The dangling carrot

Fifteen years ago, Eric Barrett never expected to be drafting construction plans to build an expanded home office for his homegrown company, Barrett Lawn Care. “I would have said, ‘That’s crazy,’” Barrett says.

It started in 1998, when Barrett started his company in his garage in Richfield, Minn., with one truck and a trailer. His story is like many others in the green industry who plowed their own paths in business. But Barrett, whose wife manages administrative duties, has managed to grow his startup from a fledgling home-based operation to a $2 million firm with up to 26 employees in summer and 40 in winter. The company’s service mix is evenly divided among design/build, maintenance and winter services.

And now, after 16 years of steady growth – and positive revenue every year, even during the recession – Barrett Lawn Care is ready to make a big move. “We’ll be knocking down the building we bought next door in the very near future and building an office space that suits us,” Barrett says.
 

Motivating the team.

Barrett recognized early on that recruiting dedicated members for his team would be critical for growth and success. “One of our employees has been with us for 12 years, and another for 10 years – they happen to be brothers – and there are many who have been with us for four, five and eight years,” Barrett says, speaking to the longevity of his workforce.

Of course, finding good people is no easy task. “It’s hard to get people who want to be outside,” he says. When the thermometer hits 20 below zero, Barrett’s crews are plowing snow, and lots of it, in Minnesota. The work requires people who show up to work consistently and perform quality service – people who can be counted on. Barrett encourages these traits through an innovative pay-based incentive program.

If employees, or subs, show up on time for the first snow event, they receive a $0.50 per hour raise after completing the shift. For every consecutive event, if they arrive to the job site on time, and work the entire shift, they receive an additional $0.50 per hour. That raise continues up to a $5 per hour maximum on top of their base pay.

“They can’t skip an event to earn the raise,” Barrett says. “If you have a $10 per hour shoveler who can earn up to $15 per hour, that adds up along with overtime,” he says.

Once a worker misses an event, shows up late or does not complete the route, the entire bonus is wiped out and they must start from scratch. “This definitely keeps people motivated because they know if they miss an event, all of a sudden that $15 per hour turns back to $10,” Barrett says, adding that this incentive program also assists with recruiting because workers recognize an opportunity to quickly earn more cash.

Another way Barrett keeps his crews excited about their work is to celebrate the success of each season. Barrett Lawn Care holds a fall party following the summer season, and a spring gathering as a reward for the hard winter’s work. The parties are held at a restaurant or the bowling alley – someplace where the team can socialize and have fun. “What we do works for us,” Barrett says of the employee-focused programs.
 

Investing in growth.

Steady growth has required equipment investments over the years, and Barrett Lawn Care has significantly increased its fleet from that original truck-and-trailer setup to a garage of constantly updated equipment, including eight Bobcat skid-steer loaders and trailers stocked with equipment for four mowing crews and two landscape crews.

The company also performs irrigation and lawn care services, so the company owns the tools to service that work.

In the beginning, acquiring the working capital was tough, and it required financing equipment, Barrett says. “You have a fair amount of debt hanging over you at first,” he says.

The debts are long paid off, but Barrett builds an equipment savings account by depositing the same payments into the bank for future purchases. “So we do have the luxury of paying cash for equipment, which certainly, 10 years ago, I never thought would be possible,” he says.