Author: MaintenX

Do I Still Need COVID-19 Protections In My Building?

It has been over two years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, and things have changed dramatically since then. Because of the months of a forced economic slow-down, many businesses are trying to catch up in 2022. Stores are returning to regular hours and operational models, but many of us still have questions about the safety of shopping and its impacts on national health.

If you are a business owner, you have likely had your doors open for some time, and may feel safe enough to lessen or eliminate COVID-19 safety measures entirely. However, it’s important to understand that the COVID-19 illness is still widespread and that not all customers will feel safe in a completely unprotected environment.

The question remains: If things are going “back to normal” in your local area, do you forgo COVID-19 precautions or keep them around to ensure customers feel safer? This question comes down to the expense of the COVID-19 precautions you have in place, the local culture and attitudes surrounding COVID-19, and your business’ personal risk of spreading the virus within its four walls.

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, you should still be investing in COVID-19 preventative measures such as hand sanitization and complimentary mask stations at your facility:

  • Do you operate a medical facility of any kind?
  • Does your facility have high levels of foot traffic with few options for social distancing? (Examples include malls, indoor concert venues, and shopping centers)
  • Do you cater to children, college students, seniors, or other at-risk populations?
  • Does your state still provide strict mask or social distancing guidelines?
  • Does the local community still wear masks and social distance as a rule of thumb?
  • Is the cost of COVID-19 precautions less than the cost of losing one of your employees for more than two weeks?

COVID-19 is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth investing in preventative measures if it makes your staff and clientele feel safe. To learn more about ways you can cost-effectively help stop the spread of COVID-19 at your facility, visit our Resource Center.

How To Prevent Potholes in Your Parking Lot

Your building’s parking lot is a major contributor to the curb appeal and first impression your business makes. If properly maintained, it can welcome customers and make them feel safe and secure. However, if your parking lot is dimly lit and full of potholes, you are sending a message to customers that you don’t take pride in your work.

Why Potholes Occur in Parking Lots

Most commercial parking lots are made of asphalt, which is incredibly susceptible to water damage. Rain and melting snow can penetrate the asphalt and cause it to expand, and eventually crack. This is even more likely in cold climates where melting snow can freeze and expand, causing even larger cracks when it melts again.

Potholes are dangerous to your patrons. When driving over them, they can cause damage to the vehicle frame or wheels. They are also an eyesore to customers and present an uncaring appearance to visitors. Therefore, it is essential that you prevent them throughout the year for your own sake as well as for your customers.

Pothole prevention can help save you money and improve curb appeal no matter what kind of business you operate. Follow these three steps to prevent potholes in your parking lot easily:

  • Schedule regular inspections – Inspect your parking lot every month or quarterly to ensure you catch cracks and other imperfections before they become bigger. This first step will help you save on extensive and expensive asphalt repairs.
  • Use a seal coating to prevent water and ice damage – When the snow melts and refreezes into ice, it’ll expand and make potholes worse. If you are in a cold climate, you can prevent this by using a seal coat to stop water from soaking into the asphalt. This prevents the ice from cracking the parking lot surface and causing potholes in the spring.
  • Invest in repair and maintenance – Preventative maintenance and minor repairs to the asphalt can prevent you from requiring major repairs to the parking lot in the future. Road construction is a hassle regardless of how large your parking lot is, especially if you’re operating a multi-tenant building. Invest in preventative sealing and repair before it becomes a bigger problem.

MaintenX can help you create an easy-to-follow parking lot maintenance plan for your business. We offer preventative care services and exterior repairs to ensure your storefront always looks its best. To learn more about asphalt repair and maintenance, contact us today.

This is The Ideal Parking Lot Maintenance Plan

Most businesses don’t think twice about their parking lot’s appearance or functionality. Unless there is a major pothole or ice that needs to be cleared, parking lots can seem like an indestructible asset. However, neglecting parking lot maintenance can cause issues in the integrity of the space as well as lower the value of your building.

