COVID-19 presented plenty of upsets for brick-and-mortar businesses. But as stay-at-home orders are lifted and consumers start venturing out again, it’s best to have a fresh and well-maintained place of business. Check out our post-coronavirus spring maintenance plan in this article, and print a checklist here.
Spring Maintenance After Coronavirus
Facility maintenance is an ongoing task every year, but this year it’s a lot more important. After the pandemic, your customers will be hyper-aware of cleanliness and personal safety. They’ll be looking more critically at brick-and-mortar businesses, particularly those that serve food or offer personal services like salons, spas, barbershops, and the like.
- Coming out of Coronavirus, we can expect that if a customer is standing in line (like in a bank or gas station), they’ll be looking for safety and cleanliness issues.
Furthermore, there’s a good chance some of your competitors have decided to shutter their doors forever or retire early. It can mean new business for you if your shop is attractive and safe!
But there are more reasons to ensure your business space is well-maintained. We’re talking about insurance risks and employee safety.
The Value of Spring Maintenance — From Your Commercial Insurer’s Perspective
While Coronavirus lockdowns meant a drop in commercial auto insurance claims and common commercial injury claims (like the slip, trip, and falls), we can expect consumers to be feeling exhilarated to be outdoors and back to normal life! And who can blame them?
But that good-natured exhilaration and excitement might lead to poor choices and rowdy behavior, and those things come with a risk for insurance claims and even insurance fraud. Let’s be honest. It wouldn’t be the first time someone broke a bone elsewhere, but came into a business and threw themselves on the floor crying injury.
Insurance underwriters and inspectors know what’s about to happen. As a business owner, you can be confident that commercial insurance companies are sending out inspectors looking for potential hazards that should be fixed before they lead to a host of claims. They’ll be looking at your landscaping and tree branches in particular, as falling tree branches lead to damage claims and injuries, and tree limbs touching a roof are genuine fire hazards.
Other commercial insurance inspection points include:
- Visible exterior dampness, rot, and mold
- Standing water or flooding
- Cracked or raised concrete walkways
- Trash, boxes or anything stacked against an outside wall
- Potholes and parking lot problems
Know that your commercial insurer wouldn’t cancel you immediately for an issue like these, but they would send you a letter and give you 30 days to fix it. All the more reason to be on top of your spring maintenance now!
Spring Cleaning: Pressure Washing & Window Washing
After COVID-19, the most effective way to draw new customers to your business will be a freshly cleaned exterior. Strategic Grounds provides those exterior services like pressure washing and window washing to scrub away a winter’s worth of grime. We serve all kinds of organizations, from retail to medical and dental chains.
At Strategic Grounds, we know commercial grounds maintenance is an ongoing adventure, and never as easy as it looks. Spring maintenance should always be a part of your plans for the second quarter, and this year, after COVID-19, it matters more than ever. If you’d like a quote for commercial spring maintenance, contact us today! We’d love to help.
