From the ground up

Errol Palmer describes herself as shy and awkward. No, she didn’t invent the term “introverted extrovert,” but she says she’s about as reserved as an outgoing person can be. She found bartending both exciting and exhausting — she loved serving her amaretto-and-peach drink she named “Sunshine,” but she didn’t care for some of the late-night confrontations.

“I loved interacting with our clients,” Palmer says, “but you throw alcohol in the mix, and everything gets a little seedier.”

So, seven years ago, Palmer fell into lawn care. She’s been friends with Chris Senger since 2006, when they both worked in the tech industry. They remained friends despite both leaving the field, and when Senger desperately needed some help after starting Mow Town Edmonton, he dialed up Palmer. He had already posted several times on Facebook looking for an employee, and he saw Palmer’s name come up in his phone contacts.

She jumped aboard. Never mind the fact she didn’t know the green industry — Palmer was unemployed.

“So it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I guess I can mow a lawn,’” Palmer says.

Initially it was to be a part-time gig; it’s since evolved into a true partnership.

Senger says Palmer essentially built Mow Town from the ground up. She didn’t know how a lawn mower worked when she first started. She admits now she didn’t have all the muscle to take on all the work they had. She didn’t even drive at the time. Senger says that when the company was still operating out of his apartment parking lot, he’d go to her house every day at 7 a.m. to pick her up. She’d get into the car with her hair still wet and in shorts, forgetting the fact that weed whacking would be trickier without longer pants to cover her ankles.

There was certainly a learning curve. But before long, she got her license to start driving work trucks. She even bought her first truck — a 1991 model — from the company for just $1,200. Palmer’s a quick learner: After plenty of practice with that truck, she’s now comfortable with a one-ton truck with a 20-foot trailer. It’s actually her favorite rig.

Palmer continued to grow. She learned how to handle the trailers and studied how to fix the company’s machines. She earned her spray applicator license and Senger says she’s been “the absolute best” at lawn care ever since. She has even stepped into leadership roles as someone who hires and trains the staff. She’s sharing what she’s learned with other general managers as the company expands into multiple locations.

So as Palmer grew into her role, the company grew alongside her. She’s spearheaded initiatives like adopting management software, efficient equipment maintenance and the daunting employee handbook that, cover to cover, has now reached over a hundred pages.

“One day, I saw the look on her face change from mildly annoyed working out in the heat to a sort of reverence,’” Senger says.

Learning the industry

YouTube has been Palmer’s best friend as she’s learned more about the green industry. Her other top resource? An old mower she calls “Frankenmower,” which is basically reduced to one wheel and a mower deck at this point.

“I’m a self-taught mechanic,” Palmer says. “As the machines have gotten their injuries, I’ve gone on YouTube, gone online, researched what the problem might be and how it might be fixed. Then I order the part and try it out myself.”

She strips off parts from Frankenmower, which Palmer kept after a failed engine permanently sidelined the machine. This was especially helpful during the supply chain disruptions in COVID-19. Plus, she can test out repairs when she wants to see what would work and what wouldn’t.

Senger says Mow Town’s competition spends thousands of dollars to fix their equipment at one of the six engine mechanics in Edmonton. Palmer keeps those costs low; not to mention the fact the repair shops locally can take anywhere from two days to two months fixing the equipment. Repairs, especially during COVID, exceeded the initial cost of the equipment at times. So, armed with Frankenmower and how-to videos, Palmer created a maintenance log for each piece of equipment that has every oil change and breakdown recorded.

“Errol attended the university of YouTube, as did I,” Senger jokes. “I can’t imagine not fixing (our) machines. We’re helping other companies fix theirs, too.”

Now, she’s not just experienced behind a mower — Palmer also spends a good amount of time behind a computer screen, too. On an average day, she walks into the office and checks her email before logging onto a management software that handles everything from invoicing to routing. Palmer stresses the importance of taking detailed notes with employees; this way, they can reference those notes the next time they’re out servicing that property. For example, she might notice a client specifically mentioned their gate would be locked last time, so Palmer can read those notes and relay that information back to her crews.

This detail-oriented approach via software comes from Palmer’s own work proactively earning a grant for Mow Town to purchase the software. Senger says that when they started the company, he’d team up with Palmer to just pack the trucks with whatever they thought they needed for the day. But as the company grew, so did the need for organization. There was more equipment, more services and more employees to manage. “We started running into problems getting organized in the morning,” Senger says. “Staff would either take too long to pack up the trucks or they would rush and forget to pack items.”

So, Palmer created a digital checklist tool built right into the software program. Senger says that even if Palmer’s not in the room, the crews now know how to pack things perfectly. He adds that Palmer created a sign-off element for the crew leads to ensure everything’s accounted for, meaning thousands of dollars in savings on previously lost revenue for forgotten items.

Setting the rules

As she blossomed into her role within the green industry, Palmer admits the handbook she started in 2019 came out of some frustration.

