Cutting your annual parking lot maintenance significantly can have profoundly positive and beneficial effects on your business. Once you bring down this cost, a lot of other headaches also seem to go away.
But how are you supposed to do this? What works? That’s what we run through in this guide. We take a look at some of the playbook items that top firms explored in recent years so you can ask whether you might benefit from emulating them.
Stop Filling Manhole Covers
One of the first things you’ll want to do is stop filling manhole covers with concrete to make them look seamless. This practice can have visual results, but it leads to all sorts of drainage issues you’ll want to avoid in the long-term. Plus, it means you might have to add extra drains going forward, at higher cost.
Carriers, like Amercast, recommend you do things like switching to bolt-down covers with recessed, in-fillable gaps. These look so much more seamless and attractive, giving you pride in your asphalt or parking lot surfaces.
What’s more, many of these options last a long time. Some products are designed for a quarter century or more of chronic use. The price is a little higher, but they are often worth installing, especially if you have good connections with the installers.
Get Watertight Covers For Every Utility Access
Another thing you’ll want to do is think about gasketed and watertight covers on every utility access. These improve stability long-term and reduce replacement costs substantially.
For example, before you have the challenges of de-icing ingredients, salt, and storm water flowing into vaults for slower release (if you have these). Unfortunately, this led to massive damage to manhole covers, corroding their rings and leading to pump outs.
But when manholes all have seals and water valves, this no longer occurs. The risk of pump outs goes down, and many installations will last years without requiring significant maintenance.
Replace Catch Basins
If you want to go all-out, you could also explore the possibility of removing your catch basins entirely and using trench drains instead. Many businesses get into trouble because older inlets are more prone to clogging. Plus, they are a hassle for shopping carts and a trip risk, leading to thousands of claims every year.
However, you can eliminate this problem with trench drains. These are essentially larger trenches dug into the ground with a grille over the top. Paired with compliant gratings, these are a great option for proper water drainage, even in high traffic areas. This means that customers can easily walk straight from their cars with carts into stores and then come back out again and do the same thing. And don’t worry: grilles are heel-proof.
Use High-Rated Covers
Another piece of advice for cutting parking lot costs is to add high-rated covers everywhere. If you don’t, it can increase the expenses significantly because you’re constantly having to deal with shattered lids.
Any truck or vehicle over about 36,000 pounds that drives into the parking lot is a risk if you don’t upgrade. Vehicles will often shatter standard covers, leading to significant replacement costs.
Therefore, if you plan on heavier vehicles in your parking lot that are over 36,000 pounds, look for manhole covers with the appropriate rating and ensure they receive expert fitting. Otherwise, they may not be strong enough to function as you want.
The savings from this added protection begin to build up long-term. The initial difference in price between low-rated and high-rated covers is actually quite small since most of the cost comes with the replacement. But if you can fortify them first, that puts you in a far stronger position.
Switch To Ductile Iron Or Composite
A lot of parking lot owners use gray iron for lids and covers because it is less expensive. However, these can easily corrode and require repainting every few years, which pushes up the cost significantly.
However, you can avoid this issue with ductile iron and using factory-applied coatings. What’s nice about these is that they require hardly any ongoing maintenance from you at all. Most will last several decades, and sometimes a human lifetime, without requiring any additional investment.
Just make sure you use the right supplier or carrier. Try to find a manufacturer who knows what they’re doing and has a track record of products that are proven to function well in environments similar to yours.
Just Use One Manufacturer
Just using one manufacturer is another hack you might want to try. A lot of parking lot owners will mix and match with several suppliers and carriers, looking for the best products from each. But the reality is that this approach is usually a waste of time because of coordination difficulties and the fact you need to deal with multiple suppliers.
The best way to avoid this is to use just one manufacturer. These can provide next-day replacements and come over to your lot for repairs if necessary. They can also recommend the best parts for specific applications in your parking lot, perhaps performing multiple forms of maintenance each time they check out your property.
All you need to do is pick the carrier with the best overall package. Then, you let them do the rest.
Add Your System Nationally
Lastly, if you have more than one parking lot, it can be an excellent policy to simply replicate your system naturally. Don’t fall into the trap of making separate arrangements at different locations. You want to interact with your suppliers and partners in the same way every time, if you can.
Ultimately, the average 250,000 square foot parking lot is an expensive project. It can actually cost more than some full-time wages to maintain every year.
However, with these interventions, you may be able to reduce service costs by more than two-thirds. Reducing these quickly can be a good way to pump up margins and stop waste at your business. Multiply this over several parking lots, and you could save millions.
