What Would a Three-Day Closure Really Cost Your Business?

What Would a Three-Day Closure Really Cost Your Business?

A three-day closure is not a blockbuster disaster. It is the kind of real-world disruption that hits quietly—repairs, localized power issues, a water problem, a road closure, a small fire nearby, or a landlord issue that takes longer than expected.

For many local businesses, three days is the tipping point. It is long enough to trigger missed revenue, payroll stress, appointment backlogs, and customer drift. This week, I want to focus on the financial side of everyday resilience and a simple way to estimate your real exposure.

This is why a three-day closure deserves a real number, not a guess. The JPMorgan Chase Institute found that half of small businesses have fewer than 15 cash buffer days, and only 40% have more than three weeks. When your cushion is that tight, even a short closure can ripple into payroll stress and tough decisions.

This brief looks at:
The “hidden cash drain.” Owners often focus on lost sales, but the bigger hit can be the stacked costs that continue while revenue pauses. Payroll, lease, utilities, vendor commitments, refunds, and rework do not stop just because the doors are closed.

Recovery lag after reopening. Even when you reopen quickly, the ripple continues. Clinics face rescheduling chaos. Retail faces missed impulse traffic. Service businesses face cancellations that do not fully rebook. The disruption cost is often a week of impact for three days of closure.

One 10-minute step: Estimate your three-day number.
Take ten minutes and write down:

• Your average daily revenue.

• Your daily fixed costs that keep running.

• Any “extra costs” you would likely face (repairs, overtime to catch up, refunds, emergency vendor work).

Then calculate a simple range:
Low estimate: (3 days of revenue loss) + (3 days of fixed costs).
Realistic estimate: add your likely recovery lag and catch-up expenses.

This quick exercise aligns with the Risk & Finance domain of the Small Business Resilience Score™ (SBRS). The goal is not to scare you. It is to give you a clean, practical number you can plan around, so you can decide whether you need a modest reserve, a vendor workaround, a temporary relocation option, or a tighter continuity plan.

If you want a faster snapshot of your financial resilience across the full SBRS framework, you can take the 2-minute mini-assessment below. I can help you turn that result into a simple, prioritized plan that fits your budget and your real-world risk. Click the links below: 

Take the 2-minute mini-assessment

Resilience Intelligence page

Contact us

If a three-day closure would put you into scramble mode, that is exactly the kind of everyday risk we can reduce with small, steady steps.

Thank you,
Warren