Market Trends: May 2001

"You only have one chance to make a first impression," so they say, and many landscape contractors are thinking twice about the risks of losing clients due to a poor company image.

Many contractors are looking for ways beyond word-of-mouth to convey their business image to customers, particularly because they are trying to banish the stigma that contractors are nothing more than manual labor wearing ripped jeans and driving run-down trucks.

The impression customers have of landscape contractors is hopefully improving more each day due to the high percentage of contractors who are presenting themselves as trained and specialized experts by proudly and properly showing off their business image in front of clients not only the first time, but every time.

The most popular way to do this is through bid forms and proposals, according to 37 percent of contractors who answered a Lawn & Landscape online poll. Wearing proper attire ranked second at 29 percent, and having a clean, logoed vehicle was third at 25 percent.

To participate in Lawn & Landscape online polls and to review past polls, visit www.lawnandlandscape.com/poll.

REGULATORY UPDATE
Industry Wins Nassau County Court Case

NASSAU COUNTY, N.Y. - A New York judge overturned the controversial neighbor notification law.

Justice Stephen Bucaria ruled that the Nassau County legislature did not follow procedure under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), which requires a full environmental impact study to be completed before adopting this type of legislation. The law, which was passed by the state in August 2000, requires commercial pesticide applicators to give a 48-hour written notice to neighbors within 150 feet of a property where certain insecticides and pesticides will be applied. The legislature let each individual county decide if it would adopt the law, but required that the law be adopted as is. To date, Suffolk, Nassau, Westchester and Albany counties have adopted the law, which went into effect on March 1.

"I’m pleased that the judge, who knew he was dealing with a very political piece of legislation, had the courage to decide the case on the merit of the law and agreed that the SEQRA process was a requirement," remarked Daniel Van Starrenburg, president and CEO of Nature’s Trees Inc., the plaintiff in the case.

But Van Starrenburg emphasized that the issue is far from settled. The county can choose to appeal the decision or it can petition the state legislature for an exemption from complying with the SEQRA requirement, explained Larry Wilson, government affairs chairperson for the New York State Turf and Landscape Association and chairperson of the industry coalition that led the fight against the law.

"That would open up the entire debate again and is a pretty extreme measure," Wilson said about the exemption. The county’s other option is to complete the SEQRA study, which could take quite awhile.

No matter how the county decides to proceed, the law won’t be taking effect this year and there’s a chance that the law won’t be in effect in 2002. "Our attorney estimates that it’s doubtful that this law will surface again or take effect before January 2003," Wilson stated.

Meanwhile, judges in Albany, Suffolk and Westchester Counties are considering the arguments in those cases. Wilson expects the industry to win the Albany and Suffolk cases but he has questions about the Westchester case because of that county’s unique arguments in that case.

Wilson also noted that hearings are taking place all over the state regarding the neighbor notification law. However, he said that when legislators in Rockland County found out about the lawsuits in these counties, the public meeting was scratched and the issue was tabled.
- Cheryl Green

LABOR TRENDS
Hispanic Population Rises

WASHINGTON - Early data from the 2000 census show that the U.S. Hispanic population grew by more than 60 percent in the last decade, pulling it into rough parity with blacks as the largest minority group.

The new data carry broad political and cultural implications for a nation undergoing major demographic shifts. In this case, demographers said the soaring Hispanic population was driven largely by waves of new immigrants, leagal and illegal, as well as by an improved ability by census takers to count this group.

The figures showed that the number of Hispanic people who have Spanish-speaking ancestry but may belong to any race, including black, soared to 35.3 million from the 22.4 million recorded in 1990. The 2000 total was about three million more than the Census Bureau had previously estimated, a difference demographers attributed to illegal immigrants. In contrast, the number of blacks rose by about 16 percent to 34.7 million from the 30 million counted in the 1990 census.

Demographers have long anticipated that Hispanics would supplant blacks as the nation’s largest minority, but earlier census reports had forecasted that this would happen by 2005. While Hispanics are still concentrated in the Southwest, California, Florida and New York, new immigrants from Mexico and Central America have moved to states like North Carolina, Georgia and Iowa, where the Hispanic population was almost nonexistent a decade ago.

IN THE NEWS
The Weed Man Continues U.S. Growth

CLEVELAND - When The Weed Man announced plans in late 1999 to bring Canada’s largest lawn care company into the United States, its short-term goals called for selling six franchise units by mid-2001. When Lawn & Landscape sat down with The Weed Man management team for an exclusive interview in early April, the organization had 71 franchise units already in operation and ambitious plans for continuing to expand its national presence.

