Downtime hurts competitiveness for law firms. Lawyers often operate under tight deadlines and can’t afford to miss time at work. Law firms have very high operating costs – office space is expensive and lawyers command large salaries – at a time when prices need to be lowered because of fierce competition from technological innovation.
Downtime hurts a law firm’s competitiveness in today’s legal space. HVAC equipment that’s not properly maintained can create downtime in a variety of ways – most of which are entirely unpredictable if nobody’s monitoring HVAC system health. The only way to avoid unscheduled downtime from HVAC equipment is through commercial HVAC maintenance.
How Does an HVAC System Create Downtime and Hurt Competitiveness for Law Firms?
Without preventative maintenance, HVAC systems can create substantial downtime for law firms and hurt their ability to compete in an increasingly market environment. Here are a few of the most common ways:
- Time Away from Work: an improperly maintained HVAC system will begin to malfunction, as nobody is there to recognize and take action on mechanical issues. If your HVAC system goes down, you will likely have to clear out the office until it is fixed.
- Sick Lawyers: a neglected HVAC system will also become contaminated with allergens, bacteria, mold, and other microbial growth and debris. This causes illness in building occupants – having a lawyer out sick is expensive.
- Technical Difficulties: the increasing use of sophisticated technology in legal services has led to many law firms having their own server room. The temperature of this server room needs to be carefully regulated, or else your computer network will go down. Your HVAC system is responsible for keeping the server room cool – if problems arise in your HVAC, they will in your server room too.
Preventative Commercial HVAC Maintenance Helps Law Firms Compete
The examples above are what happens when an HVAC system is neglected. Quite the opposite happens when you hire an expert to do preventative commercial HVAC maintenance. Keeping HVAC systems at peak performance, and fixing issues before they arise, keeps downtime to a minimum.
Downtime because of an HVAC system malfunction is a tough cost to absorb for most law firms. Time that should be billable and profitable turns out to be a detriment to productivity and the success of the firm.
While law firms are usually focused on their clients, and not the business of running a law firm, HVAC should be an important consideration. It’s a fundamental, if not overlooked, aspect of operations and the cost of neglecting maintenance is steep.
Commercial HVAC maintenance for law firms boosts productivity and reduces billable time killers. It’s a major part of operations and can help law firms stay competitive in a time of fierce competition.
Learn more about reducing operating expenses through HVAC for law firms here.