TORONTO, Aug. 20,
2024 /CNW/ - Nearly seven in ten (68%) small
businesses have experienced disruptions due to local construction
projects in the past five years, marking a 27% increase since 2018,
finds a new report by the Canadian Federation of Independent
Business (CFIB) titled Hard hats and hard times: Public
construction impacts on small businesses.
Of those affected, 22% report these disruptions have had a major
impact on their business, which equates to 266,953 SMEs across the
country. When public construction projects extend beyond their
established timelines, it prolongs the impact of these disruptions.
On average, small firms endured 508 days of construction-related
disruptions over the past five years.
"Small businesses face a myriad of issues when local
construction projects take place, from traffic congestion and dust
and debris, to losing customers and navigating logistical
disruptions," said Emily Boston,
Senior Policy Analyst at CFIB and report co-author. "Now, imagine
dealing with it for over 500 days! Sadly, this is a reality for too
many small businesses across Canada."
Small firms lost on average 22% of their revenues during the
most significant construction project affecting them over the past
five years and on top of that, spent around $10,000 in extra expenses such as cleaning and
repairs.
While each construction project is unique in its duration, scale
and disruptiveness, the most common issues affecting 58% of
businesses are traffic congestion, dust, debris, and noise.
Customers and staff having trouble accessing their business or
finding parking (49%), significant stress (23%) and lack of notice
(33%) also impact small businesses in construction
zones.
"We're not asking governments to stop upgrading roads or
repairing sewers. Public infrastructure projects are important, but
when they drag on for years, it's difficult for businesses to
survive in the meantime," Boston added. "A large portion of
construction costs can be avoided with better planning, execution,
and by giving more consideration to the reality of local
businesses."
Over two-thirds of businesses (68%) say they should be
compensated by government when a public construction project has a
major impact on their business operations. CFIB urges governments
to support small businesses during periods of major construction by
establishing comprehensive construction mitigation plans, which
should include funding to offset costs for impacted businesses,
improved planning and communication strategies, and more
clarification on how each level of government will be
involved.
"All too often it seems as though levels of government punt the
responsibilities of construction projects back and forth. There
needs to be a clear directive as to who is responsible for the
construction mitigation of projects and what mitigation tools will
be used," Boston concluded. "Improving how construction projects
are handled would benefit local businesses, municipalities,
provincial governments and citizens alike."
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is
Canada's largest association of
small and medium-sized businesses with 97,000 members across every
industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business
owners' chances of success by driving policy change at all levels
of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating
exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.
SOURCE Canadian Federation of Independent Business