WHAT'S THE DEAL?: Staff Technicians

Question: “What are the pros and cons to landscape contractors having their own equipment technicians on staff?

THE DEALER:
Joe Tegethoff, Manager,
Heavy Duty Equipment,
Chesterfield, Mo.

It depends on the quality of the technicians they employ and their openness and willingness to accept if they’re wrong about something. A lot of times, they have an opinion on whether something should be covered by warranty or not. As long as they’re open to accepting changes in the engines coming out and admit that maybe they forgot to change the oil… It depends on the dealer as well. When they don’t spend the money to hire a better-trained technician, you get what you pay for. Having a good technician on a contractor’s staff actually helps both the dealer and, in turn, the contractor. A good technician will understand why a particular product is better for the contractor. This will benefit the contractor because if they buy better products, they’ll be up and running.
 
When it comes to sharpening blades and changing the oil, technicians employed by contractors are an asset. We couldn’t possibly sharpen all the blades and change all the oil. When you’re talking about hydraulic, electrical or warranty work, that’s probably best handled by the dealer’s technician.
 
The only con to a contractor having a technician is if the technician is so set in his ways, he won’t accept new ideas.

THE CONTRACTOR:
Todd Dilley, President,
Outdoor Environments,
Savage, Minn.

Our philosophy is that time is the biggest factor. We employ two full-time technicians and they always have something coming up in the morning. Their biggest focus is to get the crews out. When a problem comes up, for example with a mower, our first question is about timing: Can we get the repair done quickly? If so, then we’ll do the repair. If the repair will definitely take longer, then we’ll have the dealer’s technician repair it. If it’s going to take two days to repair, for example, it makes no sense for our technician to work on it.
 
Other than time, the level of involvement in the repair will determine if our technicians will handle it. Can our technician really fix what’s broken? In most cases, the answer is “yes,” but how long it takes is the more important answer. That’s why it’s so important for us to have a great relationship with our dealers. Many times, our technician is on the phone with the dealership, who is helping him assess the best way to handle a repair.
 
For basic service items, like changing oil and sharpening blades, it would be too time-consuming to send every item to the dealer. Our technicians are hired from tech schools and they have a good general knowledge of a lot of machines. We can’t hire someone who is an expert just on zero-turn mowers.