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5 Ways Climate Change will Affect your Business
September 1, 2017
Being a mason is a hard job. You need to make sure every measurement is as accurate as possible, and even in this technologically advanced age we live in there’s a great deal of grunt work to the job. As if that wasn’t enough, though, masons now have to grapple with climate change. If you’re in the field, trying to make sure your buildings last, this isn’t some theoretical thing that’s going to happen in some vague future… this is something that’s impacting your business now. Here are five ways that climate change is going to burden your business.
#1: Harsher Working Conditions
We all know how tough it is to get the job done when there are record-breaking temperatures making the day unbearable. Heat, especially when combined with hard work and long hours, can complicate any job. Especially when you consider that regular breaks, hydration, and keeping workers cool are necessities, not conveniences. Climate change means it will be hotter than ever before, and that the heat may last significantly longer than it did in the past.
#2: Changes in Material Supply and Demand
Climate change isn’t a single drop of water falling in a select area. Everyone gets wet in this rainstorm, and sometimes that can have unexpected results. Such as, for example, changes in the cost and supply of basic building materials.
Take lumber, as an example. Lumber is often seen as a lightweight alternative to masonry, but how will logging and forestry concerns change when the climate alters? Will there be more restrictions on when wood can be harvested, and by whom? Will there be additional taxes and tariffs put on lumber as a way to curb deforestation and fight greenhouse gases? Alternatively, will fossil fuels become more expensive, making it costlier to ship heavy materials like stone and brick? If green vehicles become more common on the roads, will shipping costs drop?
These are all potential concerns masonry businesses have to consider when it comes to the potential effects of climate change, and how humans choose to fight it.
#3: Changing Environments
You have different concerns when you build a structure next to the sea-shore than you do in the desert… but climate change can change the types of methods and materials you need to use in the very near future. As weather patterns change they can bring rising sea levels, droughts, and other issues that are going to impact the jobs you receive in the future, and which will alter how effective your work has been in the past.
#4: Public Perception
In today’s business climate it’s not enough to offer a good product, or provide a good service; customers want to know where you stand. When it comes to climate change, that means customers will want to see your green credentials up-front. They’ll ask where your products come from, and how your process helps in the fight against greenhouse gases. So it rests on you to be able to answer those questions, and to explain to your future customers that by supporting you, they are supporting a greener mason than they would get by hiring someone else.
#5: Extreme Weather
Climate change makes extreme weather not just possible, but probable. That means areas which were considered safe from things like floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, or wildfires will have to cope with these events. This could mean your work will be held to higher, or entirely different, standards than it would have been before climate change became a serious problem.
Climate change affects all of us, and we all need to step up to the challenges that come with a changing world. If you’re looking for more advice on how your business can provide what your customers need, simply today!
Company: Mortar Net Solutions®
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