Pieces and parts – they add up to a load of inventory and a major investment when you’re talking about the shop at your landscape firm. How do you track parts and order what you really need? What systems keep your shop organized, productive and profitable?

This month, Lawn & Landscape spoke with three companies to learn how they manage their shops.

Stay on track

“We put a premium on tracking parts and service, and managing where the dollars are going,” says Richard Rush, operations manager at Rush Management in Lafayette, Colorado.

To accomplish this, the company uses an online asset management system called EMA. It allows Rush Management to list every vehicle and piece of equipment, and set up service alerts. “If we need an oil change every 5,000 to 7,000 miles, the system will send us an email when a vehicle is due,” Rush says.

If a piece of equipment needs a repair, a work ticket is generated and the shop receives the notice. “We can pull up the ticket online, monitor technician hours and figure out exactly how much we spend on each vehicle at the end of the year,” he says.

“We put a premium on tracking parts and service, and managing where the dollars are going.” Richard Rush, operations manager, Rush Management

Rush Management has four in-house technicians, one of whom is a service manager. The shop is an organized space with shelves for parts that are kept in stock. There is also a 1,200 square-foot area where they can store parts and a few different bays where they can pull in trucks and equipment for service.

“We have a good amount of space and we can always use more,” he says, relating that not every landscape firm has the area a functional shop requires.

But it’s worth dedicating real estate to repairs at Rush Management. The ability to stock parts and service vehicles and equipment without sending assets out for repair is huge for preventing downtime, Rush says. Keeping up with maintenance is critical.

“We bring in trimmers, blowers and mowers on a weekly basis,” he says. Older vehicles are in the shop every two weeks or so.

As for parts, Rush keeps mower blades, fuel filters and other common parts on the shelves. “We have relationships with local dealers so we can run out and grab parts as needed,” he says.

Now, the company is working on a more accurate parts inventory system that will include bar codes, Rush says. Knowing how important tracking is, Rush says embracing technology has been critical to keeping the shop organized. Before using EMA, the firm relied on an automotive industry program called ShopKey. “We graduated to the system we are using now,” Rush says, relating that the online access to information is a real benefit.

Because, depending on how a shop is organized and maintained, it can be a blessing or curse to the bottom line. “As a business owner, it’s up to you to implement a system,” Rush says.

Follow the numbers

Shelves full of parts are silent but costly, especially when economic speed bumps crop up and business slows down. “I’m a numbers guy – very data driven,” says Mike La Rosa, president of La Rosa Landscape in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, explaining his approach to managing parts and the shop overall.

After 27 years in business, he has learned that the little things add up to big expenses. So even through air filters or other parts required to repair mowers, hand-held equipment and more might not be expensive by piece, a shop storage area of them is a real investment.

To combat this, La Rosa has developed strong vendor relationships with equipment dealers that allows the company to hold parts and pay as it uses them.

“Dealers have a parts cache here that is basically a consignment-style system,” he says.

“They’ll stock our shop with what we normally go through in parts, and they come every two weeks and anything that is used, we are billed for.”

This gives La Rosa instant access to parts, which is critical to revenue-producing up-time.

“That keeps our equipment on the road, and keeps the crews active,” he says.

“Also, it helps with our budget, because we are not carrying a huge amount of inventory (expense),” he adds.

La Rosa has been stocking parts this way for about a decade, and the company reviews repair track records to determine what to stock. Again, it’s back to the data.

“We know the idiosyncrasies of each piece of equipment – are we going through belts on these mowers, are we going through brakes on these trucks?” La Rosa says. “We know which repairs parts we consistently use.” A fleet manager oversees the shop. “If there are bigger repair issues that we are challenged with, we conference in and make decisions together,” La Rosa says. “But the day-to-day operations and keeping the fleet on the road is his job.”

For now, La Rosa Landscape does not use a parts or inventory software program to track its shop inventory. “We use Include business software and our assets are managed through that program,” he says. “But honestly, we use more of a manual system than anything else.”

