveways or streets with steaks for snowplows so it’s easier for them to remove snow when winter comes.
As you can see, it’s important to create a checklist for every season of the year, but perhaps more importantly, you need to establish a regular maintenance schedule so you know how to keep your business running as efficiently as possible.
Practice Regular Maintenance
So what does a regular maintenance schedule look like? It includes anything and everything that has to do with your business.
Fix Your Lights
If you notice there are burned out lightbulbs in your business office and on the outside of your business office, put in a call to commercial electricians to come and replace any bulb that’s burnt out. If it’s been years since your business has replaced lights, electricians can replace all of them with newer, more energy-efficient bulbs.
Have Your HVAC System Checked
You need to periodically have your office’s HVAC system’s filters replaced and not just in the summertime. Sometimes the most important part of having business repair and maintenance done is doing preventative maintenance. So by enlisting the services of a commercial cooling company or a commercial heating company, you can have your HVAC system serviced and not be left out in cold during winter or dreading the heat in the dog days of summer.
Test Your Alarms
You’ll also want to have your office fire alarms tested on a regular basis. You never know when an emergency situation is going to occur and when it does, you want to make sure you and your employees know. Call an alarm company and have your alarms checked. This is yet another important preventative maintenance that doesn’t take long to do.
Check The Roof
Whether you’re talking about a home or a business, a roof is one of the most parts of either structure. Therefore, when you’re making a checklist for business repairs and maintenance, a roof inspection needs to be near the top of the list.
By contacting local roofing contractors, you can have your roof inspected for leaks, sagging spots and even missing shingles, depending on the type of roof your business has. If you work in a warehouse, for example, your business might have a metal roof, but if your business is in a traditional brick-and-mortar storefront or even out of your house, you may have a different kind of roof that needs maintenance.
Check Your Safety Measures
Another item near the top of your checklist needs to be making sure that all of your building’s safety equipment and safety protocols are up to OHSA standards. If fall prevention devices and safety equipment are outdated, make a point to get new equipment. It doesn’t pay to short change employees, especially when it comes to safety.
Check Your Doors And Locks
On your list of necessary business repairs and maintenance, don’t forget to have a locksmith come and check the condition of your building’s doors and locks. These days, businesses are all about safety and security and no safety measure should be overlooked. If your building has a few loose locks in the back where employees can easily open and close doors without a key, have the locks maintenanced or even changed. The same measures should be applied to your doors. Have professionals check them out so that when they close, they’re actually closed.
Manage Your Budget
In an ideal world, everyone would have a limitless budget to make and do any and all necessary business repairs and maintenance. But not all businesses have that luxury and it’s important that you think of your company’s overall budget as you make a to-do list.
One of the best things you can do is identify essential assets and monitor them. If you own a manufacturing company, for example, it’s inevitable that eventually some of the equipment is going to age and need to be replaced. By monitoring the functionality of the equipment, you can make a better decision when it comes time for maintenance. You may determine that a particular piece of equipment can be serviced and will continue to function normally or you may decide that getting new equipment is the way to go. Ultimately, you’re trying to make the best decision for your money and get the most bang for your buck.
Follow Through On Your Lists
Making checklists for all necessary business repairs and maintenance is a good idea, but you need to follow through on those lists, especially if you’re one of the 28 million small businesses in the United States and you’re looking to stay ahead of your competition.
Run Checks
While there are a number of maintenance tasks that require an expert’s touch, there are many that can be done very easily. The key is running regular checks so that small problems don’t turn into larger ones down the road. Take your office piping for example. A small rust spot might not seem like much to start with, but over time that rust spot can grow and lead to a larger issue.
That is just a small example of why you need to look for things like slow drips, rust spots, and even brown patches of grass. By identifying issues, you can cut them off at the pass.
Don’t Ignore Repairs
Any problem is a lot easier to handle when it is tackled head-on. If you notice for example that you’ve got leaking in various spots around the office, call commercial plumbing services. It could be that a few fittings are loose, but ignoring that issue if you see it can lead to pipes bursting down the road and much bigger issues to deal with, and more money to spend for repairs. Again, there’s nothing wrong with spending some money to do some necessary preventative maintenance.
Leave Repairs To The Pros
If you’re a handyman who can fix just about anything at home, you might think you can apply your skills to your business office. While this is admirable, it’s not the best idea. Just because you replace some shingles on your roof at home doesn’t mean you can patch up your office roof. Instead, leave roofing repairs to commercial roofing companies that have experience working with all kinds of businesses.
As accomplished as you may feel when you complete a DIY project at home, trying to do the same thing and have the same results at your business office takes away time you could be spending improving your business. Even the smallest jobs concerning business repairs and maintenance should be left to professionals because ultimately it’s better to have a job done right than not at all.
Monitor Your Business Environment
It’s important to have business repairs and maintenance done regularly, especially when it comes to the inner-workings of your business. But don’t forget about your day-to-day maintenance either. If your business has a storefront, you need to make sure that the storefront looks presentable and inviting to customers.
What does that mean for your business? Let’s say that you run a candy shop. That means before customers walk in, you need to make sure the floors are clean, the counters are spic-and-span, and that your place is enticing to customers. When customers walk in, they want to see what you’ve put care into making your business look great in addition to offering a great product.
Freshen Things Up
Part of good business repairs and maintenance is not being afraid to change things up every now and then. Have professionals give the outside of your business a good power washing and then slap a new coat of paint on it. You’ll be amazed at how much a new coat of paint can make your business look like you’re brand-new and just opening for business.
If you really want to freshen things up, try planting some flowers. Whether you have a big business complex or a small storefront, adding some plants and flowers can make your business look that much more inviting. If you’ve got a larger property, have professional landscapers do some necessary commercial garden irrigation to help ensure the long term health of what you have planted. If you have a smaller area to work with, this is one project you might be able to do on your own. You can buy some wood chips for sale, some annuals or semi annuals, and plant them to brighten up your business.
Pay Attention
No matter how many checklists you make or what business repairs and maintenance you have done, the most important thing you can do is pay attention. Keep a sharp eye out for little things around the office, even if they seem inconsequential at first. It pays to pay attention and by paying attention to the little things and having professionals come in and do any necessary repairs, you can stop working about business maintenance and get back to making your business the best it can be.
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