When potential customers drive through your retail center, hospital patients arrive at your healthcare facility, employees show up to your office park, or homeowners drive through your HOA, you want them to notice your property.
You want them to feel comfortable in your environment, drawn in by your outdoor landscape design, and inspired to use your common areas.
Nothing brings more attention than the right fall landscape ideas that can create curb appeal and entice people to stay awhile. You want to add just the right impressive finishing touches to your commercial site to create a big impact without breaking the bank.
Let’s review the key benefits to maintaining and enhancing curb appeal, as well as some ways to get maximum impact this fall and winter.
Benefits of Maintaining Curb Appeal
Sure, the saying goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover, but people do all the time. It’s natural to see the outside of a commercial building and make an assumption about what it’s like inside based on how the exterior looks.
If your building is attractive and the landscaping is healthy and looks clean, customers will think it’s a good place to shop, work, visit, or live. But if it looks run down or shabby, they likely won’t think that much of your business or brand. By enhancing curb appeal, you give your potential customers, visitors, and tenants a reason to enter your establishment.
You also build credibility and trust with your potential customers, especially your premium clientele. An exterior that reflects the interior gives them confidence that your business is paying attention to every detail. It shows them you are committed to quality and service.
Additionally, when you utilize nature-based solutions to boost your commercial property aesthetics, you also improve local water quality, showing your commitment to the environment.
Increasing curb appeal can also boost your monthly sales, improving foot traffic into your stores or properties. In fact, 70% of first-time sales were made or lost based on curb appeal, proving a positive first impression can make quite a difference.
High-Level Ways to Keep Properties Looking Sharp During the Dormant Season
Your storefront, healthcare facility entrance, hotel lobby doors, or office park facade are all extensions of your brand. Keeping these entryways and walkways neat and tidy goes a long way toward boosting your reputation.
Through fall, you want to keep beds free of leaves and other debris to maintain this trim appearance. Reseed or re-sod and patch any bare spots on your turf and consider using native plants to add splashes of autumn color. Try mums, sunflowers, or ornamental kale.
You can also try incorporating fall- and winter-tolerant plants and trees into your outdoor landscape design to extend your fall color and foliage and give your landscape a new look as summer plants wind down. For instance, pines and other evergreens are full and green all year long and can even be decorated to match the season and draw in more customers.
As you approach winter, consider these tips to keep your commercial property looking its best as the temperatures shift.
Where to Place Plants for Maximum Impact
There are some areas on your commercial site that get a lot of attention. More eyes see these spots more often, so you want to make sure you use them to their fullest advantage.
These focal points are key targets for adding interest, texture, and variety with perennials or annuals for immediate impact. Prioritize these 4 locations for commercial property plant placement.
1. Commercial Entryways
Commercial entryway plants make a great and lasting impression. Try pots and seasonal color to inspire people during the fall and winter seasons. Color and foliage create a welcoming environment for all of your guests, visitors, tenants, and customers.
If you have a space that needs some height or you want the ability to change or move your plants more frequently, container plants can be great additions as well. Choosing planters that match nearby structures, signage, or buildings can provide a consistent look. Switching the contents of your containers seasonally can add fresh color and inspire people during fall and winter seasons.
2. Walkways & Common Areas
Your commercial pathways and walkways can experience significant wear through repeated foot traffic and changes in weather conditions. It’s common over the years to see small holes or chipped areas, as well as weeds growing in between cracks.
While these problems can be eyesores, they can also create tripping hazards. This makes them a priority to address on your site.
You can also use containers and native plants for curb appeal to create defined pathways that your visitors and guests can safely enjoy.
3. Parking Lots & Open Spaces
Your commercial parking lots also experience significant wear and tear. In addition to keeping crack repairs on track and repaving the surface when necessary, you can also dress up the medians in your parking lots to welcome guests in and create much-needed shade.
Try this commercial landscape tip: Add fall plants and trees to extend your property appeal from the moment guests and customers pull into your grounds. This enhances curb appeal and gives your property something special that visitors will recognize and reward by staying longer.
4. Interior Spaces
When visitors, guests, and customers immediately enter your doors, you can also use commercial property plant placement to your advantage in these interior entryways.
Here, try featuring warmer-weather plants or tropical varieties that thrive indoors. The burst of fresh color can bring life to otherwise dreary spaces through fall and winter.
Landscape Enhancements Can Pay Dividends
Even if you have a clean building exterior and newly paved walkways, you can’t let the greenery around your commercial facility fall into neglect. Weeds, wilting flowers, and brown spots in your turf can certainly decrease your curb appeal.
Hiring a professional landscape company to focus on curb appeal improvements can help you target key areas, ensuring your business stands out with an inviting atmosphere.
Try these fall landscape ideas:
- Autumn is the best time to overseed your turf and prepare your turf for a healthy, green appearance once spring arrives.
- Evaluate your landscape design needs each season and plan ahead so you can target key improvements and use your budget wisely.
- Try holiday and seasonal landscape enhancements to help boost your property’s image during peak times of the year.
CONTACT DAVEY TO TALK WITH AN EXPERT ABOUT LANDSCAPE ENHANCEMENT SERVICES FOR YOUR COMMERCIAL PROPERTY.