“Everybody has this idea like, ‘Oh, it’s just mowing lawns. How hard can it be?’” she says.

Well, Palmer says it’s difficult to mow lawns, especially to the standards Mow Town sets for its employees. So she set out to clarify those expectations, and in the process, Palmer says she began thinking about other supplementary information employees might need.

The handbook dives deep into not only how an aerator works, for instance, but also why it’s important and how the machine helps turf. The guide also now details anything from emergency protocols to how to request vacation time. New hires are now expected to read the handbook and sign off on it, acknowledging their receipt of the rules.

Still, Palmer calls the handbook an “ever-evolving piece of literature.” When an employee has a question they hadn’t previously considered, the answer gets added to the handbook.

“I kind of think the more information and education the people can get about the green industry, the better,” Palmer says.

Senger says Palmer took painstaking efforts to construct the handbook, ensuring that it was all specific to the Mow Town company. It covers the local species of grass and how to power rake properly. It includes diagrams and references, plus humorous bits of information to keep the reading light.

“From day one, we’ve been trying to legitimize this place more and more,” he says. He likened the transient nature of his employees to McDonald’s, where employees come and go but the company has the infrastructure in place to constantly train the next man up. “All the little mistakes we’ve made along the way, we’ve had to learn painfully. Errol’s got them stored up in her head. Now it’s pen to paper.”

Yes, the book’s now over 100 pages, but Palmer assures employees the guide really boils down to two core principles that are most important: Rule No. 1 uses some profanity, but it’s effectively don’t be a “jerk,” and rule No. 2 is always give your best.

“We’ve kind of found there is no real situation where those two rules don’t fly,” Palmer says. “Our company culture is basically, do the best job you are able to and be respectful of those around you.”

A mutual respect

Clients and coworkers alike have grown to admire Palmer. Take Ron Lawson, one of Mow Town’s residential clients. He first signed on with Mow Town after his then-provider permanently closed two years ago. He hopes he’s found his last landscape provider after working with Palmer.

“I just hope she stays on with Chris,” Lawson says. “If she moves on, I’m going to find out where she moved to so I can hire her.”

Lawson says Palmer was the first person he met when he signed the Mow Town contract. He showed her around his property and pointed out some of the things that bothered him. Lawson admits he paid less for landscaping with the last company, but he says Palmer’s service is worth the price. She always gets the little details right, like raking the property properly so only thatch came up, not grass roots. She and her crews helped eliminate a vole problem that left little tracks all over his lawn.

And, most importantly, Palmer is still the person who rings his doorbell. He still walks with her around his property and shows her the spots he thinks need extra attention. Then, he watches as Palmer relays that information to her crew. Lawson then has a front-row seat to see how the other employees embrace her as a leader.

“She’s very good at supervising her staff,” Lawson says. “They seem to be happy working with her. And when I point out the things that are bothering me (on my property), there’s not much to say now because she’s done such a good job at cleaning it up.”

Robin Robert has been a Mow Town customer since the company’s earliest days. As a military veteran, Robert says she’s dealt with a bad back since she even first met Palmer. And there was Palmer, constantly asking if Robert was okay and if she needed anything extra. That left a lasting impression: Robert’s moved to three different properties in seven years, and each time, she’s called Mow Town for work.

“She takes the extra minute,” Robert says of Palmer. “Minus-30 or plus-30, she stops what she’s doing just to check in on me. It makes a difference.”

Robert adds that she can tell Palmer is selfless. It’s not just a show for the customers: When she has given Palmer chocolates for Christmas, Palmer has promised to leave them in the company’s break room for everyone to eat.

Palmer says her customer service skills not only come from years of working in different fields — she’s also just an empathetic person in general. She actively seeks out ways to help people learn more about their lawns, even on Facebook, where she sometimes fields gardening questions and educates clients and strangers alike.

“By nature, I am just kind of a helpful person,” Palmer says. “If there’s something I can do to make somebody else’s day easier or better or streamline something, that’s something I really enjoy doing.”

On the topic of time — it’s something that Palmer’s constantly juggling. She recently went on a vacation with her family — a trip to Mexico that required organizing a group of five children all under seven years old. Senger says Palmer has banked tons of vacation time over the years because she’s spent so much time in the company, setting it up for future success.

And Palmer readily admits it’s a struggle at times handling the work-life balance. But Palmer has found the right balance between being a mother and being a worker. She says it’s great to see other employees grow into the people they’re meant to become.

“We know that for a lot of people, this job is a stepping stone to other jobs,” Palmer says. “We try to make sure that each employee leaves here better equipped for the future than they came in. For some people, that can be limited to lawn care knowledge. For others though, it can be encouraging them to seek education, teaching them how insurance works, trying to foster an entrepreneurial spirit.

“I get called ‘Shop Mom’ a fair bit by the staff, and I take that title seriously,” Palmer continues. “I always try to nurture and encourage the staff to be the best versions of themselves that they can be.”

The author is an associate editor at Lawn & Landscape magazine.