A fire at your business puts everything on hold. Not only will you have damaged equipment and inventory, but it can also take months or more to make repairs before you can get back to work. Your business will need your attention more than ever just to survive. Consider taking these steps to help protect your operations and get your business back on its feet.
#1 Contact Your Insurer
In the aftermath of a fire, business insurance becomes your lifeline. Contact your insurer as soon as possible once you’ve heard about a loss at your establishment. Not only do you depend on your insurer for the funds to repair the premises and replace inventory, but business interruption insurance provides compensation for lost business income during the period of recovery.
#2 Talk to Your Landlord
If the premises are rented, get in touch with the landlord as well and make sure you get on the same page with regard to who’s insurance company will cover what, and how repairs will proceed. If they follow through with repairs rather than tearing down the site and selling the property, your lease will continue. In most cases, businesses can negotiate with the landlord for a rent abatement. It is not automatic though, and the landlord may want partial or in some cases even full rent payment.
#3 Secure the Site
Talk to your insurer (or have the landlord talk to their insurer) about securing the site to protect against further damage. Board the windows, place tarps over the roof, and potentially use fencing to keep out vandals. By taking precautions now, you can prevent further loss or damage due to the elements or vandalism.
#4 Keep Paying Your Premiums
You have to keep paying premiums even after a fire. That’s because further loss is always possible on the site. For example, if equipment, building materials, or valuables are stolen from the site, you might have to file a separate claim. Alternatively, fires can easily occur on active construction sites. This might result in a claim within a claim and you can still receive compensation.
That said, you may be able to adjust your insurance policy to reflect what’s happening on the site. If there is no inventory on the premises, you may be able to reduce your premiums and still have adequate coverage.
#5 Retrieve Valuables
Are there valuable items such as a safe, computers, or important paperwork that you can salvage? Remove them to keep them safe, but make sure you document everything before taking it off-site and keep an up to date record for your insurer. The insurer might want to inspect the items, so don’t do any cleaning or restoration work without having a conversation first. If they prove to be smoke-damaged in the end, you should still be able to claim their loss.
#6 Talk to Contractors and Your Insurer About Reopening
The extent of the damages and the time it takes to complete your claim all affect your timeline. Once you have agreed on a method of repair or compensation, stay in touch with the insurer and the contractors to manage the timeline for restoring the property. This allows you to coordinate your own timeline for replacing equipment, inventory, and advertising your reopening.
Protecting the site after a fire makes sure the recovery process is a fast and seamless one. You don’t want to get bogged down in concurrent claims or deal with further damage.
