The Importance of Creating a Year-Round Maintenance Schedule for Your Commercial Property

Maintenance scheduling is what separates the good commercial property owners from the great ones.

And here’s the little secret…

The average building owner only picks up the phone when there’s a big problem. Then they let their maintenance company come out and fix stuff.

By that point. It’s too late. You should’ve had your property inspected months ago, but you didn’t.

And now a little problem that could have been fixed for a couple hundred dollars turns into thousands.

But when you have a calendar filled out with regular year-round inspections, that won’t happen to you.

Your investment is protected and maintained instead of neglected. Oh, and here’s some other good news…

Creating a yearly maintenance calendar is:

• Simple
• Inexpensive
• Proven to extend the life of your commercial building

Let’s dive into how to make and use one.

What’s Inside:

• Why year-round maintenance is important
• Your seasonal commercial maintenance breakdown
• Why roof repair should be your number one priority
• How to customize your own commercial property maintenance schedule
• Mistakes to avoid when creating your schedule

Why Year-Round Maintenance is Important?

Mother Nature doesn’t care about your building. She’s going to beat it up every chance she gets.

Hot summer sun. Freezing winter cold. Heavy rain. High winds. Dirt. Pollution.

Things are falling apart constantly. If you’re not on top of maintenance, those little problems become BIG expensive problems.

Think about how many times your roof gets hit with baseball sized hail or winds of 50+ miles per hour. Every year.

THEN your roof isn’t properly maintained.

Facts from the National Roofing Contractors Association show that about 80% of commercial roofs are replaced much earlier than they should be due to neglect.

That’s right. 80%.

All because of simple preventative maintenance.

Your new best friend is a schedule. A calendar that spaces out maintenance tasks so that every inch of your building is inspected at least once a year.

As soon as something goes wrong with your roof, call professional roof repair services, and they’ll come fix it. And if it was done correctly, they won’t have to come back.

But here’s the thing. Roof repair should always be done by professionals.

If water gets into your building, it’s trouble. Water causes mold damage, ruins inventory, skyrockets insurance premiums, and eats away at materials. The list goes on.

Breakdown of Seasonal Commercial Maintenance

Alright, enough with the preaching. Here’s the meat and potatoes of exactly what you need to be doing.

Your seasonally based commercial property maintenance schedule that will keep your commercial building in tip-top shape year after year.

(This also doubles as a handy commercial building maintenance checklist)

1. Spring Maintenance

Spring is all about recovery.

Your building made it through another harsh winter, and now it’s time to see what needs to be repaired.

Check your roof twice a year, once during the spring and once during the fall. This allows you to catch any necessary roof repair in a timely manner before the next season of heavy rains come.

• Roof inspection
• Gutter cleaning
• HVAC servicing
• Look for cracks, damaged sealant, or paint

2. Summer Maintenance

During the summer, you want to do as much work as possible to prevent issues before they happen.

Parking lot striping, landscaping, and building exterior work is best performed when temperatures are mild.

• Parking lot repair
• Landscaping
• Window & door inspection
• Roof coating application

3. Fall Maintenance

Fall is do or die season. Everything you do between now and winter helps your building out when the freezing temperatures arrive.

• Furnace/boiler inspection
• Second roof inspection
• Drainage system cleaning
• Insulation check

4. Winter Maintenance

Winter is all about monitoring your commercial property maintenance schedule and stopping major issues before they become emergencies.

• Snow/Ice removal
• Pipe Insulation check
• Test emergency systems
• Interior evaluation

Why Roof Repair Should be Your Number ONE Priority?

Let’s cut to the chase…

Your roof is the most important part of your commercial building. Nothing else matters if your roof is in bad shape.

Water will start coming into your building if your roofing is damaged. Water causes mold, damage to inventory, damages electrical, causes secondary leaks, etc.

What starts out as a small annoyance turns into a building wide problem.

Knowledgeable commercial property owners know that regularly scheduled maintenance is an investment that pays for itself MANY times over.

You should be:

• Inspecting your roof TWICE a year (Spring and Fall)
• Taking care of issues immediately
• Documenting all repairs and maintenance
• Hiring a professional to do your roof repair

Data gathered from over 500 roofing companies proved that regular preventative maintenance costs owners ONLY 14 cents per square foot of roofing per year. To fix a roof that isn’t being maintained costs owners 25 cents per square foot. That’s $1.50 difference PER YEAR.

Multiply that by the thousands of square feet your commercial building has and it adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars over your buildings lifetime.

How To Customize Your Own Commercial Property Maintenance Schedule?

Ok, now it’s time to get down to business.

A sample schedule is helpful. But it’s not going to work for your building the way your building needs it to.

You have to take the information above and customize it to fit your needs.

Think about these things when making your schedule:

• Age and current condition of your building
• Weather patterns where you’re located
• What type of roof you have
• How your building is being used
• Budget you’re working with

Now open up your calendar. Write down the things that need to be done on specific months. Hang it up. Set reminders for yourself. Hold yourself or someone else accountable.

Do it EVERY year!

If you wait 6 months or more between maintenance checks, you might as well not do it at all. Things happen. Seasons change.

If you wait to do things, you’re never going to stay on top of your game.

Do it the first week of April one year. Then the 3rd week of June next year.

WHO CARES?!?!

As long as you’re actually doing it. That’s all that matters.

Mistakes To Avoid When Creating Your Schedule

Hold up… Before you get too far. Here are some costly mistakes to avoid.

• Mistake #1: Waiting for problems to become visible. Water damage can occur long before you see that fancy “water came in here” stain on your wall.
• Mistake #2: Neglecting “minor” areas of maintenance. That crack in your parking lot doesn’t seem like a big deal. Water seeps into that crack all winter, and boom. Now you have a pothole.
• Mistake #3: Hiring contractors that don’t know what they’re doing. Just because you got the lowest bid doesn’t mean you should hire them. Too many “one and done” roof repairs happen because of shoddy work.
• Mistake #4: Not keeping records of your maintenance. Documentation is your friend. Keep all receipts and documentation for warranty, insurance, and resale value.

Wrap Up

There you have it.

Year-round maintenance scheduling for your commercial property is pretty straight forward.

If you do it. And actually follow your schedule. Things will run smoothly.

Here are the takeaways:

• Divide up maintenance by season
• Roof repair should be your top priority
• Customize your schedule to your individual property
• Avoid these 4 common mistakes

Commercial property owners who cut corners and don’t stay on top of maintenance cost themselves thousands (if not millions) of dollars over their buildings life.

Those who plan ahead and are prepared end up saving that money instead.

You decide which group you want to fall into.

Start by opening up your calendar app and putting one of the tasks from the spring maintenance checklist above on your calendar. Preferably TODAY.

You’ll thank yourself later.