How to Avoid Costly Maintenance Mistakes With Garrison Group

Ensuring that your commercial property is effectively being managed and maintained begins by recognizing that there are common mistakes every commercial property owner or investor makes at some point in their property ownership journey, and your expert team at Garrison Group is here to help you learn from them. The most common mistake: not taking the proper steps to ensure your property is undergoing the necessary maintenance.

Maintenance mistakes are one of the most common, and costly, challenges property owners face, but they’re preventable. When it comes to properly maintaining your commercial property, whether it’s an office building, a restaurant or a multitenant building, no issue is too small. Catching any issues or inefficiencies in your property while they are minor is vital. Whether it’s an inefficient HVAC, leaking plumbing, or exterior repairs, if you wait to address these issues, they will inevitably escalate into a major issue that will cost you both financially and in time. 

These problems can cause disruptions for your tenants, significantly affecting your tenant satisfaction and retention rate, increasing the risk of your property sitting vacant and significantly affecting your long-term property value. All of these factors can be avoided by establishing a proactive maintenance strategy, like a commercial property management maintenance checklist, which can assist property owners and managers in effectively avoiding unexpected breakdowns in essential systems, emergency repairs and a steep escalation in operating costs. 

As a trusted provider of reliable commercial property management solutions for clients in Central Illinois, many of our clients face a unique range of challenges as the seasons change, which can accelerate the usual wear and tear your property’s infrastructure experiences. Having an effective property management plan or partner is essential to keeping your asset running smoothly and ensuring that you don’t fall victim to expensive repair costs. That’s where Garrison Group provides a distinct advantage to our clients. 

With over three decades of experience in the commercial real estate market and property management, Garrison Group helps our clients avoid costly mistakes by implementing a proactive preventative maintenance plan, on top of maintaining consistent oversight over every detail of their properties. We understand just how important it is to protect your assets and your investments and keep them functioning properly. That’s why through our property management services we support our clients by ensuring proper maintenance is being performed in a timely manner and providing essential property management services that directly support their investments performance, such as tenant relations and detailed financing reporting. 

Garrison Group helps its clients get lasting value from their investments, big or small, by keeping up the properties and planning for the future.

How Garrison Group Helps You Avoid Costly Maintenance Errors

Nothing can undermine the value, safety and efficiency of your investment than a maintenance mistake. Over the last three decades, we’ve seen many property owners fall into a reactive cycle rather than a proactive one, addressing system or structural issues only after there is a failure or notable damage occurs. At Garrison Group, we believe in one simple rule when it comes to maintenance, there is no such thing as a minor issue. 

If the HVAC system in your building isn’t working efficiently, there is evidence of water damage, or there is damage on the exterior of your property, address it as soon as possible! Any of these minor issues can quickly escalate into a substantial expense that not only increases your operating costs but also disturbs and disrupts your commercial and residential tenants and can significantly shorten the lifespan of your property’s essential systems. 

The consequences of a reactive maintenance plan overtime leads to these avoidable consequences:

• Higher vacancy rates

• Reduced tenant satisfaction and retention

• Diminished asset value

  
  

In Central Illinois, where a majority of our commercial clients are located, properties must be able to withstand the usual seasonal weather conditions, which makes a proactive maintenance strategy essential.

A Smarter Approach to Commercial Property Management

With Garrison Group as your property management partner, we understand that avoiding expensive maintenance mistakes requires more than just a few quick fixes—it demands a preemptive property management strategy that addresses our clients’ short-term and long-term goals.

Since each of our clients and their properties are unique, we utilize a property management approach that blends disciplined preventative maintenance planning, hands-on oversight, and complete transparency, ensuring every property is efficiently, safely and profitably managed and maintained. Our team of expert property managers will help you review the essential systems equipped in your property, as well as your tenant requirements and any operation challenges, identifying potential issues and resolving them now before they escalate, helping our property owners and investors avoid costly emergency repairs, cut down on unplanned downtime and maintained a consistent and predictable cash flow. 

