Home Info Pack Business Closures - What Happens If the Reason For Your Business No Longer Exists?

Hot off the press in today's news is the new UK government plans to scrap the Home Information Packs (HIP) altogether. Whilst many of us throw our hats up in the air for jubilation and see it as victory for common sense, where does it leave those who have invested in Labour's big sell to start a new career as an inspector? In the Home Information Pack Business closures, what happens if the reason for your business no longer exists?

If you have been someone who has invested your time and money, gone through the training and even set up your own business in the HIP field, what will happen to you now? What are the options open to you? There are going to have to be a number of difficult decisions made by company directors regarding closure in the coming months.

Obviously the first thing to do is not to panic and fulfill current commitments. Keep a cool head, as property owners are still required to give an energy efficiency assessment when they sell their homes. The Government have had to keep some of the ingredients of the HIP on the go because it is tied to an EU directive which requires an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). As far as I can tell, one of the major differences will be the cost - approx £100 for the EPC against a HIP cost of approx. £350.

Once it becomes clearer what the Government's intentions are, it will be easier to see what changes need to be made. If your company has other services available besides the provision of HIPs, you should still be able to trade with a good strategy in place.

In thinking of reasons to stay ahead in terms of competition, it would be a good idea to do what the farmers have done and use the skills gleaned to diversify. You will have a lot of experience and advice to offer, and if you can continue to build on a good reputation, offer a quick response, good quality service and be flexible, you will still be able to keep afloat. See where you can streamline to take account of the new service requirements.

In terms of diversification, have you thought about using your skills in a different sphere? Have you thought about starting an online internet business, for instance? You could start a totally new career, receive expert coaching and increase your skill base further. Wikipedia's recent survey notes that currently only 2 billion of the world's population are on the internet. That leaves over 4 billion yet to come! It is an exploding marketplace and the business forum of the future.