Product Profile: Feb. 1998, Insecticide Maintains Turf and Profitability for a Pa. Contractor

However, many companies specializing in the care and maintenance of residential and commercial turf began years before the boom in the turf business.

Specialty Spraying, located in Latrobe, Pa., is one of those companies. Its doors have been open since 1972. President Jim Walter bases his business on a philosophy of profitability without sacrificing customer needs.

Profitability is always a factor, says Walter. But the key to keeping customers is being able to deliver great service. My customers don’t want to hear excuses they’ve paid for green, gorgeous lawns and they should have them, free of chinch bugs, grub damage and crabgrass.

Specialty Spraying treats all varieties and ages of turfgrass from clients with new lawns that are primarily bluegrass to 25-year-old lawns with excessive thatch. Heavy thatch and grub infestation are two key turf problems for this company.

With these turf problems, it’s important for lawn care companies to deliver the service and quality of turf their customers expect while maintaining profitability. In the past, Specialty Spraying used products that at times took up to two to three applications in order to control their customers’ turf insect problems. This situation resulted in numerous callbacks. The company began losing profits to these costly callbacks.

Then, Walter had the opportunity to try the then-new Merit Insecticide, manufactured by Bayer Corp., Kansas City, Mo. Walter was initially skeptical about using Merit because it cost significantly more per acre to apply than the products that they were currently using.

However, after reviewing plenty of research reading university studies and other research that had been performed on the product Walter decided to give the new chemistry a try We started using Merit in 1994, said Walter. We treated a few lawns, and were very impressed with the results.

Walter carefully tracked the cost of the product, weighing that against the cost of customer callbacks. Walter discovered that the effectiveness of Merit in controlling grubs and increasing customer satisfaction was actually saving money and increasing profitability for Specialty Spraying. And they’ve been using it ever since.

Merit, which features the active ingredient imida-cloprid, used as a preventive product stops grubs from feeding before damage can start. Merit is a unique chemistry that is characterized by a low use rate, thus low exposure to people, wildlife and the environment. Its low use rates and long residual activity make it convenient and cost effective for lawn care companies like Specialty Spraying.

After the intense grub pressure we experienced in 1995, we treated 713 of our clients’ turf areas, or 40 percent of our client base, with Merit in 1996, commented Walter. We’ve had excellent control of grubs, with minimum call-backs.

Plus, our employees appreciate the fact that Merit can be applied with minimal contact to applicators.

Walter feels so strongly about Merit that he includes it in his sales presentations to potential customers.

He put together a special advertising piece that explains the benefits and successes that he’s had experienced with Merit.

I have to deliver good service and great looking lawns to my customers, he continued. Merit is one of the ways I deliver professional results while staying profitable.