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What will be the 2024 landscape trends in residential design? Here’s what members of the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) said they expect for the coming year.
Outdoor living spaces continue to be incredibly desirable to clients, but the elements which comprise that outdoor living space is expanding to include event spaces, vegetable gardens, wellness activities, and areas of artificial turf.
“I would say the trend has continued that people want to maximize their property and bring their living outside even now that is COVID over,” says Chris di Stefano, president of di Stefano Landscaping, based in Essex Junction, VT. “We’re … using the same materials, [but] putting them together in a different way and creating new ideas.”
Kitchens & Applicances. In di Stefano’s region, clients are seeking features like outdoor kitchens, pergolas, fire pits, and gathering spaces beyond the traditional patio. He says while outdoor kitchens were once exclusive to larger, more involved landscapes, today’s smaller project clients are also incorporating them.
Bob Hursthouse, president of Hursthouse Landscape Architects, based in Bolingbrook, IL, says he’s seeing a continuation of being at home and customers revitalizing their environments. He says pool and spa combinations remain super-popular and his company is also seeing a lot of interest in outdoor kitchens and appliances like pizza ovens.
Photo: Hursthouse Landscape Architects
“We’re still contracting and designing lots of those outdoor living spaces, roofed structures,” Hursthouse says. “We’re getting tons of requests for things like that. They’re expensive, so they’re not being executed quite as quickly, but we’re getting tons of requests for them.”
Vegetable gardens. Randy Hill, director of sales for David J. Frank Landscape Contracting, based in Germantown, WI, says outdoor living and gathering spaces continue to be most popular request, yet they’ve seen an increased interest in spaces for vegetable gardens as well.
Event spaces. One trend Adam Hallauer, CEO & president of Designs By Sundown, based in Littleton, CO, has noted is homeowners planning long-term for their landscapes to host events such as weddings, graduations, or family reunions. He isn’t sure if this is driven by challenges in event spaces presented by COVID or simply a desire for more of a family “feel” at gatherings.
“They’re dedicating spaces that they won’t use but every once in a while, but they’re putting into plans now for those kinds of spaces,” Hallauer says.
Wellness. Joe Stark, director of marketing for GW Capital, the parent company of Ground Works Land Design, based in Cleveland, OH has noticed an interest in health and wellness features being added to the landscape, such as meditation areas or spaces to do yoga. He says they’ve even had a couple of requests to add cold plunge areas.
Greg Struhl, owner of Chip-N-Dale’s Custom Landscaping, Inc., based in Las Vegas, NV, is seeing a similar trend. He says he’s had clients interested in installing healing gardens to help with stress and anxiety.
Photo: Chip-N-Dale’s Custom Landscaping, Inc.
Artificial grass. Struhl’s also had an uptick in requests to replace turfgrass with synthetic turf since the local water authority in his region has started to fine people for excessive use of water.
Claire Goldman, principal and head of design and business development for R&R Landscaping, based in Auburn, AL, says she’s also seen more clients embrace synthetic turf in spaces like putting greens, areas too shady to grow sod, or low-maintenance play spaces.
Another trend some regions are seeing is a focus on renovating existing outdoor living spaces. Struhl says communities in Las Vegas are aging and he’s having to redo landscapes that were poorly installed 20 to 25 years ago.
“There’s really no Band-Aid to it,” Struhl says. “They’re multi-million homes and they need a lot of a lot of work because when they were done initially, people didn’t get a professional. They just got somebody who could do it for a good price. Now they’re going to pay the price because that always costs more to redo things.”
Hursthouse says we are entering an interesting time as a number of landscapes constructed in the 80’s are beginning to deteriorate. “I think there’s a bit of a renaissance back to classic construction techniques,” Hursthouse says. “We do a lot of that, and our clients appreciate the longevity that our projects bring to them because of that.”
Hallauer adds that when the economy turns, more people stay put and decide to reinvest in their properties. “I do anticipate this going back to more of a renovation market, updating their current spaces, making it more livable to their current lifestyle and needs,” he says.
While some design sites are claiming dark, moody plants will be all the rage next year, these landscape companies are getting the opposite request. “If anything, our clients are always asking for more color, because they want more than just the green [due to] so much shade from the massive oak trees around here [in Cleveland],” Stark says. Hill is in agreement. He says plants with bold leaf colors, texture, and large blooms are highly desired these days.
“I think there’s a lot of gravitation towards good perennial mixes, seasonal blooms, and seasonal progressions,” comments Hursthouse. “I have a lot of clients that like bright colors and bright textures—whether that’d be a flower or foliage or a fruit or all the above. I’m seeing clients requesting a lot of bright colors together.”
Goldman says people in Alabama have been painting their houses darker colors, so they opt to contrast the walls with lighter plant material that won’t get lost against the dark paint.
Di Stefano says he sees bigger blocks of color and texture being popular. “Even people that want a lot of variety, I think, are wanting to see that variety in maybe a more limited color scheme, and more limited texture scheme or using bigger blocks of plantings to achieve that rather than a lot of sort of more traditional kind of groupings of planting,” he says.
In the Southwest, Struhl says cooler colors like blue, silver, and gray are quite popular. He says rather than fighting Mother Nature, he selects plants that are more likely to thrive in his area, like iceberg roses.
In Illinois, Hursthouse says he’s seeing a lot of pushback against hydrangeas where clients don’t want any iteration of the species in their landscape. Yet Hallauer’s customer base in Colorado is demanding hydrangeas and boxwoods despite the high warranty costs.
Vintage Jade Distylium from First Editions. Zones 7-9.
