- Regular property maintenance is essential for the longevity of your business.
Every business owner has a number of important priorities to keep track of. Some of the most obvious priorities include creating a successful marketing plan and developing a sound budget that will keep your company financially stable. You might also get frantic calls from customers all day and have numerous fires to put out.
The aforementioned priorities are some of the most urgent. When you have many urgent priorities to consider, it can be easy to put longer-term concerns on the back burner.
One of the issues that many business owners don’t prioritize enough is property and building maintenance. You need to make sure that your property is adequately maintained to prevent expensive long-term repairs, facing the possibility of costly compliance violations and risking losing customers.
Here are some important property and building maintenance tips that every business should follow.
Pay close attention to your HVAC system
Your HVAC system is very important. This is why companies like Canarm are in such high demand. Here are some reasons HVAC maintenance is so important:
- You reduce costly repairs down the road
- You improve the lifetime of your HVAC system
- You have fewer emergencies
- You improve the air quality
You need to make it a priority to either repair your HVAC system or replace it as soon as fixing it is no longer an option.
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Make sure that the asphalt on your parking lot is monitored for cracks and degradation
When you are trying to make sure that your property is adequately maintained, your first instinct is probably to look at the building and other core structures that you own. However, there are other parts of your property that might actually need even more careful maintenance. This is a concern that businesses must evaluate.
The parking lot is one of them. The parking lot is the first exposure that your customers and other people have with your business. They won’t have the best view of your brand if your asphalt is cracking or the paint is starting to fade.
You need to carefully inspect your asphalt at least once every couple of months. Any cracks that are starting to appear need to be filled in as quickly as possible. The longer that you go without fixing them, the more costly it will be to maintain them down the road.
You also need to add new paint to any parking lot lines that are starting to fade. It needs to be easy for people to clearly see the lines for parking spaces to avoid accidents and other problems. This is also going to be important to keep your business ADA compliant if the handicapped spots aren’t clearly designated.
Have a structural engineer inspect the building every 12 months
Structural problems with your building can be some of the costliest to fix. They are also some of the most costly and dangerous if they go unresolved for too long.
Unlike some other problems with your building, the structural issues almost never appear overnight. They gradually worsening over time. You might not notice them for years, until they become so serious that you need to shutter the entire building.
The best way to address these concerns is by having a civil engineer look at the building regularly. Ideally, you should have your building inspected at least every year.
Consider the expected lifetime of your roof when making ongoing repairs
You need to think carefully about the expected lifetime of your roof when you are making repairs. This is going to vary depending on a number of factors. For example, the average TPO roof will last for between 22 and 30 years. Other commercial roofs might only last for 10 or 15 years. Your roof will also not last as long if you are located in a region with inclement weather conditions. You can be sure of your roof’s expected lifetime by hiring professionals such as Team Roofing in order to help you solve all your doubts and plan replacements and repairs if necessary.
You need to realistically project the lifetime up your roof when you are making major repairs. If it is unlikely that he will be able to keep your roof for more than a couple of years longer, then it might not make sense to spend a lot of money fixing it. You might want to do the bare minimum until you can have it fully replaced.
Look carefully at the exterior of your building
The aesthetics of your building are also going to be very important. You want to resolve any visual issues that need to be addressed. It is important to look for obvious signs of wear and blemishes that require periodic cleaning, painting and other solutions.