Crew Considerations: Installation Crews

The second rule for setting up installation crews is that there is always room for improvement, so consider these insights from successful contractors.

GENERAL GUIDANCE. Overall, setting up installation crews depends on a host of variables, including available equipment, labor and job size. Contractors must consider these factors before setting up a crew, according to Joe Janssen, president, Stiles Landscape, Pompano Beach, Fla. “Your materials, and the size and complexity of the job determines which crew you assign,” he said.

Specializing in large commercial projects, Stiles Landscape typically assigns nine to 12 experienced crew members to each installation job, supplemented with unskilled labor when necessary, Janssen described.

Throughout the years, the company has learned that the kind of plant material often dictates the crew size needed for the job, Janssen noted. “If you have small, containerized material, you need certain types of equipment and tools, and, in turn, a certain number of crew members to operate them.”

At his company, Hillenmeyer tries to estimate the number of man-hours for a job and then assigns a crew accordingly. “If it’s a 40-hour job, for example, putting a two-member crew on that job doesn’t make sense,” Hillenmeyer pointed out. “You’re better off having a three-man crew work on the job for two days.”

No matter the size, crews should be kept together from job to job, if possible, advised Doug Berlin, landscape manager, New Garden Landscaping and Nursery, Greensboro, N.C. “We do feel it is important to keep a crew together,” he said, adding that his company has crews ranging from two to six people, based on the type and size of the job. “We try to build a crew based on having all the skills available to deliver a quality product. This takes a lot of pressure off our foremen and allows them more time to focus on the job and its successful execution.”

Hillenmeyer agreed with the need for crew consistency. “Keep the same people together on a daily basis. It gives continuity,” he said, adding that some of his two-person crews have been together so long, it’s “like they’re married.”

ROLE PLAYING. Assigning roles to crewmembers is essential for ensuring efficiency and encouraging individual responsibility. Even on a two-person crew, Hillenmeyer always has one person function as the leader. “They’re the ones calling the shots,” he said.

Stiles Landscape tries to assign employees to areas in which they’re comfortable. “Some people really enjoy working with large equipment, for example,” Janssen said. “We try to find the right spot for them.”

Having a supervisor or foreman capable of determining what tasks crew members are most suited to is important, he added.

McHale & McHale, Upper Marboro, Md., places new employees on an existing crew for three months, to assess their capabilities, related Kevin McHale, president.

New Garden uses a special chart that monitors each person’s talents and skills, Berlin described. “Our foremen fill this in for their crews, and the crewmembers with the greater skill levels have greater responsibility and wages,” he said. “Most crews are comprised of a foreman, lead person and crew people. Our larger crews often have foreman trainees who will work with an experienced foreman for one to two years before getting their own crew.”

SMALLER CREW PROS AND CONS. McHale & McHale typically uses crews comprised of three people with five-man crews for larger projects and a two-man crew available for detail work, according to McHale.

Smaller crews can increase efficiency, McHale observed. If a contractor can complete an installation job with a two-person crew, labor costs are reduced, he pointed out.

“With two guys and a truck, it’s either ‘You’re gonna do it or I’m gonna do it,’” Hillenmeyer agreed, noting that he is always trying to minimize crew sizes. “Less is better,” he said. “When you think you need four (crew members), you probably need three, and when you think you need three, you probably need two.”

McHale & McHale manages its 17 landscape division crews by the type of work they do best, according to McHale. “Some do excavation and set up work for masonry,” he described. “Some are better at planting or stacking boulders.”

Along the same lines, Janssen likes the flexibility of smaller crews. “Crews can be specialized and you can combine them to form larger crews,” he said, warning that crew members with too narrow a focus can get “pigeonholed into certain jobs.”

The most obvious drawback to using small crews is their performance limitations. “If there is large material, there could be a safety problem in moving or planting it,” Berlin cautioned, adding that New Garden doesn’t like to structure crews with fewer than three people - it has found this crew size to be the most profitable and it fits nicely in a truck cab.

For larger installation tasks, such as putting in a 3-inch caliper tree, using a floating crew member is always an option for smaller crews. But Hillenmeyer warned against relying on that too often - otherwise a crew will become dependent on that additional help.

LARGER CREW INS AND OUTS. Larger crews require more experienced supervisors who can effectively manage workers, Hillenmeyer pointed out. If a crew isn’t overseen properly, efficiency is going to plummet, with workers just idly standing around.

“Larger crews demand greater expertise in supervision,” Berlin added. “Our top foreman understands the impact of unapplied time vs. applied time, which has to be monitored closely on the larger jobs.”

Berlin observed that unless a contractor has a truck equipped with a crew cab, a four-man crew or more will require two trucks. “Therefore, that crew must be able to produce at a level that covers the additional costs of the truck,” he said.

“You’ve got to have a much stronger manager on a larger crew,” Janssen agreed, noting that between overseeing crew members and coordinating material and equipment, a poorly-managed larger crew can turn into a nightmare. “Imagine 12 to 15 employees and not having a sufficient amount of material ready to install,” he said. “Labor costs are going to go through the roof.”

Nor is Hillenmeyer a fan of larger crews, since they eventually, out of management necessity, morph into several smaller crews, anyway, he noted.