Parking lot maintenance may seem like the last priority for your maintenance schedule, but there are several reasons why you should invest in your parking lot throughout the year:

  • It’s an integral part of your customer experience
  • Parking lot maintenance reduces your liability for onsite accidents (especially if it snows in your area)
  • Parking lot maintenance can improve curb appeal
  • It can facilitate easy access for loading areas

Parking lot maintenance doesn’t have the be difficult. If you follow these four steps, you can maintain the look and function of your parking lot with ease:

  • Regular sweeping – Sweeping your parking lot for trash and dirt can significantly improve the look of your parking lot to enhance its curb appeal.
  • Pothole repair – Potholes are not only an inconvenience but can lead to further asphalt damage if not treated before winter. If snow melts and turns into ice, it can widen the cracks and make the pothole worse by springtime. Treat them as soon as they occur to prevent more expensive and extensive repairs in the future.
  • Day porter service – If you manage a large retail outlet or multi-tenant building, a day porter service to clean front entrances, trash cans, and other exterior elements can improve the curb appeal and function of your property.
  • Improve parking lot lighting – Lighting in parking lots helps customers to feel safe shopping at night. If your parking lot lights are dim or not working, you may deter customers from shopping with you at night. Make sure to schedule maintenance on dim or faulty parking lot lighting as soon as you notice it.

MaintenX can help you with parking lot repairs and electrical service in lighting at an affordable price. To learn more about our preventative care services, contact your local MaintenX team today!

The #1 Maintenance Issue That Ruins Summer Service

Summer is here, which means it’s the busy season for many small businesses across the U.S. This is especially true at MaintenX’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida, where the tourism industry is ramping up and won’t stop until mid-August. While we work on all sorts of maintenance issues in the summer, you can probably guess which is most common this time of year.

If you guessed HVAC problems, you are correct. Because of the increased demand for the HVAC system during the summer, we see an increase in service calls for overworked or broken down units. In the wintertime, this wouldn’t be a huge issue for service, but in the summer it can easily shut down an entire building.

An overworked HVAC system will ruin your customer experience.

Employees and customers don’t want to be in a building with no A/C during the summer. Not only will it create an unpleasant customer experience, but it can cause real issues for your staff if they’re working in the heat. A restaurant, for example, with no A/C or ventilation can quickly become too hot for employees to safely work. It is also very easy for a building to reach 100+ degrees in the summertime, which isn’t safe for anyone.

An HVAC system won’t last forever, but there are several ways you can prevent unexpected breakdowns during the summer that will ruin your business day:

  • Schedule preventative maintenance – Extend the service life of your system with regular preventative repairs. This will prevent performance issues and help you keep track of wear and tear so you know when it’s time to replace your units.
  • Don’t overwork your HVAC system – If your A/C can’t keep up with your temperature setting, turn it up in the summertime so your system can get some rest. In extremely hot and humid climates, it may be unreasonable to keep your building at 68℉ unless it’s absolutely necessary.
  • Replace when your HVAC technician tells you to – It’s better to plan an HVAC replacement than it is to wait until the A/C stops working unexpectedly. If this is the last season your HVAC system will perform at its best, listen to your technician’s recommendation and replace it.

Summertime should be a successful season for you – don’t let HVAC problems get in the way of that. To learn how you can prevent HVAC issues at your facility, contact your local MaintenX team today!

Top Three Maintenance Issues That Drive Customers Away

For most small businesses, appearances are everything. The way your building is presented makes just as much of an impression on the customer as the quality of products and services. This is true for any business, whether you’re a retail or restaurant space, medical facility, or industrial complex. To make a great impression on clients, it’s important that your building is clean and in peak working condition every day. However, maintenance issues can easily get in the way of this goal.

Below are the top three maintenance issues that customers will automatically notice, and how you can prevent them from ruining your reputation.

Leaks in the restroom.

Restrooms are a critical part of your building’s operation. They often serve as a representation of how you operate your facility – if it is clean and tidy, your clients will know you take pride in your building. However, if the restroom is dirty, low stocked, or has leaking faucets, they will know you aren’t interested in maintaining a clean appearance. Don’t let something as simple as a faucet leak ruin your reputation with a customer. Call your MaintenX plumber instead to fix the leak the same day.