We provide our clients with a comprehensive property management process, which covers all the critical variables of maintaining their commercial properties, including:

• Routine inspections of vital systems like the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems

• Exterior upkeep

• Landscaping services

• Repair services

  
  

With these key services, we help prepare our clients for a variety of unique challenges, including seasonal shifts, including providing prompt responses to any tenant concerns, all while optimizing their property’s overall performance to its highest potential. 

Partnering with Garrison Group means more than getting a detailed maintenance and property management plan, it means getting peace of mind knowing that your investment is in experienced hands. With decades of local market expertise to pull from, plus an impressive range of trusted vendor relationships and a client-focused approach, our efficient and effective property management team keeps our clients informed on everything that matters to them, such as:

• Detailed reporting on the current status of your investment

• Steps that have been taken to reduce surprise expenses and repairs

• Enhance your property’s overall performance

• Maintenance or repair services that are being prioritized

  
  

Our goal is simple: keep your property running efficiently, enhance overall tenant satisfaction and deliver sustainable value that promotes growth and aligns with your business objectives.With Garrison Group as your property management partner, we understand that avoiding expensive maintenance mistakes requires more than just a few quick fixes, it demands a preemptive property management strategy that addresses our clients’ short-term and long-term goals.

Since each of our clients and their properties are unique, we utilize a property management approach that blends disciplined preventative maintenance planning, hands-on oversight, and complete transparency, ensuring every property is efficiently, safely and profitably managed and maintained. Our team of expert property managers will help you review the essential systems equipped in your property, as well as your tenant requirements and any operation challenges, identifying potential issues and resolving them now before they escalate, helping our property owners and investors avoid costly emergency repairs, cut down on unplanned downtime and maintained a consistent and predictable cash flow. 

We provide our clients with a comprehensive property management process, which covers all the critical variables of maintaining their commercial properties, including:

• Routine inspections of vital systems like the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems

• Exterior upkeep

• Landscaping services

• Repair services

  
  

With these key services, we help prepare our clients for a variety of unique challenges, including seasonal shifts, including providing prompt responses to any tenant concerns, all while optimizing their property’s overall performance to its highest potential. 

Partnering with Garrison Group means more than getting a detailed maintenance and property management plan, it means getting peace of mind knowing that your investment is in experienced hands. With decades of local market expertise to pull from, plus an impressive range of trusted vendor relationships and a client-focused approach, our efficient and effective property management team keeps our clients informed on everything that matters to them, such as:

• Detailed reporting on the current status of your investment

• Steps that have been taken to reduce surprise expenses and repairs

• Enhance your property’s overall performance

• Maintenance or repair services that are being prioritized

  
  

Our goal is simple: keep your property running efficiently, enhance overall tenant satisfaction and deliver sustainable value that promotes growth and aligns with your business objectives.

Why Preventative Maintenance Matters

As a maintenance strategy, preventative maintenance is one of the most effective ways to avoid and prevent costly mistakes and effectively protect the long-term value and functionality of your asset. Preventive maintenance helps to prepare our clients and their properties for normal wear and tear or damage that comes with the territory of owning or being an investor in a commercial property. 

It is extremely important not to manage your property or building simply by reacting to an issue as it arises. Foreseeing potential issues for the future or identifying minor issues that could be resolved now before they have the opportunity to escalate is essential to an effective property management approach. 

On top of minimizing risk, preventative maintenance also provides countless opportunities to improve efficiency across your property and its established systems. Properly maintaining your property and its systems helps your building and your operational services to operate with efficiently, which can also lead to a drop in your energy costs and a notable reduction in strain on your mechanical systems. Additionally, taking a proactive approach to your investment’s maintenance needs also plays a crucial role in maintaining and increasing your tenants’ overall satisfaction and retention rate.

