The pitch: Civitas Weedfree Brand Concentrate is a hybrid selective herbicide formulated with fewer active ingredients to kill more than 60 listed broadleaf weeds, including clover, dandelions, poison ivy and sumac.
Its microtechnology minimizes the three-way mix active ingredients while enhancing the penetration into the plant.
Visible injury can be seen on weeds within 12 hours.
The white emulsion produced when sprayed identifies treated areas, reducing duplication of efforts and product waste.
The pitch: 100 percent organic Holganix balances the soil’s eco-system and promotes strong roots and healthier, more resilient plants.
The living biology in Holganix is combined with ingredients including endo- and ecto- mycorrhizae, humic and fulvic acids and yucca.
Healthier plants are better able to resist and withstand the stress of disease, insects, extreme seasonality and manmade pressures.
Incorporating Holganix into turf, flower, tree and shrub programs restores soil’s living biology and reduces the requirement of water, fertilizers and pesticides.
The pitch: Hydretain ES Plus Granular OC incorporates the liquid technology of Hydretain ES Plus into a rapidly releasing, free-flowing organic compost carrier.
The product is formulated to reduce the overall watering requirements of plants, shrubs, trees and turf.
A proprietary blend of hygroscopic humectant compounds, Hydretain captures moisture in the soil, which would otherwise be lost to evaporation.
Captured vapor molecules accumulate to form usable water droplets that are passed to the roots of plants.
The pitch: Phyllom’s new insecticides protect lawns and ornamental landscapes from beetle and weevil pests with no label restrictions regarding bees or applications when plants are flowering.
Beetlegone! controls Japanese, Asiatic garden and green june beetle adults on roses, trees and even edibles in the garden.
Grubgone! controls first to third instar white grubs and annual bluegrass weevil grubs either preventatively or curatively with a single application per generation.
Employees at Borst Landscape & Design in Allendale, New Jersey, can choose what kinds of accessories they want, like knit hats or baseball caps.
Photo courtesy of borst landscape & design
When your crew shows up at a job site, you want to make a great impression from the moment they set foot on the property to the moment they drive away. But even the most seasoned crew won’t look that way in cutoff shorts and ragged T-shirts. Uniforms can help crews look like professionals, plus they’re great advertising for your company.
“By definition uniform means it’s the same, right?” says Lance Forsee, president at Colonial Lawn & Garden. “So we like to build teamwork and professionalism any way we can and it’s just one more way to set us apart from the sea of competition out there.”
The lawn care, maintenance and tree care company based in Yakima, Washington, budgets $5,000 a year for its employees’ uniforms, which range from 25 to 35 during the season.
Forsee says uniforms help promote not only the professionalism of his company, but the industry as a whole. Back when Colonial was first starting out in 1985, Forsee says there were only a couple of landscaping companies with uniforms, making his company stand out.
Over the years, the industry matured and now most companies are using some sort of dress code.
Outsourcing.
Mark Borst, president at Borst Landscape & Design in Allendale, New Jersey, uses a uniform company to provide shirts, pants and cleaning services for his 65 field employees. The company used to provide apparel in house, starting with shirts and sweatshirts and then adding pants, but it got to be too much work.
“Internally, I think it gives us a sense of team. We’re all on the same team; we’re all wearing the same uniforms.” Lance Forsee, president, Colonial Lawn & Garden
Now, Borst has an outside company handle it and the employee picks up the $6 weekly charge, with the company handling administrative fees. He estimates that the total annual cost for uniforms is $12,000 per year. He says it has worked out well, especially since the company is no longer paying for uniforms.
“I know that the employees liked, when we went over to the uniform company, that they didn’t have to wash their own uniforms,” he says. “They looked at that as a benefit.”
GreenScapes Landscape in Columbus, Ohio, also started out with shirts and then added pants to the uniform along with cleaning services. President Bill Gerhardt says too many of his guys were wearing sweatpants or jeans with holes. “I was surprised at how cheap uniforms are,” he says. “It’s pretty inexpensive per person and I think their wives prefer it because the guys come home with all of that dirt on their uniforms and it’s going in with the family clothes.”
Forsee used to use a rental company, but opted to buy and maintain uniforms at Colonial since it’s cheaper and the company has more control over the process. “And we don’t have a contract that we have to be concerned about,” he says.
Choosing the uniforms.
Uniforms not only need to look professional, they need to be functional, durable and comfortable so that crews can do their best work. Companies use their logos and colors, of course, but there are other factors to take into consideration like durability and breathability for the hot summer months.
All three companies take their employees’ feedback into consideration. “We have the guys test the uniforms, take a look at the shirts, so we’re trying to provide something that will breathe a little, something that’s going to keep them cooler and then instead of a polyester type shirt we try to do some kind of a cotton shirt,” Borst says. “It’s something that will breathe at least.”