In the field, crews are aware of when service is due on equipment. Based on hours, manual requests are created for service and machines are rotated in and out of the company shop.

As for the amount of inventory La Rosa stocks, “It’s quite a bit,” he says. Tires, filters, belts, hydraulic hoses and more are right at hand.

“I’d guess that’s between $10,000 and $20,000 in parts,” he says. But a stock-now-pay-later system with vendors takes the financial burden off of the company.

“Our vendors know what we are using, and they check with our mechanics so they can anticipate what to stock here,” La Rosa says.

Meanwhile, maintaining a positive attitude in the shop is an important for morale and productivity – and all this feeds into performance at the end of the day, La Rosa says.

“We keep a mindset that the repair shop’s customers are our crews in the field, and their job is to keep crews productive,” he says. “With that philosophy, it really becomes a team effort.”

Owning minor maintenance

Joseph Rabago had always depended on his equipment dealer to manage all of the maintenance on his equipment – the mower, trimmer, blower. “But I get so busy that we just don’t have the time stop and take something to the shop, especially if it’s located across town,” says the president of Divine Landscapes in Dinuba, California.

The closest dealer Rabago works with is about a half-hour drive. That’s not far, but round-trip plus downtime without the equipment could add up to a half-day’s work. And in a smaller organization, there isn’t back-up equipment or crews to step in and keep the revenue rolling in while a piece is down.

“So recently, I’ve started doing some service myself,” Rabago says.

“It can take you months to save for a piece of equipment or save up for extra parts, and it takes someone about 15 seconds to steal it.” Joseph Rabago, president, Divine Landscape

He purchases parts online or at local outlets. He can change oil and filters, no problem. “It’s cheaper and I get it done faster,” he says, adding that of course he’d prefer to have the dealer manage these maintenance points. But time is money.

Minor equipment upkeep is work Rabago can do before the day starts, but he reserves any major repairs for the dealership. As for trucks and trailers, “I don’t mess with that,” he says. So, he doesn’t need to stock parts for this type of maintenance.

But Rabago does need to stock parts to run his irrigation division, and having the right pieces on hand is critical for completing jobs on time. He keeps these parts secure in an enclosed trailer.

“You have to keep your eye on parts, otherwise, they’ll grow legs,” he says, relating how easy it is to misplace or for others to lift small and large assets. “It can take you months to save for a piece of equipment or save up for extra parts, and it takes someone about 15 seconds to steal it,” he says.

Because Rabago is based at home, he relies on the enclosed trailer as a “warehouse” that is equipped with an alarm system. “It goes off when the doors open,” he says.

Rabago plans on servicing his equipment about three to four times annually, and gradually he is growing his firm and investing in the fleet. With 19 years of experience in the industry, and a previous career working for a large landscape design firm, he’s proud to be growing his own.

That includes learning what works with parts and maintenance, to adding services like synthetic turf. “I’m a bit of a perfectionist,” Rabago says, adding that he hopes to add two more people to his team this year.

When storms washed away the beach of an oceanfront hotel property serviced by Park West Landscape Management, President Dustin Kemmerer knew the earth-moving needs surpassed the capabilities of his maintenance crews. Park West Landscape Management’s forte is planting, mowing, weeding, trimming, light construction and irrigation maintenance – not operating front loaders and other heavy equipment this situation required.

Instead of calling subcontractors or stretching his crews beyond their core competencies, Kemmerer turned to the built-in support of Park West Landscape Construction, led by that department’s president, Bart Ryder.

A separate company underneath the same parent organization of Park West Companies, which landed at number 10 on Lawn & Landscape’s Top 100 list, Park West Landscape Construction provided the equipment and experience Park West Landscape Maintenance needed.

Plus, the client didn’t have to hassle with an unfamiliar subcontractor or doubt whether crews specialized in each phase of work being performed.

“The cohesion between the companies is fantastic,” Kemmerer says. “These companies work hand-in-hand and support each other. There’s collaboration almost daily.”

