L&L Insider

Looking west

An ALCC panel lays out the top trends and challenges facing landscape contractors.

By Chuck Bowen

DENVER – While the event took place in Colorado, the trends and challenges discussed at The Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado CEO Exchange are shared by landscapers across the country. The event happened in November and those who attended discussed the greatest challenges, trends and opportunities facing the industry in the Rocky Mountain State.

The discussion was moderated by ALCC president and CEO of Terracare Associates Dean Murphy. The panel consisted of Jim McCutcheon, president and CEO of High Grove Partners in Atlanta, and president of PLANET’s board of directors; John Alderman, president and CEO of DBC Irrigation Supply, Mike Leman, president and CEO of Singing Hills Landscape; Zachary Johnson, president and CEO of Green Ink Designs, and a professor in the Landscape Design and Contracting program at Colorado State University.

Read on to see what they’re dealing with out west and how you can learn from them.

1. Regulations and contractors. All panelists complained of the ever-increasing burden of government regulation, especially the current debate about the EPA’s expansion of the Clean Water Act.

McCutcheon called on audience members to get more involved with their state associations and PLANET’s lobbying efforts.

2. The industry’s negative perception. Johnson said he encounters parents of prospective students who don’t understand the career prospects for a landscaper.

“The perception of the industry is that all we do is push dirt and mow lawns, and while we do those things, that’s not the extent of what we do. … The challenge is convincing parents of the opportunities that exist for their children in the landscape industry,” he said.

3. The dilemma of licensure. There was much discussion of the problem of low-ballers, and little agreement on how to define what, exactly, a low-baller is. The landscape industry’s low barriers to entry are a boon and a burden. Johnson suggested licensure as a possible answer.

Alderman, from DBC Supply, said the distributor’s Texas operations report irrigation licenses have helped contractors compete against low-ballers, but aren’t a silver bullet.

4. Water. Colorado has been hit hard by drought in the past few years, and contractors have had to adapt. Alderman said the most important technology a contractor can use comes from the irrigation world, especially smart controllers.

McCutcheon said water management services make the most economic sense of all “sustainable” services a contractor can offer. And Johnson, who also runs his own landscape company, said companies are going to have to retool to deal with a world with very little – or maybe even no – water for their landscapes. And Murphy, whose company operates also operates in California, said he’s been adding more and more crews to remove turf from clients’ yards.

5. Health care. While the true impact of the Affordable Care Act on many small businesses remains to be seen, most landscapers are worried about it.

McCutcheon, who employs 220 people and has always offered some sort of insurance, said under the new regulations, his employees will have worse health care and his company could lose as much as $300,000.
 

Other notes:

• On service: McCutcheon says customers can’t differentiate your company by how well you mow, plant, water, etc. He’s not convinced that his customers, after a certain point, can tell the difference between a lawn mowed by his crews and one mowed by Brickman or Gibbs Landscape. You need to differentiate yourself by the level of service you offer customers. HighGrove, for example, is a certified real estate school, and offers continuing education courses for CEUs for real estate professionals, some of which are clients and many of whom are prospects.
• On Brickman and ValleyCrest fallout: One landscaper reported that he’d recently inked a new five-figure design job that would have gone to Brickman, but was now “too small” for the $2 billion-company to consider.
• On the key to success: Alderman, who sees tons of contractors come through his doors, says the best indicator for a landscaper’s success is whether he understands his costs. Failed landscapers often “grow themselves into failing,” he says. “Don’t be afraid to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are … a team of people who can handle that piece if that’s not what you do well.”
• On understanding how you make money. McCutcheon stressed the importance of understanding the business side of your operation, and to run it like a business. “It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, you’ve got to focus on the business. You can’t survive if you don’t know how you make money. There’s a tremendous opportunity in the landscape industry to build wealth.”
• On true success: Leman shared this story about how to identify real success. He got a Facebook message from a daughter of one of his H-2B employees. It was a thank-you note. She had graduated from college and said that if her dad hadn’t worked for his company, that wouldn’t have happened.
• On options: Leman also shared this story about a job for a high-end residential client who, a year after construction, was having some problems with the pressure on his irrigation system. Leman told him he needed a 1-inch tap instead of a ¾-inch tap, at an extra cost of $10,000. They did the work, but turns out, the tap wasn’t the problem. The client demanded an immediate refund or he’d sue. Leman couldn’t afford either, but he fixed the problem. He reported that his designer – a frugal Minnesota native – hadn’t thought to offer the client a more robust (read: expensive) system. This customer, who ran a chain of car dealerships, explained the 20/70/10 rule of car sales: 20 percent want no options/base model, 70 percent want a couple of upgrades and 10 percent want it loaded. He wanted a loaded landscape.
  
