When you own an office, brick and mortar shop, or any kind of commercial property, maintenance may not be at the top of your to-do list, even when it should be. When small business owners are constantly inundated with new tasks and problems to solve, a rattling air conditioner doesn’t register as a priority.
As a result, property maintenance problems tend to accumulate over time until they become expensive and impossible to ignore. Still, it can be incredibly difficult to schedule mundane checkups into your busy schedule, especially when it comes to more intricate systems like HVAC or electrical work. Severe property maintenance problems can lead to loss of income from office closures, costly repairs, and service interruption.
Property maintenance issues are everywhere. If you own or use property to conduct or facilitate business, sooner or later something will break or need to be replaced. Routine maintenance, as much of a nuisance as it may seem, can help prevent larger problems from manifesting and interrupting your business operations.
So, the question is what can be done to make handling routine maintenance easier for you and your business?
Delegate, Delegate, Delegate!
Do you have an on-site assistant or operations manager? If so, program some time for them to review routine maintenance needs within your office space on a weekly or monthly basis and have them record any outliers in a written report. This will not only help you be aware of the space you’re working out of but will provide you with a written record of when problems were identified and addressed. Include routine maintenance jobs like changing air conditioner filters, lightbulbs, pest control, leaks/water damage, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and any cosmetic issues like paint wear or discoloration.
There are subscription services available for those who forget to change HVAC filters and even the batteries in appliances, that allow customers to set delivery frequency. When the items arrive at your door – you’ll know it’s time to perform maintenance. Other routine tasks, like pest control, may require external assistance but you can make monthly or quarterly arrangements with pest control companies to come in with minimal interference.
Those who are interested in creating their own pest control company should use innovative pest control software and other programs. Not only will they help you stimulate pest control business growth, but they’ll also give you more free time to focus on other tasks.
You don’t have to handle every task yourself. Leave the routine check-ups to an employee and only make decisions when problems arise. This will save you time and money in the long run.
What About When Things Aren’t Routine?
What happens when you walk into your office in the morning to find that a pipe has burst and is threatening to cover your entire workspace with water and questionable particulates? Emergency problems such as this are not the kind of property maintenance that can be corrected without a licensed professional.
In these types of dire situations, it’s important to have immediate access to pros in your area who can get to your business or storefront quickly. If you call a standard plumber, you’ll more than likely be given a timeframe in which they’ll arrive – and it’s never a short window. If you call an emergency plumber, after-hours or emergency fees will send the cost of repairs soaring. Many small business owners can’t afford to pay the astronomical rates of after-hours repairs, nor can they afford to wait 4-6 hours for a technician to arrive on site. Luckily, there is another option.
Consider On-Demand Property Maintenance
As the name implies, on-demand property service is built to get you the professional support you need at a time that is most convenient for you. Here’s how it works: Rather than interfacing with just one handyman who may or may not have time in the schedule to take your job, on-demand services leverage their own full networks of handymen, electricians, plumbers and HVAC techs who are standing by to help you when your schedule allows.
You make your request and then the closest, most qualified professional accepts your request for service. This cuts through the noise and matches you with someone who has the experience, expertise, and availability to take care of your project. Gone are the days of having to make a bunch of calls to find someone who can help you and then close the office early only to sit around waiting for the handyman all afternoon.
If you could schedule the professional repairs and inspections that you need at a time that would work for you – wouldn’t that make staying on top of routine and non-so-routine maintenance so much easier?
By The HOMEE Team HOMEE On Demand is an app that provides immediate 24/7 access to a network of vetted home service providers, making it easy and convenient to handle property maintenance - at the tap of a button.