Your Essential Guide to Parking Lot Maintenance

Picture this: You’re the property owner of a manufacturing warehouse where a variety of delivery trucks come and go on a daily basis. While your asphalt parking lot was once in perfect condition, it has since deteriorated due to heavy use and weather damage. 

Not only does the appearance give an unprofessional first impression when existing and prospective customers drive past, but it is presenting a serious hazard for drivers. Just recently, a delivery truck carrying expensive and delicate materials hit a massive pothole, damaging the goods inside and puncturing the tire. It will now cost your business thousands to replace the goods, the loss of a rightfully outraged customer and an inoperable vehicle during the busiest delivery season.

You’re also going to have to spend thousands on parking lot repair. Could this nightmare scenario have been avoided? The answer is yes: Proper parking lot maintenance could have extended the life of your parking lot’s asphalt pavement and kept it safe and visually appealing.

Read on to learn everything you need to know about parking lot maintenance, its benefits and the ways to schedule and manage it effectively.

What Is Parking Lot Maintenance?

Parking lot maintenance is just what it sounds like — any maintenance task performed to extend the lifespan of pavement in a parking lot. As asphalt ages overtime, it grows increasingly weather-beaten and often gets damaged. This damage not only looks bad, but it can also be unsafe. 

Maintaining a parking lot enhances its appearance and keeps all users of the parking lot safe. 

Facilities That Require Parking Lot Maintenance

Any type of business with a parking lot onsite requires parking lot maintenance services. Common facilities that need to keep their parking areas in good condition include:

• Grocery and retail stores: To entice customers to shop and ensure their safety, retail parking lots need to have a regular maintenance program in place.
• Office buildings: Your tenants and/or employees need sufficient parking to come to work.
• Public facilities: Government entities have an obligation to provide safe parking to their constituents.
• Warehouses and factories: Warehouse and factory staff require a well-maintained parking lot, especially if delivery vehicles are involved. 
• Residential developments: HOAs and property managers need to make sure that residential properties have parking lots that are safe and look good for residents and their guests.

Types of Parking Lot Maintenance Activities 

Here are the standard types of maintenance and repair services to ensure your parking lot is safe and aesthetically pleasing:

• Sweeping and cleaning: Recurring cleaning is required to remove debris, identify damage that needs to be repaired and maintain a nice landscaping appearance for your facility. This typically involves leaf-blowing and the like in the spring and summer and snow removal in the fall and winter.
• Sealcoating: Adding this liquid layer to a paved surface significantly extends the lifespan of asphalt by protecting it from weathering due to water damage, UV rays and more. 
• Line striping: Adding painted lines to parking spaces makes it clearer for parking lot users to safely park and walk into the facility, which maximizes parking efficiency and traffic flows. 
• Crack filling and patching: To prevent water from getting into cracks and creating substantial damage to your parking lot like potholes that can pose a safety hazard, you need to regularly fill cracks and patch holes.
• Asphalt overlay: When a new layer of asphalt is applied to existing asphalt, it helps to restore both its appearance and functionality by addressing surface-level issues. 
• Repaving: This process involves removing an existing asphalt surface and replacing it with a new asphalt layer to address deeper structural issues. Usually, repaving takes place when a parking lot is heavily damaged and is close to the end of its lifespan. 

Benefits of Parking Lot Maintenance

Regularly maintaining your parking lot can substantially extend its lifespan. Here are just a few benefits of parking lot and asphalt maintenance:

Preventative Maintenance Keeps Larger Pavement Issues from Happening 

Using a proactive maintenance approach by identifying and addressing issues like cracks and potholes can save substantial money before they turn into more significant and costly repairs. Recurring maintenance also boosts the appearance of the parking lot, reduces the impact of weather damage and mitigates risks of accidents and liabilities. 

Reduce Maintenance Costs

Regular upkeep of your parking lot will prevent the need for any major overhauls by preserving the existing asphalt and mitigating long-term expenses. For example, sealing asphalt costs a mere $.35 per square foot versus $1.35 for new asphalt paving and $2.85 per square foot for asphalt repair, meaning there is massive savings from regularly sealing your parking lot. 

Increases Overall Property Value

Parking lot management is a critical component of effective property maintenance. From boosting your curb appeal and first impressions to improved safety and usability, a well maintained parking lot plays a key role in boosting the value of your property. 

Example of How Parking Lot Maintenance Can Save Costs

Many successful property and business owners recognize the value of investing in their parking lots. At the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo., the new owners are planning major parking lot renovations for the shopping district to reap the following benefits:

• Reduced safety hazards: Removing potholes, cracks, drainage issues and more serious structural issues will ensure continued safety of visitors and reduce liability.
• Increased customer satisfaction: Customers will have a significantly better first impression of the shopping district’s facility management and enjoy their overall experience more.
• Enhanced property value: A brand new, well-maintained parking lot has major value and can boost how much the property as a whole is worth. 

How to Use a CMMS for Parking Lot Maintenance

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) makes it easy to manage parking lot operations and schedule maintenance from one simplified platform. Here’s how CMMS software like Coast can make parking lot management drastically more efficient:

Determine How Often Parking Lot Maintenance Should Be Performed

Coast can track when your parking lot is being used, when issues like cracks arise and how frequently the parking lot is undergoing grounds maintenance tasks like sweeping, power washing, repainting lines and filling cracks. This data is pulled into a helpful maintenance report to make it easy for business leaders to determine how frequently preventive maintenance is needed to keep your parking lot functional and nice-looking. 

Create a Parking Lot Maintenance Calendar

Coast makes it easy to schedule maintenance workers to perform maintenance on parking lots. Schedule routine maintenance like sweeping and parking lot striping to ensure it always looks its best. And when issues like cracks need filling or sealcoating, you can create work orders as needed to get maintenance scheduled quickly. 

Use a CMMS to Assign Tasks and Communicate With Technicians

You can use a CMMS to assign specific tasks to maintenance technicians as needed. Each technician will receive phone notifications from the app with details of their assignment and deadlines. As the task is performed, the system can be updated to track progress and upload photos to allow management to monitor how the project is coming along and when it is completed.  

Maintain a Perfect Parking Lot

A well-maintained parking lot looks great and keeps employees and visitors and their vehicles safe. But pulling off a nice appearance and extending the lifespan of a parking lot takes consistent maintenance.

To simplify your parking lot maintenance strategy, get started with Coast today!