8 Ways to Maintain Your Commercial Property Value For the Long-Term
There are more than 627,000 new small businesses that open their doors every year. If you’re one of them, you’ll need to decide between buying or renting a commercial property.
While both have their advantages, owning your building gives you more flexibility to grow your brand and acts as a long-term investment for your company. But that long-term investment won’t always retain its value.
You need to be proactive to make sure you preserve your commercial property value through the years. Here are a few tips to help you do just that.
1. Pay Attention to Your Building’s Exterior
Drive-up appeal matters when it comes to making your building inviting to clients and employees alike. This means you’ll want to pay attention to the way your building’s exterior looks at all times.
Invest in quality landscaping and keep it in good shape throughout the year. Make sure the building itself is in good shape and pay attention to the common areas people use most.
When your parking lot looks damaged and the building looks shabby, people will immediately have less confidence in your company. The better you care for it, the more valuable your company and the property itself will stay.
2. Make Cleaning a Priority
Dirt happens. But that doesn’t mean you should accept it and ignore it. You need to keep your building clean at all times.
Encourage your team to pick up their workspaces at the end of every day. Make trash bins and recycling bins easily accessible and give the building a good deep cleaning once a week.
The best way to do this is to hire an experienced commercial janitorial service. They’ll take care of those hard-to-clean spots and can help keep your common areas looking like-new for longer.
The cleaner the building is, the easier it is to spot minor damage before it threatens your property value.
3. Get Your Building as Efficient as Possible
No matter what type of business you run, you have to pay for the utilities you use. Old and outdated fixtures and appliances use more energy anytime they’re running. Over the course of the year, this can cause your energy bills to skyrocket.
Those old fixtures can hurt more than your budget—they can impact your property’s value as well.
Replace outdated appliances, electronics, and light fixtures as needed and get your building as energy-efficient as possible. The more efficient it is, the more attractive it will be to prospective buyers should you decide to sell in the future. This means you’ll be able to get a higher price than you would if you left the outdated fixtures in place.
4. Renovate the Right Way
If you’re planning on renovating the building, make sure you prioritize your renovations. Take care of the ones that impact the usability of the space first. Then move onto ones that help preserve your property’s value.
Remember, you don’t have to take care of everything at once. Use your budget wisely, tailor the building to your needs, and then worry about the upgrades that will make it work for future occupants.
5. Give Your HVAC System Regular Tune-Ups
Commercial HVAC systems get used every day of the year. This means they’re under a lot of strain and can break down unexpectedly right when you need them most.
The more often those breakdowns happen, the sooner you’ll need to replace the system entirely.
Save yourself the frustration and expense by getting your system tuned up each year. Ideally, you’ll schedule a tune-up once in the spring and again in the fall to make sure your unit works properly before the weather changes.
6. Maintain Your Electrical System
A faulty electrical system can do thousands of dollars of damage to your equipment and even the building itself. The best way to preserve your property value is to maintain your electrical system.
Get the system inspected and make sure everything is up to current building codes. If anything starts acting up or your system is no longer up-to-date, replace it.
New wiring and outlets may cost money to install, but they’ll keep your building safer and makes it easier to sell the property should you need to relocate in the future.
7. Inspect Your Roof Quarterly
Roof damage has a way of sneaking up on business owners. Most don’t notice any issues until there’s an active leak in the building. And when this happens, there’s likely extensive damage to the roof.
Even minor water damage can hurt your property’s value and can cause major underlying structural damage if it goes unrepaired for too long.
The best way to stay on top of roof damage is to inspect your roof quarterly. If you notice anything that looks out of place or see visible signs of damage, call your roofing contractor and get it repaired immediately.
8. Take Care of Repairs Immediately
As a commercial property owner, you’re responsible for taking care of repairs to the building. This means you have to pay the full cost yourself and for many business owners, it’s tempting to put off making those repairs.
Doing so may free up money in your operating budget, but it hurts your property value in the long-run. The best thing you can do is to take care of repairs as soon as you notice the issue.
The sooner you fix minor issues, the less likely they are to do more significant damage. Ultimately, you’ll save money and will keep your building in good condition thereby preserving its value more effectively.
Use These Tips to Preserve Your Commercial Property Value
If you’re worried about keeping your commercial property value high or want to improve the value of your current space, these tips will make it easy. The more well-maintained the building is, the longer it will hold its value.
But that doesn’t mean you have to handle the maintenance and cleaning tasks on your own. You have more important things to do like running your business.
Contact our team today and request a free quote. We’ll help you keep your space looking its best every day.