Here’s What You Need to Consider

An unfortunate result of the economic fallout of the last 5 years has been the closure of so many businesses. Property maintenance is no different in this respect, with a number of service providers closing their doors. For retailers it means they lose important services they’ve grown to rely on and must look at the options they have to look after their locations. If you’re in that position, there are some important factors you need to consider when reviewing how you maintain your properties.

Do You Actually Need Maintenance Services?

The very simple answer to that question is Yes. From a commercial view, if you allow your locations to become scruffy and poorly maintained, customers will simply go elsewhere. You also have a legal duty to maintain your properties. The likes of the Health & Safety at Work Act along with other legislation covering gas, electricity, and building regulations, mandate your duty of care.

Can You Get a Builder to Do It?

You might believe any contractor could repair some issues around your properties. But Health & Safety legislation is very clear that you must only contract people who can demonstrate the experience and knowledge to do the work. They must be ‘competent’. This means bringing in the right trade for the task involved. A H&S Inspector would take a dim view if you asked a roofer to re-wire a plug socket or carry out a fire inspection.

Can You Do It Yourself?

Bringing maintenance in-house to save money might look tempting. But your staff must have the certifications or experience required to complete tasks. If not, they will fail to pass the competence test under law.

This option also raises a very serious issue about placing staff and customers at risk of injury. Without the correct training around working safely at height or ensuring members of the public are not safeguarded from accidents, this cost-saving idea will soon turn into a very expensive decision.

Can You Divide Work Amongst Different Firms?

In theory, this might seem a good idea. If you know of several companies to provide specific services, why not just engage them to look after your locations?

However, this option comes with some risks. You will need to co-ordinate them to deliver their services, sometimes in strict sequence. If one firm is delayed, you then spend time juggling everyone else. Also, the different firms will likely have different response times too. So, while some issues may be resolved fast, others take longer than you would prefer. Then there is the merry-go-round where one service provider says another must complete a task – only to be told by the other provider that the first one must do something else first. That can be a real threat to your hair not being pulled out in frustration.

The situation is compounded by the need for you to record all the works undertaken in a Facilities Maintenance platform. Having to collate and input different visit reports from different people, all sent in various formats (and sometimes containing conflicting data) can take up a lot of your time. Not forgetting the repeated work you will do in contract negotiation and invoicing for work done. And finally, you must make sure anyone you contact to provide maintenance services have the skills and experience to do what is required. This puts you back to the competence issue again.

 Put simply, maintaining your properties yourself can easily consume far more of your time than ever before. Issues can take longer to resolve and dangerous risks to your staff and customers will increase. You may well end up with locations no longer complying with safety legislation. It will all too easily result in your property maintenance costs increasing.

Bringing In Real Experts

Having looked at the pitfalls around how you keep your locations maintained, it’s time to consider the most straightforward, convenient and cost-effective route. This is to make sure your locations are maintained by a recognised expert in retail property care services such as Store Maintenance. It ensures your maintenance strategy is simplified as one provider covers all your needs. Keeping your properties safe can be managed and co-ordinated easily and you reduce the risk of putting your staff or customers in harm’s way. The life expectancy of your fixtures and fittings can increase from expert inspections and works preventing deterioration getting out of control. And your local Health & Safety inspector will be satisfied that you have a compliant maintenance plan being handled by someone who is deemed competent.

There is one outstanding point though. Finding a single source service provider can be tricky if you have multiple locations around the country.  For retailers who have outlets miles apart, they still need to find someone who can provide the same maintenance levels across all their locations. That’s where Store Maintenance can help. With engineering crews spread throughout the UK you can have your locations under the care of certified experts no matter where they are.

So, if you are evaluating your property maintenance and thinking what you need to consider, talk to us first. We can show you how putting your retail maintenance in our hands is more cost-effective than you may think – and can save you a lot of time and keep you compliant with legislation.