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Get behind the scenes with Top 100 companies

Lawn & Landscape readers have the opportunity to get an exclusive insider’s tour of four Top 100 companies this year.

Starting in June and running throughout the rest of the year, L&L will host a series of free webinars with some of the best companies in the industry. Four principals at companies on our 2014 Top 100 list will open their doors for landscapers across the country and share key insights on their operations. Visit bit.ly/top100webinar to register for the webinars. Our first ones happened in late June with Larry Ryan of Ryan Lawn & Tree Care in Overland Park, Kan. Here’s a list of the remaining three.

Aug. 19 – Dean Murphy, Terracare Associates, Littleton, Colo.

Oct. 15 – Jerry Maldonado, Maldonado Nursery and Landscaping, San Antonio, Texas

Dec. 16 – Steve Glennon, Cagwin & Dorward, Novato, Calif.
 

EAB treatments and more

We’ve uploaded new podcasts to our Lawn Care Radio Network. The new podcasts featured lessons on different ways to attack EAB, how to work with subcontractors and why price and cost shouldn’t be confused. To listen to these podcasts and more on the network, visit bit.ly/lcrnweb

Treating EAB
Dr. Daniel Herms, a professor at The Ohio State University, discusses what LCOs should think about when treating for EAB.
bit.ly/lleabtreat

Don’t compete on price
Ed Kiley, director of sales and marketing with The Perennial Farm, discusses cost and price.
bit.ly/llcompete

Passing the baton
Diana Grundeen only works with subcontractors for her installs. Find out what that’s like and what you should keep in mind next time you serve as a sub.
bit.ly/llbaton

From the vault: Hiring 5 years later

Our July 2009 cover story detailed the influx of applicants landscaping companies experienced in the middle of the Great Recession.

Below is an excerpt. Read the full article at bit.ly/llwidernet to find out if you think much has changed in 2014.

Despite the influx of applicants, business owners face considerable challenges when it comes to hiring. One of the biggest problems: a shortage of qualified help.

“A lot of people think they can just jump into our industry because there are low barriers,” says Andrew Blanchford, president of Blanchford Landscape Contractors, a design-build firm in Bozeman, Mont. “But as long as there are people in the pool who know something, we probably aren’t going to spend any time talking to the people who don’t.”

Sometimes, however, it’s hard to determine who has the experience and who doesn’t. Rob Schmidt owns Bob’s Lawn Care, a small, mostly residential mowing and trimming service in Forest Hill, Md. This spring, he spent three weeks trying to find a new hire. In the process, Schmidt worked with a number of local organizations, including a small business development center, and posted the job opening on the state labor department workforce exchange website and Craigslist.