While the asphalt contractor you choose should take care of most of the details that pertain to the project they are completing, there are a few things that should be on your radar screen. Taking care of these details will make all the difference in how smoothly the job runs, how much disruption there is to you, and the overall quality of the job. Here are a few items that sometimes can fall through the cracks leading up to your job completion.
How to Prepare for Paving Project
- Contact your trash removal service to relocate dumpsters off the pavement surface and/or reschedule pick up days.
- Contact your grounds maintenance service and request that they not cut the grass on the days that work is being performed. Loose grass clipping are killers for fresh wet sealer!
- Have a towing service scheduled in advance to remove cars on the days that the work is to be performed. Sometimes there are stray cars for which the owner cannot be located and this will ensure that there isn’t a delay in the job.
- Do not water adjacent areas prior to or during the execution of the job. Water is a job killer when it comes to paving and especially sealcoating.
- Give adequate notification to residents, employees, or customers of impending work and its scope.
- Post notices in common areas to further reinforce the scheduled work date(s). (I suggest one week prior to, and again (24) hours prior to starting the job).
- Paving work is highly dependent upon the weather; I would recommend that you communicate this clearly in your notifications so those affected more easily adapt to the inevitable changes.
- If a school or commuter bus route goes through your property, please advise the necessary parties of the job schedule and work areas so arrangements can be made to minimize the disruption.
Common problems that can arise on asphalt maintenance project days
Orphan Vehicles
If you manage a publicly accessible parking lot, or a lot for tenants without parking passes, then it can be harder to track down vehicle owners. Proper signage and access control ahead of time can help reduce this issue. It almost goes without saying but if the paving crews can't access the area where they are working, that can impact productivity and could potentially delay your project completely.
Automatic Irrigation Overspray
Water on your asphalt can entirely stop asphalt maintenance work. Often times irrigation systems are setup so that sequential zones are timed to run throughout the week. Typically, these are setup to run early morning or after hours and that can mean that its easy to forget to turn them off. Facility managers should ensure that all irrigation systems are paused or rescheduled to keep from creating issues with overspray and surface runoff that can halt paving maintenance work.
Delivery or Garbage Pick-up services
We work to make sure that your facility is impacted the least amount of time as possible, however, other services such as Amazon Delivery, UberEats, or Waste pick up services often can attempt to access the site without warning. There's a couple of things that your paving contractor and you as the facility manager can do. First, any planned waste removal service needs to be coordinated or rescheduled. For other on-demand services that might interact with the paving areas, such as UPS, or third-party delivery or ride share services, proper signage and vehicle barriers need to be provided by the paving contractor on work days.