Colonial Lawn & Garden in Yakima, Washington, budgets $5,000 a year for uniforms for its employees, which range from 25 to 35 during the season.
Photo courtesy of colonial lawn & Garden
Borst also lets employees choose what kinds of accessories they want, like knit hats or baseball caps. Foremen at GreenScapes wear dark green collared shirts while the rest of the crew wears a lighter green T-shirt. That makes it easy for everyone, including the customer, to identify who’s in charge.
Colonial has used several colors over the years, starting off with green shirts and hats. The current uniforms are built around blue button-down shirts, with the company adding charcoal pants later on. “The blue was a nice, professional-looking color. It didn’t have to be green just because we’re in the green industry,” Forsee says.
Lawn care or spray division workers wear long sleeved shirts, while maintenance crews wear short sleeves, unless they’re pruning. “But they’re the same style and form of uniform so we’re really consistent looking,” Forsee says.
Borst also opted for blue, and although the company color is navy, the field shirts are a little lighter to keep crews cool in the sun.
Getting everyone on board.
And while uniforms are great for increased visibility and marketing, there are benefits for the employees too. “Internally, I think it gives us a sense of team. We’re all on the same team; we’re all wearing the same uniforms,” Forsee says.
Gerhardt says it also helps set the standard for employees right from the start. “You come to work clean and neat and ready to go,” he says, adding that it also helps with company procedure. Employees know they have to be equipped with boots, safety glasses, uniforms and any other personal protective gear.
There are occasions when an employee will wear the wrong hat, but in general Gerhardt says there haven’t been many issues.
“I always tell them, ‘Look, you’re on my dime and you could be on a jobsite where you’re on the news or a photographer comes up to ask you a question.’ We do a lot of public work and I want the GreenScapes logo on there for marketing reasons.”
But if an employee does show up without the proper attire, GreenScapes will sell him or her a new hat or shirt right on the spot.
L&L
Keeping track
Features - Technology
Technology makes it possible to know when and where your crews are going at all times.
When it comes to keeping track of your crews once they leave the shop, technology makes the options almost endless. While the equipment itself may be expensive, and keeping track of the data could be seen as time consuming, the ROI may make it worth it for your company.
“A lot of folks still don’t have a great idea on what GPS actually provides,” says Matt Deloge, vice president of GPS Fleet Consulting.
GPS software can monitor idle time and allow you to see how many times your crews are stopping at stores or gas stations.
“One of our landscape companies didn’t realize how many wasted trips his crews would take on a daily basis (to Home Depot or the gas station),” says Ryan Driscoll, marketing director with GPS Insight. “He found out he was wasting $4,000 annually on trips his crews were taking four to five times a week to the store when they could have just bought more the first time they were there.”
It can also keep your crews safe and your insurance costs down by tracking driver behaviors and alerting you to sharp braking, fast acceleration and other dangerous driving techniques.
“GPS has always been this stigma of being Big Brother and having a negative connotation,” Deloge says. “(This) puts it in a more positive light.”
If you’re in the market for GPS and routing software, here’s a rundown of some products.
GPS software allows you to track your crews at all times, so you know when they’re on the job site and when they’re not.
Photos courtesy of GPS Insight
With routing software, you’re able to schedule jobs so that your crews have the most efficient routes possible each day.
GPS Fleet Consulting
Options: The owner can use the system as much or as little as he wants. The company offers seasonal flexibility where you’re not required to lock into a long term contract year-round when your crews may be off in the winter. This offers the flexibility to pay as needed.
How it helps you: Unlike some software and tracking programs, which are cell phone based and require users to initiate the tracking, GPS Flight Consulting’s system is a web-based user interface.
The product is hardwired into the vehicle and run entirely from the home system. It uploads all data at the rate you choose it to, whether that be every 30 seconds or every 5 minutes.
With the system’s ability to monitor idle times, data will show you how long your crews leave trucks running.
“You can actually set up real -time alerts when vehicles are idling for more than a specific amount of time,” Deloge says. “This system will give owners the opportunity to set goals and expectations and reduce idling significantly.” GPS Fleet Consulting offers users a report that details the work day of a crew, showing when the crew starts the day and any stops the crew takes in between jobs, whether scheduled or unscheduled.
“Even if (your crew’s) off by 15 minutes each day, that adds up over the course of a week, with overtime pay,” Deloge says.
Tracking crews also helps you solidify billing with clients. You may have two crews go work on a property for eight hours and the customer questions the price on the bill. With this type of tracking software, you can build a customized report for the client that shows all the data.
Without the software data, you may have still “won” the argument, but Deloge says that’s not winning, because you’re still arguing with a client.
