ATLANTA - A tour of Post Landscape Group, Smyrna, Ga., kicked off the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) Design/Build Symposium August 17.
Post Landscape Group, No. 48 on Lawn & Landscape's 2000 Top 100 List, opened its 24,000-square-foot facility situated on 5 acres in 1998. The "Outpost," as the company calls it, is home to more than 150 of Post’s 220 employees and approximately $1.7 million worth of vehicles and equipment (such as the pickup trucks at right). The company also has two locations in Charlotte, N.C.
Post’s new headquarters features a design/CAD studio for landscape architects, maintenance and installation operations offices, a 12,000-square-foot shop area (pictured at left) with vehicle and equipment storage, a mechanic’s work area, fertilizer and chemical storage, a library, a break room and conference rooms. Additional room on the grounds also exists for test/training gardens and hardscape display.
During the tour introduction, Gib Durden, Post’s director of sales, gave a history of the company, pointing out its 90 percent commercial and 10 percent residential client base. About $9 million of the company’s revenue comes from maintenance work and $8 million comes from installation work, Durden said.
Next, Jeff Herald, the company’s director of installation, introduced visitors to Post’s design/build studio, where nine landscape architects work on the company’s projects. "We start out with idea boards to get clients excited," Herald explained, pointing to the area where architects put together boards highlighting various design themes. Visitors toured conference rooms that had walls covered with inspirational project drawings as Herald explained the company’s philosophy on how a great presentation can make or break a design/build sale. The company’s typical residential job is between $50,000 and $120,000, Herald said.
After the drawing, Post uses one of six installation crews, each comprised of a supervisor and three crewmen, to build the project. Herald said Post subcontracts as little work as possible - only 15 to 20 percent of its $8 million in design/build work. "This percentage has gone down since we brought irrigation in-house," he said, adding that the company subcontracts most of its hardscape work.
Next, Keith Worsham, branch manager of the Atlanta office, introduced visitors to the maintenance work area. Employee and equipment scheduling boards (pictured at left) cover the walls and keep the company on track, Worsham said.
Since many of the company’s maintenance employees are Hispanic, a translator was hired to help train and translate documents, Worsham added, pointing out the company newsletter and update board (pictured below, right), which are provided in both English and Spanish.
Finally, visitors were shown the shop where equipment is stored, and that includes a plant identification section and a board that tracks employee training.
About 320 landscape contractors attended ALCA’s Design/Build Seminar, which continued through Sunday, Aug. 19, and was spearheaded by ALCA President Drew St. John and Symposium Chair Jud Griggs. "There are 35 states represented here, and 19 new members joined the association to attend this conference," St. John pointed out. "Jud has done a wonderful job with this symposium, and he assembled some of the best - if not the best - contractors in the industry to share their ideas with us."
The author is Managing Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.