The desire for low-maintenance plants remains strong with customers. “Most clients are looking for plants that can be installed and left alone and thrive, so any plant that’s successful with neglect typically catches on quickly,” Goldman says. “We’ve had fun using the different textures of distylium and knowing we don’t have to worry much about the warranty with that one.”
Hill agrees their clients are looking for plants that need little watering or pruning. “They like color, texture, and blooms that require little work to get them to that point,” he says. “Clients who don’t have time to do yardwork want plants that stay small or are easily manageable with one pruning a year.”
Stark expects to see more clients who want to work with their existing landscape rather than start with a completely blank canvas. “In the past, you may see us completely excavate and clear an entire backyard to make a project exactly what the person wants,” Stark says. “Some of the most recent projects we’ve done and some of the most beautiful, final projects that we’ve done are these gorgeous projects where we’re working within the actual topography and environment. Instead of just clearing out a bunch of trees and making it a blank slate, we’re working within the existing backyard.”
Goldman says they’ve seen less demand in clear-cutting lots and working with the natural landscape as well. “We’ve also seen properties wanting to start building ‘natural’ back in,” she says. “That’s a fun challenge. There’s an art to building ‘natural’ that takes a special eye and expertise. Those have been my favorite projects.”
Odom is the content manager for the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP). Find the original version of this article in the NALP Blog.
For more NALP news, read:
Now Available! Quarterly Economic Forecast Reports For Lawn & Landscape Businesses
Mariani Premier Group Wins 21 NALP Awards Of Excellence
Federal Tax Credit For Zero-Emission Commercial Landscape Equipment Introduced
In this challenging economic climate, with rising inflation and labor shortages, everyone is looking for new ways to grow their business, and build a pipeline of jobs that will create a steady stream of income throughout the year. How to solve this problem?
One answer is by winning more Government business. And to do this, landscaping businesses need the right technology to succeed.
(Photo: Adobe Stock / Victoria)
Supplementing your residential and commercial jobs with Government contracts is a great way to add an additional revenue stream to your business. And there’s a lot of money to be made: $159B in small business contracts were awarded in 2022 – out of an overall total of $620B+ in Government contracts.
But while the size of the pie is massive, the ability for small business owners to get a piece of that pie is somewhat limited. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that only 23% of Government contracts are given to small and local businesses. In fact, the number of small businesses awarded Government contracts has shrunk 52% since 2010.
So while it can take much longer to win a Government contract, those businesses that do, find the wait is well worth it. Just like residential and other commercial clients, Government business is seasonal, but it’s also usually longer lasting.
Cities and counties put a lot of business out for bid annually, because a property’s maintenance needs are constant – but if your bid is competitive enough, you could earn a multi-year contract. Government contracts mean more work upfront to win, but the result is more regular schedules for your field team; reliable hassle -free payments; and ultimately more income for your business.
To win new business, you need to know where to find it. Understanding how Government contracts work is the first step. Landscape business owners should learn more about the structure of their state, local, and educational agencies, including the names of people who handle maintenance contracts in their municipalities, counties, independent school districts, public colleges, and universities.
Once you know how government agencies work, you’ll need to know where to look for these contract tender opportunities. Here are all the places you can look:
The Small Business Administration (SBA) will help you understand what government agencies are buying and how they find these services. The SBA also maintains a directory of federal government prime contractors with subcontracting plans. Federal business opportunities for contractors are listed on the System for Award Management (SAM) and all contracts over $25,000 must be advertised here.
For subcontracting opportunities, SubNet is a database for large contractors looking for small business subcontractors. And the General Services Administration (GSA) also publishes a subcontracting directory for small businesses seeking subcontracting opportunities.
For local opportunities, it pays to be involved in your local community. You can do this by attending city council meetings, joining local industry and Chamber of Commerce groups, and by supporting local events. Local media and industry publications are also invaluable for staying informed.
You also need to make sure that Government bodies can find your business when they are looking for a new supplier. The Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) is a database that Government agencies use to look for small business contractors for upcoming contracts. Register your business on the DSBS by creating a company profile on the System for Award Management (SAM).
Once you have found an opportunity to bid, you need to ensure you’re putting your business’ best foot forward. Often contract tenders are unsuccessful because of a lack of credibility. If your company does not present a professional image online, it is very unlikely the Government entity will trust your business enough to award you the job.
(Photo: Adobe Stock / Pixel-Shot)
Most landscaping businesses are already using technology to run their business day-to-day, but how many are leveraging digital marketing tools to make sure they deliver an exceptional customer experience? It’s no longer enough for landscaping businesses to have an experienced team of contractors; to offer online booking and payments; and professional estimates. Today’s successful businesses are doing all that and more, by running digital marketing campaigns for customers and prospects; investing in their website SEO and SEM, and social media presence; and gathering more 5-star reviews and testimonials from their customers.
Marketing automation technology was once only available to enterprise businesses, but with verticalized software solutions medium-sized businesses are using marketing automation tools to present a professional brand image online, upsell their services to customers, and attract new prospects more easily.
How does it work? The technology enables businesses to automate their digital marketing and CRM (Client Relationship Management) with:
Smart audience segmentation, for sending more authentic messages based on customer behavior and preferences.
Pre-built emails, texts and forms, and automated texts and emails, to speed campaign creation and simplify customer communications, and
Real-time tracking and analytics for viewing open engagement and conversion rates to assess how a campaign is performing.
With the ability to create more touchpoints with customers and prospects, businesses are optimizing every stage of their customer lifecycle, building a reputable image, and delivering an experience that sets them apart from competitors – without all the manual, time-consuming tasks, switching between different systems, and duplicate data entry this previously involved. So, if you are not yet using digital marketing automation tools for your landscaping business, you should be.