Kemmerer says it’s not too often that a decision has to be made by the three company leaders that will affect the entire organization. If there is, and they can’t come to a consensus, CEO Jim Tracy, brother of the company’s founder, Mike Tracy, and the company’s board of directors will serve as the tie-breaker.

Kemmerer, Ryder and Corey Gallagher, who leads the tree division, meet monthly to discuss issues, and are in daily communication with each other.

“Even though I run the construction company on a daily basis, all three companies operate out of the same corporate office, Ryder says. “We literally see each other every day and discuss business matters, whether it pertains to maintenance, construction or the tree care company.

“From a procedural stand point we all follow the same guideline. From an operational point of view, we are very different – different clients, different equipment needs, different staffing requirements.”

Growing through hard times.

In 1978, long before Park West Companies, Mike Tracy graduated from high school and advertised his landscape services in the PennySaver. By 1986, he built Tracy Landscaping to $5 million in annual revenue by focusing on commercial landscape installation.

Tracy saw opportunities to service projects after completion, but he didn’t want to take attention away from construction. So he founded a separate landscape maintenance company in 1986 called Park Maintenance to take over the work his construction company installed. Park West Companies, the parent organization, formed in 1997. Tracy Landscaping became Park West Landscape Construction a few years later, and Park Maintenance became Park West Landscape Management in 2004.

“In many cases, to reduce operational costs for struggling HOAs, maintenance crews removed annual color and installed permanent plant material, which reduced the need for multiple change outs annually, thus reducing cost.” Dustin Kemmerer, president, Park West Landscape Management

When Kemmerer became president in 2004, Park West Landscape Management was doing $12 million in revenue with 275 employees. It has grown steadily every year since, to a projected 2016 revenue of $55 million, with 860 of the parent organization’s 1,500 employees and 337 of its 491 vehicles.

Pre-recession, Park West Companies’ revenue peaked at $186 million in 2007; encompassing $168 million from landscape construction and about $18 million from landscape management. By 2010, as recession halted most construction, Landscape Construction dropped to $45 million while Landscape Management grew to $28 million.

“About 75 to 80 percent of our business is HOAs and master planned communities, and they got hit hard,” Kemmerer says. “Foreclosures were up, directly effecting (HOA) dues. But we partnered with our customers through those times and continued to grow.

“In many cases, to reduce operational costs for struggling HOAs, maintenance crews removed annual color and installed permanent plant material, which reduced the need for multiple change outs annually, thus reducing cost. We also gave our customers options for more drought-tolerant plant material and drip irrigation that would ultimately reduce their water costs.”

“More importantly, we communicated with our customers through these times. Each customer had its own unique challenges and needs, and we worked with them to achieve those objectives. Our goal with all of our clients is to create long-term mutually beneficial relationships, and being flexible is essential to achieving those objectives.”

Climbing higher.

Last year, Park West Landscape Management’s revenue grew to $45 million, while construction climbed to $83 million. Other than sharing administrative functions like IT and accounting, the companies operate independently and partner often. Kemmerer’s crews may take over post-construction maintenance work that’s built into construction contracts, and construction crews might assist maintenance with large-scale enhancements, especially when work requires heavy equipment.

However, there are still some jobs that, even together, both companies can’t do. Hiring a few hardscaping subcontractors here and there was no big deal, but the amount of business being outsourced to tree care specialists signaled big opportunity for Park West. That led the organization to expand again in 2015 by adding Park West Tree Care, and bringing in Gallagher to lead that department.

“We were subcontracting significant revenues and we were able to open our tree company to absorb that revenue,” Kemmerer says, projecting more than $3 million for first-year tree revenue. “The timing was right and it made perfect sense to perform the tree work on our accounts. We have built-in revenue because it’s vertically integrated.”

Now, instead of sending away revenue to tree contractors, Kemmerer can call Park West Tree Care and the customer is only dealing with one company.