   

Headed in the right direction

Contractors were optimistic about a profitable 2014 and attendence grew by more than 10 percent at this year’s GIE+EXPO.

Compiled by the Lawn & Landscape staff

There were educational sessions, networking opportunities and tons of new products, but some of the best news to come out of the 2014 GIE+EXPO was the continued optimism from contractors. The feeling from speaking with contractors was that homeowners and property managers are continuing to spend more on landscaping.

Below are a few quotes from contractors about how their businesses are doing, challenges they are facing and what they think about GIE+EXPO.

Randy Brooks, owner of Brooks Lawn Care in Cottonwood, Tenn., said his maintenance-only company is growing, and he will have to hire his first employees next year. As far as the show, he was impressed with the same things a lot of contractors like.

“The exposure to all the different tools and equipment – It’s quite amazing,” he said.

Jason Buehring, nursery manager at Greenscape in Holly Springs, N.C., said his company was trying to drop customers the company was losing money on. But first, they gave them the option of higher prices, and the customers took it.

Nick Harvey, turf and shrub care division manager at Capstone Landscape Management in Greenville S.C., had a similar issue, but his company was actually dropping a whole maintenance division.“We don’t need to be doing this for free,” Harvey said.

Ivan Giraldo, president of CleanScape in Austin, Texas, said he has been coming to the Green Industry Conference and GIE+EXPO for years. One of his favorite events is Breakfast With Champions when contractors have breakfast in groups of five to 10 people, normally non-competitors, and can discuss problems they are having. “

The sharing of ideas in a small group of many business owners of what they’ve tried and what worked and what didn’t work – I always go back with ideas.”

Other notes:

More than 19,000 people from around the world represented an 11 percent increase in registration over last year.

The show’s footprint of more than 1.3 million square feet – the size of 27 football fields – was the largest it’s ever been with close to 500 exhibitors (130 new ones) and a few outdoor UTV test tracks.

Total indoor square footage has grown by 20,000 feet and will be even bigger next year, according to Outdoor Power Equipment Institute President and CEO Kris Kiser. “We’re going to have to break into the north hall next year,” he said.

Time to learn. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Green Industry Conference featured more than 50 education sessions and workshops. New this year were sessions marked for collaborative learning that involved peer learning.

Louder bark. Responsible lawn care initiative TurfMutt has reached more than 38 million people, and OPEI has plans to take it further in the coming months.

OPEI has entered into a partnership with Scholastic Education to grow the character-based brand and reach more students, teachers and families.

The new program will feature a full lineup of newly illustrated environmental superhero characters like Green Ranger, Professor Botany and Big Rooty.

Kiser also mentioned that OPEI will be looking at taking TurfMutt to television next winter.

New identity. PLANET CEO Sabeena Hickman shared the new focus of the organization. “We want more clarity,” she said, adding the new brand could involve a name change.

Moving forward, PLANET will be more focused on advocacy, education and changing the perception of the industry. “We want to resonate more,” Hickman said.

For information on some of the products displayed at GIE+EXPO, turn to page 74.
 

Letters to the Editor

The future’s in good hands

A landscaper’s mind is incredible. They are able to see things the average person is sightless to. Today more people become distracted by the world 2 feet in front of them and give no attention to the beauty of what is beyond. Landscapers are constantly looking yonder with a reverence for the greenery surrounding them.

The brain of a landscaper is able to store the names of thousands of species of plants and can differentiate the slightest variation in growth patterns to be able to recall the exact name. Unlike nurses or doctors, landscapers don’t have the ability to ask a plant “Do you feel all right?” It takes years of experience to be able to understand what is wrong.

