Market Trends

Housing Starts Gain Momentum
WASHINGTON – Landscape contractors looking for new design/build clients will rejoice in the fact that nationwide housing starts rose by a surprisingly strong 6.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.68 million units – the fastest monthly pace in nearly two years – the U.S. Commerce Department reported.

Gary Garczynski, president of the National Association of Home Builders, attributed the good showing primarily to low interest rates on home mortgages and solid home price appreciation.

In addition to a rise in overall housing starts, single-family starts posted a 3.5 percent gain to 1.35 million units, their highest rate since December of 1999.

Regionally, starts were mixed, with the Northeast and South posting gains of 8.7 percent and 14.4 percent, respectively, and the Midwest and West registering declines of 0.3 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

Pay Day
Many people like a good mystery, but not when it’s about how their hourly wage is set.

Bizmove.com suggested contractors set up a formal pay plan so employees know how much they can make. A pay plan also can remove doubt and rumors that keep a workforce anxious, unhappy, less loyal and more mobile than employers would like.   

Implementing a formal pay plan doesn’t have to cost a lot of time and money, according to Bizmove.com. “Formal doesn’t mean complex,” the company pointed out. “In fact, the more elaborate the plan is, the more difficult it is to put into practice, communicate and carry out. The foremost concern in setting up a formal pay plan is to get the acceptance, understanding and support of your management and supervisory employees.”

The steps in setting up a pay plan are: 1) Define the jobs; 2) Evaluate the jobs; 3) Price the jobs; 4) Install the plan; 5) Communicate the plan to employees; and 6) Appraise employee performance under the plan.

Prenotification Announced in Missouri
LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. – When New York legislators passed a law last year requiring lawn care operators (LCOs) to notify neighbors of abutting properties before a pesticide application was made, many in the industry feared this law was the first of several that would crop up across the country. Missouri LCOs now can see just how such legislation makes its way from one state to another, thanks to a bill introduced in that state’s legislature.

The proposed law requests that notice of insecticide or herbicide applications be posted in or around governement buildings 48 hours prior to such applications. The law also states that pesticide applications in or around governmental buildings be conducted after normal business hours or on weekends.

“This is a foot in the door to wider pre-notification legislation,” warned the Mid-America Green Industry Council (MAGIC) in its March newsletter, adding that there are several problems with this bill. “There are no definitions. What is a ‘government building?’ Does it apply to schools? In New York, pre-notification is required of everyone making a commercial application. That’s not what we want or need here.”

When the law was first proposed, “public buildings” was used in the terminology instead of “government buildings,” explained Jon Cundiff, Missouri legislative committee chairman, MAGIC. The council asked the state legislature to define “public buildings,” which is when they changed the terminology. Now, Cundiff said the council wants to determine what “in and around” means and who’s responsible for posting. “We need to find out if ‘in and around’ is 5 feet, 10 feet or 100 feet,” he said. “Then we need to find out who needs to post – lawn care operators or the people who run the government buildings?”

One factor in the Missouri green industry’s favor is that LCOs there have already had a chance to watch similar legislation unfold in New York. “Every one watches New York – when things happen there, it’s just a matter of time before they sweep through the country,” Cundiff said. “We can’t stop it, but we have to be prepared to show up at the hearings and make sure the legislature’s decisions are based on fact and not emotion.

“We also have to make sure the law is manageable,” Cundiff continued. “Even though the law hasn’t passed, most LCOs here have already started posting because it’s manageable. The problem is when this type of legislation gets to residential areas. That’s where it will really hurt our industry and increase the costs of us doing business. We need to be aware of these long-term ramifications.”

As of press time, the Missouri state legislature has not set a hearing date.

Though MAGIC members are monitoring the legislature’s actions heavily, other Missouri LCOs are encouraged to contact their local legislator to share the green industry’s position on the issue. Missouri LCOs can find their representative by calling 816/561-5323 or visiting www.moga.state.mo.us.

Washington State Bans Clopyralid Use
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Less than two years after losing chlorpyrifos – one of the industry’s most popular insecticides – to environmental regulation, Dow AgroSciences finds itself defending one of its leading herbicides against a similar attack.

In an effort to control the amount of clopyralid making its way to municipal and commercial compost facilities, the Department of Agriculture in Washington state instituted a ban on the use of herbicides containing this ingredient on lawns and turf for 120 days.

Under the new restrictions, products containing clopyralid are now considered “state restricted use” pesticides, which means they can be sold only by licensed dealers and purchased only by licensed pesticide applicators,explained Scott Eicher, senior marketing manager and technical sales manager, Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, Ind. Dow’s herbicide Confront is included in the ban.

“During the 120 days, the Department of Agriculture is going to figure out what to do from a permanent standpoint,” Eicher explained. The clopyralid issue arose when farmers complained that compost they purchased and applied to their fields was harming their crops because of clopyralid’s presence. The herbicide, used mainly to kill weeds, is not deadly to humans or animals, but it can kill vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. Dow is also investigating this problem in an effort to come up with a reasonable solution.

“For a number of years these products have been used and with all the investigations, there have only been a few plant injuries,” Eicher asserted. “Although it’s important to ensure the problem doesn’t get worse, we hope a valuable product won’t be banned.”

The Department of Agriculture reportedthat at the end of the 120 days, it plans to make the ban permanent and will consider other additional restrictions on the herbicide’s use.

Drought Consumes U.S.
PRINCETON, N.J. – With most of the country experiencing abnormally dry weather and many states on the Eastern seaboard enduring severe droughts, discussion of the weather has changed from a way to pass the time to a topic with serious implications.

According to a March Gallup poll, nearly half – 47 percent – of Americans say they are experiencing a drought. Regionally, the numbers change based on the issue’s severity. The vast majority of Eastern U.S. residents – 81 percent – say they are experiencing a drought, while only 27 percent of Midwestern residents report those findings. A similar number of Western and Southern U.S. residents said they were experiencing a drought – 41 and 42 percent, respectively.With the onset of drought conditions, many public officials are likely to call for proposals aimed at water conservation or have done so already. Given a choice, however, the majority of Americans – 60 percent – believe that voluntary actions on the part of citizens and businesses are sufficient to deal with drought problems. Only 37 percent say that federal and state governments must pass new lawns to limit water use by consumers and businesses.