Just like any investment, every firm requires regular attention and care. But many firms wait to spend time and money on their facility until it’s an absolute necessity.
    When this happens, the cost is almost always more than if the problem had been addressed at first notice. Not to mention, waiting until there is no choice could affect normal business operations, resulting in additional costs.
    Not only does timely attention and care keep a facility attractive and presentable, but it also helps prevent accidents. And accidents resulting in injured people could have an adverse effect on insurance rates for both GL and workers’ compensation.
    The following steps can help protect your investment in your business:

• Consider paying a home inspector to check your business every five years. The inspector can inspect the roof, electrical, plumbing, foundation and much more. This will aid in budgeting for expenditures along with correcting areas before they cost more or cause damage to your facilities.
• Start a maintenance file for your building, equipment and autos. Maintain a list of all maintenance, repairs and who did the work. This documentation can be very beneficial when different people handle the maintenance or don’t know the history of past maintenance and repairs.
• Develop a list of the contractors/service people who do the work for your business. This list needs to be available to staff, so when something needs immediate attention the correct person can be contacted. For example, if your sound system stopped working and there was a service in a few hours, a staff member could call and hopefully have it fixed before the service started.
• The normal maintenance must be routine. Every firm should have maintenance checklists that document what must be done, as well as corresponding documentation of when a service was performed and by whom.
• Annually, create a capital expenditure list with budgeted funds, along with a contingency fund for emergency repairs.
• Maintain a file for future maintenance and repairs; often we walk past or are told of areas that need repairs in the next few years, but we forget. By keeping a file, these areas can be reviewed on a regular basis.
• Watch for water. Water is one of the top causes of damage to businesses, so it important to keep it out of your buildings. Water damage can come from different sources such as bad roofs, ice build up on the roof, clogged drains and old water heaters that should have been replaced.
• Do preventive maintenance now; these small fixes can help prevent larger ones that could be more costly in the future.

    Remember the old idiom “penny wise and pound foolish” because doing something small now could alleviate major problems in years to come.