I work with my father, helping with every task and taking in everything my father and his partner tell me. The information they possess cannot be learned from a college course or read in a book. It is knowledge gained by years of experience.

Almost 40 years ago my father and his business partner started the San Francisco-based company, Segale & Cerini Landscape Contractors. For the past 35 years, their business preserved a strong client base which kept the business very successful. They have installed and maintained some of the most exquisite gardens in the bay area. However in the recent years, droughts and an increase of the cost of living have caused people to cut back on their landscape spending.

“Times are changing. They aren’t like they used to be.” Those are the phrases that have been pounded in my head for the last five years. Even so, I refuse to believe nothing can be done to change our companies’ situations.

For the past few months, I’ve been reading this exact magazine to see what other companies are doing to avert the current economical decline, as well as devoting time to research other successful business models. My search has lead me to create specific goals that I believe will change the future of not only Segale & Cerini, but will raise the bar for the industry.

Every month I read Lawn & Landscape and I always seem to find articles about the success stories of landscapers. I think it would be useful to encourage all landscapers, no matter their level of success, that they shouldn’t take their skills for granted and to never be afraid to learn more. Landscaping is by no means a simple career. It is a complex combination of many different talents. We are hard working, creative, risk taking, deep thinkers, who have a passion for creating art with both living and non-living objects.

With all of that said, there is one thing we should never stop being, and that is students. There is so much to learn no matter your experience level and while I am scared to death about starting the real world, knowing that I have magazines like this, the internet, and knowledgeable peers gives me the confidence that everything will be just fine.

– Kevin Cerini

Leaders with gratitude

Below are letters editor Chuck Bowen received about L&L’s 2014 Leadership Awards Ceremony, which took place during the GIE+EXPO. You can read the winners’ profiles in our October issue.

I know I already thanked you for the wonderful (Leadership) award, but I just wanted to tell you again how happy I was to receive it. After getting the award, so many people came up to me at the show congratulating me on it. I didn’t know that many people knew about it. It was truly an honor. – Michael Kravitsky IV, Grasshopper Lawns

I want to thank you for the honor you and the other editors of Lawn & Landscape magazine bestowed on me this fall. I have been humbled to be in the league with all the green industry legends who have been chosen for this prestigious award in the past. This Leadership Award, along with the Educator of the Year award from PLANET in 2003, are the highlights of my career. – Martha Hill, Hinds Community College

Thank you so much for the honor of receiving a leadership award. The event was exceptional and I have been talking about it almost non-stop to people in the industry. I think it was so great to see so many past winners come back for the event. I appreciate all your help over the years and know water is more interesting since you and Lawn & Landscape have been so involved. Thank you for the pen too. It will sit proudly on my desk as a reminder of the night as well as a reminder of the work ahead of us. – Richard Restuccia, ValleyCrest

Man, what a wonderful event you put on for the Leadership Awards. I can’t thank you enough. – Gary Mallory, Heads Up Landscaping

Ask the experts

Q: I subcontracted all my plow accounts last year, and I did the salting and shoveling. I was not going to offer it this year, but I keep getting phone calls. So, I need to know if I have the right truck and what is a decent plow to get started with. I live in Washington State, so we don’t get a lot of snow, if any. What do you think?

A: When looking at investing in equipment for running a snowplowing operation, you must first decide how long it will take to recoup your investment. In this case, the initial investment would have been around $10,000. However, the contractor only has four customers that he services once for plowing and four times for salting. Given this amount of volume, we calculated a return on investment of well over 10 years. In my professional opinion, if he is not interested in growing the snow business, it would not be wise to make the initial investment. I told him to continue subbing out the work or decide to go for it and sell more work for next year. Then we could talk again about the investment. I would only recommend the investment if and when the return on investment could be recouped in three years or less.

Rich Arlington, Landscape Industry Certified, PLANET Trailblazer
Rich Arlington & Associates

ASK THE EXPERTS is presented in partnership with PLANET’s Trailblazers On Call program. Trailblazers are industry leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to give back to the industry.

Have a question for the experts? Send it to llexperts@gie.net.