Sidewalk maintenance is an important aspect to property maintenance for property management in Houston. We have covered a lot about concrete cleaning in our previous blog Is There A Benefit To Cleaning Concrete.
Here we want to cover a fragment of the concrete cleaning industry, but in many customers' opinion the sidewalks are the most important concrete being cleaned. In many cases we have customers who want us to only clean their sidewalks and nothing else and we will have them wash on a regular basis. The intensity of the business volume dictates the frequency needed for the cleaning. Hotels, gas stations, restaurants and car dealerships are all places that frequently need their sidewalks cleaned. Knowing how often they need to be cleaned doesn’t need to be complicated. If it gets dirty in one month, then we recommend a monthly cleaning. If it gets dirty every 3 months, we recommend quarterly cleaning. I am going to go over a list of indicators that can help you determine whether you need more or less frequent sidewalk cleaning based on our experience.
High volume fast food restaurants like Chick-Fil-A and nearly all gas stations - weekly, bi-weekly or monthly (after a month Chick-Fil-A sidewalks can become black from the amount of foot traffic they receive).
Mid volume restaurants, high volume hotels and high volume shopping centers generally can get by with quarterly cleaning (I have not had the experience of a hotel that needs monthly cleaning unless it has a built in restaurant that is high volume inside). These can get by with quarterly cleanings.
Low volume restaurants, mid volume hotels and mid volume shopping centers will find that once every 6 months is appropriate for sidewalk cleaning.
Now who do we do once a year? Small mom and pop gift shops, low volume clothing stores. I have never found a restaurant that can afford to stay in business where once a year is appropriate for sidewalk cleaning (unless they are content with the concrete being dirty and keeping it that way).
Once you go beyond a year, you will begin to see mold growing on your sidewalk and they become dirty regardless of the foot traffic you have at your establishment. So for any business it is reasonable to have an annual cleaning routine.
Now for the sake of transparency (this is not the best sales tactic on my end, but it's the truth). If you are a low volume store who doesn’t need power washing more than once a year, it is a waste of your money to have it cleaned monthly. There, I said it. If you have me show up and tell me you need your roof cleaned, when it is clearly already clean I will tell you that it is unnecessary to wash and you won’t notice a difference when it is done because it is already clean. I just recently had a client surprised when I told him this. Where it is important to keep your property clean, it is also important that we provide something that is valuable for your establishment and not just another expense you forget about.
Now I emphasize pressure washing in Houston because in some dryer climates like Fort Worth the maintenance routine isn’t the same because they have a different climate that doesn’t produce mold as frequently as we do here. Now cities like Corpus Christi, New Orleans, Orlando, Savannah and so forth are other cities that can go off this guide because their weather is very similar to what we deal with in the Houston Metro.
Now we have gone over the schedule, but what does that schedule entail? The main priority of maintenance cleaning is to prevent slips/falls and to preserve the beautification of the property. So what we are looking for is grease(tracked by foot traffic), mold, rust and gum. It doesn’t matter what type of business you are in, every facility has an issue with people spitting gum on the sidewalk (some businesses more often than others, particularly restaurants and fitness centers). The longer the gum stays on the concrete, the more likely it is to leave behind a shadow when it is finally removed. When you have a regular maintenance schedule it will prevent stains from occurring on the concrete since the gum won’t stay there for years. We have one Chick-Fil-A where they built the facility 10 years ago and we have no gum stains on the concrete still to this day, and we are proud to be the ones who have been washing the property since its doors opened.
There are other items to consider getting cleaned when looking for a company to offer you a maintenance package. With some facilities we include washing the building regularly to prevent mold from ever appearing on it. You may have awnings that need to be cleaned once a year and those can be more cost effective when done in conjunction with a maintenance schedule.
And the most important thing of all, dumpster pads. Getting a dumpster pad cleaned as a one time job can actually be pretty expensive. With us you get roughly a 50 percent discount on cleaning the dumpster pad when you include it as a maintenance package with the sidewalk. It is like ordering a hamburger meal at Whataburger instead of the burger, fries and drink individually which makes it more expensive. These maintenance packages fall under the same guideline (and not just with us, most other companies do this to save on fuel and drive time).
If you’re a Houston property manager or business owner looking to have regular cleaning maintenance use this guide to help you determine what is necessary for your business.
Let Texas Commercial Wash evaluate your traffic level and build a maintenance plan that fits your property and your budget.
Call or request a quote today and we’ll recommend only what you actually need.