Managing your Parking Lot Portfolio

Updated on 7/2/2024

Parking lots, alongside roofing and HVAC systems, represent substantial capital expenses and necessitate regular maintenance. Just like a leaking roof or a malfunctioning air conditioner, a parking lot riddled with potholes can harm your customers. Unlike other areas of your property, the parking lot is often the first and last encounter your customers have with your business. If your store aims to deliver a seamless customer experience across all locations, a significant portion of that success hinges on the condition of your pavement. When customers leave your facility, the final and lasting impression they hold is crucial. If your parking lot is in disrepair, that impression is likely to be negative. Effective pavement portfolio management and budgeting for proactive maintenance can ensure that all your parking lots remain in optimal condition, reducing potential liabilities and enhancing your overall store image.

For years, the paving industry has promoted Pavement Management Planning (PMP) to help facility professionals optimize pavement maintenance across multiple parking lots. The goal has always been to prolong the functionality of each pavement structure over an extended period. While PMP remains an essential tool for any facility manager, it alone cannot provide real-time condition reports and projected costs for an entire parking lot portfolio. This is where a robust inventory management system comes into play, filling in the gaps and offering significant benefits. With an inventory management system, it’s possible to track pavement conditions across multiple sites without leaving the office. Additionally, maintenance history and repair recommendations can be logged to assist with budgeting and scheduling future preventative or structural maintenance. This article outlines four crucial steps to implementing an effective parking lot inventory management system.

Step 1: Inventory Collection

As with any data management system, the principle of “garbage in, garbage out” holds true. High-quality input data ensures high-quality output. This is why an initial assessment is so critical. Select a reputable contractor to conduct assessments for all parking lots in your portfolio. During these assessments, the following data should be collected for each site:

• Total square footage of asphalt
• Total square footage of concrete
• Pavement depths
• Stall counts
• Suggested repairs and associated costs to correct and/or restore each parking lot

If repairs are extensive, consider an option to spread the costs over multiple years. Additionally, outline routine maintenance costs for each parking lot over three to five years. Ensure your contractor takes plenty of pictures to document current conditions and existing liabilities. Maps for initial and projected repairs should clearly indicate where maintenance is needed. Parking lots should be reassessed every three to five years, as they will inevitably deteriorate and conditions will change.

For successful inventory collection, consider the following tips:

• Partnering with a single contractor ensures consistency in your inventory.
• Paying for initial assessment services ensures unbiased information.
• If collecting your entire portfolio in one year is not feasible, spread the assessment cost over three years.
• Continue preventative maintenance on any properties omitted from an evaluation in a given year.

Step 2: Software Organization

Preventative parking lot maintenance prevents further deterioration and maximizes pavement usability. Until recently, realizing its true cost-saving benefits was challenging. Data is only valuable when it can be organized, analyzed in reports, and shared across the enterprise. Armed with a comprehensive pavement assessment of your portfolio, a web-based software platform is the best method to store the collected information. An effective software platform simplifies data entry, generates reports to guide purchasing decisions, and tracks repair progress in real-time. Facility managers and team members can access data that supports the need for preventative maintenance and calculates the budget required to accomplish it.

When reviewing software options, consider the following questions:

• Will the software log historical data on all parking lot repair projects?
• Will the software calculate and alert users when it is time to reevaluate each parking lot?
• How many years into the future does the software project costs for recommended maintenance?

Step 3: Prioritize through Ratings

After just two years of use, all parking lots require preventative maintenance. However, with several parking lots in a portfolio exceeding that time span, which one should be addressed first? How do you choose which property to repair if the budget is limited? An inventory management system needs a rating scale to help prioritize decision-making. A contractor experienced in parking lot inventorying can assist in the classification process.

For large parking lots with varying degrees of deterioration, consider using different ratings for each zone or area. For smaller parking lots or ones that have been consistently maintained, a single rating is sufficient. Whether you assign a grade or numerical rank, such as Grade A or Category 1, is unimportant; rather, the description and associated cost for each rating is what helps prioritize your sites. Ratings should be based on the parking lot’s age and defects’ severity. Recommended maintenance and the cost per square foot for repairs should be included within each rating. Once sorted by rating, it becomes possible to analyze your sites based on several factors including severity, project size, location, and volume.

When reviewing your rating system, ask the following questions:

• Is the pavement rating consistent, and do factors such as leasing vs. ownership affect priority?
• Will traffic volume and/or sales revenue influence the priority?
• Will ratings help secure a larger capital or maintenance budget?

Step 4: Reporting and Budgeting

Oftentimes, instead of using a systematic rating system, facility managers simply choose parking lots in the worst condition and allocate funds in hopes of seeing significant improvement. However, with a well-designed rating system, repair costs can be approximated at each stage of the pavement lifecycle. For instance, you may use a simple rating system with letter grades A through F (A being a new parking lot; F being a surface in need of complete replacement). If a parking lot is currently a D, software can estimate the cost needed to improve it to a C or B, and you can easily see the cost difference between the two. Additionally, with ratings integrated into your inventory management system, the software can calculate the percentage of stores that fall into grades D and F. Supporting data, such as pictures, expert opinions, and repair maps, can be accessed in a customized report, ensuring you are never unsure where to best utilize budget dollars.

For the most effective reporting and budgeting, consider the following tips:

• Select a software platform that can easily sort all ratings in your portfolio and provide accompanying charts or graphs to clearly illustrate budget needs.
• Choose a software platform that can report ratings by territory; perhaps there is a reason why one geographic region performs better or worse than another.
• Implement a software platform that displays all current, pending, and completed parking lot projects in real-time.

The condition of your parking lots significantly impacts your customers’ experiences both when they arrive and when they leave. Ensure repeat business and brand loyalty across all locations with well-maintained and effectively managed parking lots. Implementing a web-based inventory management system will greatly improve budgeting and decision-making concerning your pavement assets. It’s all about the data—collecting, organizing, rating, and analyzing it. Once these four steps are complete and stored in an easy-to-access software platform, you will have all the necessary information to prioritize repairs and make the best use of your budget across your entire portfolio.

To get started, partner with a reputable national paving contractor experienced in inventory management. Together, you can see the big picture and take a proactive approach to pavement maintenance now and into the future.

For more information and to discuss how we can help manage your parking lot portfolio, contact Rose Paving today here.

This excerpt is from an article written by Rose Paving Company.  First published in Professional Retail Store Maintenance magazine in March/April 2013.