7 Pieces of Advice on Repairing Your Business Premises After a Fire
If a fire breaks out in your business premises, the consequences can be devastating. Fortunately, it is a requirement in most places to have insurance, just in case, any accidents were to happen. If you have insurance, then as soon as the insurance company’s adjusters have investigated the incident and determined how much to pay you, you can begin repairing things.
The money paid to you from your insurance company is for making repairs. So that you can get your business up and running again, you need to act fast.
Here are seven pieces of advice for repairing your business after a fire:
Identify Cause
Before beginning repairs, you need to identify what caused your business’s fire. When you make a claim to your insurance company, they will investigate the fire. More often than not, they will write to you explaining exactly what caused it. If the fire was caused by something that you did, then you need to make sure that it doesn’t happen again and that you safeguard against it. If the fire was caused by something else out of your control, then try to prevent that from happening in the future (such as getting wires checked regularly if faulty wiring was the cause).
Smell Removal
Once your business has been completely repaired, you can hire a professional to eliminate the smell of soot. It’s widespread for the smell of soot to linger, long after a fire’s damage has been repaired. In order to get rid of the soot smell, you will need to hire a professional odour removal company. The smell of soot and smoke can last permanently, even after a small fire, if you do not get it removed by a professional company. It is a very off-putting smell that you should get rid of as quickly as possible for your customer and staff’s sake.
Structural Damage
Before you can begin removing smells, however, there are a lot of things that you need to do. One of them is to assess the fire’s structural damage (if there is any). If you notice any structural issues with your business, then you need to get them repaired first. Ignoring structural damage is a very bad idea because it could result in your business collapsing or becoming too dangerous to use. After your business has been repaired, an inspector will be dispatched by your town or city council to ensure the business is safe to be used again. If they notice any structural damage, they won’t give you permission to reopen.
Property Security
In the interim between the fire and your business being repaired, ensure that you properly secure your business’s doors and windows. It is not uncommon for teenagers to try to break into businesses that have been damaged and left empty. If anybody was to get in and hurt themselves, they could in theory take legal action against you (it has happened before).
Electrical Repairs
Electrical repairs are very important. Most business fires are caused by electrical issues. Be sure to inspect your business’s electrics, even if they weren’t the cause and don’t seem to have been damaged by the fire. The reason that you need to inspect your business’s electrical system is so that you can be sure there is nothing wrong with them and so you can rule out any future fires. Electrical fires can be very dangerous. Make sure to only ever hire a trained, experienced electrician to inspect (and repair) your business’s electrical wiring and systems.
Specific Problems
Every fire is different. After a fire, your business isn’t necessarily going to have the same problems that another one would. So that you can address your business’s damage quickly, make sure that you draw up a list of specific problems so that you can hand them over to workmen when they arrive to repair them.
The best way to get a list of exact problems is to hire a professional inspector to come in. You should also bear in mind that your insurance company will give you a list of issues that need to be resolved, which you can use. If you aren’t making an insurance claim then you will need to do it yourself.
Professional Workmen
One last thing to consider is the quality of the workmen that come in and make repairs to your business. You need to make sure that they are licensed, professional, and most importantly of all, experienced. Your business needs to be repaired quickly so that you can reopen. An unprofessional company will just complicate reopening. A quality repair job can prevent future fires from occurring.
Fires are sometimes unavoidable. If there has been one on your business’s premises, then fast action is required. The sooner you repair your business, the faster you can reopen and start earning money again.