Once you make the decision to hire a commercial paving contractor to pave your parking lot and/or other areas around your business, choosing the right company for the job can make a world of difference. There are a variety of things you might place a high priority on, and only certain companies may deliver on certain qualities.
How to Find a Commercial Paving Contractor
We’ve put together a list of 7 helpful tips you can use to help you find the paving contractor best suited for you and your business.
1. Look for a Local Team
The locality of your paving contractor can have a huge impact on the price and quality of the job. Local companies might have more of an incentive to perform better knowing that the evidence of their quality of work will be permanently located nearby. The transportation costs of materials like asphalt, concrete, and heavy equipment can also add up quickly, giving you yet another reason to go local if possible.
2. Ease of Installation is Key
This is another quality you should look for when choosing a paving contractor for your commercial business. The easier it is to install your pavement, the lower the overall cost will be and the quicker you can get back to normal business.
Some materials like concrete and asphalt have rather long completion times due to the need for the materials to dry and set, while other paving materials like permeable pavement can be easily completed in as little as one day.
3. Have Low Maintenance Requirements
The amount of maintenance that your pavement will require should play into your decision as well. Common commercial pavement materials like asphalt and concrete will degrade over time and will require re-paving as well as re-painting of your lot lines.
This will mean recurring instances of maintenance that will cost you time and money, and should factor into your overall assessment of price. Gravel filled-plastic grid permeable pavement, designed specifically for heavy load and heavy traffic commercial applications, is much more of a set-it-and-forget-it type of installation, requiring very little in the way of maintenance, even over long periods of time.
4. Aim for Permeability
You have two choices when it comes to commercial pavement, pervious and impervious materials. Impervious pavement will require special drainage systems to prevent flooding during heavy rain events. In many cases, commercial pavement contractors using permeable pavement will give your pavement the ability to drain any and all liquids directly through the pavement itself, acting as a built-in drainage system without the added cost.
You can also combine permeable and impermeable materials together if you want the best of both worlds. For example, gravel-filled permeable grid pavers can be sued primarily in parking spots and drive lanes can be impervious hardscape.
5. Select Eco-Friendly Materials
One often-overlooked element of commercial paving is the environmental-friendliness of the material and methods used to install it. Both concrete and asphalt have significantly more negative impacts on the ecosystem than the 100% recycled plastic used in permeable pavers. The production, transportation, and installation of permeable pavement are also designed to be as eco-friendly as possible (depending on which company you go through). Permeable grid pavers act as natural filters to remove pollutants through infiltration and bioremediation into the soils, mimicking nature’s hydrology.
6. Require Cost-Effectiveness
The cost is obviously going to play a huge role in determining which commercial paving contractors you favor. While concrete and asphalt contractors tend to range on the pricey side of things, permeable pavement contractors for plastic grid systems are almost always one of the most affordable options you can find. Besides the installation cost benefits over concrete, this approach provides land savings compared to asphalt or concrete by offering 100% land utilization without added drainage or detention system expense.
As an added bonus, long term maintenance expenses are dramatically lower.
7. Stylistic Versatility
The stylistic variance available to you when choosing amongst commercial paving contractors should also play into your ultimate decision. While asphalt is known to be incredibly limited in terms of stylistic options, it can work if you only want black pavement with white or yellow lot lines.
Concrete is similar, offering not much else besides white and yellow striping. The most options you’ll find when it comes to commercial paving contractors are likely to be found in the available packages offered by your local permeable paving company. Permeable grid pavement can be laid with a variety of different-colored fill aggregates and lot line markers.
This gives you the options to install pavement featuring a variety of different shades and colors, and will allow you to customize your commercial pavement much more than you would be able to with traditional concrete or asphalt.
Weigh All Your Options Before Choosing a Commercial Pavement Contractor
Before you install your commercial parking lot or other type of pavement, remember that you have more available to you than just concrete or asphalt. Permeable pavement comes with a variety of unique benefits that you might find desirable, and it also happens to be more cost-effective and durable than either concrete or asphalt.
If you prioritize eco-friendliness, ease-of-installation, low maintenance requirements, and long-term performance, you might just want to consider linking up with a local permeable pavement contractor instead of an asphalt or concrete one.
Contact TRUEGRID for help locating the perfect contractor for your permeable pavement project.
