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The holiday season combines the worst winter weather with the thinnest staffing of the year. Pipes freeze in empty buildings, pests move indoors and gutters/drains overflow, often when store teams, property managers and local contractors are all off. Partnering with a full-service facilities management company closes that gap by handling plumbing, pest control, roofing and drainage and building systems under one agreement with a single point of contact. Instead of calling five vendors on December 26, you only have to make one call and the work will be taken care of. The last thing a business needs is a logistics failing whilst you are already at staffing bare bones, because of the holidays or the effects of a rampant flu season.
Most facilities plans are built for a normal week, rather than taking in to account periods where the business has less staff on site. During the holidays, sites will typically close early or for several days at a time. Managers will take time off and the regular plumber or roofer on file may also be running a skeleton crew.
That combination is what turns a small issue into an expensive one. A burst pipe that would have been caught at opening time on a Tuesday can remain unnoticed from Christmas Eve until the site reopens. A blocked downspout that would have been cleared in October becomes an ice dam in January. A lack of coverage attention can rapidly have a debilitating effect on a business.
Water lines in exterior walls, ceilings, loading docks and unheated back rooms are the elements that are at highest risk of exposure. When a building is closed and the thermostat has been turned down to save energy, those lines can freeze, expand and split. The damage usually appears when the pipe thaws, which is why a burst is often found days later, long after water has caused carnage to flooring, inventory, ceilings and electrical infrastructure.
Prevention is mostly routine work, such as insulating exposed lines, confirming minimum heat settings, knowing where every main shut-off is and testing that it easily turns. As these are often emergency situations, where damage can have a domino effect, rapid response and sequenced actions are key. Shut the water off, get a plumber on site, extract the water, dry the space and repair the finishes. When those are separate vendors, without centralized coordination, issues can escalate rapidly.
Cold weather is when rodents and insects migrate indoors in search of heat, water and food. Quiet buildings with stocked back rooms, break areas or kitchens are ideal targets, and a closure means nobody is there to notice early signs. By the time staff return, an infestation can already have been established, which can mean product loss, failed inspections or a temporary closure for food-service sites.
The fix to these situations is quite simply, continuity. Scheduled pest service should not pause for the holidays and exclusion work, such as sealing gaps around doors, pipes and vents, should happen before the first hard freeze rather than after the first sighting. As the saying goes, there is no point shutting the barn door after the horses have bolted….
Leaves that were not cleared in the fall become the dam that winter builds on. Snow melts during the day, refreezes at night and the water simply has nowhere to go. It backs up under roof edges, leaks into ceilings and walls (where it can cause major structural damage) or spills across sidewalks and parking areas where it freezes into a slip hazard. Parking lot drains and catch basins can also clog, which leads to flooding in low lying areas.
Holiday storms are a test for every contractor at once. Heating units, rooftop equipment, doors and roofs are all under strain and in a closed building failures can go unnoticed for days. Proactive inspections before the holidays and a clear escalation path while the site is empty, help prevent a small fault from becoming an extended closure.
A full-service facilities management company does not just provide a phone number for emergencies. It takes responsibility for the whole building across a multitude of trades, which quite honestly prevents major headaches over the holiday period.
Holiday risk | What goes wrong | What full-service coverage changes |
|---|---|---|
Frozen and burst pipes | A line splits in an unheated or vacant space; water runs for days before anyone returns. | Pre-freeze walkthroughs, heat and shut-off checks and one call that coordinates plumbing, water mitigation and drywall repair in sequence. |
Pest activity | Rodents and insects move indoors for warmth and food, often into stockrooms and kitchens. | Scheduled pest service continues through closures, with exclusion work done before the cold sets in. |
Gutters and drainage | Clogged gutters and drains back up, form ice dams and push water under roofs or into lots. | Fall gutter and drain cleaning and roof checks managed as one plan instead of several vendors. |
Building systems | Heating, roof or door failures go unnoticed in a closed building. | Inspections before the holiday and a single escalation path while the site is empty. |
Whether or not you work with a facilities partner, these are the steps worth completing before your sites close for the holidays:
An empty site over the holidays is a facilities risk and a security risk at the same time. Our sister company, Guard Services USA, provides mobile patrols, unarmed and armed officers, and fire watch services for periods when a sprinkler or alarm system is out of service. A patrol that is already checking doors can also spot standing water, a dark heating unit or a blocked drain, so the problem is reported while it is still small.
Local contractors can do excellent work. The challenge over the holidays is availability and coordination. A full-service and single accountability partner across trades.
Ideally in early fall. Gutter cleaning, pest exclusion and pipe insulation are easiest to schedule before the first hard freeze and before contractors get busy.
No. Single sites benefit from one point of contact too. Our value to a company grows with the number of locations, because preparation and response remain consistent whether it is across a single location or 1000’s of locations.
Facilities USA manages facility services across more than 35 trades, including plumbing, pest control, roofing and drainage, under a single agreement. If you would like help building a winter and holiday plan for your locations, Contact our Team.
