How Landscaping Impacts Business Perception
- Making a good impression
A business’ exterior presentation can dramatically impact how new or existing clients perceive the level of professionalism offered. Proper maintenance and regular landscaping ensure that the first impressions of your business are positive, leaving visitors feeling confident in your abilities and expertise.
- Safety is essential
Improperly maintained business exteriors could result in injuries to both your employees and potential clients. Whether it’s unleveled or crooked pavement, fallen branches, piled-up leaves, or unkept foliage, you could end up experiencing some unforeseen hazards.
Commercial property maintenance ensures that your business has noticeable curb appeal, while also remaining safe for visitors.
- Increase property value and demand
A property’s curb appeal can be drastically increased through proper maintenance and care. This, in turn, will help improve the value of your space, and create more demand surrounding your business’ location.
The more desirable your business appears (for example, clean exterior, ample traffic, bustling neighbourhood), the larger number of clients you can expect to attract.
- Save time and money
Although some business owners may believe that outsourcing their landscaping work will cost extra, that is a common misconception. When hiring a commercial property maintenance company, business owners typically lay out an agreed-upon budget that is followed throughout the year, meaning all costs remain consistent.
How Landscaping Influences Customer Experiences
Maintaining a well-kept exterior is important for any business, particularly ones that rely on first impressions to entice potential clients. The appearance of your business’s outdoor space determines the type of clients you will attract, while simultaneously setting the tone for their experience once inside.
A commercial property maintenance company has the expertise and knowledge necessary to manage the ongoing upkeep of your property. Some services they provide to help ensure your property is appealing to customers include the following:
- Protect the health of your lawn by maintaining turf correctly and applying proper mowing techniques.
- Provide expert advice on how to renovate your existing space into an aesthetically pleasing landscape.
- Support finding a balance between functionality and cost-effectiveness.
- Offer quick assessments that fall within your budget, leaving you with more time to focus on other critical tasks, such as client relations.
The ideal landscape for a commercial business should be tailored to your specific needs. This may include certain colour palettes, plant selections, and design choices.
Professional commercial property maintenance enhances the aesthetic appearance of your space, making it look more professional. Additional pops of colour and eye-catching visuals can be included to draw attention from customers, employees, and other visitors.
Environmental Sustainability
Sustainable landscaping is recognized as a modern type of gardening or landscaping where environmental impact and sustainability are taken into account. This can include factors such as design, construction, and management of a property.
In order for an outdoor space to be sustainable, both the physical appearance and local climate must be taken into consideration. With minimal resources required, the design is typically functional, cost-effective, visually pleasing, environmentally friendly, and easily maintainable.
When focusing on sustainable development, a commercial property maintenance company may pay close attention to:
- Preserving limited resources
- Reducing waste
- Preventing air, water, and soil pollution
- Installing compost and fertilization
- Focusing on integrated pest management
- Using their expertise to plant things in the correct places
- Appropriately utilizing turf when necessary
- Being conscious of water-wise gardening techniques
In addition to minimizing the environmental impact, sustainability efforts can help your business save money. Using appropriately selected and properly sited plants ensures that maintenance costs will be reduced over time.
Other benefits of sustainable development include:
- Long-lasting installation
- Reduced water usage and no surface runoff or puddles
- Minimal use of fertilizers and pesticides
- Use of green waste
- Conservation of energy and resources
Managing Stormwater and Erosion
Stormwater is rainfall and snowmelt that seeps into the ground or runs off the land into storm sewers, streams, and lakes. Day-to-day activities such as watering a lawn, washing a car, and/or draining pools may also contribute. If improperly managed, excess stormwater can dramatically impact the health of neighbouring water sources, as well as the existing landscape.
There are typically four different ways that stormwater can be managed:
- Maintaining the hydraulic cycle
One approach for maintaining the hydraulic cycle involves specifying that post-development infiltration must be equal to the pre-development infiltration. The quantity of water that must be filtered via stormwater controls (meant to compensate for vegetation changes and increased imperviousness) can usually be estimated using a range of techniques, including equations and computer models.
- Reducing risk of flooding
In order to avoid harmful amounts of stormwater build-up, a good rule to follow is that the maximum peak flows must not exceed pre-development values for large storms. You can control peak flows by holding back runoff so that it does not all reach the main water source within a relatively short time period or immediately after the storm.
- Preventing undesirable stream erosion
The rate and volume at which sediment, as well as excess water, is delivered into a water source can increase the effects of erosive forces. Erosive forces brought on by urbanization have the ability to change the structure of nearby stream channels.
Some factors that contribute to a water source’s ability to resist destructive change include:
- Channel materials
- Type of surrounding vegetation
- The distribution of surrounding vegetation
- The existence of prior disturbances
Taking the steps to effectively control the runoff from storms and other water-related activities causing these flows protects water sources and the habitats they provide.
- Protecting water quality
Typically, suspended soils—including both organic and inorganic matter—increase turbidity or decrease the clarity of water. This, ultimately, interferes with the photosynthetic activity of plants, as well as the feeding needs of different fish species that rely on sight.
Other stormwater contaminants that impact water quality are:
- Metals
- Pesticides
- Some forms of nutrients
These materials tend to be attracted to solids and can only be removed from stormwater with other solids. A commercial property maintenance team has the expertise and knowledge required to help your business effectively improve the existing water quality.
Promoting Employee Well-Being and Productivity
Employee well-being is recognized as a holistic approach to an individual’s physical, emotional, social, and mental health. This technique goes beyond simple everyday wellness and instead focuses on prioritizing the employee’s experience within the workplace.
Several benefits that your business may undergo include improved potential, better work productivity, increased engagement, positive social relationships, and the development of healthy stress-management strategies.
When a property looks more appealing, it will create an additional sense of comfort for workers and visitors alike. As well, your business’ brand is often directly reflected by the appearance of the property’s exterior. The greater attention you give to the curb appeal and safety of your company, the higher chances that employees will demonstrate pride in the workplace.
How Hiring a Commercial Property Management Company Can Help Your Business
As a business owner, it can be difficult to keep your property looking sharp and professional when there are other important operational tasks that require your attention.
That said, not having a well-maintained exterior landscape can end up costing more in the long run. A poorly kept property gives the impression that you do not care about your work, let alone your brand’s appearance.
A commercial property maintenance company offers the expertise and support necessary for keeping your business looking sharp year-round. Hiring a team of professionals allows you to develop a custom landscaping plan that meets your specific needs and budget.