Improve Your Business With These 5 Commercial Landscape Design Ideas
How important are first impressions?
Imagine turning into a parking lot full of weeds pushing through the cracks of old asphalt. You gaze at Pete’s Pet Store and tell yourself this building could use a few upgrades. Then you notice the overall commercial landscape design. Its poor quality immediately makes you reconsider buying food for your beloved dog from this store.
Dead shrubs, unmowed grass, a rusty wrought iron fence, broken sidewalk pavement, and a complete lack of concern for the exterior of the building don’t send a great message to your potential customers. No matter how inviting and clean the interior of your business is, people see the outside first.
If your building’s exterior needs a refresh, here are five great ideas that will “wow” your present and future customers.
1. Decorate Your Front Entrance
Decorate your front entrance with elements that reflect the nature of your business. For example, garden stores can advertise the high quality of their plants and flowers by placing gorgeous potted plants and blooming seasonal flowers around the front entrance. Lawn and hardware stores might consider flanking their entrance with bubbling fountains or displaying riding lawn mowers on sections of real, freshly cut green grass.
For businesses open after dark, illuminating the front entrance with charming light fixtures is an excellent way to increase safety for customers while enhancing the general landscape design.
2. Line Pathways
A customer’s first impression of your company’s exterior is also influenced by the pathway leading up to the entrance. In addition to repairing cracks, keeping walkways free of trash and debris, and repouring concrete when necessary, you’ll also want to improve the design of your walkway.
You can complement dull concrete with colorful, eye-catching plants or upright lamps that spotlight the walkway.
3. Install Decorative Concrete
Another way to spruce up concrete is to overlay old concrete. It’s less expensive than repairing or replacing concrete, and you have many decorative options. First, pigments can be added to the overlay mix to improve the color of the concrete.
You can also stamp overlays with patterns that replicate various textures and materials, including brick, wood, and flagstone. In fact, decorative concrete techniques are so advanced that it can be challenging to distinguish decorative concrete from the actual material it appears to be.
4. Plant Trees & Bushes
Businesses that would benefit from shade and privacy might consider planting dwarf cypress, dwarf cherry, Japanese maples, lilac bushes, or other ornamental trees and bushes that can also be decorated for the holidays.
Before deciding on which trees and bushes will thrive in your area, consult with an arborist. They can help you understand which trees and bushes are suited for your hardiness zone and determine where they need to be planted. Knowing where to plant trees and bushes is critical—you’ll need to understand how much space you actually need for your tree to thrive and how much sunlight it will get in the selected spot versus how much sunlight it needs. You’ll also want to consider any utilities to ensure tree roots don’t grow around any underground pipes or wires.
5. Add Benches
Larger businesses, such as fine dining restaurants and museums, might include benches in their landscape design to provide resting areas for customers and employees. Because so many bench styles are available on the market, it’s easy to find beautifully crafted benches that blend seamlessly with your building’s existing architecture. Wood or cement benches may be cantilevered from retaining or freestanding walls or incorporated with recesses that accommodate potted plants or flowers.
Get More Commercial Landscape Design Tips From Design One
Get more helpful tips and tricks from Design One. We’re a full-service residential and commercial landscape design company that has been serving Michigan for over three decades. Our team can help you plan your design, install water features, improve walkways, and more.
If you need help perfecting your commercial landscape design, contact us today to request a consultation, or if you want more design tips, please visit our blog.
