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NVM Paving & Concrete, Inc.

Northern Virginia Paving Company

asphalt resurfacing

How a Concrete Parking Lot Benefits Your Commercial Property

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How a Concrete Parking Lot Benefits Your Commercial Property

A concrete parking lot may sound like the least exciting thing on the planet, but it’s integral to the success of your business. Don’t underestimate how much a customer parking lot can influence people’s first impressions. Within seven seconds, they’ll make a judgment about the legitimacy and professionalism of your business. Still not convinced? Keep reading to find out how a concrete parking lot can benefit your commercial property.

It Looks Professional

As mentioned above, your customer parking lot says a lot about your business. 

Your parking lot should not be riddled with potholes, bumpy spots, or cracks. The parking lanes should be freshly painted and easily identifiable. 

Beyond that, pay attention to the finer details. Ask yourself these questions about your concrete parking lot:

  • Is it easy to access from the road?
  • Are there identifiable arrows or signs that indicate “In” and “Out” lanes?
  • Are the parking spaces big enough?
  • Is there sufficient space to back out of parking spaces?
  • Do you have any handicap spaces?
  • When applicable, do you have enough cart returns?

If you’re a small business on a strip with other businesses, maybe your parking options are limited. If so, consider staking your claim on a few spots with “Customer Only” signs.

It Keeps Everyone Safe

Parking lot safety may not be the first thing on your mind when it comes to this topic, but you can’t ignore it. Think of all the potential accidents that could occur in a poorly-designed parking lot.

Two cars could drive into one another because the space between parking lots is too narrow. One car could back into another while reversing out of a space. Cars entering or exiting the parking lot might not yield to traffic.

These are only a few examples of possible disasters. In fact, twenty percent of car accidents happen in parking lots. 

Don’t forget to include good lighting and a surveillance system in your parking lot safety plan. You don’t want thieves ransacking your customers’ cars.

It Prevents Infestations

If you neglect parking lot maintenance, you may run into a pest or rodent problem. Your custodial team should regularly change out garbage cans and pick up trash in the parking lot.

Otherwise, these pests may find a way inside.

It’s Eco-Friendly

If you have a concrete parking lot, you’re doing the environment a favor. This material is completely recyclable and saves us from dipping into gas, water, and oil resources. 

Installing concrete is easier, and it will last years longer than asphalt. Lastly, a concrete parking lot will reflect light, keeping the surface cooler in the summer and reducing energy costs.

Freshening Up Your Concrete Parking Lot

Updating the concrete parking lot for your customers is an easy and eco-friendly way to keep people coming back. It ensures parking lot safety and keeps your energy cost down.

Ready to repave your customer parking lot? Click here to fill out a contact form.

7 Costly Pitfalls of Asphalt Resurfacing and How to Avoid Them

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Ask any commercial building owner and they’ll tell you that the costs of maintenance are probably close to burying them.

It costs a lot to maintain the interior or exterior of any building, but between roofing and asphalt resurfacing, it could impact more than just your pocket. If you don’t prepare in advance, it could be a huge inconvenience for everyone.

Here are five of the major pitfalls of resurfacing and how you can avoid them.

1. Failing To Account For Geography

Every location has its own particularities when it comes to how the ground above it shifts and erodes. While there have been some great leaps and bounds in architectural engineering and our understanding of structural integrity, spaces change unexpectedly.

If the surface that you’re dealing with is located near a construction site or near a waterway, there could be a significant change. Areas with seismic activity, whether manmade or natural, are going to have serious asphalt issues all of the time.

Make sure that the conditions of the soil underneath your asphalt are going to be stable for a while. If you can’t change the issue, you can still account for problems by adding more material or reshaping your asphalt to stay away from those regions. While it’s a pain in the neck to have to reshape your whole project or even your whole commercial parking area, it’s worth avoiding repeated trouble you can’t fix.

2. Losing Parking Revenue

If you’re going to repave your entire parking area and you rely on that for revenue, you need to make sure that you keep it open as long as possible.

If you don’t have an alternative space, make a plan before you resurface your area. Even if it’s just a lot for workers at your commercial building to park, it’s could impact revenue that your tenants make.

Work with a nearby commercial building to exchange parking needs. Eventually, every lot needs to be resurfaced so make an agreement, in writing or verbal, that you’ll allow their employees to park in your lot and vice versa. This can save everyone a lot of hassle and keep things going smoothly if the two locations are close enough together.

If you’re running a lot where you’ll be selling parking access for special events, choose your timing carefully. Coordinate with the company who is doing the resurfacing to fit in when there’s an offseason or there’s a dip in attendance.

For a lot that’s meant for a business, you could work with your tenants on a solution. Consider helping to fund the system or software they need to allow their staff to work from home. Hire a shuttle to come twice daily from a commuter rail to the building and back so that people can get to and from work easily.

3. Choose the Right Asphalt

The asphalt that you choose is going to determine how often you need to clean it and how you maintain it. Porous versus non-porous asphalt have their own needs when it comes to how you clean and whether or not you use certain cleaners.

If you use a pressure washer to clean up your asphalt, you could damage it, causing you to resurface it sooner than planned. If you use the wrong kind of detergent, you might also cause the asphalt to break down and deteriorate. While most outdoor paving can handle pressure cleaning an pressure washing make sure that your asphalt isn’t going to be ruined by it.

Using the wrong technique on asphalt or glassphalt could be destructive. You need extra care to protect it, but insufficient cleaning can also be destructive.

Make sure you’re choosing a resurfacing material that you can keep up with. Whatever you choose, debris, waste, and contaminants must be managed to protect the surface.

4. Choose the Right Contractor

When you’re going to have your asphalt resurfaced, make sure you do your research on the contractor who you hire. There are lots of great contractors out there but also some who are a little bit subpar. Look for reviews online to find out what other people have said about that contractor in the past.

Find one who has the equipment and has a specialty on the kind of surface that you’re dealing with. There are a lot of fly-by-night contractors out there who want to get your business but will take forever and then do a less-than-stellar job.

Look out for any contractor who is going to cut corners on you. If they’re doing a resurfacing, they should have a plan in order for you to follow and use high-quality materials on the final surface.

Also, your contractor what they’ll do to improve the old base before they resurface. The contractor you hire should have at least a 1-ton roller to finish the surface and smooth it out at the end.

5. Choosing To Patch or Repave

While some people choose to patch and patch their lot when they see a pothole or an issue, patching can’t solve underlying issues. After a while, patches wear down unevenly and can even damage vehicles that drive over the lot. If you’re going to resurface, don’t bother trying to patch everything up as that’ll be a waste of money.

The issues underlying your constant patching or need to resurface must be dealt with as comprehensively as possible before you resurface. A professional company can take the time to help you understand problems with your lot so you make the right decision on treatment and materials.

Asphalt Resurfacing is Costly but Vital

When you’re choosing an asphalt resurfacing partner, you need someone who you can trust. It’s important that they put your business’s interests in front of their own when it comes to scheduling, materials, and methodology.

If you want to know what to look for in a parking lot resurfacer, check out our guide.