A few years ago, at the end of the season, Gary Ground, president, Forsyth Lawn Co., Forsyth, Ill., emptied the gas in a piece of machinery he had and ran it dry – or so he thought.
That spring, Ground found a varnish-like substance coating the carburetor – a result of shutting off the machinery before all of the gas had been drained from the carburetor.
"I can’t afford to ruin another piece of equipment like that," Ground stressed, pointing out the importance of properly winterizing machinery to minimize any springtime problems.
Spring is usually much smoother for a landscape contracting company when equipment starts up clean and customers’ trees aren’t suffering from winter sunburn or their bushes haven’t been damaged by rabbits or rodents.
One way to avoid equipment and landscape problems come springtime is to prepare in advance. Winter is usually a good time for machine and landscape preparation, which for most East and Midwest companies is after Thanksgiving.
EVALUATING EQUIPMENT NEEDS. Most landscape contractors, no matter their size, cannot afford to sacrifice any pieces of their equipment fleet, so winterizing them is key part of making sure they run well with little downtime in the spring.
"I start preparing my equipment for winter in July and August," remarked Blaine Bunting, president, Bunting’s Landscape & Nursery, Bishopville, Md. "We start evaluating how each piece of equipment is doing by conducting a company-wide review to determine how much downtime each machine has cost us and determine potential repair problems and costs each machine will warrant before spring. Once a machine becomes costly from a downtime perspective, then we trade it in and replace it before it costs us any more money."
Next, Bunting said he lists all of the units that need repairs. He starts scheduling the repair and repainting of the equipment and retains between 60 and 70 percent of his employees over the winter months to take care of these equipment needs.
"Trying to hire a new force the next spring and retraining them costs too much, so we try to keep as many people around as we can," Bunting said. "I try to take a portion of the funds from the spring and summer and put that aside as a winter fund to pay employees over the winter season, which is only three months for us."
Besides planning for repairs, landscape contractors need to clean up their equipment. Mark May, president, Maywood Landscaping, Erie, Pa., said he makes sure all of his equipment is power-washed and degreased so that oil leaks and oil that has coated and dirtied the machinery is cleaned up.
"Doing the oil change while the engine is still warm is important," suggested Brett Paladino, co-owner, Countryside of Wyckoff Landscaping, Wyckoff, N.J. "The oil will flow freely and carry away more impurities than if the engine were cool."
May also keeps his employees around for a short time to do equipment maintenance work right after Thanksgiving. Then his company closes for the winter.
"My employees maintained these machines all season, so being there to put them to rest for winter is important to them," May said.
Another important area to address is the gasoline left in the equipment at the end of the season. Some landscape contractors drain their equipment, but most, such as Ground, would rather use gasoline stabilizers to keep the gas from going bad.
"This is especially important to do on the machines that we run a little bit throughout the winter, such as generators and compact utility loaders," Bunting said. "We still drain the gas from mowers and trimmers that we know we won’t use all winter long."
Paladino suggested adding a fuel stabilizer to the last tank of gas in the equipment at the end of the season because this lubricates the interior of the engine, especially the gaskets. He then drains the fuel system completely and runs the engine until the system is empty.
"We also remove the spark plugs and put a tablespoon of oil into every spark plug hole," Paladino continued. "Then we reinstall the plugs but do not attach the plug leads. Lastly, we crank the engine two or three revolutions. This will allow the oil to coat the engine and its cylinders."
| Retaining Customers |
| Retaining customers over the winter months can be a challenge, especially in an area where contractors are competing with many other contractors for the same customers.
Mark May, president, Maywood Landscaping, Erie, Pa., sends out a note with his customers’ November bills thanking them for the opportunity to provide them with his landscaping service that year. He also mentions how he’s looking forward to the coming spring. "I make sure to mention in the note that if they need a change in the level of service they are receiving or a change in service variety, they should give me a call before spring arrives," May explained. "Then, in mid-February, we follow-up the note with a telephone call asking our customers if they would like anything changed in their service for the coming year. If they start talking, then we’re assured that they are customers for the coming year. If they aren’t responding well to the call, then we have a chance to ask if they had problems with the service and have anything that needs to be corrected." This "proactive" approach, according to May, helps him retain 95 to 97 percent of his customers over the winter months annually. "We just make sure our follow-up calls are made when it is sunny outside and not bitter cold, so customers are thinking spring," May said, adding that he is also going to send out holiday cards this year to his customers so that they are thinking about him over the winter. Blaine Bunting, president, Bunting’s Landscape & Nursery, Bishopville, Md., also sends out a reminder to his residential, long-term customers in mid-February in the form of a newsletter and a follow-up call. Instead of or in addition to sending out company service information, some contractors keep in touch with regular customers by just providing extra services over the winter. Gary Ground, presi-dent, Forsyth Lawn Co., Forsyth, Ill., keeps in touch with his regular customers by being available for phone calls over the winter months and by personally offering a snowplow service to them. Lied’s Landscape Design & Development, Sussex, Wis., retains customers by offering a variety of winter services, from snow removal and holiday decorating to tree planting, tree pruning and hardscaping, according to Jim Spotts, production superintendent. "We have come up with some creative and successful ways to keep our customers happy over the winter months," Spotts enthused. – Nicole Wisniewski |
GETTING LANDSCAPES READY. Most landscape contractors provide a fall maintenance program as a service to their clients. This can include winterizing irrigation systems and preparing properties for the holiday months. Since Bunting’s winters in Maryland aren’t very severe, his winter preparation involves planting winter annuals, such as winter pansies, and re-mulching to tidy up the property and give it a clean look.