“Some customers just want one invoice, one contact, so we invoice them under maintenance and then the tree company bills us,” Kemmerer says. “In some cases, we connect our maintenance customer directly with our tree care representatives and they work directly with each other. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that customers get the best experience with the least amount of effort.”

Three are better than one.

Park West Landscape Management is successful independently; construction referrals only make up 20 percent of its customer base. But in the process of building its own brand as a maintenance company, it benefits from the added strengths and specialties of two vertically integrated companies.

“When we market the maintenance company, we share the capabilities of our construction company and our tree care company, and explain how that helps us service the client,” Kemmerer says. “It’s a holistic approach where we can satisfy all of their needs, instead of being limited to maintenance. We want to serve all of their needs, so the marketing and branding needs to emulate that.”

Over the past year, Park West Companies has been putting more effort into marketing its companies collectively in addition to promoting brands individually by hiring a PR firm to accentuate its three-in-one combined strengths. By building a full-service reputation, Park West positions all three companies for growth.

“You’ll start to see a lot more ‘Park West Companies’ branding,” Kemmerer says. “That’s one of the reasons we brought on the tree company, because we want to be able to serve all of our customers with whatever they need. Whether it’s landscape, irrigation, enhancements or tree care, we want to be full-service for these customers.”

Lawn and landscape professionals in Montgomery County, Maryland, will soon be losing an important tool in the tool box. Beginning Jan. 1, 2018, all cosmetic pesticides will be banned in the county with some exceptions for athletic fields, golf courses and invasive species treatments.

Mowing & More in Chevy Chase, Maryland, services about 450 residential clients in the county, about 150 of whom receive lawn care applications. Chad Stern, manager, says his company will continue to do the best it can, but he knows that the quality of his customers’ lawns will suffer if the ban goes into effect.

“I guess I’m kind of waiting to see what happens as far as this legislation actually being enforced. I’m kind of keeping my fingers crossed for perhaps some last-minute modification to this that wouldn’t make it into such a cumbersome and heavy-handed bill,” he says.

There are no enforcement provisions in the ordinance, which is leaving many to wonder what will happen to those who don’t abide by the new law.

“I have heard that applicators are concerned because it was never the county’s intention to enforce this,” says Karen Reardon, vice president of public affairs for Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment. “And the Department of Environmental Protection in the county has told us they will not be enforcing it because the law is silent on enforcement.”

Current effects.

Brandon Sheppard, owner of a Weed Man franchise in Maryland, says Montgomery County was a big part of his expansion plan until the pesticide ban was passed.

He currently services areas west, east and south of Montgomery, and the size of the county plus the affluent demographic made it attractive. But those plans were scrapped when the ban was passed.

When the ordinance was first introduced, Stern alerted his customers via email, and if the ban goes into effect in 2018, he’ll do his best to explain the situation to them. He also plans to include the information on the yearly renewals he sends his customers.

“If there are clients who are dissatisfied with the lawn care service, then I would explain to them the situation and how our hands are tied because we can’t use herbicides, and we can stop that part of the service and then continue with other services,” he says.

He says his company has been asked to stop using herbicides by several clients in the past who then called Mowing & More to complain about weeds. “It’s kind of like there’s a disconnect between us not being able to use herbicides and there being weeds in the lawn,” he says.

Potential impact.

Sheppard has seen the effects of bans like this and says the impact is “catastrophic.” He and his family ran a lawn care company in Tillsonburg, Ontario, before joining Weed Man and although they sold the business before the ban took effect, he saw the impacts it had.

“Many of the offices in Toronto have yet to recover their sales that were lost after that,” he says. “And we’re going more than 15 years out since they passed the bill and they still can’t make the sales dollars back from it.”

“Over the years, I’ve realized that if you just sit back, then there’s always an abundance of people who have great ideas that could be harmful to your company and unless you’re actively involved in the regulatory process, then your business will just kind of get steamrolled.” Chad Stern, Mowing & More

He says that the bans being proposed in the U.S. very closely mirror those that have been passed in Canada and expects similar results in Montgomery County. The problem, he says, is that LCOs and landscapers don’t have the ability to achieve the same results they once did, but customers’ expectations don’t change.

