Curb Appeal During Construction & Special Events

You’re used to handling your usual property maintenance tasks, like cleaning litter and trimming your plants. But, sometimes your parking lot and property are messy from more than your average traffic. There are two major sources of unusual mess on your property: construction and special events. Both can interfere with your business and leave a serious mess behind on your property. How do you handle these events so that your business maintains its reputation and your property looks its best? This guide will explain.

Construction may be necessary, but it’s also messy. It may not even be your construction—perhaps the city is fixing the road, or a new building is being built near you. Whatever the source, few customers want to drive or walk through a construction site, so your main challenge will be to keep attracting them through construction

Special events have the opposite problem. You can host temporary farmers’ markets or craft shows in your parking lot when the weather is nice. You’ll temporarily drive a lot of traffic. But afterward, you may find your property a bit disheveled as people leave behind litter and other messes. Are there better ways to reduce this mess and clean it afterward?

At Universal Site Services, we’ve helped many clients through construction and special events, making it easy for them to keep their property in order and their traffic high. We have years of experience in property maintenance and specialty lot sweeping. Here are our best tips on how to handle these situations.

How to Attract Customers During Construction

Boom Truck used during constructionThere are three things you need to keep your property bustling during construction. Customers need to remember where your location is if line-of-sight is blocked or part of the road is restricted. They need to find your property appealing despite the construction which will bring both a mess and eyesores like piles of materials and rubble. Lastly, your customers need to be safe and feel safe on the property, or they’ll turn around and leave.

1. Make Your Location Visible

The first part of preparing for construction is perhaps the simplest. When your storefront is obscured by construction, simply place a sign or a series of signs where your customers can see them, to remind them your business is hidden nearby.

You should have been notified about when and where the construction will be, so plan your sign location ahead of time. Private construction companies and government contractors will often work with businesses and offer prime sign locations to minimize the impact of their work.

You may have a tight budget during construction, but you should try to opt for a higher quality than average sign. A professional sign will project a strong image for your business, which you’ll need to draw in customers. As for the type of sign, consider post and panel signs or A-frame signs for maximum flexibility. We can install these signs for you.

2. Attract Customers

Your property will probably look messy and unappealing during construction. It’s common to have ugly temporary fences, piles of rock rubble, a thick layer of dust, and many other eyesores. You can clean this mess where possible, and distract your customers from it. Here’s how:

• Parking lot sweeping: Creating a clean pathway for your customers will encourage them to step inside. Parking lot sweeping can remove dust, small debris, and any litter the construction company has left behind.
• Landscape refresher: Refreshing your landscape can make your property much more appealing during construction. The landscape services you may benefit from during construction include maintaining your flower beds, removing dead trees and shrubs that have been killed during the construction (unfortunately common), flower bed maintenance, trimming plants and grass. If the construction is for a new building, you may also need to select plants that are better for their new shaded conditions.
• Temporary beauty: You can also make temporary changes to the look of your property to help distract from the mess of the construction. Consider placing seasonal buckets full of flowers outside your door. Hang new signs or banners on your front door. Or, just get some power washing to remove the stains from your siding or front steps. Whatever you choose, keep it around for a few days after the construction too.

Although you should address the look of your property to help boost your business, you can attract customers in other ways, including:

• Offer sales and doorbusters during the construction.
• Promote your business on social media, where the construction isn’t visible.
• Try a joint promotion with other businesses that are affected by the construction.
• Deliver, if your business can deliver your products or services.
• Allow online ordering even if customers must pick-up in person.

All of these tips will help attract customers to your business, even while under construction.

3. Promote the Feeling of Safety

In order to drive up to your parking lot and step out of their vehicle, your customers have to be safe and feel safe. Of course, your first priority should be to make sure they are truly safe and follow the by-laws of your city to do so. You may need to erect signs about the construction, offer sheltered pathways and ramps. You may need regular parking lot sweeping to remove tripping hazards. For significant construction, you may need to erect a fence to keep people out of the construction zone altogether.

For the most part, your construction company, or the city’s construction company, should be taking all of the necessary safety precautions. So, that leaves you with generating a sense of safety. See, most people aren’t familiar with or comfortable in construction zones. They may feel unsafe, even when they are safe. So, you need to go the extra mile to make them more comfortable. You can do this by:

• Sweeping: Even a bit of dust or debris will frustrate some customers, especially those in walkers or wheelchairs. Daily parking lot sweeping is a smart investment.
• Signs: Use signs with arrows to guide customers through uncomfortable spots or around obstacles. Signs reassure them that they are allowed to walk through where they are walking. We can install these signs for you.

Your plan for construction should include these three elements: keeping your property visible, attractive, and safe. If it does, you’ll see less interruption to your business. Plus, don’t forget to do a final clean once the construction has finished. Universal Site Services can take care of your final clean up, from power washing grime to restoring your landscaping.

How to Maintain Your Property During Special Events

Many special events can bring extra traffic and sales to your business. You can host trade shows, craft shows, Farmer’s Markets, carnivals, and many more events in your parking lot to generate business. If the event is successful, your staff won’t be able to keep up with the additional cleaning it entails. The last thing you want is for this even to undermine the cleanliness of your property. So, you need a plan to keep the mess under control during the event, and thoroughly clean it afterward. Here’s how to do that.

Keep Your Property Clean During the Event

You can start a positive feedback loop during the event to encourage visitors to help keep your property clean. The truth is, people are less respectful of a messy property and more likely to clean up after themselves if your property is otherwise spotless. So being proactive and cleaning during the event will help reduce the mess. Here are some strategies to increase cleanliness during an event:

• Add waste bins: If you have extra garbage bins, recycling bins, and even compost bins you’ll be able to handle the additional mess. There’s nothing more frustrating than being a visitor at these events and trying to find a garbage bin, but discovering they are all full. Piles of garbage left outside of waste bins aren’t fun to clean either.
• Day porter services: For multi-day events, you’ll need outside support to remove garbage and keep things tidy.
• Disinfecting: If you have a patio space, picnic tables, or any spot for people to eat, it needs to be disinfected throughout the day. We can help with that.
• Protect landscaping: When there’s a crowd, people start walking through your flower beds and on your lawn. You can protect landscaping by erecting barriers and signs that encourage people to respect them. Or, we can help you reseed your lawn and replant flowers after the event.

How to Clean Your Parking Lots After a Special Event

Not every organization that hosts an event on your property will do thorough clean-up. If you’re the host, you’ll need even ore cleaning services after the event is over. Sometimes, it’s hard to immediately notice the damage an event has done. Here are some services you’ll probably need to restore your property to excellent condition:

• Illegal dumping clean up: Unfortunately, some people who run a stall at this kind of event will simply leave some debris behind. Maybe their crates from sold goods or the signs they used to advertise their goods. If so, you may need help cleaning up this illegal dumping.
• Power washing: There could be all kinds of a mess left on your asphalt after an event, from dropped ice cream to the grime from shoes. Power washing will restore your property’s looks and help protect your asphalt.
• Striping: An unusual amount of traffic in your parking lot can make your lines fade, especially if they were already old. You may need to repaint the lines when the event is over.

Reach Out to Universal Site Services Today

Need help making a plan to deal with construction on or near your property? Need a special service to help handle a unique event? Universal Site Services offers complete property maintenance, from parking lot sweeping to choosing the right plants. We can meet your unique needs. Reach out to us today for our expert advice and a free quote.