One key to The Weed Man’s success thus far has been its unique franchising model, which features sub-franchisers who purchase a large, multi-territory area and then sell franchise units to franchisees. These units are broken up by population areas made up of 150,000 people. In addition to the sub-franchisers The Weed Man signed up last year, which include Terry Kurth, Ken Heltemes, Phil Fogarty, Bob Ottley, Charles Russell and Jon Cundiff, The Weed Man added Hank and Dave DeVries (southern Illinois, Tennessee), Jeff Kollenkark (northern California, Nevada), John Sanders (eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey) and Tom Mauer (New England states).

The company’s 2002 goals include selling its remaining five sub-franchise territories, adding another 50 franchisees and generating total lawn care sales of approximately $12 million.

"What we want to do is offer a system through which lawn care companies can efficiently market and deliver their service to the customer," explained Roger Mongeon, president, Turf Holdings, the company with rights to The Weed Man franchise for the United States. "People say they calibrate their spreaders every day or produce a working budget every year, but they don’t really do this. The Weed Man’s systematic approach is the key."

Mongeon speaks from experience, as well. His series of Weed Man franchises in Canada generate cumulative sales of nearly $13 million annually. But he attributes the company’s success in the United States to the sub-franchisers. "We had to approach the market this way where the sub-franchisers support the franchisees because we couldn’t grow nearly as fast if we were providing all of the support from the corporate office," he explained.

The Weed Man admitted some surprise at the number of landscape companies who have purchased franchises. "These are companies who were either dabbling in lawn care or are tired of subcontracting it out, and they want a way to grow their lawn care businesses successfully and without having to make all of the mistakes themselves," observed Fogarty, who along with Ottley owns the franchise rights to Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

"In the end, we will have more franchisees from outside the industry than from inside when we start getting referrals and friends of franchisees who see how they can succeed and make money in this industry as well," predicted Mongeon.

PESTICIDE NOTIFICATION
Oregon Follows Suit

SALEM, Ore. - The pesticide notification issue is sweeping its way across the nation as a radical bill has been proposed in Oregon that would require lawn care operators to give 10-day notification to those who request it before pesticides are applied.

The bill, which has been proposed by Democratic Sen. Tony Corcoran, would require the agriculture department to develop a list of persons with documented pesticide sensitivity and to distribute that list to all licensed pesticide operators, pesticide applicators and private and public applicators. Applicators would then be required to provide written notification to people on the list at least 10 days prior to applying pesticides within the pesticide notification area.

Corcoran proposed the bill because a voter told him the pesticides her neighbors were using on their vineyard had a negative effect on her health.

The cost of implementing this bill remains in question, however. Corcoran doesn’t believe that it would cause a logistical burden for the Agriculture Department, but Dale Mitchell, assistant administrator, pesticides division, disagrees.

"It is quite broad in its requirements and would have significant impact from a regulatory standpoint," Mitchell stressed. "If we created a registry, there would be significant cost incurred."

The Department hasn’t completed a fiscal analysis as of yet, but Mitchell explained that passing this legislation could create a logistical nightmare.

"There are mailings that must go out not once, but twice a year," he explained. "We have about 15,000 to 18,000 licensees [to notify] and it would [also] require us to provide this information to each utility company. That’s a very broad requirement."

Not only would this bill cause hassles for the Department of Agriculture, it would likely cause headaches for pesticide applicators as well. However, Corcoran doesn’t even expect the bill to become a law.

"I think this is a good neighbor policy," Corcoran declared. "But the fundamental issue of property rights comes into play. At this point, I don’t expect it to even get a hearing."

IN BUSINESS...

Lawn care distributor Van Waters & Rogers changed its name to Vopak, to "reflect the expanding global presence of their parent, Royal Vopak" as the recently acquired Ellis & Everard is integrated into the company ... Lebanon Seaboard Corp. recently contributed $88,957 to Rutgers University to further turfgrass research … Signature Control Systems launched as a new irrigation technology manufacturer … Briggs & Stratton Central Sales & Service Distributors were recently recognized for superior performance at the annual Briggs & Stratton fall conference … Otterbine Barebo partnered with Unistar Leasing to provide a leasing/financing option on equipment … Gardeners’ Guild was one of the winners of the 2000 Waste Reduction Awards Program, sponsored by the California Integrated Waste Management Board … Profile Products acquired Wood Recycling’s mulch business.