5 reasons why landscaping is important for your business

Landscaping should be viewed as a necessity, not a luxury. For brick-and-mortar businesses, landscaping is the first thing people see, experience, and critique. Poorly kept grounds send a negative message not just to your prospective clients, but to the general public as well.

Landscaping adds value to your business

Think of landscaping as an indirect form of marketing. How well you maintain your facility’s exterior can be viewed as a direct reflection of how your company maintains itself. Treating landscaping as an aspect of branding allows you to say what your logo and tagline can’t. When wondering about what your landscaping return on investment (ROI) will be, consider this, a well-groomed and maintained landscape can increase your property’s value as much as 15%.

A well-kept landscape attracts more people

It’s no surprise that people respond better to environments that have a significant green footprint. One survey found that when it came to commercial establishments, 74% of the public preferred to congregate around stores and common areas that had more trees, plants, and fresh greenery.

Landscaping can improve the well-being of your employees

Landscape maintenance is also a great proactive step towards promoting wellness in the workplace. A recent study from the University of Exeter found that employees who are surrounded by nature and more natural landscapes reported a significant drop in stress-related complaints.  What’s more, the study found that participants saw a 40% increase in environmental satisfaction.

Looks matter

Contrary to popular belief, looks do matter. Making the outside of your facility “look pretty” can be a simple clean-up process, but the overall goal should be to have it complement your business’s facility. If your facility is lacking in curb appeal, it may be negatively impacting your business. People may assume that your business is not up-to-date—or worse—that the business owner doesn’t take pride in their work. One consultative study found that 70% of first-time sales are based on curb appeal.

Save time and money

What’s better than saving time and money? —Maybe saving time to make more money? Semantics aside, if your facility needs some tender loving care, you should strongly consider hiring landscaping professionals. If you’re still leaning towards an in-house approach to handle your landscape work, keep in mind that you will also need to devote time towards training staff members; managing the cost and care of equipment; reordering supplies; ensuring the safety of your team; calculating budgetary costs; scheduling projects; and handling wages.Yeah, you can try and save money by going outside to pick weeds and rake leaves yourself, but, you’re not really saving all that much. And what about the jobs that require technical expertise? Are you really planning on googling your way to figure out how to properly uproot and strategically replant trees in a manner that aims to reduce your facility’s heating and cooling costs? The time you spent cleaning your outdoor area is precious time you could have put into furthering the service or product that your business provides.OpenWorks is guided by a simple philosophy: A cleaner, safer and healthier environment means a more productive workplace. For more information on how OpenWorks can benefit your facility, visit our website here.