A commercial property in Greater Chicago, featuring shade trees, extensive turf, and gathering spots amid surrounding buildings, offers a distinctive environment.
Visitors can conduct business while enjoying the outdoors and exploring your site. Landscaping plays a crucial role in attracting visitors, but poor maintenance can discourage them.
Staying on top of landscape-related issues is essential. Let's focus on the most common commercial landscape repairs and how to proactively address these issues to avoid larger, costlier problems later.
9 Frequent Commercial Landscape Repairs
Outdoor areas are not only common gathering spaces for visitors to your commercial property, but also entry and exit points and locations that properly guide people to your facility.
Let’s take a look at common landscape repairs you should stay on top of to avoid costly repairs and any liability issues down the road.
1. Standing Water
It’s not surprising that standing water often causes issues on commercial properties, as they tend to become trouble spots quickly.
Frequent standing water can indicate drainage problems, and water that remains for just a few days can boost mosquito populations. Nobody wants to spend time on a property infested with mosquitoes.
Additionally, standing water can carry mud onto walkways and into buildings, rendering these areas largely unusable.
Like any commercial landscape repair, issues often start small and can develop into bigger problems if left unaddressed.
Sometimes, proper grading is needed to correct water flow and fix the problem. Other times, installing french drains, rain gardens, or dry creek beds provides a long-term solution for areas prone to water accumulation.
For industrial properties in Greater Chicago with extensive hard surfaces, stormwater cannot soak into the concrete and must flow to lower areas. In such cases, solutions like detention ponds are essential to prevent flooding.
2. Erosion Issues
Like standing water, repeated rainfall on a property can lead to common issues.
If there is a hilly spot that isn’t properly graded, or a nearby retaining wall that wasn’t built properly or isn't doing its job, mud and debris will continue to move and leak onto walkways, creating additional issues.
These threats include trip-and-fall hazards and unattractive areas that no longer serve a practical or aesthetic purpose on the commercial property.
The solution to this common landscape repair is to identify the cause and fix it before it becomes a bigger problem.
3. Overgrown Trees & Shrubs
Trees and shrubs that are left to grow wild can get pretty unwieldy. And plants left to their own devices can be a detriment to your facility.
First, they are unsightly to look at, which doesn’t add to a commercial property’s appeal.
However, a bigger concern is the safety and security risks they create.
Overgrown branches can obstruct pathways and block access to doorways and windows. At night, these areas may become security vulnerabilities since they are often out of reach for cameras and lighting.
To address this, it's recommended to prune trees and shrubs twice a year—once in early summer and once in fall.
Additionally, dormant pruning during winter, when the tree is inactive, can reduce stress and be beneficial. This allows for larger cuts that promote healthier growth in spring.
4. Dying or Compacted Turf
Since your commercial property experiences high traffic, it’s common for the grass to suffer from compaction or issues like discoloration.
Compacted turf can lead to additional problems, such as weeds, disease, and dead patches. An annual fall aeration and overseeding can help maintain turf health and prevent costly repairs.
Dead or brown grass also detracts from your site’s appearance, making it look unprofessional and potentially damaging your business image. Poorly healthy grass can leave bare spots vulnerable to weeds.
To address these issues, your grounds manager should inspect the turf for disease or irrigation problems and address minor issues early to avoid larger, more expensive repairs.
5. Hardscape Challenges
When pathways buckle or roots grow and disturb walkways, uneven ground results.
This unevenness poses a major liability for commercial properties, increasing the risk of trips and falls.
The key to repairing this commercial landscape is to evaluate the problem and choose the most effective long-term solution.
For example, it might involve grading the soil, repairing walkways, or fixing concrete. In some cases, tree removal and rerouting pedestrian traffic with a new walkway pattern may be needed.
Regularly checking the stability of hardscape elements is crucial to prevent retaining wall failures, monitor walkway cracks, and address safety concerns proactively.
6. Irrigation Head Damage
Whether it’s from a random pedestrian, a mower blade, or just normal ground swelling, irrigation heads can shift or become damaged, no longer working smoothly as part of your entire irrigation system.
This is when landscape irrigation repair will be necessary on your commercial property. Your grounds maintenance provider will regularly check your irrigation system for these issues and watering inconsistencies to stay ahead of irrigation repairs when they are minor and can be easily fixed.
7. Landscape Lighting System Damage
Just as irrigation heads can suffer from pedestrian or vehicle traffic, landscape lighting fixtures can also be damaged by heavy activity on your site or even by weather extremes in Greater Chicago.
That’s why your commercial landscape maintenance professionals need to check your landscape lighting fixtures each year and make the necessary landscape lighting repairs.
8. Excess Trash and Debris
Although this might not appear as a traditional landscape repair, excessive trash on your property can reflect poorly on your business.
If left unattended for even a brief period, trash such as twigs, leaves, and other natural debris from windy or stormy weather can accumulate in your landscape.
Stay ahead of this landscaping problem by having trash picked up regularly and completing trash patrols throughout the property to prevent trash and debris from piling up on the grounds.
9. Messy or Unkempt Seasonal Color
Many commercial properties have regular seasonal color changeouts. This is where their annual flower beds and containers are freshened up with the seasons to create regular pops of color and interest on the property.
When done right, flowers are typically installed by a dedicated seasonal color or enhancement crew. Typically, maintenance crews don’t have that same landscape designer eye or attention to detail that these projects require.
Effective seasonal color should be eye-catching and leave a strong first impression. Rushing to assemble annual flowers at the last minute each season often leads to a less impressive display.
Neglecting regular seasonal color maintenance can cause flowers to become messy and wilted. The key to successful landscape enhancement is to have a skilled team or expert develop a detailed plan and concentrate on timely changeouts throughout the year, ensuring they are properly maintained and not overlooked.
Let KD Landscape Help You with Your Commercial Landscape Repairs
We understand you face many facility and operational challenges that demand your attention. Hopefully, this list helps you directly address the most severe outdoor issues so you can approach them with confidence.
KD Landscape offers a tailored, proactive commercial maintenance program to support you. From proper lawn care and mowing to trash patrol, spring and fall cleaning, regular pruning, and seasonal color enhancements, we can become a valuable part of your team.
By doing so, we ensure these commercial landscape repairs are completed efficiently, keeping your property looking its best and your budget intact.
Want a more beautiful Greater Chicago commercial property? Request a proposal for a customized plan. Together, we can help your grounds – and you – look more polished and professional.
