Photo by Jon Arman
It hasn’t been the best start for LaMont Hess or Kimberly Rowe in their first spring of owning Outdoor Expressions PA in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Bad weather, labor issues and a clerical error made the start to spring tough.
Cold and rainy weather forced Hess to start his workers later in the season than he wanted.
“I didn’t bring anybody back until about the 5th of April, which was late, because we were cold,” Hess says. “So, everybody was laid off. And that was technically late.”
Once brought back, employees worked on spring cleanups of two big HOAs, but one of the properties took longer to finish than anticipated. “That place is 157 units and it’s hilly,” Hess says. “That one place, it took darned near a month – the whole month of April to finish it.”
Also, Hess is still looking for labor but he plans to speak to 11 qualified candidates he found through a job posting on Indeed.com. He’s also had luck using a temp service.
“If you do use a temp service and you do find a good person, it’s really not that bad of a deal,” he said.
Harvester’s take: Outdoor Expressions should have started advertising sooner for new jobs, right after Thanksgiving. As far as weather delays in the season, Bill Arman and Ed Laflamme of the Harvest Group advise working on equipment and cleaning the shop during the time they can’t get out to work. To help with recruiting, visit places where Hess thinks good recruits might be living or working.
“Physically drive through areas where (potential employees) live and find a trustworthy guy to be a recruiter,” Arman said.
Click here to check out the June issue of Lawn & Landscape for the full story on Outdoor Expressions.