Since there is a lot more work involved in bidding for Government contracts, it takes more time. Like a quote for a prospective customer, a contract is a formal invitation to trade, issued by Government agencies, asking for a comprehensive response.
This means more than just having your insurance, company registration, bonds, asset, and employee information ready to submit with your bid. You will also need to provide details of how your company plans to service this job, plus evidence on why they should choose your business, using customer case studies, testimonials, certifications, and team resumes.
Creating a custom bid that meets the needs of the contract tender takes time. Therefore, many landscaping businesses need to replace manual processes with automated technology to help leaders focus on winning valuable contracts.
Choosing the best lawn care scheduling software is also crucial to every landscaping business’ long-term success, profitability, and scalability. Lawn care management software is more innovative than ever, enabling businesses to simultaneously maximize time in the office and the field.
Look for technology solutions that will: help you keep your crews on track with flexible scheduling, GPS, and real-time job tracking; generate instant professional estimates and invoices on-the-go; allow same-day automated payments for boosting cashflow; and an app for streamlining communications between the office, field, and your customers.
All-in-one lawn care software solutions are improving every day, so find one that automates your business, so you can spend more time and present a more professional bid for that next Government contract.
Chambliss is the vice president of Sales, Field Services at Xplor Technologies, responsible for serving field service management companies across North America with all their business technology needs. With 10+ years’ experience in SaaS software sales, Chambliss is passionate about helping field service operators of all sizes use technology to transform their business, grow at scale, and deliver an exceptional customer experience. He leads the sales teams for FieldEdge by Xplor and Service Autopilot by Xplor and is responsible for over 7,000 customer locations and a team of 106 people.
Do you have a comment? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, or send an e-mail to the Editor at cmenapace@groupc.com.
‘Tis the season when landscaping work in some parts of the country can grind to a halt if there’s no snow plowing. But that’s not the case for Timberline Landscaping in Colorado Spring, CO. Owner Tim Emick bought into a Christmas lighting franchise called Christmas Decor in 2001, and the service has been gangbusters since the start.
“When we started offering holiday lights in 2001, it was an opportunity to fill the Winter time,” says Shawn Brewer, Timberline’s lighting manager. “Yeah, we do snow removal, but it doesn’t snow 24-7. So it was a good way to fill that gap and keep everyone busy. So that’s why they started the Christmas lighting part of the business.”
Being part of the Christmas Decor franchise has given Timberline an advantage—especially for handling unexpected hiccups like the shipping and supply delays of 2020/21 that kept other lighting businesses from getting the equipment they needed. “We were still able to get stuff in. So it’s kind of a network system that we use, and they help us with all of our lights,” says Brewer.
He continues, “Also, we learned some techniques from them that I would have to say make us stand out. For example, the way we light our trees really sets us apart here at Timberline. We lay lights in the trees so they appear individually placed, versus that string going around like a candy cane.”
Timberline also emphasizes customer service. Just one example is that they perform proactive checks and repairs for all their lighting installations. “After we get everything installed, I break down my spreadsheet into areas of the town, and I have individuals go check out each one of those jobs.” says Brewer. “They go to the job, check the timer, make sure everything’s good, turn everything on, make sure everything’s working, make sure the roofline is straight, make sure nothing is missing and there’s not something that maybe the homeowner hasn’t seen.”
He continues, “We get probably 20 comments a year from people asking, ‘What are you guys doing here?’ We say ‘Oh, we’re here to check your lights.’ And they go, ‘Oh, that’s awesome!’… So I think what puts us on the map are those proactive checks. And if there’s an issue, I try to get someone out there to fix it the day of.”
Today, roughly 25% of Timberline’s lighting clients are residential, and 75% are commercial or apartments. “When it started it was more residential based, and then as our business developer [fostered] all these relationships, we realized how commercial could mean big business for holiday lighting,” says Brewer. “After all, if we put lights on your building or draw attention to your shopping center, more people want to come and see it. You get more people in the door, and you can use it to set yourself apart from the shopping center next door. So the commercial business grew from there to the point where now we even do whole commercial districts in a town.”
One example of this, which Brewer says is a fun job, is Manitou Springs, CO. It’s a little tourist town, just west of Colorado Springs, and Timberline does the entire town—from garlands on all the light poles to trees on all the crosswalks, as well as the big signature tree in the center of town. Timberline has become “known” for Manitou Spring’s Christmas lighting.
Though Timberline has around 300 employees, it’s still run with the tenet of “building relationships” that Emick started with in 1986, says Brewer. This keeps the company feeling like a family, both in terms of employees and their long-time customers. This is especially evident right on Timberline’s web site, which appears more like a community events board during the holidays due to its Christmas Lights Guide, an interactive map of the houses and businesses with lights displays. People are proud of their beautiful Christmas displays and they love to be added to the Timberline Guide, says Brewer. In his opinion, the guide is one of their best marketing tools all year round.
“It’s been amazing!” he comments. “People can add themselves to the guide, and we also add coffee shops and little places you can stop and get hot cocoa and stuff like that. I think this year we have 166 lighting displays in the guide. The amount of work that our team puts into it, and the amount of traffic that it creates for our website is so worth it,” says Brewer. “It creates enough traffic for us that it gets us through the whole year with Google in terms of SEO. So that is some great marketing!”
Check out Timberline’s Christmas Lights guide here!
For more on lighting services, read:
Year-Round Revenue For Landscapers? Here’s How
Several acquisitions took place in December. Some included:
Credit: AdobeStock/NateeMeepian
Mariani Premier Group has announced the acquisition of Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes. Mariani Premier Group is a first-of-its-kind national platform that supports a growing family of landscaping companies. The Mariani Premier Group’s vision is to build the world’s premier outdoor living company and today’s announcement marks the 16th company acquired by Mariani as part of its national expansion strategy.
Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes was founded in 2000 by Bobby Head and Jason Ulberg to serve private residences and commercial businesses in the Vail, Denver, and Aspen areas. Headquartered in the Vail region with two additional offices in Denver and Aspen, the company offers a variety of landscaping solutions, including landscape design, installation, maintenance services, water features, and fencing.
Companies that join the Mariani Premier Group continue to operate under the same brand with decision-making at the local level. Mariani Premier Group provides national support and tools through a shared services platform so all companies can achieve even greater success.
Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes won a Gold Award in the NALP 2021 Awards of Excellence.
President of Rocky Mountain Custom Landscapes Bobby Head remarked: “We are so pleased to join this family of incredible landscaping companies. The national support and tools provided by Mariani Premier Group will allow us to enhance client service capabilities and accelerate our growth. We’re looking forward to an even brighter future.”
Ruppert Landscape, LLC an industry-leading provider of commercial landscaping services, has announced the acquisition of Tree Amigos Outdoor Services, Inc. Serving the Florida market for nearly 24 years, Tree Amigos is a leading commercial landscape company in the Greater Jacksonville and Orlando areas. Founded and operated by Jim Proctor and Steve Nelson, Tree Amigos’ service offerings include commercial landscape maintenance and installation. The company operates as Green Orchid Landscape Services in the Orlando market.
The acquisition of Tree Amigos aligns with Ruppert’s vision to continue to grow the company’s footprint within current and adjacent markets. Ruppert Landscape CEO Phil Key said, “Florida has been a key market of interest for us, and, in Tree Amigos, we’ve found an ideal partner… We are going to learn a lot from one another and I am excited about what the combined businesses will achieve together,” Key affirmed.
Fecon, a manufacturer of heavy-duty site preparation attachments and forestry accessories, recently acquired Stumper Industries, a manufacturer of stump grinder attachments for mini and standard skid steers and compact track loaders, excavators and tractor applications. The acquisition expands the landscaping and land maintenance solutions Fecon offers in the forestry mulching and vegetation management industries. Stumper’s attachments provide a cost-effective solution for tree service businesses and landscape companies to remove debris safely, quickly and efficiently from job sites.
The Stumper series features five quick-attach models compatible with compact to heavy-duty machinery. The attachments range from 22- to 36-inch cutting diameters with up to 12-inch cut depths per pass. Additionally, the Stumper Grapple — a heavy-duty, multiuse tool — easily attaches to mini skid steers to efficiently remove logs and debris from a jobsite.
For related articles, read:
The Yardstick: Q&A With Craig Ruppert, Ruppert Landscape
Mariani Premier Group Wins 21 NALP Awards Of Excellence
Fecon Acquires TREEfrogg LLC, Manufacturer Of Tree Trimming Saw Attachments
Consider these software and technology products to help you manage your landscaping and lawn care business.
Hourly is a cloud-based workers’ comp insurance and payroll platform, geared toward landscapers, and other skilled trade professionals, that connects workers’ comp, time tracking, and payroll in real-time. With Hourly, payroll errors can be decreased by collecting time data automatically, without the hassle of manually calculating and importing timecard data for hourly workers. Workers’ comp insurance can also be integrated into the payroll system, and Hourly automatically calculates premiums based on your total monthly payroll. The platform tracks time, task, and location data in real time, and includes time and attendance, locations, tasks, GPS tracking, geofencing, offline mode, real-time alerts, overtime and double time, compliance logs, notes and photos, supervisor app, kiosk mode, and job-costing reports.
Jobber now offers location timers, a new feature that uses geo-fencing technology to track employee time on job sites automatically, and accurately, substantially reducing manual work. Jobber’s location timers feature provides landscapers with two modes to fit their needs: automatic mode automatically starts and stops the timer in the Jobber app, when the service pro arrives and leaves a client’s property; reminder mode sends a push notification when crew is near a client’s property. When they’re ready, they can start or stop the timer with just a tap.
Landscape Management Network (LMN) has launched Job Costing Advisor, a comprehensive real-time cost tracking product that makes it easy to ensure each job is profitable. Job costing advisor enables granular visibility on labor, materials, equipment, subcontractors, and other costs; automatically compares them to the job estimate; highlights potential issues and recommends actions to improve costing accuracy—in just a few clicks. Job Costing Advisor complements existing LMN business tools such as Budgeting, Estimating, Time Tracking, Invoicing, and Payments, making LMN a comprehensive software suite built by landscapers for landscapers.
OnTerra Systems, the developers of RouteSavvy route planning software, have introduced a new route- optimization software “engine” and automated, multi-vehicle optimization in RouteSavvy. With new automated multi- vehicle optimization, fleet managers in charge of planning deliveries, pick-ups, service calls, or sales calls can upload the addresses and, with one click, have more efficient routes for multiple vehicles generated automatically with RouteSavvy. This new functionality generates automated route balancing. The new RouteSavvy Online end-user software is also up to 30% faster in optimizing routes, and now offers advanced handling of bad addresses on routes.
SatQuote has launched a new map-based property intelligence, measurement, and estimation software platform that enables Green Industry pros to manage all aspects of measuring, designing, and quoting jobs. SatMeasure Technology™ is a suite of tools that provides property-owner information, boundary data, drawing and map manipulation features, high-resolution imagery, and AI measuring assistance. SatQuote is an online tool and mobile app that combines aerial and satellite imagery, with an AI-powered measurement and design system to create, share, and manage map-based quotes with customers quickly and easily. This new software application streamlines the process of managing leads, accurately measuring, creating designs, estimating labor and materials, and creating quotes.
