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Posts Tagged ‘Maintenance’

Commercial Landscape Maintenance in Houston Texas

Integrity. Professionalism. Fiscal stability. Operating efficiencies. Ethical standards. These concepts are key traits of all top commercial real estate management companies. Not surprisingly, they describe top commercial landscape maintenance companies, as well.

As a commercial property manager or owner, you want to find a commercial landscape maintenance company who will partner with you in reaching your long- and short-term goals. With your daily priorities of meeting the needs and demands of tenants, establishing property security and controlling budgets, time management is critical. Therefore, it will make your job easier to work with a provider who honors your time. Finally, every property is unique, and so you want to work with a landscape service company who will maintain your property so that its strengths are maximized and, just as important, its weaknesses minimized.

Components of a Commercial Landscape Maintenance Program

First, the benefits. A quality maintenance program provides these four advantages:

? Presents a positive image to your customers or tenants and their customers
? Protects your investment
? Extends and retains tenants by maintaining beautiful grounds
? Helps conserve and enhance property value

The basic components of a commercial landscape maintenance program involve:

Landscape design services and installation-

1. Design and installation. In the landscape design phase, a landscape service provider will work with you on the program elements, permitting issues, design approach-including your likes and dislikes-and aesthetics. The next phase may include landscape layout, planting plans and cost studies. In providing landscape services, a true professional should work diligently and patiently to help you define the scope of your project, determine the scheduling, coordinate vendors, assist in the selection of materials, and develop a final budget.

2. Landscape lighting. A well-designed landscape lighting system gives a commercial property 24/7 visibility. Since lighting is a big deterrent of crime, one of the most important services that it delivers is safety, thereby providing an invaluable service to establishments that conduct business at night, such as hotels, country clubs, social clubs, colleges, schools, museums, and restaurants. Ultimately, though, the main propose of landscape lighting is to create a beautiful nighttime vista of the landscape.

3. Irrigation systems. Money savings and convenience are the two main descriptors of an irrigation system. It supplies the appropriate amount of water to the appropriate plant material. It separates the lawn, beds and color areas into different zones that require different watering conditions due to the various plant types and sunlight conditions. Finally, it utilizes controller box technologies, such as timers, time delays and rain sensors, that let you set an automatic schedule based on your landscape needs while, at the same time, allowing you to switch to manual for unplanned events.

4. Drainage systems. With Houston’s heavy soils, low-lying areas and torrential rains, a proper landscape drainage system is essential for three reasons: a) to protect your property from flooding b) to protect the foundation of the building(s) from cracking and uneven shrinkage or swelling c) to properly drain roofs and landscaped areas to avoid standing water that can cause slippery surfaces, breeding grounds for mosquitoes or drowned landscaping. A landscape drainage system should be viewed as a whole to ensure that its appropriate functions and fixtures work together properly.

Regular maintenance-

1. Turf maintenance. One of the most basic features of a commercial landscape maintenance program, turf maintenance is more than just cutting the grass. It is edging, feeding and treating-all activities that promote healthy growth. And it is meticulous clean-up so that your tenants can quickly return to enjoying the grounds once the crew leaves.

2. Trimming hedges and ground covers. As part of a thorough commercial landscape maintenance program, hedges, shrubs and bushes should be trimmed regularly to the desired contours. Ground cover and vines should be edged to maintain a neat appearance. The intention is to ensure that all elements conform to the overall plan of the landscape design.

3. Tree care. A top-notch commercial landscape maintenance company will attend to trees, which are valuable assets. Houston summers can be very stressful for trees, so deep-root fertilization is important because it promotes healthy trees. Aeration also encourages root growth. Trees should be inspected regularly for any insect infestations. Insects, such as pine bark beetles and boring insects, can be tree killers, sometimes striking very quickly, especially when Houston’s weather turns hot or if trees are suffering due to construction duress.

4. Fertilizations. Critical to plant health, regular fertilization is a form of insurance for your plants. Commercial landscape maintenance providers should have a methodical feeding program that insures the health of tropical, acidic and seasonal color plants. The feeding program may also include spring and fall aeration of lawn areas with the application of fall rye grass.

5. Herbicide and insecticide treatments. These programs are also critical to plant health. Continual observation and diagnosis of plant pests and diseases are the last part of a complete and proactive commercial landscape maintenance program.

Seasonal Color-

1. Seasonal plantings are an important part of presenting a positive image for any commercial property. You will want to work with a commercial landscape maintenance company whose extensive knowledge of plant material, color, and texture creates eye-catching designs.

Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance can be your best defense against potential landscape and property damage-or something going wrong just when you need it to go right. In the long run, preventive maintenance saves money.

As a precaution, a professional commercial landscape maintenance company will make periodic surveys of your property to ensure that everything is in good order. Items on the checklist include:

? Tree inspection. Watch for branches touching the building or overhead wires. Dead limbs need to be trimmed to promote vigorous growth. Trees should be regularly checked for disease, decay or wounds and swift action taken as needed.

? Irrigation inspection. It is critical to have irrigation systems working smoothly as proper maintenance minimizes large amounts water pouring out of broken lines and heads. Jeff Halper with Exterior Worlds says, “This service is so important for commercial properties. For some of our clients, it has meant savings of as much as ,000 to ,000 per month.”

Garden and Landscape Maintenance Tips

When you have a great looking garden and lawn it gives your home what is known as kerb appeal. This not only adds a great deal of value to the home, but gives the homeowner a sense of pride and satisfaction in the home they own. A beautiful lawn is probably the single biggest factor in adding good looks to your home and it is often missing in areas of new buildings due to the site being dozed to level it.

Often the developers do not save the topsoil and put it back over the top after they have finished levelling. But grass cannot grow well on sub soil that is lacking the correct nutrients. And lawn that is not healthy is more prone to disease and insect attack. In Brisbane, lawn grubs can be a pest and do lots of damage in lawns, leaving them with brown, unsightly patches.

If your lawn is non-existent or growing on clay and looking shabby due to insect attack, it is imperative to add more topsoil. Companies that specialise in turf supply in Brisbane will usually advise on what must be done to prepare the site for new turf. Some will even do it for you. If they do not, make sure you do not go to the expense of laying new turf on sub soil, or you will simply have the same problem.

Once you have your soil and lawn sorted out, you will be able to spend some time in choosing landscape supplies in Brisbane. You may choose to have a pebbled section to cut down on mowing or just to add another colour and texture to your landscape design. Pebbles often look good with a water feature or as inorganic mulch over gardens.

In these days when costs are sky-rocketing and people often work all week, a low maintenance garden is necessary. By choosing easy-care perennials and permanent shrubs and trees any garden can look attractive all year round and give that kerb appeal to your home that will make the neighbours envious.

6 Steps to Creating Your Very Own Maintenance Free Landscape on Long Island

6 Steps to Creating Your Very Own Maintenance Free Landscape

on Long Island

By Kevin Godberson

In the world of landscaping, any reputable landscape company would tell you that the key to a maintenance free property starts with a proper (what we call in the Long Island community) â??â??Spring Openingâ??â?? or â??â??Spring Clean-upâ??â??.

We all want a maintenance free propertyâ?¦ Donâ??t we?  So here are 6 steps to help you create your very own maintenance free landscape.

Step # 1 â?? Raking Leaves and Thatching Grass

Start by raking all leaves, sticks and acorns from all flower beds and thatch all grass areas. This will give you a clean foundation to start from. Now your lawn areas can breath and are ready for the first application of lawn crabgrass control with fertilizer.

Step # 2 â?? Weeding and Mulching

All beds should be treated with a healthy layer of mulch to slow down the germination of weeds. A pre-emergence weed control can be used to also stop the weeds from coming up. A good covering should be put down over soil before the mulch is spread. Who wants to weed beds on the weekend?  NOT ME.

Step # 3 â?? Crabgrass Control

For a lawn to really prosper it should have an application of pre-emergence Crabgrass control put down. This will stop crabgrass from flourishing later in the season. Spot seed all bare areas so lawn fills in. Be sure to keep fertilizer away from bare areas as it will stop the seed from germinating.

Step# 4 â?? Watering Your Lawn

At this time you should water the fertilized areas in order to green up your lawn. Make certain to go over all heads. If you have a sprinkler system, make sure you inspect each head for proper operation.  Rotation of heads and spray distance is important to get entire lawn watered. We donâ??t want areas of your lawn to burn up as they take a long time to come back to life.

Step# 5 â?? Crabgrass Control â?? (revisited)

After about 4 weeks I like to go back and put down a second application of crabgrass control. This will ensure that you have covered the entire lawn. One application never works 100% and you may end up with some crabgrass that will seed itself across the rest of your lawn. Trust me the second application really works.

Step# 6 - Weed control

So in closing, follow the above 6 steps to your best ability and transform your Long island landscape into one thatâ??s both extremely easy on the eye as well as maintenance free.