Market Trends: Oct. 1998

According to a recent survey of 500 irrigation contractors and 500 landscape contractors, more than 35 percent of them install these accessories at least half of the time when they put in a new irrigation system.

The landscape contractors providing irrigation services appear to be much more interested in weather sensors than irrigation contractors, with 52.4 percent of irrigation contractors never using weather sensors, compared to 25.3 percent of landscape contractors.

Ruppert Offers Insight Into Future

ASHTON, Md. – As the announcements continued to flow from LandCare USA, The Brickman Group and TruGreen-ChemLawn, speculation grew as to what path Ruppert Landscape Co. would take in the industry to maintain its leadership position.

Rumors had the company close to deals with a couple of different contractors or perhaps a financial institution.

In the end, Craig Ruppert and his managers decided to sell the $45-million company, and TruGreen-ChemLawn landed one of the industry’s largest operations.

“We began examining the situation back in January, and we felt we had three options,” recalled Ruppert. “We could stay the course, continuing to be a privately held company and maybe be a little more aggressive pursuing acquisitions; we could also take on a financial partner by selling a portion of the ownership in the business to acquire additional capital; or we could enter into a strategic merger.”

While Ruppert acknowledged that the company had conversations with a number of different groups, two factors ultimately led it to TruGreen-ChemLawn.

“Financially, TruGreen-ChemLawn has a very strong base,” Ruppert noted. “In addition, this represents an opportunity for us to join an organization where there is room for us to play a significant role in the management of this exciting, new venture.”

Ruppert said another part of the decision-making process was his belief that such a move would have to be made at some point.

“We think we could’ve competed for at least another five years, but eventually we would have faced the same type of pressure to do what we’re doing,” he predicted.

Ruppert will serve as a senior vice president for TruGreen-ChemLawn and will be responsible for its new landscape management division.

Other opportunities should be present for many other Ruppert employees. “Our employees are genuinely excited about the opportunities our combined resources will bring to them as well as to our customers.

“Time will tell whether or not this is good for the industry,” he noted. “The reality is that it will be the customers and employees who decide based on whether or not it is good for them.”

Davey Tree Makes Acquisitions

KENT, Ohio – The Davey Tree Expert Company announced the acquisition of two Tampa, Fla.-based landscape maintenance operations: Raintree Landscape Services Inc., and Prolawn.

“We are actively growing our grounds maintenance business, and these acquisitions mark our entrée into another market area,” noted George Gaumer, national sales and operations manager for the commercial service line at Davey Tree.

Gaumer also noted that only Prolawn’s commercial grounds maintenance business has been acquired, and it was combined with Raintree’s operations to represent the Tampa commercial branch of Davey’s U.S. commercial services division. “With our expertise in tree care, we can now offer total one-stop shopping to our clients in this area,” he explained.

L.A.s Enjoy Salary Boosts

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It pays to design landscapes and, apparently it pays better than it does to design buildings, according to a survey published by the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The ASLA survey data, when compared to information gathered in a survey by the American Institute of Architects and adjusted to compensate for the 10-month difference in time between the issuing of the two surveys, found that landscape architects reported a higher annual income than their counterparts by about $6,000.

Specifically, respondents to the ASLA survey reported an average annual salary of $52,886 with an average of 15.9 years of experience. This salary level represents a 6 percent improvement when compared to the ASLA’s salary survey of 1981 when the 1981 figures are adjusted to current day dollars, which is in contrast with the 1994 survey that showed salaries at that point below the adjusted 1981 level.

The news is also good for new landscape architects, as nearly 20 percent of respondents indicated they are looking to hire additional landscape architects. New hires will receive average offers from the private sector of $22,775 and $25,730 from the public sector. The compensation advantage for private sector employees kicks in after 10 years employment in the industry.

The Pacific region continues to lead for highest salaries, followed by the Southeast. The survey also found that freelance income for landscape architects has fallen from an average of $7,000 in 1988 to $5,000 in 1997, which may be attributable to employers’ concerns about liability exposure for employees’ freelancing work.

Pursell Industries Acquires IMC Vigoro

SYLACAUGA, Ala. - Pursell Industries acquired IMC Vigoro from IMC Global, Chicago, Ill. IMC Vigoro had 1997 sales of $100.6 million from the sale of various fertilizer and soil additive products as well as some ice melter products to the professional and consumer markets.