Improved visual and organizational capabilities, plus a new automated Fence tool, help users take their creativity further in Vectorworks 2024. The automated Fence tool saves significant time, while designing in 2D or 3D, and reduces the chance of errors in material specifications. The new Landmark Color Palette provides an efficient nature-focused color selection experience. Users can easily access the specific colors they need to communicate design intentions. Legends for Site Model Analysis also offer the ability to communicate design decisions promptly and effectively. Users will have better control over the graphical output of site model snapshots, with the ability to include a legend to help clients better understand annotations, and a highly customizable color scale ensures users can include critical information about slope ranges and elevation values.
Earlier this month, Bebe Fiore Decrescenzo of Bartlett Tree Experts’ Human Resources Department was joined by 10 firefighters from the Stamford, CT Fire Department at a local Walmart store to purchase gifts for children in need.
This year marks the 44th anniversary of Bebe’s annual holiday toy donation on behalf of Bartlett Tree Experts. As in years past, more than 20 shopping carts full of toys were purchased with donations from Bartlett employees, Robert A. Bartlett Jr., Chairman and CEO of Bartlett Tree Experts, and the Company.
Decrescenzo, who joined Bartlett Tree Experts at the Company’s headquarters in Stamford in 1978, launched the toy drive the following year. She said, “This is just something we can do to give back and help children and families who would not have any gifts to open on Christmas.”
Of the more than $14,000 collected, donations were also used to purchase gift bags for seniors and others in need in the Stamford area. The group gathered at the Walmart on Main Avenue in Norwalk, CT; some arriving in two fire trucks. The volunteers perused the aisles of the toy section and filled shopping carts for children ranging in age from newborns to teens from a list provided by Stamford social services organizations. The gifts purchased included puzzles, games, scooters, talking dolls, clothes, coats, and sports equipment.
For the past several years, Bartlett Tree Experts has partnered its toy drive with the Stamford Professional Fire Fighters Association (SPFFA), which also collects toys from firefighters and other local organizations. Stamford firefighter Brian Slattery, one of the organizers, said the next step is to gather volunteers to wrap the presents. The toys and gifts will then be distributed to the social-service organizations that expressed a need. Organizations that will receive the toys include Franklin Street Shelter, Stamford Department of Social Services, and others.
Slattery said, “The goal here is simple. We want to make sure that all children can have the best Christmas possible. We appreciate Bebe and Bartlett Tree Experts for their generosity in making this possible.”
Janna Bradley, Co-founder & COO, Landscape Management Network (LMN)
Janna Bradley is the co-founder and COO of Landscape Management Network (LMN), a leading provider of landscape business management software, developed out of a need at Bradley’s former landscape firm, TBG Landscape.
In 1997, TBG started as a small residential design-build company serving a suburb of Toronto. Over the next decade, it grew to $50M in annual sales, with 200+ employees, and multimillion dollar contracts. Bradley and co-founder, Mark Bradley, juggled both TBG and LMN for many years, until selling TBG in 2018. Though, in Bradley’s words, “We couldn’t have LMN without the experience of TBG.”
Recently, Bradley hosted an “Ask Me Anything” webinar with questions submitted by landscaping pros. Here’s what she had to say (edited for clarity):
When we started TBG, we didn’t have the luxury of putting in systems and software. We didn’t even have a mentor. So I would say the first step is to focus on finding a good mentor in your area. It doesn’t have to be a landscape industry mentor, it can just be a business mentor in general.
The other thing is to establish some very simple systems and processes within your company. It doesn’t matter if you have two people or 200. Every time you do a process, think about what works, what was efficient and simplest. Keep it simple.
I think it was gradual. We all know we wear 50 different hats when we’re starting. You’re a people manager, equipment manager, designer, estimator, an HR consultant, and sometimes you’re the snowplow driver. There were many days when we would be doing landscape designs all day, have a snowstorm hit, and then be on the road all night. I was seven months pregnant driving a snowplow at one point.
It’s about following your gut, and knowing when to delegate. When you get that gut feeling, don’t resist it. Find somebody that can take that hat. I think it’s important that you’re always training somebody along the way. Look for that person who can fill your shoes, and that you can pass that hat to.
Once we had established LMN as a platform and were using it at TBG, we relied on templates and work processes we knew to be tried and true. We looked at our crews’ production to find out what they were really good at. We identifed, “Jeez, this crew can really lay pavers well.” When we knew they had a capacity of laying X-square-feet in a certain amount of time, we understood we could rinse-and-repeat that process.
It comes from job costing and examining each work area, each job, and each type of job. Where can you find efficiencies? What work areas are you really good at? Focus on those areas. If you can rinse-and-repeat a template—and you’ve got really solid gold, bronze, and platinum packages—you can fire those estimates out really quickly. Then you can set up all your crews on a schedule that follows that same template, and those efficiencies multiply very, very quickly. It starts with your estimate and goes right through your job. It’s so critical, but it took us a while to figure that out.
Initially, we were just so busy. You go from job to job to job. You’re trying to create cash flow (we know that’s an issue), and you’re just trying to get teams paid and the next payment in. It took a while for the light bulb to go on where we were examining those jobs, looking at where we were performing really well— and not so well—so we could tweak the next estimates.
For example, carpentry was a nightmare for us. We were terrible at it in terms of efficiency. We were good carpenters, but it took us a very long time. As a result, we weren’t making very much money on it. We had to tweak those things to bring in more subs, and increase the profit. It’s important to watch those things as you go along.
