Maintaining your establishment is perhaps one of the most tedious and costliest factors of running a business. Nevertheless, no business can go without proper building maintenance — and that is especially true for exteriors.
Before we delve into the most important maintenance tasks for your business exteriors, here are the reasons why maintenance is crucial for your establishment.
Why exterior maintenance is important for your community business
1. First impressions
Your establishment’s exteriors are essentially the “face” of your business. The structure itself is the first thing that people see when they approach your business and hence, it is the main factor that affects customers’ first impression of your establishment. When your exteriors look well-cared-for, customers are more likely to enter your establishment and hold it in high regard before they even step over the threshold.
2. Regulatory compliance
Commercial buildings have to comply with many different regulations regarding building and exterior maintenance. These regulations are designed to keep any and all persons stepping onto the property safe, including customers, employees, visitors, and proprietors themselves.
Failing to comply with building regulatory standards can result in complaints, fines, and in some cases, even dissolution.
3. Prevention of degradation
Proper maintenance helps prevent degradation of building exteriors, which usually manifests in peeling paint, cracks in exterior walls, rot, and mold growth, among many other structural issues. Preventing these issues will help your building last longer and ultimately save costs in repairs, replacements, pest control, and other maintenance expenses.
Most important maintenance tasks for building exteriors
It goes without saying that proper maintenance of building exteriors offers many benefits to your business, including cost-effectiveness, regulatory compliance, and increased curb appeal. Now that you know why you should maintain your establishment’s exteriors, here are the most important maintenance tasks that you should pay attention to.
Snow and ice removal
A community business, or any business for that matter, is legally required to proactively inspect its property for dangerous conditions, including snow and ice. If these hazards are present on your property and a customer or employee hurts themselves as a result, you are liable for their injuries (also known as premises liability) and may even be faced with a personal injury lawsuit.
That said, businesses must conduct regular ice and snow removal on their premises to prevent slip and fall accidents. In conjunction with in-house maintenance (having your own employees clear ice and snow from the business premises), it is highly recommended to call in commercial snow removal services to remove the snow and ice that your employees can’t do themselves.
Outdoor light maintenance
Adequate exterior lighting is crucial for a business for two main reasons. First, having more than enough illumination on your building’s exteriors will help attract customers after the sun sets. The second reason is that adequate lighting helps keep customers and employees safe while walking around your building’s exterior premises, be it from slip-and-fall accidents or violent crime.
Install enough lighting around your business exteriors, preferably with LED bulbs that are more energy-efficient and provide brighter light. Pay special attention to areas that are prone to accidents or crimes, such as parking lots, alleyways, and walkways with inclines or trip hazards. For less-traversed areas or walkways, consider installing motion-activated lights that only illuminate the area when it detects motion (saves energy and acts as a deterrent to criminals). Moreover, make it a point to clean lights regularly to maximize their illumination.
Landscape maintenance
How well you maintain your business’ landscape can be seen as a direct reflection of how your business maintains itself. People are more attracted to a business that presents itself well starting from the curb and are more likely to patronize it. Moreover, maintaining your landscape is also essential in keeping it safe for customers, visitors, and employees alike.
Similar to snow and ice removal, it is highly recommended to supplement your in-house landscaping maintenance with commercial landscaping services. Commercial landscapers have the skills and equipment to cover large areas of land and are able to do tasks that you may not be able to do by yourself. Moreover, hiring commercial landscapers to do a big bulk of tasks at once may be more cost-effective than hiring contractors as needed.
In addition, commercial landscapers can remove overhanging branches from your premises, which is crucial in preventing falling branches from injuring visitors or passers-by.
Conclusion
The importance of exterior building maintenance is often overlooked, but as you can see, it is just as crucial as maintaining the interiors of your business — not only for aesthetics but for safety reasons as well. If your building is looking a little worse for wear, it may be time to reform your building maintenance checklist with this article in mind.
