Restoring commercial facilities can be a highly profitable and lucrative venture; however, it’s also something that needs careful planning beforehand. If you don’t take all of the steps that you need into consideration, you can end up with more business downtime, safety issues, and secondary damage to your property beyond that which you are trying to correct. Here is your step-by-step guide to commercial facilities restoration to help you deal with:
- water intrusion
- mould damage
- structural issues
- storm damage
- and more
Ensure the safety of the premises first
Before you do any work at all, you’ll need to ensure the safety of the premises. It should be safe for crews to enter the site and start working. This means that you need to take care of serious hazards like asbestos or toxic chemicals first. If you need to clear the site using emergency services like the fire department, then do so. They have specialist skills that can help you remove dangerous or unstable material and deal with electrical risks.
You will also need to secure the property at this stage. This means tarping roof sections that might be missing or boarding up broken windows and doors. It could also mean shutting off the mains power and utilities so that you don’t wind up with electrocutions or leaks on site.
Get this step thoroughly sorted before you move on. Any delays here can lead to major issues downstream.
Conduct a damage assessment
The next step is to conduct a damage assessment of the site. You’ll need to hire professionals to determine the extent of the damage and the repair works that are required. For instance, you’ll need to perform air quality tests and conduct structural evaluations. You’ll also need to measure moisture levels and do thermal imaging if there are heat sources in the building.
Identifying visible damage is easier; this usually means cracks in the walls; however, you might have hidden damage like water damage behind drywall or soot in your HVAC ducts. Some developers like to categorize the damage on site, categorizing one to three, which include things like fire, mold, and storm damage. While HVAC and electrical damage have other categories, you can also categorize systems as being damaged if you need to organize your repair works in sequence.
If outdoor concrete or parking lot areas are damaged, you may need to start building relationships with mudjacking engineers. You need professionals who have specialist abilities to conduct major works on the site. Don’t rely on conventional contractors to do this for you, since they likely do not have the skills or the equipment.
File insurance and handle documents
The next step is to file your insurance claims and handle documents. If the property is already yours and it’s experienced a lot of damage, then you may be able to ask your insurer for a payout and work with an adjuster. Give them detailed documentation of the issues that you’re facing and then explore any available tax relief if you can access it. Sometimes there are grants for disaster recovery.
In a commercial setting, you can sometimes work with tenants’ insurers as well. They may provide additional cover that you can contribute towards the work.
Emergency mitigation
Emergency mitigation means dealing with the most dangerous forms of damage and depreciation on the site. For example, many restoration firms like to begin by dealing with water damage using pumps and vacuums to extract standing water and industrial dehumidifiers to draw water out of walls and ceilings as well. These help to dry out structures and prevent additional mold from forming. It also serves to strengthen structures by preventing water from getting into the materials themselves and causing damage.
- Fire and smoke
- Residues like soot are corrosive and odorous.
Even if a fire is no longer active, the particles that fire generates can be harmful to people in your buildings as well as the content of those buildings. Again, you will need to remove this using specialist techniques. Make sure you get rid of contaminated materials like mold or biohazards. Sometimes it’s necessary to apply anti-microbials to the environment to kill off any germs that might be lingering. Don’t be afraid to demolish unsalvageable materials. These can be sources of contamination, so removing them swiftly is beneficial.
Conduct detailed cleaning and contamination
Once the immediate hazards are dealt with, the next step is to perform detailed cleaning and decontamination. The best way to do this is to clean and sanitize all your surfaces, including HVAC systems and ductwork. If you can restore certain items in the environment, then do so. You may be able to recover equipment, furniture, and documents in some situations. You may also need to apply odor control and use air scrubbing to remove microorganisms. This is particularly valuable if you are at risk of Legionnaires’ disease.
Conduct repairs and reconstruction
Repairs and reconstruction usually begin with the flooring, ceiling, roofing, drywall, and framing. Once all of these structural elements are in place, adding the remaining components to the building is relatively straightforward. Depending on the situation, you may also need to restore the building’s various systems like HVAC, fire suppression, plumbing, and electrical.
At this stage, don’t focus so much on the aesthetics; concentrate on getting the building back online again. If you need to perform exterior envelope restoration, then do so. This often involves applying stucco or fresh cladding to the exterior walls.
Final inspection
The last stage is to conduct a final inspection of the premises. Businesses do this by testing moisture and air quality, confirming that the space is safe for human use. If you can perform walk-arounds with property managers, then that’s useful. They can point out issues that have been resolved and the work that you still need to do. If you need to create a maintenance plan to prevent further issues and problems, then do so.
So there you have it: top commercial facilities restoration guidelines for you to follow.