An overworked HVAC system.

In Tampa, Florida, where MaintenX is headquartered, many of our clients struggle to keep up with the A/C in the summertime. If they have an older or outdated system, they may have to run the A/C to keep the building cool at all, and it is typically still noticeably warm to customers. On a hot day, the last thing your customers want is to walk into a hot building. Make sure you schedule regular HVAC preventative care services to maximize your HVAC system’s performance.

Dirty flooring.

You may think that floor cleaning can be put on the back burner because it’s not at eye level to your customers, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It doesn’t matter what type of flooring you have – carpet, hardwood, marble, or basic tile – customers will notice if it is scuffed or stained in any way. Investing in daily cleaning as well as a high-quality floor installation can ensure your building looks presentable to customers.

MaintenX offers preventative maintenance, repair, and installation services for businesses across the U.S. If you are looking for ways to improve the customer experience, talk to your MaintenX team about a preventative maintenance program that can improve efficiency and performance across the board.

What To Do If Your Rental Property Owner Doesn’t Respond To Maintenance Requests

As a small business owner or manager, you have 100 things constantly up in the air. With any luck, most of them don’t drop, but even the most organized business has emergencies from time to time. However, it can be very frustrating when one of those emergencies is a maintenance repair.

Tenants and landlords typically share responsibility for repairs to a leased space. Minor repairs that are caused by normal wear and tear are typically the tenant’s responsibility. However, your landlord may want to control major repairs involving the structure or major systems of the building, such as HVAC, plumbing, roofing, or electrical work.

If you believe your landlord is responsible or will want to oversee repair work, always submit a service request before paying for the repairs yourself, But, what if you submit the request and don’t hear back? Your business needs a functioning building, and you can’t wait forever. So, what are your options when your landlord is silent after a service request?

Check the lease.

Tenants are responsible for repairs that are caused by regular wear and tear or caused by employee or customer accidents. The repairs you’re requesting may not be covered by the landlord, in which case you should make arrangements to repair it yourself.

Contact their maintenance partner.

If your landlord works with a specific commercial contractor for repairs, you may try calling them to see if they will do the work and bill the owner instead of you. This may prompt your landlord to respond to you sooner and will ensure you are going through all the proper steps to get the repair done.

Repair and deduct.

If the landlord specifies that they will handle certain repairs in the lease, you are entitled to that service in a timely fashion. If you can’t get your landlord to respond, you can sometimes make the repairs yourself and send the bill to them to deduct from your rent. Before you do this, make sure you’ve contacted the landlord several times and given them ample time to respond. You may even consult with a lawyer to ensure you won’t end up paying out of pocket for expensive repairs you can’t afford without the deduction.

If you can’t wait for a landlord’s response anymore, contact MaintenX for help. We offer affordable repairs and will work with you on solutions that won’t break the bank or disrupt your tenant-landlord relationship. To learn more about maintenance and repair options in your area, contact MaintenX today!

How To Find The Best Affordable Contractors For Your Small Business

Operating a small business is a never-ending carousel ride. You’re constantly running around in circles, and very rarely get the chance to step off and breathe. When an entire team is reliant on you, it can feel as if every decision you make has the weight of the world on it.

One of the most difficult decisions you make as a business owner is who to call for building maintenance and repairs. If you choose the wrong contractor, you could be dealing with months of rework and maintenance issues within your building. Or, you could be overcharged for a repair that won’t last. If you’ve recently signed a new lease, one of the first things you should do is find a reputable maintenance team to handle minor repairs not covered by your landlord.

Below are three different ways to find the best handyman or contractor to work for your small business. The sooner you find a company to partner with, the better off you’ll be when it comes time for preventative repairs or emergency service.

Ask your neighbors.

One of the most important benefits of networking within your local business community is receiving tips and tricks for getting your brand off the ground. Your building neighbors can help you navigate city codes, manage seasonality, and help you find reputable contractors for the work you need to be done.