As far as scaling goes, it starts with people. There’s no point in trying to increase revenue if you don’t have people. But it’s like the chicken and egg scenario. Where do we find the labor? That’s the age-old question everybody has. Some of it is ensuring you have those core reliable people, that also have the ability to train (or use tools to train) the people around them. Then you have the ability to scale.
The other factor is manipulating your budget, and understanding if you can afford to scale. The most important thing in your business is a budget that’s workable, and that you can revisit.
When we were contemplating buying equipment or hiring people, we would go into the budget, and say, “Ok, what happens if I add a three-person crew? How does that affect my profit margin?” It took just 15 minutes to look at it and say, “Well, that’s too much.” But what if that crew was able to generate X amount of dollars in revenue? How does that change things?
We were able to get a very quick insight into whether or not we were able to scale in certain areas — people, equipment, whatever — just by having very solid confidence in our finances and budget. You have to be able to manipulate numbers.
There’s that initial level around the million dollar mark when you have maybe two or three crews. Do you add that next crew and the equipment that goes with it? As mentioned, we relied heavily on manipulating the budget. With certain jobs we would say, “Do we want to take this on?” Let’s say it was the year’s golden job: we would look at it, price it, then roll it into the budget, asking “If we add X amount of revenue, will that allow us to purchase or hire whatever or whoever we need to do this job?” If you’ve got your financial foundation, then you can look at how you are going to grow with your marketing, equipment, and staff.
Looking at job costing earlier. Again, it took us a while to really understand that. It’s just quick ratios, such as: What is actual labor to the amount of estimated hours? If I bid 1,000 hours on a job, and total number of hours worked so far is 800, do we feel we’re 80% done? If we do, great. That’s a good gut check. That’s primitive job costing.
But if we’re not 80% through that job, it’s a red flag. We need to make changes. Are we overworking it? Did we make a mistake with the estimate? That’s very rudimentary job costing. That was something we started to do all the time. In those gut-check moments, we could pivot a lot quicker with those jobs to make the corrections.
At the end of the job, we would look at the analytics to see what worked well. The planting crew killed it, coming in under time and upselling trees. The paver crew did well, but fell behind a little. Was it an estimating issue? A crew issue? Or an external issue like weather?
The other piece for us was not focusing early enough on our back office. The back office is so key and underestimated. We’re very field focused, but the back office is coordinating customers, designs, out- reach, paperwork, and payroll. You can’t underestimate those folks.
Hire administration early — even if it’s just part-time, do it. There are so many tasks that run in the background to make the field more efficient, so the back office has to be treated as an equal priority.
Cash flow is huge. Landscape businesses are very asset-reliant and payroll-reliant, so we need to meet the demand of cash flow. What worked for us was establishing a relationship fairly quickly with a really solid leasing company. We leased our trucks and equipment through them.
We would have regular meetings with them to say, “These are the jobs coming up, this is where we’ve been, and this is where we’re headed. We need to anticipate equipment needs.” Then we were able to negotiate terms, such as skipped payments at certain times of year when we knew our cash flow was odd. (There’s that weird period of time in January/ February, where landscape income has slowed down, but you haven’t gotten snow checks fired up yet.) So we would skip some payments during that time, but resume them again in the Spring.
Some bigger manufacturers, like Caterpillar, have their own financing. They love landscapers and set up really favorable terms. We established that relationship really early and went to them loyally.
It comes down to relationships and being super transparent. If the job doesn’t go well and you need some time, pick up the phone and ask for it. With a lot of these financing relationships, they will accommodate you.
For sure it’s the administration. It’s one of the best ROIs. Whether it’s a part-time office assistant or third-party consultant, handing off that piece of your time generates more efficiencies and revenue. You can be focused on selling, training your staff, or figuring out the right budget. The administration person will return your time five times over.
But they need to have the right tools. Do you have a good CRM? Do you have something as simple as Slack? The ability to communicate with the whole company is critical. It’s not just hiring another person. What are the tech-based tools that are worth investing in to take some of that admin and communication off of your plate?
We were using a lot of group text, but once we brought LMN in, a lot of the messaging resided within the job plans—right in the actual estimates. Anybody could log in and have a look at the job plan, see the conversations or what was promised.
At one job in the city, a lady who lived next to our customer decided the curb in front of her house “belonged” to her and nobody could park there. Through LMN, a message would pop up every week for the crew with a reminder of the parking issue. This saved many phone calls and headaches. Or Mrs. Jones doesn’t like red flowers…. that was another one I can recall. A gate code, a dog in the backyard, things like that were crucial. It helps keep your customers happy. It lets your crews know what to expect.
When we transitioned out of TBG, we sold it to a couple of key employees. While I don’t have any advice on taking things public, I think you should communicate to the team as you grow, that there are opportunities for ownership or part ownership.
When we implemented LMN, we made these little mini-teams (or divisions) within the company and gave them their own budgets. We said, “This team consists of these people, they’re going to do X amount of revenue, and here’s the costs related to them.” It became the manager’s own mini business for which they were responsible.
We obviously had to monitor how much time it took a team to complete a job and that sort of thing. What were the expenses against the job? We would track all these mini businesses and coach them along. We were very transparent about budgeting, profitability, and things like that. It gave them a sense of ownership from very early on.
We did this with the main managers, the foreman, and the sub-foreman, depending on the crew. This system is also a retention tool. It shows who’s interested in a career path in the company. We found it was a really good method when it came to eventually passing the company on.
The first two to three years were absolute chaos, to be quite honest. We were new to the Industry, full of piss and vinegar, young, just ready to get out there and do right. But we didn’t have the systems in place behind us to be strategically organized within the areas we needed to be. It was trial and error on everything. That’s going to naturally occur with a new business within the first five years, for sure.
