If you own a commercial building, you probably have a budget for maintenance. After all, a clean and tidy building is essential to maintaining profitability; your customers won't want to do business in a unkempt building. If part of your maintenance budget isn't earmarked for parking lot care, you might be missing the mark. You might not realize this, but your customers are going to be looking at your parking lot, and if it's dirty, damaged, or the parking spaces aren't clearly marked, they may start taking their business elsewhere. This is particularly true if the condition of your parking lot is causing safety concerns for your customers. To help maintain the safety and appearance of your commercial parking lot, here are three steps you need to take.
Repair Potholes as Soon as Possible.
It's not uncommon for parking lots to develop potholes, especially if they receive a lot of vehicle traffic each day. However, most people don't like to take their cars over potholes on a regular basis. Potholes can cause serious damage to cars; not to mention the fact that they can pose a safety risk to your customers, especially if they trip over them. If you see potholes developing in your parking lot, it's important that you repair them as soon as possible. One way to ensure your ability to do that is to keep a supply of asphalt patch in your storage room. Whenever you notice a pothole, fill it with asphalt patch and drive your car over it a few times.
Repaint Your Stripes Once a Year
If the lines for your parking spaces have faded, your customers won't know where to park. Unfortunately, this can lead to a variety of problems. When the lines are faded, you can end up with cars parking either too close to each other or too far apart. Not only that, but your customers won't know where the disabled parking spaces are located, which can also pose legal problems for you. When you own a business, you're required to provide properly identified disabled parking stalls for your customers with disabilities. If the parking places aren't clearly identified, you could end up getting fined. To avoid those issues, be sure to have your parking lot re-striped about once a year. You can contact companies like Stripe-A-Lot for more information.
Resurface Your Parking Lot When Needed
If your parking lot is discolored, pitted, or suffering from a network of deep cracks, your customers are going to notice it as soon as they pull into the lot. Not only do these problems put your commercial building in a bad light, but they could be putting your customers at risk for trip and fall injuries. This is particularly true of the deep cracks. To help prevent discoloration and cracks, you should have your parking lot resurfaced whenever you start noticing problems. A good rule of thumb is to have your parking lot resurfaced about once every two or three years.
