A lot of commercial property managers place a lot of focus on maintaining a clean and pristine entryway to their building with the notion that this is the first thing that guests, clients, and prospective new tenants will see. Though when you really sit down and think about it, the first thing visitors see is usually your parking garage or parking lot.
In this light, a messy parking garage rife with bird droppings stuck-on gum, concrete stains, refuse and bad odors can completely undo your best efforts at impressing guests with how beautiful your building’s foyer is!
This means it is always important to always maintain a clean parking garage to not only make the right first impression but to also ensure the safety of all visitors and tenants.
In this article, we will take a closer look at how to clean and maintain an impeccable parking area that is sure to impress tenants and visitors alike. This involves tips and tricks you can do on a daily or weekly basis to help ensure a tidy parking garage as well as the benefits of keeping all your parking areas professionally clean.
Benefits Of Maintaining A Clean Parking Garage
Maintaining a professionally clean parking garage or adjoining parking lot carries more benefits than just impressing visitors and prospective new tenants.
Maintain Or Improve The Overall Property Value
Just like with your home, curb appeal matters when it comes to assessing the market value. The more proactive you are about routine cleaning regular maintenance, the more value your commercial property will retain. In some cases, it can even improve the estimate or asking price of your property if you are thinking about selling it.
A parking structure that has been left unkempt and filthy will ultimately be more difficult to clean later. Especially when it comes to things like removing stains and other grime.
Making A Good First Impression For Prospective Tenants
Prospective new tenants are always assessing every square inch of a property from the first second they lay eyes on it. This is especially true of retail spaces where tenants are relying on the property managers to maintain an exterior that their customers are appealing to. A dirty parking area in disarray ultimately reflects on them and will reduce their willingness to lease space inside the commercial property.
Retaining Current Tenants
While a clean parking area certainly impresses prospective new tenants, it also helps retain current tenants who might be coming up at the end of their current lease. If your current tenants feel that the unkempt nature of the parking structure or other exterior details are driving away their prospective customers they might not be so willing to renew their lease when it comes to the end of the current duration.
This creates a sort of revolving door in your annual leasing structure that can hurt your bottom line. Frequently having to clean out the lingering presence of an old tenant, trying to find and secure a new one, then refreshing the space to make it available all costs you time and money that could be saved if the current tenant is happy.
Maintaining General Public Safety
Liabilities are always a concern for commercial property managers. While overt public safety things like removing snow and dealing with ice in the winter seem obvious, problems in an unkempt parking structure can be just as hazardous.
Even something as simple as bird droppings that build up can lead to insects, bacteria, and other pathogens that can become a serious liability issue. Broken glass can damage tires and cause injuries. Spills that aren’t cleaned up promptly on a parking garage walkway can lead to slips and falls. The list goes on and even what seems like a minor problem in a parking garage can cost you major money with liability issues or safety code violations.
Tips For Maintaining A Clean Commercial Parking Garage
There are a few things you can do to help maintain a clean and safe parking structure. Some involve daily action, while others can be scheduled monthly or quarterly depending on the amount of traffic your parking structure receives.
Daily Cleaning
Having someone go through the parking garage at the end of the day to pick up trash, empty refuse bins, and note any potential problem areas that need to be addressed by the maintenance crew will go a long way toward preventing major problems later. This might be an employee or two who patrol the area at the end of the day or a professionally contracted day matron.
Weekly Cleaning
Sweeping the parking garage on a weekly basis helps to eliminate dirt and grime build-up on the parking garage floor. It can also remove any broken glass or stray refuse that might have escaped the garbage bins. It also sends a strong message to your current tenants who see you making an effort. Here again, any significant safety issues can be passed on to the building’s maintenance staff.
Monthly Or Seasonal Cleaning
Setting up a time to give your parking structure a good deep cleaning is also a great way to maintain health and safety codes as well as impress tenants. This includes things like pressure washing stains, clearing away bird droppings, and refreshing walkways through the parking garage. It helps to do this monthly, or at least quarterly with the change of the seasons. It’s especially important in spring when you need to refresh the parking structure after all the grime and road salt left behind by winter weather.
Benefits Of Outsourcing Your Parking Garage Cleaning Needs
Tasking employees or maintenance staff with cleaning and maintaining your parking structures is rarely an effective use of their man-hours. Their time is better spent focusing on their areas of expertise. Not to mention they rarely have the technical training and access to professional cleaning equipment to get the job done right the first time.
When you outsource your parking garage cleaning needs to a professional cleaning company like Building Services Inc. You can trust that highly trained technicians are bringing years of experience to bear to keep your parking structure immaculately clean. We also have access to the commercial equipment and cleaning supplies to get the job done quickly and efficiently.
