5 Tips for Starting and Operating a Parking Lot Business

13 Jan 5 Tips for Starting and Operating a Parking Lot Business

Starting a parking lot of business can be a great way to break into both the real estate market and growing industry with lots of exciting potentials. In the parking lot business, you are essentially buying valuable plots of land that are in-between use. Typically, these plots of land are in parts of cities that are densely populated, have an excess amount of cars, and lack available street parking. This is where your parking lot comes in handy. With a decent rate for parking, you can literally take a corner of the market in your particular town or city.

Here are five tips for starting and operating a parking lot business.

• Start small and test out the waters.

The parking lot business is a great industry to dip your feet in. If the water feels warm enough, you can go even further. No matter what, though, you want to start with one lot before you start branching out. If you do your market research and have 100% confidence that two lots will start reaping rewards, you may want to expand, but as a general rule of thumb, you want to start with only one lot.

• Lease before you buy.

It is also important to lease a lot before you make the commitment to buy. Leasing will give you the opportunity to test the waters, but it will also give you the opportunity to move on to different lots and build the capital you need to invest in your business. When it comes to investing, your ultimate goal should be to start purchasing plots. Getting into the real estate sector of the parking lot business can be a great way to resell plots of land at a premium.

• Make sure to keep your parking lot pristine.

If you want people to keep parking in your lot, you want to make sure that your asphalt is clean and smooth – and you want to keep all the lines bright white. This is why you want to hire a company. Having a professional maintenance crew will be your closest ally when you are in the parking lot business – having a messy or unsmooth parking lot can also create the risk for lawsuits.

• Conduct background checks on all your employees.

It is critical that you don’t hire anyone with a criminal record. If you hire employees with criminal records, you are basically inviting a number of problems into your business that could cause an eventual collapse. Ideally, you want to check for these records before you hire – in this day and age, you just never know.

• Follow all of your city’s regulations.

To avoid fines, damages, accidents, and other problems, you want to follow all of your city’s regulations when it comes to the ownership and management of a parking lot. A single fine for an egregious offense could shut down your entire business. In the end, you want to follow the rules as carefully as possible.