But I think we learned really quickly what worked, what we were good at, and then we rinsed-and-repeated those things. Whether it was people, processes, or equipment, we tried to focus on efficiencies and slowly that chaos started to quell. It was establishing routines, and having systems in place.
Just simplifying things like: why isn’t the blower hanging in a specific spot? Establishing the end-of-day routine so everything is washed, gassed, and fueled for the next morning. Things that made everybody’s day so much easier. It took us five or six years to get all those things in place. If somebody had said, “From day one, do this,” we would have been lightyears ahead as far as efficiencies.
If you follow the same framework every day, it just sets the tone of expectations. Everybody within the company is holding each other accountable.
Finding people was always one of our biggest challenges. We followed a regular system — post the job, include what we offer, what we’re about, the standard stuff. But this was the game changer: we would filter through the resumes that came in, and if someone tweaked our interest, we sent them back a questionnaire. It was 25 questions long and required time to fill it out. It was just simple questions; they weren’t even all about the Industry. They were things like, “Tell me about what you like to do in your spare time.”
It would weed out so many people! But the ones that took the time to return the survey would move forward. Even though that extra step took a little bit of time, it helped the superstars rise to the top.
It’s really market dependent. You have to find what’s great for your niche. What’s cool about your company? Do you have strong community or volunteer initiatives you could broadcast? That could draw people in. We all have our incentives, but I don’t know if we talk about them enough. When you place ads, company rewards are very important to communicate.
There’s also word-of-mouth when you get established. It’s a small Industry and word spreads very quickly. Don’t be afraid to pay the good people more money, and have fewer people. Look at your bud- get and say “If I pay everybody X more, how does that affect my bot- tom line? Do I need X many people if I have five people getting paid a bit more, but with a higher skill set? How does it affect my profit margin? How much extra revenue do I need to pay people more? Paying a bit more for better skill sets will attract the right people.
The other key thing we used was a matrix. Laborer level one, laborer level two, truck driver, sub foreman, etc. It was a career path, including hourly wages, and the minimum criteria for each level. After people work for a few months, they’re like, “Johnny down the street just offered me two bucks more.” So we established this matrix to say “Here’s your pay level, and if you want to earn more, here’s how you get there. Put 100 hours into the skid steer, do 10 Greenius course trainings. When you have 2,000 hours, you are eligible to bump up.”
This was huge because it showed there’s career growth. That matrix was posted on the bulletin board in the shop. Employees could see it all day long, and look at it whenever they wanted. It was very transparent about what Sam, the driver, was earning. It was, “You want to get there? Here’s how.”
We would review where everybody was on an annual basis. When we were doing our budgeting for the following year, we would work all those new changes in.
We started layering and adding those items around the 20 to 25 employee mark. You start to get into health and safety programs, due diligence, and things like that. There are a lot of third-party consultants that do a “timeshare” scenario: they do HR for five different companies, so you pay a partial fee. If it doesn’t make sense to bring someone on full-time, look into those services.
Pick something involving the community that your team is collectively passionate about, and that everyone can participate in. It shows the company is more than just a business.
The other thing is to get involved with your associations. They have so many programs —like webinars, events, and trade shows — that benefit both employees, and the company owner.
And send employees to school. Sometimes there are grants. Even if just one employee participates, it shows the rest of the team that you’re building a business, and a career for them to stick with.
In a nutshell, we built LMN. Prior, we just didn’t have something that could keep us organized once we were at a really high revenue capacity. We later realized that wherever you’re at with revenue—whether it’s $200,000 or $200 million—the processes and procedures are the same. You always need to budget, understand overhead, look after equipment, and train employees.
It was a lot of trial and error, figuring out what we needed and the resources. We realized our Industry is super niche and it takes a unique bunch of systems in order to run efficiently. When we put LMN together, it accelerated everything because efficiency accelerates growth. When people are efficient, and they’re getting to their job, and they’re happy, they perform better. It was just that natural momentum that got us there with those processes and systems.
We often talk about systems as a “big picture” thing. But I think, in some ways, it’s the simple things. For example, we used to have everybody come back to work during snow season to wash the trucks and get organized. When you have 10 trucks in the yard, you’re paying 10 times the labor to wash trucks, get organized, and refuel. When we examined that cost, we thought, “What if we had a mobile wash come twice a week? What if we had fuel trucks come in the middle of the night?” It was mind blowing, and we saved hundreds of dollars.
Payroll was also huge. When we finished implementing LMN, we were still data-entering to QuickBooks and it was taking the office three days to submit all timesheets. We told the developers, we need a link to QuickBooks that shoots all that data over.
Timekeeping. Having the ability to track time is key because labor is our biggest issue and our biggest cost. When you start to track hours on a job versus what you’ve estimated, you can see instantly where you’re at budget-wise. That’s huge. The automation of job-log sheets, analytics, and billing is super cool. The key is wrapping it back around to job costing, and really understand who’s performing and where.
For sales, you can look at it two ways. At some point, you need to work it into your overhead. It’s not something necessarily attributed to unbillable time. Unbillable time is travel time, tailgate talks, unloading, and things like that.
Think about roles, and if time is truly billable? Owner’s wages should be in overhead. But if you’re an owner and spend half your time working in the field, then allocate those hours to that job. Sales should also be in the overhead unless, again, you can attribute that time directly to a job. It’s the same thing with designers, they need to either go into overhead or they need to go into a job.
We would have a weekly meeting, and it would cover sales, equipment issues, and a training component. Outside of that, on a daily basis, we would have tailgate talks. That was 15-minutes where the crew leaders would lead a discussion and give updates.
