Updated September 2026
Every building has a winter weak spot, and it tends to show itself on your busiest night. A gutter that blocked in November sends rain through the ceiling during a full Friday service in December. The heating that sat idle all summer gives up on the coldest morning of January, an hour before you open.
You can't move those nights, but you can move the repair. While the weather's mild, our team can plan the work around your trading hours. Leave it until the first cold snap and you'll be booking emergency repairs along with everyone else, and January and February are already our busiest months for call-outs.
We've kept businesses across Epsom, Surrey, London and the Home Counties running through winter since 2007. This guide follows the season as you'll live it, with what tends to go wrong at each stage and what we do to stop it.
November
Sort the outside of your building while you can choose the date
Leaves have been falling for weeks. Gutters and downpipes that block now overflow in January, and the water ends up in your brickwork, ceilings and stock. We've cleared a cinema's gutters that were so badly blocked that water was backing up into the building.
Our building maintenance team clears gutters, downpipes and external drains, checks drain covers are secure, and looks for loose tiles, damaged flashing and early signs of leaks. We pay close attention to anywhere water has come in before, because a small repair now costs far less than a ceiling coming down in February.
Check the way in now it's dark earlier
Your morning team arrives in the dark and your evening customers leave in it. A broken light, a cracked step or a blocked drain beside a doorway becomes far more dangerous once there's frost or ice, and it's your staff and customers who slip.
We check main entrances, fire exits, steps, ramps and car parks, and fix what we find. If your time clocks don't adjust themselves, your car park lights may still be running on summer time, so we reset those too.
Get your heating ready before the cold mornings
Your heating has had months off, and the first time it has to work hard is usually the coldest week of the year. That's a bad time to find a worn part, with customers keeping their coats on and your team working in the cold.
A pre-winter heating service tests your thermostats and controls, resets time schedules for the season, and looks for cold spots, pressure drops and unusual noises that point to a part on its way out. You get warm rooms from opening time, all through your busiest weeks.
December
Prepare for a packed Christmas
December asks more of your building than any other month. Rooms are fuller, hours are longer, decorations go up and portable heaters come out. Festive lighting adds load to circuits that may already be busy, and a trip on a fully booked night is the last thing you need.
Our electricians carry out fixed wire testing if it's due, check circuits aren't overloaded, and inspect outdoor sockets and fittings for worn seals that let rain in. Our fire safety team tests your fire alarm system and detectors.
A winter storm can also cut your power with a full house, and your emergency lighting has to work first time. We test every unit, check batteries hold their charge for the full duration, make sure exit signs are clearly visible, and keep your test records up to date.
Protect your building while the doors are closed
If you close over Christmas or your building sits partly empty, a small fault can do a lot of damage before anyone sees it. Pipes in unheated spaces freeze first, with lofts, cellars, plant rooms and outbuildings the usual trouble spots. When the ice thaws, a split pipe can flood a kitchen, bar or stockroom in minutes, and there may be nobody there to turn the water off.
We check your water tanks and exposed pipework are insulated, replace damaged or missing lagging, and make sure your stopcock is easy to reach and turns freely. Keeping the heating on low is one of the simplest ways to protect an empty building.
Longer nights also mean more hours for intruders. We test your security systems, including alarms, access control, CCTV and security lighting, before your team heads home.
January
Spot the early signs
Systems pushed hard in December tend to fail in January and February, and the cold and wet expose weaknesses you didn't notice during the Christmas rush. At one venue in Muswell Hill, crumbling mortar and loose bricks were letting moisture in, and we caught it before it became a structural problem.
Ask your team to listen for dripping in ceilings and walls, and to look out for cold spots on radiators, ice building up in gutters, heavy condensation on windows and lights that flicker. Any unusual smell from your heating needs checking straight away. Call us at the first sign and a small fault is far less likely to become a closure.
Our guide to the five things that always break in January covers the failures we see every year.
Make sure every shift knows what to do
Problems rarely wait for the person who knows the building best. Whoever's on shift at 2am or locking up on Christmas Eve should know where the stopcock is, where the main distribution board is, and who to call. Keep those details where the whole team can find them, and keep plant rooms and service areas clear so our engineers can get straight to the fault.
Our 24-hour emergency call-out team is available 365 days a year. Our engineers arrive in fully stocked vans and aim to fix the problem on the first visit, so you can get back to business.
If you're already on a maintenance plan
If you're on a planned maintenance programme with us, your winter checks are built into your schedule and we agree your priorities in advance. Our job management system tracks every job, so you can see what's been done and what's booked in.
If you only call us when something breaks, this is a good time to talk about a plan. A planned service costs around a third of an emergency call-out in January, and you choose the date.
One team for your whole building
Winter problems rarely stay in one trade. A roof leak can knock out your lighting. A power cut can affect your heating and fire systems. With one contractor covering electrical, fire safety, security, heating and building maintenance, you have one number to call and one team who knows your building.
It's the same approach that saw Mitchells & Butlers name us their Electrical Contractor of the Year for 2026.
Book your winter building check
Call 0333 344 5949 or get in touch for a free quote.
