Budget season is upon us! There are many factors to consider when forming your budget for property maintenance; here’s a few tips and recommended courses of action to help you in your commercial planning.
Focus on the priorities first. There are 3 categories we always recommend customers to keep in mind when budgeting: Safety/Compliance, Health of the Grounds, and Aesthetics. Some categories will weigh heavier than others for some companies – do what is best for your property.
Safety & Compliance: Uneven sidewalks and curbs, hanging or low branches, overgrown shrubs, and ADA compliant ramps are great starting points for safety. By reducing uneven grounds and removing branches that are affecting a person’s vision or path are great ways to keep your company protected from liabilities. In addition, adding ADA ramps are not only for safety and compliance but are also more welcoming to your customers and visitors!
Health of Grounds: Prioritizing proper landscaping cultural practices, such as routine services, and setting a schedule for replacement of items that need to be every few years are easy ways to keep your grounds as healthy as possible. Do you have heavy traffic on your sidewalks or parking lot and notice every few years you need to budget for replacements, or you budget for repairing these fixes every year? Did you know that there are certain times of year to prune bushes, trees and key fertilization services that should be completed? Did you know that performing routine repairs to your irrigation system could extend the life of the investment for years? These, in addition to proper maintenance, are excellent ways to keep the company investment healthy.
Aesthetics: Beautiful landscape is more than just curb appeal – it can increase your property value, improve tenant occupancy, elevate a company’s brand, enhance employee morale, and so much more. Did you know that adding greenery and proper maintenance to a business can reduce absenteeism and improve performance? Many low-cost ways to increase aesthetics are through adding plantings, repairing/replacing unsightly areas, and more.
After you have focused on the priority items, think ahead three to five years of where you would like your commercial property to be. Would you like to add more outdoor usable spaces, which Team Rahn has noticed the spike tremendously due to COVID-19 for the dire need to be outdoors? What would your competitors plan to do to be “one-up” in the market, and what ways would you be able to budget for to keep up with them? How can you add Green Initiatives to your property to become or remain eco-friendly? Some simple, but necessary, ways to continue enhancing are fixing drainage or stormwater issues on the property. This may not need to be an immediate project completed in full. Speak with your property maintenance company about creative plans for your property to best fit your budget and continue enhancing your property!