The building of a firewall which will separate the warehouse has now started and will make us legal to have insurance cover in case of fire. The landlord was not keen to fit sprinklers because this would have cost in the region of $1 million. We were not overly keen either as our rent would have doubled in order for the landlord to recoup his expense.
We had to remove the back racking, but I thought they would have placed a higher fence in between to help prevent theft. When I saw what was actually taking place I got the staff to move the reachable stock immediately. I have nothing against builders or in this case Zimbabwean builders, but my track record with Zimbabweans is not good and have fired 99% of them in the past for theft. WE have only 1 remaining Zimbabwean out of what must have been more than 50 staff over the years. The sad part is they are mostly educated and smart, but with the smart comes their weakness which they think they are smart enough to not get caught.
The first job of the builders is to cut three lines in the cement floor which is not only noisy, but also creates shed loads of dust which I would presume is not healthy. Once that is done we will then experience the joys of a jack hammer and why today and for the next few days next week I will be working from home. The noise will be unbearable especially as this is inside a building. This will then create the hole in the ground where the foundations will be placed and I presume they start laying bricks after that.
I cannot have them working at weekends due to the cost of overtime paying the staff members acting as security so the quicker this phase is completed the better. We are responsible for any theft now we are business owners which would affect the profit margins when we do our stock takes. This was one of the reasons why I wanted them to only start once my family was back from the overseas trip.
We are in a quiet period right now and only expect things to start gearing up around October when we are preparing for Christmas. Most businesses would like to have their Christmas stock on site by mid November and if it is not delivered to them by the 21st November the chances of it getting into their stores is slim.
This firewall will take roughly 4 weeks to complete after which the new tenant can move in on the other side. I will be far happier then as our premises will be more secure having less access points.