“The GPS system doesn’t allow you to get in an argument,” he says. “It helps retain that customer as well.”
“We really have a strong focus on landscaping, so we have a lot of knowledge about the industry,” Deloge says. “We’re involved with some consulting firms just so we know about the changing needs and changing issues.”
Training: Offers in person and online training, but more emphasis is put on web demos, which the company finds highly effective.
How it helps you: GPS Insight offers three separate products, depending on the size of your company. The one for small businesses considers fleet size to be 1 to 25 trucks, mid-sized is 26 to a few hundred, and then the largest is for companies with thousands of trucks.
The program is automated so no one needs to sit at a desk and watch the screen all day.
“They have to deal with a lot of other things over the course of their day and monitoring trucks is something they don’t have to do,” says Driscoll.
The small business software is completely new this year and because it is more basic, Driscoll says a lot of companies will scale up to use the pro products with more features.
With the standard software, driving stats are done based on the vehicle, so it’s up to you to know who was driving which vehicle that day. With the pro products, you can do driver identification and monitor each person. The pro product also offers driver scorecards, which help you see exactly how your guys are doing.
“Management can really see driver behavior and rank drivers against each other,” Driscoll says.
“You can see problem drivers and coach them as needed.”
The pro product also allows you to send routes to a driver’s Garmin GPS system so they know what customer sites to go to.
Training: GPS Insight has account managers that train new customers on the product. They also offer online classes that include quizzes at the end to ensure you have a working knowledge of the software.
“It really helps make sure whoever’s using the product understands it,” says Driscoll. “You can get a certificate of training to say you’re a certified user.” There’s also a technical support team available all the time if a customer runs into a troubleshooting problem.
ServicePro
Options: Price is based on size of the company’s fleet, but packages are also priced on what modules the customer wants to include. Customers have the option to choose between unlimited support or limited support, whichever works best for their company.
How it helps you: ServSuite is a full enterprise application that offers routing and GPS, both fully integrated into the system and offered in conjunction with the full service system. This includes managing accounts, scheduling, routing, payments, developing programs and a mobile app. After purchasing ServSuite, customers can add on the GPS or routing software.
The GPS module is just two years old, and the application was written by ServicePro, so it comes with functions and features created specifically with the green industry in mind.
It comes integrated to the scheduler program, and features a dispatch function. If customers call with an emergency or need you to come back, and it’s not initially set up in the day’s schedule, the software will look through that day’s schedule and get that customer scheduled in for the service.
When the GPS information is reported on, it doesn’t just give the basic information like you would see on an off-the-shelf GPS system.
“If you’re going to run a report for yesterday on the jobs someone did, you can run a report with all the work orders, the account name … things of that nature,” says John Cole, director of mobile solutions.
Training: A training package is offered for ServSuite, and ServicePro also offers an implementation and training package where they set up all the different functions and help train staff, which includes anyone in the field using the mobile app component.
WorkWave
Options: Each option from WorkWave is priced based on number of vehicles and size of the route. The company also offers month-to-month contracts so customers don’t have to lock into long term contracts.
How it helps you: WorkWave’s newest product is completely cloud-based.
When it comes to routing your crews’ days, the program breaks down what technicians are assigned to what route, as well as what time window the customer wants and whether the job requires certain tools. It can even look at things such as whether a job requires someone who speaks Spanish. It’s a pick list, but you’re able to define and set it up yourself with what you know your jobs will need.
“As it’s looking at the best way to schedule and route these jobs, it takes all of that into account,” says Chris Sullens, president and CEO of WorkWave.
In regards to tracking, WorkWave has an app program that geo stamps your crews’ activity. When your crews check in at a job site, it shows you where that check in was done.
“You can check that not only did they check in and check out of a job, but did they do it at the right location?” Sullens says.
The system also tracks your vehicles and records driver behavior. If the driver does anything dangerous, it not only alerts you, but it also sets off a buzzer to let the driver know it’s been recorded.
All the driver information can be placed into scorecards, which can then rank your drivers based on their score. When companies implement that, Sullens says they see a significant reduction in the number of incidents because guys don’t want to be listed at the bottom.
The system comes as a device that you plug into the vehicle’s 12-volt plug. If the system comes unplugged, it alerts you so you can call the driver and let them know it’s been unplugged. It also can track for up to two hours after being unplugged, so you still can see what’s going on.
On the software side, WorkWave’s system has a user-friendly interface where you can watch how your vehicles travel throughout the day. If a new job comes in that you need one of them to do, you can press a button and the system sends it to the crew’s Garmin GPS, saving the time they would take to type it in themselves.
Training: WorkWave offers online training videos and tutorials, as well as a walkthrough when you first start the app on your phone.
The company also offers webinars, as well as calling to speak with someone over the phone one-on-one. If your company is large enough, WorkWave offers onsite training.
