The Benefits of Landscaping

Landscaping is already recognized as enhancing and improving residential houses.  When you drive your neighbourhood, there are very few if any houses that don't have grass, trees and flowers of some kind in the yard and many have seats on the front lawn or front porch.

Less common is landscaping of commercial and industrial properties.  Yet good landlords understand the importance of landscaping their buildings.

People respond to nature.  At work, people need to be able to sit outside on their breaks.  They want a place to eat together.  When they enter and exit the building, they wish to look at a pleasing landscape that includes some greenery.  They want to be able to walk around the building and the parking lot.  The aesthetic should cause the workers to feel good about where they work.

At my family's property, we have spent some time and money softening the formerly industrial edges of the building.  We have installed gardens with trees and flowers surrounding the walkways into our tenants' spaces.  We have some large and beautiful trees out front.  We try to ensure we weed and screen the beds around the property to make them look the best they can. We have pots of flowers welcoming you into our storage portion of the building.

We recognize that we need unobstructed access to dock doors.  We require the parking lot clear to facilitate snow plowing.  We have to be able to cut the lawn without difficulty.  With those strictures, we still have tried our best to soften all of the edges to try to create an aesthetic that will resonate with our tenants and make them feel good about working in our building.

In my view, no matter the type of property, whether industrial, institutional, commercial, residential, or multi-residential, there is value in landscaping.  Look at installing trees, planting flowers, growing grass, creating beds outside your tenants' spaces, building arbors, constructing gazebos, placing picnic tables, creating seating, buying a barbecue, laying some stone work, and creating functional yet attractive landscaping around the property.

​These investments will usually pay off because they make people feel good about being at your property.  As a landlord, the better people feel about their workplace, the more likely they are to stay in your building.