Whether you have a commercial property that is leased out to businesses or a multitenant building, ensuring that your property provides a safe, comfortable and dependable area for all your tenants is essential to your business. Tenants are more likely to view or lease a property that is well taken care of and efficiently and professionally managed. 

In the end, preventative maintenance is not just an effective property management strategy, it is a long-term commitment to protecting your asset’s functionality and value, improving and sustaining your tenant relationship, and managing your property’s performance. By addressing maintenance issues before they escalate, commercial property owners set themselves up for long-term success that they can rely on for years to come.

Key Preventative Maintenance Measures You Can Take To Protect Your Property

• Schedule regular inspections of essential components, such as roofing, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and the structural integrity of your asset

• Maintain a regular service and repair schedule for your property, by making the simple adjustment of replacing emergency repairs with regular scheduled maintenance, our clients have more control over their operating costs all while maintaining consistent and reliable property performance

• Stay on top of your property’s landscaping needs, keeping your property’s high-traffic areas clear of snow and debris or simply by trimming back the trees and shrubs near your property, our clients can effectively cut down on a wide range of safety issues and enhance their property’s aesthetic appearance. 

• Plan out your maintenance schedules so you can predict your expenses and simplify finalizing your budget and reducing surprises

What Essential Systems Should You Check During Your Regular Commercial Property Maintenance?

Regular, effective commercial property maintenance is only effective when it includes thorough inspections of all the essential and regularly utilized systems that keep your building safe, functional and efficient. Our dedicated team of property management professionals at Garrison Group understands the importance of checking and repairing all the critical components that keep your assets running smoothly. 

• HVAC Units—ensuring that your property or building can effectively maintain a comfortable temperature for every season is vital for the overall functionality of your property. It also affects your assets overall energy efficiency and monthly costs. 

• Plumbing Systems—conducting regular inspections and maintenance on your plumbing systems can prevent major leaks, water pressure issues and drainage concerns from forming. 

• Electrical Systems—routine checks of your property’s wiring integrity, panel performance and lighting functionality can help to prevent major disruptions for your tenants and keep your property running efficiently. 

• Roof—regular inspections of your investment’s roof are vital to detecting and preventing major leaks, damage and structural wear before it becomes necessary for a full roof repair.

• Building Structure—having the foundations, walls and floors of your building regularly checked for cracks or any other foundational issues can prevent you from paying for costly repairs and help you remain compliant with state and federal codes. 

  
  

Additional areas we recommend including in your property’s comprehensive maintenance routine are:

• High-traffic areas like parking lots and sidewalks. 

• Ensure all exterior signage is up-to-date and still in place

  
  

By adding these essential system and high-traffic area checks to your preventative maintenance routine, Garrison Group reduces the risk for our commercial property owner and investor clients and ensures that your property remains tenant-ready.

Work With Garrison Group to Protect Your Investment

Are you ready to gain the full benefits of working with a property management partner that will help you avoid cost maintenance mistakes and help you maximize the performance and profitability of your commercial property? Garrison Group is here to help you every step of the way. 

With our decades of experience providing first-class commercial real estate and property management services for commercial clients across Central Illinois, you can trust that your investment is in capable hands with Garrison Group. We provide all the essential services commercial property owners and investors need, from implementing an effective preventative maintenance program and vendor coordination to managing tenant relations and detailed financing reporting. We handle all the details, so you can focus on your business goals. 

Our team of property managers will work hard to maintain your property by understanding your needs and ensuring your property runs safely and efficiently. Garrison Group manages your assets precisely and carefully, whether you own a single commercial building or have an extensive portfolio of properties. 

Our goal is to deliver peace of mind, tenant satisfaction, and sustained property performance to all our commercial clients, so they can focus on achieving and exceeding their business objectives. Ready to get started? Contact Garrison Group today for more information on how our extensive commercial property management and maintenance services can effectively and consistently safeguard your investment and position your business for sustainable, long-term success and returns. Get Started today!