Written By: Mike Johnston
Whether you own a smaller rental space or even a more extensive retail or office complex, the maintenance of your commercial property is one of the most critical aspects you should make sure to track. Apart from ensuring the property is up to date with current safety regulations–a well-maintained commercial space is also more likely to attract interest among renters, while preventing any large-scale issues from occurring in the future. If you wish to make your commercial property more profitable through regular maintenance, here are some crucial tips you should consider:
Prioritize preventative maintenance
Preventative maintenance– or preparing for potential maintenance problems before they occur– should be your number one priority. Preventive maintenance can easily be done by creating a specific schedule for regular inspection, whether weekly, monthly or even seasonally–depending on the needs of your commercial property. For instance: safety checks of security and backup generators are always necessary and should be done weekly–while pipe inspections can wait to be done before winter to ensure they can handle the colder temperatures.
Although preventative maintenance might seem like a considerable investment at first, it will allow you to prevent issues or detect problems early on–helping to save money on expensive repairs in the long run.
Attempt to make repairs yourself
Regarding the more minor maintenance issues such as broken switches, faucets, and doorknobs–you can expect such problems to arise quite frequently. And since they are so common, they tend to accumulate into larger and more noticeable expenses. However, these smaller issues are also among the easiest to remedy and can effortlessly be resolved using your resources.
So, if you don’t have developed DIY skills, it would be wise to set aside some time to learn a few home improvement methods and tricks. Repairing these more minor issues by yourself could help you save a significant sum on unnecessary hired labor.
Check the property for leaks
Water leaks could potentially be among the most troublesome maintenance issues you can face as a property owner. They are notoriously difficult to identify in their early stages and could often cause hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of damage.
For this reason–including regular roof inspections in your maintenance plan is essential. Finding potential leaks and identifying any design issues early on could help you save a significant sum of money further down the road. It might be wise to hire a professional company to perform regular waterproof membrane testing with accurate and advanced electronic detection systems. They will be able to locate potential holes, voids, and breaches beforehand and keep your roof maintenance costs at a minimum.
Inspect the HVAC system
The HVAC system can be another tricky area to repair once any problems arise. As these systems often extend throughout the entire commercial property–even the smallest issues within the system could require you to knock down walls and go through costly repairs. To that end, performing regular checkups of your HVAC system should be a priority to prevent expensive repairs in the future.
Preventative HVAC maintenance measures like inspecting and replacing the air filters, examining the AC wires and furnaces, ensuring the thermostats are working properly, or even periodically resetting the entire system–are simple enough that you could do them yourself.
Don’t forget the exterior
While typical commercial property management fees might quickly add up, it’s still essential to maintain the exterior quality of your property to achieve success. A commercial property that is clean, well-kept, and aesthetically pleasing tends to attract and retain customers. For that reason, pressure washing the property regularly could be of great help when it comes to maintaining the appearance of the exterior.
It may also be a good idea to partner with a maintenance company that will clear litter and bird droppings, sweep the pavement, and take care of green surfaces–thus helping to create the most appealing commercial property curb appeal.
Think beyond the building
Even though it might be simple to only focus on the main building of your commercial property, proper maintenance should include every area of your property–even those aspects that are easily overlooked. Features like parking lots and garages, outbuildings, automatic gates, perimeter fences, and even irrigation systems can all be forgotten. Still, they can also turn out to be quite large expenses when fixing or replacing faulty equipment and systems.
Your maintenance plan should include these aspects–being checked and maintained regularly– to avoid costly replacements and repairs in the future.
Over to you
Maintaining a commercial property requires plenty of time, effort, and investment. By focusing on the main areas mentioned above, you could easily make this process more manageable and profitable.
About the author: Mike Johnston is an experienced writer, blogger, and editor. He’s a regular contributor to numerous online publications where he writes about real estate, construction, and home improvement.