Research online.

One of the best ways to find any service for your business is through online reviews. Reviews from other businesses are likely to be honest and unfiltered in most cases, especially if you can find hundreds or thousands of online testimonials. While no business will have perfect online reviews, look for businesses that have a majority of positive reviews on Google Maps and platforms like Facebook.

Meet for a consultation.

While references and testimonials can help, the only way to know if a contractor is right for you is to meet with them in person for a consultation. You can ask questions about their actual services, their pricing, turnaround time, and more important factors in your decision-making process. Ideally, you do this at the beginning of a new commercial lease so you can be selective of who you call before an emergency repair arises.

If you’re looking for commercial HVAC, plumbing, roofing, or electrical work in your area, contact MaintenX to see if we have contractors in your area. MaintenX guarantees fast, quality service every time in the 13 states we service as well as other cities within our contractor network. If you’d like to learn more or connect with your local MaintenX team, give us a call today!

What To Do If Your Rental Property Owner Doesn’t Have a Preferred Maintenance Service

As a tenant, handling commercial repairs must be done with care and consideration. You don’t want to handle repairs on your own that are the owner’s responsibility; however, these repairs are often a more pressing concern to you than they are to the owner. Things become even more complex when the property owner does not have a preferred maintenance service you can call for preventative and emergency repairs.

If you are in need of repairs and aren’t sure who to call, these are the steps you should take to ensure you handle the maintenance service properly:

Contact the owner first.

Some landlords want control over property repairs and maintenance to ensure the work done is up to their standards of quality. It is their building’s property value that is at stake, and they will likely want to at least oversee repairs that affect the structure of the building in any major way. They may also have preferred contractors that they simply haven’t shared with you yet that you can call for quality and affordable repairs.

Review your lease.

Most commercial leases will specify what repairs are the landlord’s explicit responsibility. If your repair is not covered in this list, it is likely your responsibility to fix it yourself. If the landlord does not give you instructions for handling the repairs, you can assume responsibility and begin contacting local maintenance teams for help.

Find a commercial contractor.

You may have connections to local contractors in your area, but it’s crucial to choose someone who specializes in commercial repairs and maintenance rather than residential. Not only can you cause issues within the building, but you can also create problems with your permits or lease for certain building types. If you don’t know a commercial contractor in your area, contact MaintenX for help.

MaintenX offers commercial plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and roofing service for businesses in 13 states across the U.S. We help small businesses like yours thrive and are consistently top-rated in our local service areas for retail, restaurant, medical, and industrial facility maintenance. If you are looking for a trustworthy contractor you can call for preventative maintenance and emergency repairs, contact us today!

Who is Responsible for Overseeing Commercial Repairs?

Leasing a commercial property causes anxiety for both tenant and owner. The owner can only know so much about a tenant before they move in, and are taking a risk that the management won’t honor the lease or take care of the property as their own. On the flip side, the tenants are putting their business’ storefront in another person’s hands. If the building equipment breaks down, has undetected problems, or is otherwise not as the lease described, they may be forced to solve the problems on their own or lose a significant investment in the building itself.

One of the primary causes of tension in commercial leases is repairs. Tenants are hesitant to report them for fear of liability, and owners are always worried about them happening unexpectedly at the tenant’s expense. The best way to ease this tension is by clearly laying out tenant and owner responsibilities in the commercial lease. This ensures that the tenant knows what repairs they are and are not responsible for and can confidently ask for maintenance service when they need it.

