Parking lots. Many property owners and management companies view them as necessary evils that are required by building code yet take up valuable real estate space that could otherwise be leased or sold off.
If you’ve ever visited a strip mall or commercial parking lot and came across potholes, faded paint lines, and confusing traffic signs, your visitor experience probably didn’t get off to a very good start.
The overall state of a commercial parking lot can be directly attributed to the beginning of the shopping experience. If a parking lot has lots of potholes and looks run down, people will tend to avoid patronizing local businesses. Due to the recent changes in ADA Compliance laws, the parking lot could also violate several zoning laws.
We’re going to look at four things that owners and managers of parking lots should take into consideration when it comes time to allocating maintenance funds from their annual budgets:
Repair Any Damage
We’re very fortunate to live in the scenic and tranquil Pacific Northwest. But every winter the tranquility is interrupted by freezing cold temperatures, snow, and ice. In the summer, the blazing hot sun bakes the asphalt and sidewalk to temperatures well above 100 degrees.
The extreme temperatures will expand and contract asphalt and sidewalks. Over time, cracks can form which are unsightly tripping hazards and personal injury lawsuits just waiting to happen. Parking lot maintenance issues should be repaired as they arise, not deal with all at once.
Maximize Space
Do you know if your parking lot is making the most usage out of the square footage it sits on?
If the marked parking spaces in your lot aren’t efficiently and intelligently laid out, it can cause the parking lot to fill up much quicker. This, in turn, translates to lowered sales and traffic for nearby stores.
Having a professional pavement marking company analyze the way your parking is laid out and offer a strategic optimization plan can increase the amount of overall traffic and visitors to the local shops and businesses.
ADA and Zoning Compliance
If your parking lot hasn’t been repainted or restriped in a long while, you could be running afoul of ADA Compliance laws. While we cannot provide legal advice, the experts at Stripe Rite can give you an idea of what you’ll need to get your parking lot up to snuff. By making the parking lot more accessible, older adults and people with disabilities will have a much easier time entering and exiting their cars and patronizing businesses.
Perform Regular Maintenance
A parking lot that is brightly and intuitively marked can prevent many parking and traffic headaches and hassles. This holds especially true in such areas where overall space and square footage is at a minimum. Parking lines and paint that is faded will only serve to lessen the customer experience and confuse people trying to navigate the lot to find a space to park.
Performing regular parking lot maintenance can mean the difference between happy customers and efficient traffic flow and a bird’s nest of jumbled traffic and disgruntled patrons.
Parking Lot Striping in Washington – The Stripe Rite Way
We offer a wide range of parking lot marking and maintenance services to help keep your lot running smoothly and efficiently. Give us a call today at (253) 863-2987 or contact us to learn more about the various services that we offer. At Stripe Rite, we’ve been around for several decades and pride ourselves on performing quality work and serving up top-notch customer service for all of our clients.