L&L
‘REV’eting research
Features - Engines
Statistics on small engine purchasing and maintenance.
We surveyed more than 400 readers of Lawn & Landscape about their views and challenges when buying, replacing and maintaining engines. Of the respondents, 89 percent were involved in the purchase of small engines for mowing equipment. Of those who responded, 66 percent percent generate 2014 gross revenue of less than $500,000, while 34 percent posted more than $500,000 in 2014 revenue. For more engine research, visit bit.ly/enginereport in our September issue.
During the summer of 2006, after Hurricane Katrina hit Chase Mullin’s hometown, he began working for a small landscaping company in town.
At the same time, a friend of his mother’s had returned from Harvard University with a degree in landscape architecture. “She helped rebuild the city mostly via residential landscape, so she recruited me and a couple of friends and we helped do different installations for her,” Mullin says.
Following that summer, Mullin began taking on side jobs, too. In February 2007, Mullin went off on his own and started Mullin Landscape Associates in Harahan, Louisiana.
“I realized that I had 12 weeks of side work built up while I was trying to work fulltime for the landscaper,” he says.
Growing his own.
Being young in the business when the economy took a monumental hit from Katrina and the rest of the country was on the cusp of the Great Recession might seem like a recipe for business failure. But not for Mullin.
“While the rest of the country was suffering, we still had hurricane money coming in to help,” Mullin says of the initial economic downturn and the eight years that followed.
Earlier on in the business, when things were really bad in the rest of the country, Mullin says his outfit was small and lean. “We didn’t have multiple trucks and crews,” he says. “We didn’t have to lay off employees and liquidate equipment to keep the doors open.”
Actually, Mullin Landscape Associates grew faster than its founder ever imagined possible.
In his first year in business, 2007, Mullin partnered with a local landscape architect who referred all of his installation business. And three years into it, Mullin was prepared to hire an operations manager, realizing that he needed more time to dedicate to sales. “I try to forecast ahead and make sure we have the right people in the right positions to manage growth,” Mullin says.
After hiring that operations manager in the third year, Mullin reeled in $2 million in revenue. At the time, he was running two maintenance crews and two installation crews. He began to systemize operations, too. “We adopted check-out sheets for every job so we could make sure no matter what crew was there, they ‘checked out’ with the same quality,” he says.
While Mullin initially wanted to focus on installation when he started his business, but added maintenance after customers requested the service.
Checkpoints on the sheet include things like ensuring that hard surfaces are blown off after maintenance work, irrigation nozzles are intact and not spraying water on sidewalks, the mulch is patted down and looks neat.
Sales procedures are reviewed every Monday afternoon with staff. “We remind our sales people about what we want to accomplish and make sure every client is getting the same service,” Mullin says.
And in the last year, Mullin Landscape Associates has implemented industry-specific software that merges customer relationship management (CRM), accounting and scheduling. “As the company grew, there were too many different moving parts under one umbrella,” Mullin says. “I feel like the software glues everything together.”
Maintaining momentum.
When Mullin started out, he decided his focus would be installation.
But, clients started asking him to mow the property after the design/build project was complete. Pretty soon afterward, Mullin Landscaping was dedicating two days a week to maintenance and the rest of the time was focused on landscaping, irrigation, lighting and drainage work.
Today, 25 percent of Mullin’s business is maintenance, and that work is divided between commercial and residential clients.
“Maintenance is a way to give customers the best experience you can,” Mullin says. “By maintaining the properties, you can make sure the landscapes grow and turn into what you intended them to be.”
Of course, growing a division and a business means recruiting reliable, skilled staff that can deliver that quality. And that’s not easy, Mullin says.
To help, Mullin offers his staff referral bonuses. “One of the best ways to bring in people is through referrals from our current employees, and we also advertise on social media,” he says.
Craigslist advertisements sometimes work for field positions, he says. “And if we are out and about and we meet people who might be interested in a job, we tell them that we have jobs available. Anything we can do to bring in good people is worth a shot,” he says.
Because of a hiring and training process in place at Mullin Landscaping, prospective employees do not need landscaping experience. “We have a buddy system in place where they work alongside an experienced team member before they go out on their own,” Mullin says.
Meanwhile, he sees opportunity to grow the firm’s commercial business in the installation and maintenance divisions. “There is a lot of building now, and a lot of federal dollars still coming in for commercial construction,” he says.
With eight years of growth and a solid reputation to present to prospects, Mullin says the company now is better positioned to earn commercial business.
So rather than opening a new branch and expanding the service area, Mullin’s growth strategy is to get more business close to home. “We have a good reputation and we are visible,” he says. “Some commercial accounts that might not have given us a second look before, now when we go after them, they know who we are.”
Kate Spirgen
