Commercial Landscaping Blog, San Jose | Bay Area | Santa Clara, CA

10 Quick Tips About Commercial Landscape Maintenance

Written by Elizabeth Mendoza | Jun 8, 2015 4:30:00 PM

Challenged with your Commercial Landscape Maintenance and Watering?

These days, commercial landscape maintenance and water conservation go hand in hand and is a major concern for many property owners and managers – particularly in many cities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area where water restrictions and the cost of water will continue to escalate. Some water districts and agencies are imposing stiff penalties for home owners associations, apartments and large scale commercial properties that are in noncompliance. Our efforts are focused in the area of water conservation including the use of smart irrigation technology including smart irrigation controllers and modern watering systems.

Upon request our company will audit and assess water bills comparing historical use with current to see if there are opportunities to save money and conserve on the water use. 

Recycled Water Use

One of the ways clients can reduce water use is by converting there irrigation supply to recycled or reclaimed water for their outside landscaping. Some of our clients on larger scale properties are using reclaimed water to significantly reduce water costs.

In addition to utilizing recycled water, there are a number of other options to reduce and conserve. For example reducing or eliminating lawn areas, replacing with drought tolerant plant material and the installation of efficient drip irrigation also helps to conserve up to 50% or more. FloraTerra continues to replace outdated irrigation systems and lawns with efficient drip, smart controllers and drought tolerant plants. This includes replacing conventional spray heads with subsurface drip and bubblers. We also upgrade older style irrigation heads with heads that are 25%-50% more efficient, some heads can potentially save up to 1000 gallons of water per year.

Reclaimed Water Challenges

Some commercial landscape maintenance companies are challenged when working with reclaimed water that you should be aware of, for one your landscape company must be certified and trained to work with reclaimed water systems, additionally some plants and trees are extremely sensitive to the concentrated salt content that may potentially cause plants to decline over time. Water over spray needs to be managed, especially since the hard water droplets stain and make it very difficult to remove from cars, glass and other smooth surfaces.  

Irrigation Water Audits.

With corporations both small and big, property managers, Home Owner Associations and Condominiums are paying much closer attention to their bottom line these days, water budgets are a big deal. FloraTerra offers a Water Management service that existing customers are capitalizing on.

FloraTerra and its personnel participate in the Irrigation Associations Landscape Irrigation Auditor Program. Our professional certified auditors perform ongoing water audits to measure and quantify water use across Bay Area landscapes. Audits enable us to have a better and more efficient control over programmed irrigation controllers and identify system deficiencies, enabling water reductions in landscape usage by up to 30%-60% percent.

“With our irrigation system auditing, we have in house water management experts and if a site wants to have their watering system audited we will have one of our experts come out and review the property,” Gene Ebertowski, President  says.

“From the field  information, plus the square footage of the landscaping, we can calculate and predict future water use for the entire landscape site. We also review historical water use records from past water use and we will forecast what they need to use per year and what they’re using now.”


 

Our Focus is on The Future

Like many bay area landscaping and water management companies that are looking to advance with future developments, FloraTerra Landscape is investing a great deal of its time, energy and focus in the area of water conservation and resource management . Our services include; landscaping design projects with an emphasis on drought tolerant landscape designs and sustainable landscaping, retrofitting older less than efficient irrigation systems with low flow drip irrigation and smart watering technolgy.

Drought Tolerant Landscaping Designs

“FloraTerra will also continue to educate our customers throughout the San Jose area on ways they can reduce their water consumption by suggesting alternatives to water-thirsty lawns, replacing with drought resistant plants, ground cover and trees,” Gene Ebertowski, president says “Our efforts and focus are also on converting less efficient irrigation sprinkler systems to drip or bubblers whenever possible. The drought is such a big problem here throughout the bay area and northern california, and it’s not going away any time soon. Educating our employees and clients will continue to be an area that we invest a great deal of time and resources,  helping to keep our customers apprised of best watering practices, water saving opportunities as well as the latest technology that is available to help conserve where ever possible.”

 

Challenged with the High Cost of Water? Leave it up to The Experts!

Regardless if you own or manage a large retail center, or have a portfolio of Apartment Buildings or Office Parks, FloraTerra is very experienced in the area of water conservation and management, let us help you with your watering challenges.

Landscaping Services and Experts in Water Conservation

FloraTerra  is a Leading Landscape company , we design, install and maintain water efficient landscaping and drip irrigation systems , providing a complete range of landscaping services, including water management for Residential Estates, Retail Shopping Centers, Mixed Use Development, Apartments and Multi-Residential Communities, Home Owners Associations, Condominiums and Commercial Office Developments.

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