Does your commercial building and grounds have curb appeal?
Curb appeal describes the general attractiveness of your property from the sidewalk or street view. You might think curb appeal is only for homes, but your commercial property can benefit, too.
You likely don't look at your property from the street view all that often. However, when your landscape and building look great from the street, this can dramatically boost the perceived value of your facility. In fact, everything from your entryways, to parking lots, and most importantly your building’s exterior landscaped areas can positively or negatively impact a potential customer, employee, visitor, guest, or buyer.
A focus on curb appeal landscaping and design can give your commercial site just what it needs to increase your community visibility and perception.
Here are some ways you can enhance curb appeal on your landscape for the better.
Freshen Up Mulch Beds
Organic mulch provides a pleasingly aesthetic appearance for tree rings and landscape beds at your commercial properties. They cool the soil, helping it retain moisture, and even add nutrients to the soil as they break down.
But freshening up your mulch beds annually can also do a lot for your property’s appearance. Breaking up or turning existing mulch, as well as adding fresh mulch, can change your entire site’s look, refining it. It’s a curb appeal landscaping trick that offers a nearly instant makeover
Add a Pop of Color
Every property needs a wow factor. Enter landscape color.
Adding annual flower rotations can enhance curb appeal. The trick is your color placement. Focus on highly visible areas like entrances, near signage, and around outdoor seating areas.
Then shake things up each season by rotating your annuals to suit the new climate conditions for beautiful blooms and a continued fresh look.
Tree Pruning and Shrub Trimming
Trees and shrubs add value to any commercial property. But declining shrubs with dead foliage, and trees with diseased branches, and dead or withering plants can make your entire commercial property look worn out and neglected.
Pruning is the best way to eliminate dead, dying, or decaying branches. It can also increase airflow through a tree’s canopy, boosting its healthy growth. Most importantly, it increases safety on commercial property by eliminating the chance of falling branches.
Tree pruning and shrub trimming are also landscape enhancements that polish and refine the overall look of your commercial facility.
Plant Native Trees or Plants
The installation of eye-catching plants can make an immediate visual impact to your commercial property.
Choosing native species means you are planting the right plants in the right landscapes, ensuring they add long-lasting curb appeal for your commercial buildings. Native trees and plants add interest, texture, and variety to landscape spaces–whether that space needs a focal point with some height or plants with long bloom times and color.
Explore Sustainable, Water-Saving Areas Within Your Traditional Landscape
You can embrace sustainable landscaping on your commercial property, and this can also be an effective way to enhance curb appeal. With sustainable landscaping, you use your natural surroundings to your advantage.
For instance, you can collect rainwater runoff to create areas that reduce irrigation system water use, as well as lower your water bills. These gardens, called rain gardens, are beautiful, natural-looking areas with plants that require less maintenance. They are irrigated using water collected from roof downspouts, runoff from asphalt or other areas. They filter rainwater to reduce pollution and channel erosion to prevent flooding. This makes your property overall more attractive by eliminating problem areas.
Work with a Professional to Design a Balanced Landscape
To enhance curb appeal, you can also opt for a professional commercial landscape design.
This type of design beautifies the overall look and image of your building, as well as boosting function on your site.
Let’s face it: Your business and your building represent your brand, and your landscape can speak to that with design that reflects your tone – whether that is lively, soothing or healing, professional, sustainable, modern, or innovative and forward-thinking.
How can landscape design provide this? Through rhythm, repetition and proper proportions, plants can showcase your style. Soothing, healing spaces at hospitals, for instance, may have reflective or sensory gardens, while contemporary office buildings that are edgy and innovative may use geometric plant designs and placement.
A professional design can also help people engage more with your business, direct traffic on your site, attract customers, accentuate building architecture, and even conserve energy and water. As a result, it’s certainly at the top of the list of how to increase curb appeal.