But contractors who live in areas that get plenty of snow must protect certain landscape plants, trees and shrubs from the winter weather.
Ground makes sure to blow debris out from behind shrubs and mulch all of his customers’ beds.
May said he prefers seeing the perennial beds taken care of in the fall rather than waiting until spring to tidy up materials. This means removing spent foliage and that year’s blooms and mulching over the root crowns to protect them. This starts about mid-October, once the plant material is spent right after the leaves start to fall. Annual beds can also be taken care of in mid-October, once there have been one to two decent frosts. He also makes sure to thin and prune deciduous shrubs, such as lilacs, to remove old wood and encourage new wood to grow.
"I winterize clients’ turf by applying a fertilizer that is strong in phosphorus in two applications – one in September/October that will stimulate early formation and strong growth of the roots," Paladino said. "Applying the fertilizer at the right time is important because the cool weather will dramatically aid the turf in allowing it to root itself deeper and stronger. Timing of the 1-inch application will also help the turf recover from the hot weather. A second fertilizer application done in November/December boosts growth for the upcoming spring."
As far as snow is concerned, Paladino also applies a fungicide to certain lawns, especially his high-profile clients, to provide the turf with the strength to defend against snow mold and other diseases.
"A second application of fungicide can be made if the ground is not frozen," Paladino added.
Lied’s Landscape Design & Development, Sussex, Wis., takes its fall clean-up one step further, according to Jim Spotts, production superintendent.
"We put tree wrap on all smooth bark trees to guard against sunburn and fall fertilization," Spotts stated. "We also put hardware cloth about 2 feet high around the stems of plants susceptible to mice and rabbits, such as burning bush, flowering crabapple trees, witch hazel, hawthorns and fruit trees."
After leaf clean up, Spotts protects any broadleaf evergreen groundcover plants, such as winter creeper, by putting evergreen bows over them.
Both May and Spotts make sure to take steps to protect their customers’ roses. In mid-November and early December when the roses are dormant, May cuts them back to an appropriate height (approximately 15 to 24 inches), trims the material stem and brings in extra bark mulch to place at the plants’ roots to give them more protection against the cold.
Spotts protects his clients’ roses by mounding soil about 12 to 18 inches over the graft union of each rose where the plant is grafted into the root stock – an area that is more susceptible to cold damage. He then removes the soil in the spring.
Lied’s Landscape Design & Development also schedules many tree and hardscape installations over the winter months as an additional service for their clients, Spotts said. These services include planting large trees as frost ball plants.
"By putting hay down on the ground during fall clean-up to keep the ground from freezing, we can plant trees in the customer’s yard in the winter and retain a 90 percent survivability rate," Spotts pointed out. "The trick is placing hay around the tree in the nursery and then waiting until the temperature drops to 20 degrees or below. Then we dig out the tree and let it freeze before planting it in the customer’s yard. The tree is dormant and hardly knows it has been moved come springtime."
This service appeals to Spotts’ clients because moving a 5- to 6-inch caliper tree in a machine across frozen turf doesn’t damage their landscapes, he said.
Since the past two winters have been very mild due to the effects of El Nino, Spotts said the alternative to planting large trees has been installing hardscapes.
"We’ve been putting in retaining walls over the winter," Spotts enthused. "We’ll put hay on the area before winter to protect it from freezing. Then we’ll put in the wall."
WINTER EMPLOYMENT. "I’m lucky to retain 20 percent of my employees for the spring," lamented May, who shuts his company down during the winter months.
Many contractors find hiring and training a new crew every spring to be a waste of time and money, so retaining employees over the winter months becomes important.
Spotts said Lied’s retains a good number of employees because of all the winter work they provide for their customers, including snow removal, holiday lighting, tree pruning and tree and hardscape installation.
Besides having his employees work on repairing equipment, Bunting keeps his employees busy during the winter months by having them spend one day each week during January and February in company improvement brainstorming sessions.
"Employees come up with ways the company can be improved," Bunting said.
How does Bunting choose the employees who are going to remain employed over the winter months?
"We choose those with experience and particularly those who’ve invested a great amount of ‘sweat equity’ during the spring and summer months – going above and beyond during the peak months, working together as a team," Bunting said.
"I just make sure to tell them in advance that they do run the risk of little hours because of the lack of work to do," Bunting said. "But we usually keep them busy."
The author is Assistant Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.
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