A landscape renovation for your commercial property is a big deal.
It updates your property and gives it a big visual boost. It makes customers, potential tenants, and buyers want to hang out at your place. Everybody loves bright, cheerful flowers and crisp, impressively landscaped entrances and beds.
Worried the process will be a big hassle, irritating your customers and giving you a three-Advil headache?
It shouldn’t be.
Commercial landscape companies who are skilled at what they do and attentive to your needs as a property manager know how to make the process go as smoothly as possible from beginning to end.
If you have the right company onboard, here’s what you should expect:
1. A Detailed Design and Plan from Your Commercial Landscape Company
This is where it all starts. A landscaping renovation is only as good as its initial plan.
The design should be drawn up by a landscape architect or landscape designer, following a consultation with you.
Sure, it should show exactly what the new landscaping will look like, but the overall plan should include other details that will put your mind at ease, too, from where the staging areas will be for machinery and materials to exactly where crews will be working on the property and when.
Proper planning prevents problems. (No such thing as too much planning — or too many P’s!)
2. A Thorough Pre-Construction Meeting
An account manager or operations manager should meet with you on-site and walk you through the process before work begins to answer any questions and address any concerns you have about the landscaping project.
Anything worrying you? Bring it up here.
The goal is to coordinate site work and hammer out the details to pose as little inconvenience as possible for you and your customers, visitors, tenants, or residents as they park, walk, and travel your property.
3. Frequent Communication with Your Commercial Landscape Company
Of course, you should ask questions, but you shouldn’t need to ask many if you have a great commercial landscape company on the job.
They should be in frequent communication, keeping you updated as the job progresses so you’re always in the know.
4. A Manager in Charge
Even the most skilled landscaping crews need a supervisor checking in periodically to make sure everything’s going smoothly.
You should see one checking in, surveying the work, talking to crews, and making suggestions as needed.
5. A Heads-Up to Your Residents or Customers
Your tenants, residents, or customers will appreciate a heads-up that landscaping work will be going on.
Telling them ahead of time will reduce any potential complaints about the disruption. Everybody loves a heads up — especially when they know beautiful new landscaping will be their reward.
6. Out-of-the-Way Staging Areas for Your Commercial Landscape Company
Remember those P’s from earlier? Proper Planning Prevents Problems? Here’s a great example.
Landscaping crews need places to put their stuff.
They need a staging area to keep equipment, tools, plants, and other materials like mulch. And they need a “spoils” area where they load debris they’re removing from the site, like old plant materials or tree trimmings.
Obviously, you don’t want these piles blocking your front walkway or taking up your Employee of the Month’s prime parking spot.
Skilled commercial landscape companies will work with you to figure out the best spots for these areas, so there’s as little disruption as possible.
These areas should be roped off or separated by cones or barricades for pedestrian safety.
7. Polite Landscape Construction Crews
You want skilled, hardworking crews who are experts in landscaping so your plants thrive and that mulch is perfect.
But you don’t want them blaring the radio, scattering tools in the middle of the sidewalk, or leaving a muddy mess when they head home at the end of the day.
That mess becomes your mess.
The best commercial landscape companies hire the best employees — courteous, hardworking crews who pick up all their debris, corral their shovels, rakes, and brooms, and leave your property tidy at the end of the workday.
8. The Know-How to Tweak the Plan as Needed
Experienced commercial landscape companies have the skill and knowledge to expertly follow that detailed landscaping plan we mentioned earlier.
The best ones also know how to identify when something’s not quite right — and fix it.
That can save you from hassle — and extra expense — later.
Maybe our operations manager notices that the plants specified (by your general contractor) to go in front of your property’s sign will grow too tall, eventually obscuring the letters.
If that happens, we’ll suggest substituting a lower- growing plant.
We don’t just shrug and follow the initial plan when we know it will cause you problems later.
9. An Eagle Eye for Issues
Commercial landscape companies that have your best interest in mind will keep an eye out for potential problems on your property, even if it isn’t part of that initial landscaping renovation plan.
Our division manager recently visited the site of a current renovation and noticed a grading issue near a bank of air conditioning units.
The ground sloped alarmingly toward the building. That’s a costly water damage problem just waiting to happen.
Of course, he’ll tell you about it.
10. A Final Walk-Through with Your Commercial Landscape Company
Here’s the fun part! You get a tour of your great new landscaping — and a chance to make sure everything looks just right.
Ideally, this will happen in the final few hours of the job, when crews are still on-site to adjust anything that doesn't seem quite right.
Great commercial landscape companies want you to be completely satisfied with their work before they stash their shovels and call it a day.
Trust Your Stress-Free Landscape Renovation to North by Northwest
Excited about updating your commercial property landscaping?
You should be. This is cool stuff. Don’t let unorganized commercial landscape companies or second-rate crews make a mess of it.
Worried about the hassle? Let us handle any headaches, so you have time for what you do best: attracting new business to your property.
We’d love to partner with you to make your landscaping impressive and your job hassle-free.
Are you ready for stress-free landscaping? Schedule a time to meet with one of our experts today. We’ll gather the details, create a customized plan just for you, and you can stop stressing as we improve and beautify your commercial property.
