How Your School Can Benefit From Grounds Maintenance Services
The term ‘grounds maintenance services’ refers to any one of a number of tasks that are carried out to improve the safety and aesthetics of a property. Ideally, these tasks should be completed on a regular basis, rather than only once or twice a year.
By investing time and effort into the outdoor facilities and green spaces of your property — be it a strata complex, school, or residential facility — you are signalling to your residents that you care about their safety and hope that they will take pride in their surroundings.
With this in mind, grounds maintenance services can include any of the following tasks:
- Design and implementation of irrigation systems
- Development and implementation of management plans
- Fine turf and sports turf management
- Sports oval preparation and maintenance
- Water conservation strategies
- Weed and pest control
- General maintenance: fertiliser application, mowing, planting, pruning, waste removal.
Benefits of hiring a school grounds maintenance provider
Running a school is a complex task and issues such as grounds maintenance often fall by the wayside. However, the facade of a school is where first impressions are made. Potential parents and students often make judgements based on seemingly small details, such as how well ovals are maintained. As such, the reputation of a school often hangs on the grounds maintenance team.
In addition, grounds maintenance providers play an integral role in ensuring that a facility is safe. Issues such as overhanging branches, cracked pavements, and fallen leaves can all create dangerous situations, particularly for school children. Teams that provide grounds maintenance services tend to do so on a regular, scheduled basis. By attending to small issues — such as unkempt trees — in a timely manner, serious safety incidents can be avoided.
Hiring a team that provides grounds maintenance services also means that your in-house resources (staff) are free to concentrate on matters that relate to their role, and will not have to concern themselves with keeping pathways clear or pest control.
How to pick the right grounds maintenance provider
So you’ve decided your school could benefit from grounds maintenance services. Great! Now comes the hard part — picking your maintenance provider.
With the wide range of maintenance providers out there, it can be difficult to know if you’re partnering with the right team. Here are a few clues that can help you in your search:
- Referrals: Ask other similar sized schools and facilities in your local area who they use for grounds maintenance — or alternatively, check which providers they would definitely steer clear of!
- Services provided: Be sure that your grounds maintenance team provides a long list of services that match your needs. If the pride of your school grounds is your sports oval, check that the provider has experience working with fine turf. If you have a lot of trees on the property, make sure that the team has the tools required to prune as is required.
- Professionalism: When picking a maintenance team to look after your school, the quality professionalism should be top of your list. For example, you want to be sure that all the maintenance workers have Working With Children checks. It’s also important that they dress professionally and know how to carry out work in a school environment so that the students’ learning experience is not disrupted.
Clearly there are many benefits to hiring a grounds maintenance services team to look after your school (or even university) environment. Contact a local maintenance provider today to discuss their experience and discover how they can help you.
