TREES & ORNAMENTALS: Adding Tree & Ornamental Care

Perficut Lawn & Landscape started as a lawn maintenance company in 1989. Striving to offer high-quality, professional services, owner Kory Ballard added to the Des Moines, Iowa-based company’s service mix little by little, determined not to get in over his head. To meet client demand, he added tree and ornamental care in 1998.
 
“Before adding the service, we were busy being good at what we already did,” says Ralph Conner, the company’s board certified master arborist. “Contractors should make sure that offering new services isn’t going to dilute the quality of their existing services.”

FIRST THING’S FIRST. The company added a tree and ornamental pest and disease control program first because it could use the trucks and sprayers from the lawn care side of the business with little to no initial investment, Conner says. Once the company reached about $300,000 in revenue from its tree and shrub application program, it invested in a stand-alone, truck-mounted sprayer specifically for trees, which cost about $30,000.
 
The company then transitioned into pruning by adding a chipper and a box dump truck, and today the two services work hand-in-hand. “During the winter months when it’s too cold to offer chemical services, we incorporate the tree application guys into the pruning side of the business,” Conner says. “That’s the beauty of a full-service company – one sector may slow down, but another picks up.”
 
The company strives to keep its tree guys busy during the off season because they’re too hard to replace, Conner says. It does this by offering various tree services year-round. During the busy summer months, the company builds a backlog of work for December, January and February by offering discounts and incentives and working with homeowner associations.

QUALITY IS KEY. Like most landscape companies facing labor challenges, Perficut goes to great strides to keep its quality employees. One of the first things the company did upon starting its tree and shrub services was bring on an experienced employee to lead the company in the right direction. “We found that to get started on the right foot, you have to have the right people and training,” Conner says. “If a contractor thinks he can offer tree care services with a pickup truck and some chemicals, he’s going to get into trouble.”
 
Perficut employees attend educational sessions through the Iowa Arborist Association and take advantage of any other training they can get, Conner says. “There is nothing like hiring good, quality people, but they’re just not out there,” he says.
 
Perficut has three tree crews – one dedicated to chemical applications, one to stump removal and one to pruning. Each Perficut department operates separately with staffs that rarely intermix, except during the slow seasons. Employees are not only trained for their specific department, but are also trained in professionalism, which Conner says has always been one of the company’s strongest points.
 
Lack of credibility challenged the company when it first offered tree care services. Early on it stifled growth, Conner says. “We were seen as a lawn care company that did tree work,” he says. “With the addition of trained, qualified employees and arborists, we have started to overcome this and customers now see us as a professional tree service.”
 
At Perficut, professionalism starts from the time the office staff takes a client’s call, Conner says. Then, experienced employees in matching uniforms drive up in clean, customized trucks and use new equipment to get the job done. Crews have to be clean-cut and are not permitted to smoke while on a client’s property. All proposals are presented in writing so clients know exactly what they’re getting and how much it’s going to cost.

FINANCIAL FIGURES. Today, tree and ornamental care makes up 20 to 22 percent of Perficut’s total business, and grows each year – 120 percent since 2006, Conner says. The company’s newfound credibility in the tree care industry has helped it stay competitive in its pricing strategies.
 “Now that we’ve invested in the people and the equipment, our tree services have become absolutely vital to our business,” Conner says. “Tree care is not as competitive as, say, mowing, so the profitability is higher.”
 
When it comes to pricing, Conner says there is no such thing as an average job. “You can have two trees that are equal in every way, but the price to treat them is drastically different,” he says, adding factors such as where on a property the tree is located, what it’s being treated for and its type and size all determine the final cost. Based on these factors, some jobs can take three days to do, while others can be completed in a few hours.
 
To determine price, Conner meets with clients as a sales person and an arborist. He reviews the property, giving clients advice on issues they need to address and pointing out potential problems or hazards. The cost includes time and labor plus any material and disposal fees. “If I do my job right, clients will get a fair price and we’ll make a little money,” he says.
 
Ideally, Conner aims for a 20 to 22 percent profit on all of Perficut’s tree application jobs. However, factors such as competition sometimes prevent this from being possible. The Des Moines metro area has at least 25 other lawn and tree care companies varying from professional companies to one-man operations, Conner says. 
 
Conner can’t stress enough for contractors to have qualified employees prior to adding on a service like tree care. Certification and continuous training are important not only in attaining credibility, but also to ensure the successful adoption of an add-on service. “If a service is worth doing, it’s worth learning how to do it right,” he says.