An Obstacle Course

Attention design/build dare-devils, fearless construction crews and installation risk-takers: Ready to roll up your sleeves? Prepare to get your hands dirty and to wipe the sweat from your brows. This installation job calls for elbow grease – some extra effort and a little oomph, if you will.

Sound like an appealing come-on?

Bring it on, you say?

“We’re design/build problem solvers,” remarked John Thelen, vice president and general manager, Landmark Landscapes, Carolina Division, Swannanoa, N.C. “If a client comes to us with an idea that they think is unrealistic or crazy, we’ll try to figure out the best solution that will make the most economic sense.”

Thelen is not unlike many in the field who see these challenging proposals as invitations. Difficult installation jobs meld many elements – from hardscapes to water features to intricate plantings – and they offer contractors an opportunity to stretch their skill sets and test their savvy in different services.

More reason to crank it up a notch – lay your cards on the line.

“I think most landscape contractors, like myself, are tinkerers and jacks-of-all-trades, and they’re attracted to the scope of the business itself,” characterized Harry Vignocchi, chairman, ILT/Vignocchi, Wauconda, Ill. In other words, the “catch me if you can” appeal of tricky installation projects is a turn on that sparks an inherent trait in many contractors to take on the challenge. Learn from these design/build contractors who flirted with installation adventure.

APPROACH WITH CAUTION. Perhaps the thrill of taking on tricky installation jobs stems from the unknown, like tackling an obstacle course or taking a pop quiz on project skills. On the other hand, planning first can iron out potential problems, and understanding the project’s scope prevents on-site hassles.

For Thelen, tackling tricky installation endeavors is a matter of approach, which he simply describes as “cautious.” “We try to think everything through,” he explained. “What problems are we going to run into? What special equipment are we going to need? What kind of special materials are we going to need, and how much is this all going to cost?

“You can never foresee the future completely, and there will always be things you won’t know about or that you will miss, but we try to figure out the project as best we can,” he added. Sure, planning might minimize project flubs, but how do contractors know if the job will be tricky to begin with? Certain clues tip off Brian Akehurst, vice president, Akehurst Landscape, Joppa, Md. First, he looks for areas where soil forms mounds or dips, which indicates extra grading. Standing water shows poor drainage, which needs to be remedied before installing retaining walls or planting beds. He also opens his eyes to potential erosion problems by noting areas where water collects.

But first, Akehurst checks for accessibility. “You need to see how big openings are, and if you go about it the right way, you will look at your access first before you make decisions on plants and materials you design into the job,” he recommended.

While contractors might drive a skid steer into a backyard for a “normal” installation project, a property with a picket fence or tight property line eliminates this option. Here, Thelen encouraged contractors to be creative. “Don’t think that every job has to be done the same way that you did the last job.”

Thelen described a project where his crews installed a 3,000-square-foot sculpture on one side of a water feature they built. “We rented a crane and it picked up the sculpture and set it where we needed it,” he noted. “We married that with some other boulder work and made [the equipment rental] more affordable, but you have to think outside the box.”

Also, don’t hesitate to use outside resources, he advised. “You have to think, ‘Who rely on subcontractors or bring in extra equipment if that’s what the job needs,” he said. Vignocchi echoed access importance, and noted soil and site conditions as additional issues to address when assessing a property. Swampy, wet soils might require extra labor if machinery can’t cross the land without damaging it. Also, soil composition – what’s underneath the top, grassy layer – can make or break excavating jobs.

“Years ago we were asked to put some parking islands in an asphalted area, and we assumed that we would hit 6 to 8 inches of clay underneath the gravel,” he related. “Instead, we hit another parking lot, and under that was a dump site for old concrete. So, the cost of digging those islands quadrupled. We learned a big lesson.” Scenarios like this do just that – they raise red flags so mistakes aren’t repeated. If the following stories haven’t already made your books, maybe you’ll learn from them, too.