Tenant Responsibilities

Typically, tenants are responsible for any equipment they bring into the space and any part of the building that wears down with regular use. In most cases, anything that the landlord does not specify in the lease as their responsibility falls to the tenant. This may include:

  • Flooring cleaning and repairs that are caused by normal wear and tear
  • Paint or wallpaper retouching
  • Lighting issues not caused by the internal electrical structure
  • Bathroom and kitchen fixtures
  • Any equipment repairs related explicitly to the tenant’s operations
  • Any damages caused by employees or customers

Landlord responsibilities

Landlords need to be specific about the repairs and maintenance services they will cover in their lease. Most of these will include repairs that affect the long-term value of the building or maintenance services that affect several spaces in a multi-tenant building. These may include:

  • Repairs to the foundation, walls, and roofing of the building
  • Major system repairs such as HVAC/R, electrical, or plumbing maintenance
  • Upgrades to meet fire and safety codes
  • Major renovations to the structure of the building

While you may want to leave some of these up to the tenants as needed, some landlords prefer to have control over repairs to ensure that the work done is performed by the best – rather than the cheapest – contractors. Tenants will not have a vested interest in the long-term appreciation of the property, so it’s important to make sure that the work done to your facility will last.

MaintenX can help you handle your facility repairs and outsource maintenance to your tenants as needed. To learn more about our preventative and emergency repair service, contact your local MaintenX team today!

The Ultimate Restaurant Cleaning Checklist

Improve efficiency, provide accountability to team members, and help you avoid distractions as you’re cleaning. Useful for both daily cleaning before opening and closing, and for annual deep cleans and maintenance service. 

Below is your ultimate cleaning checklist for commercial kitchens and food service facilities: 

Daily

  • Wipe down walls of kitchen and buffets for splashes and stuck-on food
  • Clean all cooking appliances and equipment used daily
  • Disinfect prep areas and tables/bars
  • Clean beverage dispenser heads and soda guns
  • Replace foil lining on cooking surfaces
  • Clean sinks
  • Wash aprons, cloths, napkins, and other fabrics in washing machine
  • Refill soap dispensers and replace toilet paper/paper towels in bathrooms
  • Sweep walk-in fridge, storage, and front of house
  • Mop floors
  • Take out trash and disinfect all trash cans
  • Wash utensils and glassware to let dry overnight before closing

Weekly

  • Clean ovens, fridge, and walk-in freezers
  • Boil out deep fryers
  • Deep clean and de-lime sinks and dishwashers
  • Clean out pantries 
  • Clean mirrors
  • Clean baseboards and welcome mats
  • Polish windows/glass

Monthly

  • Clean the condenser coil on the refrigerator
  • Clean walk-in fridge and freezers
  • Clean grease traps
  • Clean exhaust vents
  • Clean drain covers

Front of House

  • Sweep entryway and outside 
  • Clean outdoor welcome mats
  • Clean windows and front door
  • Schedule landscaping services
  • Wipe down seating and walls in lobby area
  • Vacuum rugs and all carpeting
  • Dust lobby area fixtures
  • Clean menus and tabletop condiments
  • Refill/replace tabletop condiments, sugars, salt and pepper shakers, etc. 
  • Clean bar countertop and all tables
  • Wipe down bar stools and chairs
  • Clean reach-in coolers 
  • Clean bathroom including door knobs, light switches, etc.
  • Restock bathroom items, mints, toothpicks, etc. 
  • Sweep/mop floors
  • Empty trash cans inside and outside

Bathroom

  • Put out wet floor signs
  • Clean/disinfect toilets and sinks
  • Refill soap/paper towel dispensers
  • Clean stall partitions, doors, and walls
  • Mop floors and scrub grout 
  • Clean floor drains
  • Clean backsplash and mirrors

Sanitization & Deep Cleaning

  • Clean booster seats and high chairs
  • Disinfect door knobs/handles
  • Disinfect pens and non-disposable menus
  • Disinfect all counters, tables, bars, and food prep areas
  • Disinfect all bar equipment including ice scoops, beer tap handles, keg lines, soga guns, etc.
  • Wipe down phones and cash registers
  • Clean all serving trays, trolleys, etc.
  • Clean host counter
  • Clean light fixtures
  • Clean drains with drain cleaner/snaking service
  • Schedule pest control service
  • Vacuum/clean hard-to-reach places
  • Schedule preventative maintenance for HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc. 

With this checklist and MaintenX by your side, you can run a kitchen that is in tip-top shape! For more information and commercial cleaning and maintenance, visit our Resource Center.