“Many of the products that are allowed for weed control and pest control are just simply not very effective and so you have increased cost of the material, reduced effectiveness and a massive jump in the labor required to deliver the service because of the number of reapplications you have to do with a less comparable product,” Sheppard says.

What happens next.

Although there are state laws regarding the safe use of pesticides, Maryland is one of seven states that does not have preemption laws. This means that local ordinances, like the pesticide ban, can override state laws. The others are Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Utah and Vermont. A recent ban in South Portland, Maine, and a movement to spread the ban to the city of Portland, has many in the industry keeping watch on the issue. The National Association of Landscape Professionals is still trying to assess the impact and look at the options available. Both NALP and RISE have said that taking the issue to court is on the table.

“I think any state that does not have pesticide preemption – they should be cognizant and vigilant about this. We’re monitoring those states in particular,” says NALP Vice President of Governmental Affairs Paul Mendelsohn.

He says one of the key steps is getting a better handle on the business and practice impacts, which have been difficult to monitor so far. “We’re not really hearing of members who have clients who have called them up and said, ‘We’re not going to have you providing service any longer,’” he says.

Some say that the ban could spread quickly, while others say that only those in states without preemption need to be concerned. But Sheppard says everyone should be ready. “I think anybody who thinks it’s not going to happen is kidding themselves,” he says.

What you can do.

Industry professionals say the issue is that anti-pesticide groups are only telling their side of the story, and while there is scientific research supporting responsible pesticide use, it needs to get into the right hands.

“For every study that they cite, we can also cite research that was done that finds the opposite,” Mendelsohn says. “The jury on this is very much out and there’s a lack of consensus in the scientific community about the impact, so we’re trying to make sure that when communities make decisions, they’re well informed."

Sheppard stresses the importance of putting a face on the industry and showing those in government the benefits of what landscapers do in terms of public health.

“The argument that is always made against it is health and safety but we’re the ones protecting the public from the very real dangers of things like Lyme disease, West Nile and now Zika,” he says. “I’ve had Lyme disease. As a relatively, young, fit guy, it was like getting thrown down a flight of stairs with a bag of hammers. Those are very real, tangible risks and we’re often confronted by groups that oppose us with risks that are essentially academic. They’re hypothetical and theoretical.”

In Montgomery County, Stern has gotten involved in County Council hearings during the debate and agrees that industry voices need to be heard.

“Over the years, I’ve realized that if you just sit back, then there’s always an abundance of people who have great ideas that could be harmful to your company and unless you’re actively involved in the regulatory process, then your business will just kind of get steamrolled,” he says.

When we asked contractors how much a lack of quality employees hindered their growth, the following said it does not hinder at all: 25 percent in the Midwest; 23 percent in the Northeast and South and only 11 percent in the West.

Read on to find out how contractors across the country assess their market when it comes to hiring and what they are doing to get ahead.

1. Sean Sandri, Dallas

Sean’s Lawns and Landscaping

I could, generally speaking, say that staffing has been a growing challenge. The qualified labor pool has diminished as the demand for skilled workers has increased. There has been a corresponding spike in demand for higher wages. Compared to last year, the challenge has increased.

We’ve found basing starting wage on experience and then increasing incrementally sooner rather than later based on merit has been effective in retaining labor.

2. Christian Nardi, Southampton, N.J.

Sod Services

We’ve always hired guys right out of high school approximately 18 to 22 years old. I’ve come to notice that there are very few 18- to 22-year-old people that are mature enough to handle a job and take it seriously. They are out there but they’re hard to find. It’s been very frustrating trying to build around people like that. So, in the winter of 2015 into 2016 I hit the reset button. I went out and hired people specifically older than the age of 25. I do have to offer higher starting pay. I’ve come to realize with getting the older, more mature guys you have to start them out between $14 and $16 an hour.