EPISODE I: THE BIG SQUEEZE. Fitting big equipment through small spaces causes contractors to do some projects the old-fashioned way – with hard labor. In short, less equipment means more man-hours and higher prices, Vignocchi pointed out. “Because time is money, the faster you can get materials to a site and the quicker you can get them installed, the less money you can charge or the more money you can save,” he said. This is why access is so important, and contractors need to ask, “Can I get my equipment around the site without being impeded by water, hills and dales, and all the other things that can occur?”In Akehurst’s case, the answer was no. A townhouse community his company serviced several years ago required transporting materials in the front door, through the home and out the back door to reach the yard, he explained. The middle unit did not have side-yard access for his crew to reach the back yard.

“We laid down plastic in the house and had to build small ramps to get up and down the stairs with wheelbarrows,” he described. “The plant material had to be selected so it was the size we could get through the door, so we chose small plants like dwarf trees. Trees were also tied extra tight, without snapping the limbs, and the plant material had to be flexible enough to bend and make it through.” In addition, Akehurst’s crew moved furniture to maneuver through the house with the materials.

On another project, the crew had to find a way to get soil and blue stones into a building courtyard. Again, this situation required some brainstorming and creative solutions, Akehurst noted. Because the blue stones were so heavy, they had to be taken into the courtyard by hand, and the angles on the ramps the crew built up the stairs were too steep to use a dolly to transport the rocks. They would inevitably tip. Instead, stones were carried one by one and topsoil was moved into the area with wheelbarrows.

As lot sizes shrink and neighborhoods cram more homes closer together, access issues become more commonplace, said Doug Berlin, general manager, New Garden, Greensboro, N.C. “And if there is a fence, then access is very challenging with the traditional landscape equipment,” he pointed out, adding that he has considered smaller mowers and skid steers that can maneuver through gates so that he is “at least more mechanized than a wheelbarrow to deal with the big home on the small lot.”

When compact tools aren’t an option and extra labor is the only solution, prices need to reflect the time spent on these projects, Akehurst reminded. Back to the labor equation – more man-hours spent executing creative access solutions requires higher prices to make sure non-traditional projects are still profitable. Akehurst uses a pricing system that compares jobs to what is “normal.” He assigns a difficulty percentage to the project based on this measure. For example, the townhome project would carry a 75-percent difficulty level, he said – same with the courtyard account. “The crew might do a dry run without the materials to see how much labor it will require,” he noted. “Walking through step by step – that is usually the easiest way to figure out [the estimate]. Then, throw in a fudge factor.”

Berlin uses a similar pricing model, defining a “norm” and pricing projects from this base. New Garden’s designers have experience on the production crew, so when they estimate man-hours, their numbers are realistic and based on experience, he said.

Larger equipment, more time, additional labor – Vignocchi enters these requirements into his computer database, which also compares these numbers to a “normal” job, to produce an estimate for difficult jobs. An average job was determined by reviewing project histories along with trial and error, he said. No matter how a company prices a project, it must make sure the estimate makes up for the challenges, he stressed. Accuracy and knowledge are key.

“Like a computer, if bad information goes in, bad information comes out,” he compared. “It’s an information business more than anything else, and the more you know, the better adapted you are to solve whatever problem confronts you.” Of course, background information doesn’t take all the guesswork out, Akehurst pointed out. “Sometimes you just grit your teeth and hope that you bid it properly.”

EPISODE II: SLIPPERY SLOPES. Most landscapes are relatively level – or at least not situated on drastic inclines or cavernous cliffs. But many contractors discovered areas that aren’t prairie-flat dredge up a slew of installation issues, including drainage and erosion. Besides, transporting equipment up and down slopes and working on soils that are too soppy present additional labor stresses.

“Every slope has a method of draining,” Vignocchi explained. “The water comes over the top or it comes through the slope itself. Water builds up a tremendous amount of pressure that is against the structures you put up, and they can topple and fall.

Many times, the difficult aspects of a project occur in areas that clients can’t see. Such is the case for drainage systems: essential components to keeping retaining walls intact, Vignocchi emphasized.

Systems to manage water come in various forms, such as landscape fabrics and gravel. More complex arrangements include curtain drains, which are applied to the top of a slope to collect water before it rolls to the bottom, and wells, which are drilled into the slope where water is removed through a pipe at the bottom. Some contractors choose to swail the land, or grade the soil in a manner that increases water flow.

