INSTALLATION: Green Side Up

Many of David Wescott’s customers have had a bad sodding experience in the past. He’s out to change that.
   
Wescott, owner and president of JC Yard Service in Edmonds, Wash., advocates sodding for a number of reasons, not to mention it’s his most profitable service offering. “I’d say 90 percent of our customers prefer sod,” Wescott says. “A lot of them have had a bad experience with a sod install. That can be one barrier. We sell them on the fact that if it’s done correctly, a sod install can be great.” Many times, poor soil or sod is the culprit. “You see a lot of lawns where it was installed the year before and now it’s dead,” he says. Wescott’s crews ensure the soil and pH levels are beneficial for growing good grass. In short, Wescott controls what can be controlled.
 
Turfgrass sod is a mature grass cover grown off-site that is removed and transplanted to a job site for installation. It’s often cut into squares or rolls. Common sod species in the U.S. include Bermuda grass, centipede grass, fine fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, St. Augustine grass and tall fescue, according to the Turf Resource Center, East Dundee, Ill. The average turf is grown within about a 150-mile radius from the installation site  to keep within the same climate.
 
Wescott added sodding services shortly after he started JC Yard Service about nine years ago. “We wanted to specialize in and offer something no one else does,” he says. “We wanted to offer a 30-year lawn – something that looks just as nice decades later as it did when it was installed.” Installing such a lawn starts with the basics: A soil mixture of one-third sand, one-third soil, one-third manure; good sod; and a set of guidelines for the customer to follow to ensure the new lawn stays healthy.
 
It cost about $10,000 to add a sod cutter, yard roller, rakes and a good tiller, all necessary for sod installation. “We started out renting the sod cutter and tiller until the sodding business picked up enough that we bought our own equipment,” Wescott says. 
 
JC Yard Service bases installation price on square footage. The price incorporates the costs of the sod, top soil, labor and soil amendments, if needed. Not included are costs for special situations, such as installation on difficult terrain. Wescott’s crews till the soil about 18 to 24 inches before applying the soil mixture and sod.
 
Wescott hired a project manager just for sod installs and credits increase customer satisfaction to this move. “It gives the customer a much better feel for the status of the project,” he says. “We have our project manager there at each site at least an hour per day. It keeps the project on track. Because of this, you don’t have the hiccups because it’s all been explained during the daily visit.”
 
Also, JC Yard Service fields crews that focus solely on sodding. “So, if a problem arises, it can be dealt with by someone who’s knowledgeable and isn’t installing a lawn one day and cutting one the next,” Wescott says.
 
Certain times are more advantageous than others. The best are spring and fall, Wescott says. Spring has lots of moisture, which supplies the root system ample water. The fall, which offers a good deal of rain in the Seattle area, also benefits root systems. For the first three weeks of an install, the sod has to be watered at a near-constant basis. While Wescott’s crews install in the summer, it’s less practical because vacationing customers don’t make plans to irrigate. At the same time, it has to be monitored closely for fungus, he says.
 
Sodding is profitable for the company and yields between 30 to 40 percent profit per job. “Sodding is more profitable for us than anything else. It’s a big part of our business,” he says. “It can be less profitable if you make mistakes, however. You need the right type of sod and the right soil.”