The state of your business’ bathrooms has a bigger impact on your bottom line than you might realize. At the very least, worn down, dirty bathrooms are an eyesore, reducing employee morale and tarnishing your reputation. Moreover, outdated restrooms are often inefficient, increasing your water and energy costs. And, of course, a poorly maintained bathroom is a health and safety hazard, allowing germs to spread and mold to form over time. Thus, committing to a bathroom restoration project is a worthy investment. Like many other major renovations, though, bathroom restorations can be time consuming and obstructive, getting in the way of your operations, employees, and customers. The key is finding a way to fix up your bathrooms without throwing a wrench in your daily activities. Here’s how you can restore the bathrooms of your facility with as little interference as possible.

How to Restore Bathrooms Efficiently

Restore One Restroom at a Time

If you run a large enough facility, chances are it’s outfitted with more than one bathroom. If so, you can leave at least one restroom operational while you work to restore another. Even if both bathrooms require renovating, working on one at a time will ensure that your workplace continues to operate smoothly. Leaving one of your bathrooms out of order will slow things down a bit and cause some frustration, but this is much better than the alternative. Of course, if your facility only features one bathroom, you won’t have this luxury, so you’ll have to find other facility management solutions to minimize interference.

Prioritize Restoration Goals

Regardless of the size or number of bathrooms in your workplace, prioritizing your building maintenance needs is a great way to ensure that your restroom(s) remain in working order when it matters. No two bathroom restoration projects are exactly alike, after all -- one might require brand new flooring and interior painting while another might mainly need plumbing repairs and a new lighting setup. Time and budgetary restrictions may prevent you from accomplishing everything you wish, so focusing on the most important renovations is essential. In doing so, you’ll get your bathroom back up and running as quickly as possible and can handle less pressing projects at a later date.

Tackle Larger Tasks at Less Busy Times

Timing is everything when it comes to facility maintenance, and bathroom restorations are no exception. Every facility, no matter their hours of operation, will have busier and less busy times. If you wish to restore your bathrooms efficiently, it only makes sense to have your contractors work when these areas won’t be in frequent use (or at all), which is often overnights, weekends, and holidays. Your janitorial services, on the other hand, should be deployed when things get busy to make sure your newly restored bathrooms remain clean throughout the day.

Keep Bathrooms in Partial Working Order If Possible

In some facilities, finding downtime isn’t so simple. Consider, for instance, a facility that operates 24/7 and only has one restroom for all workers and customers. In this scenario, some interference is unavoidable, but this doesn’t necessarily mean your bathrooms must remain out of working order for the duration of the restoration project. If possible, restoration contractors may be able to leave a section of the restroom available for use while they work on another. This is a somewhat rare case, but working section by section may be the only way to keep these key facilities open as they’re being restored.

Develop a Thorough Maintenance Plan

Ultimately, the best way to reduce bathroom restoration-related interference is to minimize the severity and frequency of restoration jobs in the future. In order to achieve this, you must maintain high standards for your cleaning and janitorial services, ensuring that your restrooms remain sturdy, safe, sanitary, and squeaky clean. Simply put, a well-maintained bathroom won’t require repairs as often as one that receives less attention. Setting a thorough bathroom cleaning schedule at your facility will allow you to keep these areas in great shape day in and day out. Read our recent post, “Avoid Downtime by Setting Your Cleaning Schedule at Your Commercial Building,” for more on this topic.

Here at The Budd Group, bathroom restoration is just one of our many facility maintenance/improvement offerings. To learn more about our services and values, give us a call today at 800-221-8158!