No matter the method, controlling water flow prevents erosion and swampy plant beds, Akehurst said. “If plants are placed in low areas, we might have to build up the area, put the plant in a different location, or put in a drainage pipe to keep the water flowing so it doesn’t drown the plants.” Akehurst controls erosion problems by installing shrubs that withstand steep slopes, or channeling water by laying dried, stacked stones to create a waterway. “You can make it look somewhat decorative,” he reasoned.

Besides the lay of the land, contractors also must consider its composition. “Wet soil that is malleable can be difficult to dig in and cause weight problems, because when you bring in your equipment it can get stuck,” Vignocchi warned. On the other hand, rocky soil isn’t particularly plant-friendly. Soil amendments can help cure malnourished soil, and proper drainage will remedy sloppy soil.

Besides material “Band-aids” for these scenarios, Akehurst suggested that contractors assign only well-trained employees to difficult drainage and land-grading jobs. “We have certain crews that work on drainage – usually our hardscape personnel,” he said. “It’s more efficient that way, because if it’s not done right the first time, it won’t work.”

EPISODE III: DETAIL WORK. Damage control, add-on possibilities, cables, wires, tread tracks – oftentimes, it’s the little things that add up to landscape installation disasters. That’s why Thelen tries to plan for these in the beginning stages of project development. “We try to think of all these things, because when everything is torn up, if we can get piping and wiring in the ground, it makes things easier down the road,” he said, refering to installing extra piping for potential irrigation and lighting lines, just in case the client later decides to add these options.

“Conduit, conduit, conduit,” he repeated. “Install plenty of conduit under the hardscape. It costs so little to put sleeving underneath sidewalks, driveways and patios.” And it’s much less of a mess than digging up the lawn later on, he pointed out.

Thelen notes the location of junction boxes and meters when designing the landscape plan so he can develop a rough sketch of where a client might want to run irrigation or lighting lines. This way, the crew can complete this portion while it is already working around utility lines, reducing the risk of cutting into wires later. Besides, it cuts labor costs to do it all at once, he reasoned.

“Down the road, it is easier to sell the add-on service if you have the provisions already,” he pointed out. “You invest time in the client and you want to get as much out of them as you can.” You also want to be as considerate as you can, which means being careful on their properties, Thelen added. Clients don’t appreciate tire tracks, material piles or leftover debris on their front yards. They also don’t want their satellite television wires cut in the process. This is why he checks with utility companies to make sure he won’t hit wires during installation, and considers options to minimize damage on existing landscapes.

“You can lay down plywood [to run machines over the property],” he suggested. “Or you might bring in another piece of equipment. Maybe rubber-track equipment would bring in the material better.” Finally, fix up the mess-ups. Don’t leave clients with a landscape more disheveled than before they hired you, he advised. Naturally, pleasing the client starts with effective communication. Tell them in the beginning that the project is tricky – update them on the steps necessary to complete the project and be honest about potential problems on their properties.

“If you treat your clients like mushrooms and feed them stuff and put them in the corner in the dark, they will act like mushrooms,” Vignocchi related. “Keep them informed of what it is you intend to do, how you are going to do it, how long it will take, and if there are factors that occur that change the conditions, make them aware of them.” While being honest with clients, why not ask yourself whether you are capable of successfully completing the project. Though riskier jobs seem to attract adventurous contractors, a poorly executed installation can mar a company’s image. When it comes to taking on challenging jobs, don’t play “keepin’ up with the Joneses” with your competitors, Vignocchi advised.

“A lot of contractors bid jobs because they see other people do those jobs and they think that they should be able to do them, too,” Vignocchi said, then revealing his adventurous flair. “But I can’t say not to take on all jobs, because at some point you do have to learn. But, before you take it on, have someone to lean on or somewhere to get more information if you need it – another company to back you up.”

After all, it never hurts to have a few cohorts to help you do the dirty work.

The author is Managing Editor – Special Projects for Lawn & Landscape magazine.