Landscape Maintenance Guidelines Can Benefit Property Managers And Contractors

Commercial Property MaintenanceCommercial property managers are required to uphold a delicate balance between the maintenance expectations of owners, tenants, and clients and the budget/expenditures needed to meet those expectations. In other words, these managers must address all that is asked of them at the lowest possible cost.

In some cases, and often due to factors relating to time and convenience, commercial property maintenance contracts are just renewed annually without much deliberation. Unfortunately, this type of complacency can lead to a number of unwanted or inefficient situations for these property managers/owners with respect to their overall landscape maintenance plans, such as paying for:

  • Services no longer required
  • Services no longer being delivered
  • Extra and/or non-applicable actions
  • Outdated practices or products
  • More expensive grandfathered clauses
  • Less environmentally-friendly methods
  • Services not up to regulatory standards

To avoid any unnecessary costs or services, commercial property managers would be well advised to exercise due diligence whenever they are renewing or renegotiating any maintenance-related contracts. This assessment process should include not only the specific components of the contracts but also the actual performance of the maintenance company.

With particular consideration to landscape maintenance, this assessment process can be both simplified and accelerated with the use of evaluation worksheets developed with the support of Landscape Ontario. This downloadable resource provides guidelines for property managers and includes sections on:

  • Basic Services – The minimum for all properties (spring, summer, fall)
  • Extra Services – A menu for selecting additional optional services
  • Green Services – A supplementary menu of environmentally-friendly options

The overall intent of the worksheets is to provide an avenue for commercial property managers and the Landscape and Property Management industry to work collaboratively in conducting landscape maintenance activities in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly manner.

Landscape Maintenance Guidelines Benefit Property Managers And Contractors

Although intended primary for use by commercial property managers, investing time to review the landscape maintenance evaluation worksheets offers several benefits to both these managers as well as the maintenance providers.

For commercial property managers, the evaluation worksheets can refine landscape maintenance needs and help allocate budgets more effectively in these ways:

  • Developing a customized maintenance plan for their specific property needs
  • Requesting contractor bids that are detailed/itemized to this customized plan
  • Integrating landscape maintenance costs within the global property budget

In a similar vein, commercial property maintenance companies bidding on these contracts will have the advantages of:

  • Clarified expectations in terms of the services to be delivered
  • Preparing more accurate/detailed quotes based on specified needs
  • Planning crew numbers and time requirements more efficiently

For all your seasonal commercial property maintenance needs, call the experts at Landcare today at 416-410-0320 or contact us to develop a maintenance plan that will address your specific requirements and respect your budget.