California Lawn and Landscape Professionals Protest Shady Deals

Visalia, Calif.-area landscaping firms, gearing up for the busy spring season, are also sowing the seeds for possible political change.

Licensed landscaping operators — fed up with competing against unlicensed landscapers who they say cut deeply into their client base — have organized into a group that hopes to gain the Visalia City Council's attention at its recent meeting.
  
Carol Wallen, owner of Greenscape Industries, reported a net loss of 60 accounts so far this year, down to 524, and has up to 30 employees working these accounts daily. She attributes much of that loss to unlicensed individuals and groups taking her business.

"We have to pay workers' compensation insurance, which runs us around $3,000 a month and it used to be as high as $6,000 [monthly]," said Wallen. "We also take out the Social Security and taxes, state and federal."
But the unlicensed yard maintenance crews do not pay any of these expenses, she said.

"They can charge 50 percent less," Wallen said, "and that's illegal."

Vincent Huerta, 28, has owned his much smaller Lawncrafters business for two years and has five employees. He said that he has lost five accounts — down to 45 from 50.

"I've never seen it this bad," said Huerta, who attributes the surge of "unofficial" yardworkers to the January freeze that threw citrus-industry employees out of work.

"I placed an ad in January for employees and got 45 applicants," said Huerta, who still maintains that, despite hard times, landscaping professionals need to obey laws and pay appropriate taxes.

Wallen, Huerta and others will bring this issue to the attention of the City Council on Monday, but city business license coordinator Carolyn Shook is uncertain how such guidelines can be properly enforced.

"There are too many [yard workers] to keep track of," said Shook, who added the city of Visalia does require a business-tax form to be submitted to the city from any person wanting to trim lawns and do other yard work.

"It's for tax purposes only, and not a license," said Shook. "Licensing that kind of work is a state responsibility."

The city asks that all yard workers and companies pay $1 for each $1,000 they earn. That's normally not a lot for most operators, but Wallen said that Greenscape Industries averages about $158 per quarter on the city's business tax alone.

Wallen said that customers who ask for a business license from prospective maintenance workers will mistakenly think the city's business tax certificate is all they need.

"It's not enough," said Wallen. "They need to show they pay workers' compensation and have liability insurance."

Most "gardeners," as Huerta calls landscapers, can easily identify the unscrupulous operators.

"Three of them can take three lawn mowers, jump out of their truck and finish off a job in 10 minutes and make $80 on something I would have to charge $180 for," Huerta said.