Many businesses have been waiting months to open their doors back up since the COVID-19 pandemic began — but now that many regions have begun to reopen, these businesses face a new challenge: remaining open in a delicate situation. While the rules for reopening vary from place to place, if you want your business to stay open during this time you must abide by the regulations relevant to your organization and community. Failing to do so may result in some Departments of Public Health temporarily shutting you down, especially if your facility encounters any suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19.
So, if you want to stay open, it pays to have a plan. Included in this plan should be measures for keeping your facility properly and regularly cleaned and disinfected. Of course, this is easier said than done — professional disinfecting services are not free, and some are more reliable, available, and thorough than others. Before you move forward with a given contractor, it’s best to line up your budget and scope to ensure proper execution that will allow you to stay open.
Budgeting Your Reopening Disinfection Plan
After being closed or hamstrung for so long, budgeting is more important than ever for businesses as they gradually recover. But as tight as your budget might be, some of it must go towards cleaning and disinfection protocols. The optimal amount to invest in these efforts will differ from one business to the next, but the same considerations must be made — namely, weighing short-term costs against long-term costs. Hiring quality disinfection services may present a short-term financial burden, but if it means keeping your business open, this small hit is probably worth it (consider the cost of shutting your doors for another several weeks after finally getting back to work).
Once you have a general budget in mind, you can begin crafting the rest of your plan and comparing contractors.
Determining the Scope of Your Plan
Your plan’s budget is directly related to the scope of your facility’s disinfection needs. In order to determine this scope, consider:
- The range of types of services required to prepare your business for reopening and to keep it safe after it has reopened, i.e.:
- Coronavirus deep clean
- Spray and wipe disinfection methods
- Electrostatic disinfection services
- Antimicrobial barrier disinfection
- The amount of space/surface area that requires cleaning and disinfection
- The required frequency of cleaning and disinfection actions
Having a basic understanding of what is needed for your facility to remain safe and open will help you choose the right provider and optimize your budget and schedule.
Executing Your Plan Properly
The success of your reopening disinfection plan ultimately depends on the quality, reliability, transparency, and efficacy of your disinfecting cleaning services and efforts. Not only must you hire a contractor that meets or goes above and beyond these requirements — they must also be willing and able to show up when they’re needed. Additionally, your provider must suit your specific facility needs. For instance, do you require in-house disinfection services? Do you need a provider who is on-call? Perhaps you require some combination. If something should happen and your contractor cannot be there at a moment’s notice, do you have back-up measures in place (i.e. stock of disinfectants, PPE, etc.)?
Proper execution of your plan depends on the details and nature of your contract with your provider.
There is plenty of uncertainty in the air these days, but if you want to remain confident that your business will stay open you must plan accordingly. And if you’re looking for a reliable, flexible, full-service cleaning and disinfection provider, look no further than The Budd Group.