Environmental Insights

Yesterday I sent an affidavit off as an expert witness for a landscape-related lawsuit. It got me thinking.

When most people look at their landscaping, litigation is the last thing that enters their mind. Yet a poorly maintained landscape opens up more opportunities for someone to sue you than there are spots on a baby deer.

I hate to say it, but a quarter of a century in the landscape business has given me a certain amount of perspective into human nature, and it isn’t always pretty. There are people who look for opportunities to exploit your weaknesses if they think it will get them money.

If you don’t meet certain minimum standards, or if you cut corners on the proper way to maintain your property, they will find an opening sooner or later — and the way our legal system is set up, they will probably win.

Your commercial property takes on a whole different appearance at night.

Whether it maintains its attractiveness or becomes a forbidding or even dangerous place depends a lot on your lighting. Outdoor LED landscape lighting is an important safety and security feature.

A well-lit property discourages criminal activity, puts your visitors at easy, and helps prevent accidents and injuries caused by poor visibility.

The downside is that lighting your commercial property can get expensive. According to U.S. Dept. of Energy estimates, outdoor lighting accounts for at least 8% of commercial lighting expenses on average, and probably more. Fortunately, newer lighting technology offers a solution.

Leaky valves in your heart are very bad news. Leaky valves in your commercial landscape irrigation system? Not much better.

While they won’t take a toll on your health, leaky irrigation valves can wreak havoc on the health of your lawn. And they can do a real number on your water utility bill, too.

Of course, this is something every property manager we know would like to avoid. The key here is to keep an eye out for red flags around your landscape.

There it is in your mind’s eye: your own backyard, transformed into an outdoor living paradise gorgeous enough to grace the cover of House Beautiful. But when you look at your own big expanse of yard, it can be hard to visualize just exactly how to fill it.

One of the challenges in designing for a large backyard is breaking up the space so that it looks attractive and interesting, while at the same time making it easy and pleasant to spend time outdoors.

Trees and planting beds are essential, but they have limited functionality when it comes to actually spending time outside. In addition to plantings, we highly recommend including hardscape elements — items built with stone, brick, pavers, cast stone, and other durable materials — into your outdoor living area.

They are a wonderful way to achieve a backyard makeover by breaking up an overwhelming space into more intimate and accessible outdoor “rooms.”

It’s official, according to the U.S. EPA: Americans waste as much as 50% of the water they use outdoors, largely from inefficient watering methods and systems.

What, you say? Water is cheap. Why worry?

Well, yes, if you compare it to gasoline, water is cheap. But when you add up all the gallons used to keep a landscape looking lush and beautiful, water can be a significant monthly expense. For a large property, it can easily add up to hundreds of dollars per month.

Using water wisely is also a responsible environmental choice. Here in central Georgia, we may not expect to experience the extremes of drought suffered in California and Texas. However, it never hurts to be prepared, and adopting smart water use strategies can reduce or prevent problems before they occur.

Lush lawns, fragrant flower beds, elegant shade trees. A well-maintained landscape is one of the most relaxing sights on the planet. But if you’re the property owner, don’t let your guard down. That beautiful scene hides many potential hazards.

Landscape-related pedestrian injuries are more common than most people realize. Besides the pain and inconvenience they cause, such injuries can — and often do — result in costly lawsuits.

It’s not uncommon for litigation costs to exceed the cost of a landscape installation!

“So give it to me straight — how much will this installation cost my company?”

It’s a good question and one that any facilities manager or property owner who is pricing commercial landscape design and installation is justified to ask. But it’s not a simple one to answer.

The most honest and accurate way to answer the cost question is to take the entire life cycle of the installation into account. Most property managers are familiar with the concept of life cycle costing, but many are unaware of just how important it is to consider when budgeting for landscaping.

Landscaping is uniquely dynamic in the world of facilities management. Landscape plants are living organisms with varying life cycles. Each will affect the functioning of the property. Besides aesthetics, they can each impact safety, energy efficiency, human behavior, and the structural integrity of the surrounding buildings in ways that can add to or detract from the final value of the installation over time. The quality and design of hardscape elements will also influence the ultimate cost of an installation dramatically.

Any life cycle cost analysis for a commercial landscaping project needs to take these things mentioned above into account.