Ask Questions 
Share Tips 
List Your Business 
Coffee Talk with Experts 
Biz Planning | Sample Plans 
Idea 
Name 
$ 
Do It! 
Promotional Merchandise
Managing | Operations
Work @ Home 
Yoga @ Your Desk 
|
|
Expert Answers to Biz Questions
Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.
Successful Businesses Always Handle These 4 Repairs Quickly
Sometimes repairs are bothersome and aren’t worth the time or money to fix. For example, say you brought your new puppy to work and he chewed on one of the baseboards in the back room. Unless you’re meticulous about aesthetics in the back room, it’s not a priority to repair the baseboard.
However, some repairs can seem like a low priority when in fact, they are critical to maintaining the safety of your staff and customers. Here’s a list of 4 of those repairs:
- Broken and uneven concrete
If you have broken or uneven concrete anywhere on your business’ property, move those repairs to the top of your list. Even small cracks and pits can cause people to trip and fall and sooner or later you’ll be defending yourself against a lawsuit.
It’s not easy to get a personal injury lawsuit dismissed after neglecting your duty to maintain a safe environment for your patrons and employees (and even people who wander around).
In addition to preventing injuries, concrete repair offers several benefits:
- Repairs are cheaper than replacing your concrete. If you’re only familiar with the cost of getting new concrete installed, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the lower cost of repair. Generally, repair costs are about half of replacement costs.
- Repairing broken concrete now prevents costly problems later. Not only does repairing concrete prevent personal injury lawsuits, but it also prevents further damage to your property. For example, a driver’s tire could get snagged in a giant crack, spin out, and damage your building.
- Repairs are fast. Concrete repairs can be completed in an hour or two so you won’t need to shut down your entire business for days.
- Repairs maintain curb appeal. Curb appeal affects your property value. Keeping concrete in good repair maintains your property’s value.
If you notice cracks or holes in the sidewalk, steps, or parking lot, make sure to call a professional to fix the problem(s) immediately.
- Potholes
Asphalt feels hard when you walk and drive on it, but it’s important to remember there’s soft dirt underneath. When water seeps through the asphalt, it creates potholes that start small and get larger as they collect and absorb more water.
A pothole can do serious damage to a vehicle’s tire even at low speeds. If the pothole is big enough, it could damage the car’s alignment.
As a business owner, you have a duty to maintain a safe environment for your patrons and employees. Ignoring potholes can amount to negligence in court if anyone is injured or their property is damaged as a result of the hazards you failed to repair.
It’s understandable if you need time to make the repairs. In that case, all you need to do is rope off the problem area with caution tape, orange cones, and signage that clearly marks the area as off-limits and hazardous. This won’t guarantee people obey the warnings, but it will protect you from a lawsuit if someone gets hurt after ignoring the warnings.
- Sinkholes
Hopefully you never have to deal with a sinkhole. They’re not easy to see coming, but if you end up with a sinkhole on your property, take care of it immediately.
Sinkholes are a major hazard in an area where people are actively driving around. As this homeowner learned, even caution tape isn’t enough to prevent people from driving right into a giant sinkhole.
If you have a sinkhole on your property, fix it quickly.
- Electrical problems
Allowing business as usual in a building with electrical problems creates a liability. If you’re aware of an electrical problem, no matter how small, call an electrician to check it out and fix the problem immediately.
Some problems can be easily traced to the source while others require some investigating. For example, if you keep losing power, your building may not have been constructed to supply sufficient electricity to all tenants. Losing power could also be a sign of a dangerous wiring problem.
Other symptoms of an electrical problem include flickering lights in the absence of extreme weather, heat, sparks, dead outlets, and unprotected wiring.
If you experience any of the above problems with your electricity, don’t try to fix it yourself. It’s probably against the terms of your lease to perform your own repairs anyway. Call a professional, licensed electrician to get the job done right.
Safety first!
Always put safety first. Repairs are a necessary expense when doing business and should always be handled timely.
|
|
Small Business Tax Center • Idea Cafe Home • Sign Up • Biz Grant Center • CyberSchmooz •Coffee Talk with Experts • People in Biz Profiles • Starting Your Biz • Biz Planning • Running Your Biz • FREE Trade Publications • Marketing • Financing Your Biz • Human Resources • Legal & Biz Forms • Managing Your Biz • eCommerce • You and Your Biz • Gen X • Work@Home • The Fridge • De-Stress • Send an Award • Send an eGreeting • Yoga @ Your Desk • Web Guide • Idea Cafe in the News • About Idea Cafe • Advertise on Idea Cafe • Contact Us • Privacy Policy • Site Map • Small Biz News
Copyright 1995-2024, Idea Cafe Inc. Downloads are for personal use only, not for resale to others, and may not be reprinted in any form without written permission from Idea Cafe Inc.
DISCLAIMER: We hope whatever you find on this site is helpful, but be cautioned that it may not apply to your own situation, or be totally current at any given time. Idea Cafe Inc. and all of its current and past experts, sponsors, advertisers, agents, contractors and advisors disclaim all warranties with regard to anything found anywhere on this family of websites, quoted from, or sent from Idea Cafe. and its related sites, publications and companies. We also take no responsibility for comments published by others on these pages. TRADEMARKS: The following are Registered Trademarks or Servicemarks of DevStart, Inc.: Idea Cafe®, Online Coffee Break®, The Small Business Gathering Place®, Take out Info®, Biz Bar & Grill®, Complaint-O-Meter®, A Fun Approach to Serious Business™, CyberSchmooz™, and BizCafe™.
|
|
|
|