If they have experience, they’re worth more and usually I’m starting them out between $16 and $18 per hour. Most of these people have families and a lot more financial obligations than kids fresh out of high school. I’ve come to realize that these people have more willingness to learn and do things efficiently. It’s almost as if they just flat out care more. I think it has to do with the maturity level. In the long run, it’s money worth spending.

These are guys that need a job. They have wives, kids, families to support and bills to pay. This year has been great. I’ve had cooperation like I’ve never had before. I also have people that will actually take the job seriously and do things correctly. It’s hard managing people who have their minds on everything else other than work. I learned my lesson the past few years and I have run myself ragged trying to babysit. I’m done doing that.

3. Aaron Rodolph, Casper, Wyo.

Rodolph Brothers

Here in Casper, Wyoming, there’s a bit of a recession going on in the oil field, so we’ve actually hired some really great people because they lost their job in the oil field. We have a little bit of a glut of people to hire right now, ever since the oil market crashed in late 2014.

“We have a little bit of a glut of people to hire right now.” Aaron Rodolph, Rodolph Brothers

We’re highly dependent on the price of oil here in Wyoming. Unfortunately, of course during the boom years it’s hard to find anybody. We pay almost twice what anyone else in the industry pays because of the energy industry. Those guys are making $30 an hour so for us to come in and have to pay them $25 dollars an hour, which is really high for our industry, they’re still taking a pay cut but the benefit is they’re working in town and not working out of town all the time so they can be home with their families.

4. Jim Zylstra, Byron Center, Mich.

Tuff Turf Molebusters

I am in the second largest city in Michigan. The labor market is the worst it has ever been in my market. The chamber of commerce reports that for every job opening there is half an applicant. We have been looking for an administrative assistant for over two months. We have very little employee turnover and we pay higher than anybody else in the industry. We pay our office staff more than most companies in any industry. We had a dozen candidates that we called back for a second interview that had already accepted a different job within hours of their initial interview with us.

“I have had to change my philosophy to reflect this new market. It is no longer hire slow, fire fast.” Jim Zylstra, Tuff Turf Molebusters

We are seeing a lot of wage inflation. We had one technician leave us to work for a trash company. Our supervisor has friends in the trash industry and was surprised to find out that our former technician was starting at a higher wage than people that had been with the trash company for nine years. They were also paying for all his CDL training and testing, which can be several thousand dollars.

I have had to change my philosophy to reflect this new market. It is no longer hire slow, fire fast. Many companies have taken the approach of hiring decent candidates at the first interview so as to eliminate the candidate going on other interviews. I am embarrassed to say we tolerate employee behavior that we never would’ve before. The reality is if we have to replace somebody, we will be paying a person with little or no experience more money than our veterans.

5. George D. Ward, Jr., Eastlake, Ohio

Ward’s Lawn Care & Landscape Co.

I would have to say that the hiring/labor force in my particular area (Northeast Ohio) is the same or slightly worse than it has been in the past.

Our continued difficulties are finding people that have valid driver’s licenses or, I should say, would be able to be insured to drive our vehicles. DUIs or crashes are automatic scratches.

If we do find a person that is eligible to drive, very few times do they have experience. If they are able to drive and have experience, there is usually some crazy reason why they are no longer working.

This is our 30th year and I have yet to find a solution to this problem. We pay well and offer competitive benefits. Finding someone that is willing to work and show up to work every day has been quite the challenge.

6. Alaina Bible, St. Petersburg, Fla.

MJ’s Home and Lawn Care Service

We were actually in the market to try and find, basically, a partner so we could start up a second crew. When I initially posted for the listing, we had 80 people within a matter of an hour until I realized I forgot to put on there that a driver’s license was required. That went from 80 people in one hour to five people in three days just to find somebody with a driver’s license that wanted to make a percentage of the business. I mean, there’s always a whole bunch of people that are willing to work. We have problems actually finding good quality people. There’s always a quantity of people who are helpers, it’s finding good, responsible candidates.