One of the fun things we’re seeing is how customers are using Greenius. They’re using custom courses employees can access from their phones. They’re also adding in weekly or daily messages from the owner/foreman that are distributed to the whole team. One company did a leader shout-out every day.
Do you have a comment? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, or send an e-mail to the Editor at cmenapace@groupc.com.
Cortez Burgundy Poinsettia.
The poinsettia, a plant that represents the holiday season in the U.S., has come a long way from the days when color choices were just red or white. Last weekend, I entered the greenhouse at Colonial Nursery in Middletown, NJ, and a breathtaking sea of color greeted me. Deep burgundy, coral, neon pink, dusty rose, electric red, white, and even yellow swaths of the festive plants were on display. A closer look revealed even further divergences of traits brought about by plant breeders: frilly bracts, rounded bracts, variegated bracts, marbled bracts, upright habits, and contrasting dark leaves. It was really quite a sight!
Dan Coneeny, president of Colonial Nursery, has been a grower for over 20 years, but this was only his second year growing this variety of poinsettias. “We have found some challenges along the way for sure,” he says. “While it is not a hard crop to cultivate, you do need to pay close attention and make very timely applications of certain products to end up with the results you want. Everything from making sure that they are fertilized correctly, to keeping pests out of them, we have learned a lot along the way and are always trying to improve our next years crop.”
The greenhouse at Colonial Nursery in Middletown, NJ.
Autumn Leaves
Red Glitter
Luv U Pink
Christmas Beauty Princess.
Enjoy these photos taken at Colonial Nursery as well as some fun facts from the University of Illinois Extension (which Turf originally ran in 2019):
The showy colored parts of Poinsettias that people think of as the flowers, are actually colored bracts, or modified leaves.
The bracts’ colors are created through “photoperiodism,” meaning they require darkness (12 hours at a time for at least five days in a row) to change color. Once Poinsettias finish that process, they require abundant daylight for the brightest color. (One reason why it’s hard to get them to rebloom.)
During the 14th – 16th century, the Aztecs used Poinsettia sap to control fevers and the bracts were used to make a reddish dye. Montezuma, the last of the Aztec kings, had Poinsettias brought in by caravans.
Christmas Mouse Red
Christmas Beauty Marble
The German botanist, Wilenow, saw the plant growing through a crack in his greenhouse. Dazzled by its color, he gave it the botanical name, Euphorbia pulcherrima meaning “very beautiful.”
In Mexico, the Poinsettia is a perennial shrub that will grow 10 to 15 feet tall and can be found in the wild.
In the 1820’s Joel Roberts Poinsett was the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. With an interest in botany, he wandered the Mexican countryside looking for new plant species. In 1828 he found a beautiful shrub with large red flowers growing next to a road. He took cuttings and brought them back to his greenhouse in South Carolina.
William Prescott, a historian and horticulturist, was asked to give Euphorbia pulcherrima a new name as it became more popular. At that time Prescott had just published a book, Conquest of Mexico, in which he detailed Poinsett’s introduction of the plant to the U.S. Thus, Prescott named the plant the Poinsettia.
Today the plant is known in Mexico and Guatemala as “”La Flor de la Nochebuena,” or Flower of the Holy Night, or Christmas Eve. In Chile and Peru, the Poinsettia is called the “Crown of the Andes.” In Spain the Poinsettia has a different holiday attribution and is known as “Flor de Pascua,” meaning “Easter flower.”
Autumn Leaves from a lower angle.
Golden Glow
Though John Bartram, a Pennsylvania nurseryman, is credited as being the first person to sell Poinsettias, it was the Ecke family of California who gained the market. In the early 1900’s, the Eckes grew Poinsettias outdoors as landscape plants and cut flowers until Paul Ecke Jr. discovered a technique which caused every seedling to branch and the family industry to flourish. Then in 1991, a university graduate student published an article describing a method for causing Poinsettias to branch. With the secret out and available, competition gained ground, resulting in a decrease of Ecke’s share of the market. Today, however, the Paul Ecke Ranch in California still grows over 70% of all Poinsettias purchased in the U.S. and accounts for about 50% of Poinsettia world-wide sales. As of August 2012, the Ecke Ranch, which was family-owned and operated for nearly 100 years, announced it had been acquired by the Dutch-based Agribio Group.
There are more than 100 varieties of Poinsettias available today. Colors include the traditional red (Prestige Red is a best seller), as well as white, pink, burgundy, marbled and speckled.
For more Poinsettia facts, growing tips, helpful links, and a list of references for the above facts, visit The Poinsettia Pages of the University of Illinois Extension here.
All Photos By Christine Menapace.
Prestige Maroon
Winter Rose® Early Red
For more plant articles, see:
USDA Unveils Updated Plant Hardiness Zone Map
Home for the holidays. It’s a special time of joy and togetherness. And for some families living in Habitat for Humanity homes, the holidays are ingrained in the very heart of their home.
Each year since 2007, lumber milled from the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has been used to help a family build their Habitat home. Tishman Speyer, the owner and operator of Rockefeller Center, generously donates that lumber to Habitat. Company staff members then build alongside a family, turning a Christmas tradition celebrated by millions into a place for smaller, but no less joyous, celebrations.
“The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is a reminder to reflect, be thankful and to remember to give back to others among the hustle and bustle of the holidays,” says Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “That symbol will live on as part of Habitat homeowners’ lives in their new houses.”
Rockefeller Center usually selects a Norway Spruce as its holiday showstopper. Once the trees come down, the trunks are milled into two-by-four and two-by six beams donated by Tishman Speyer. The wood of a Norway Spruce is more flexible and durable than lumber for load-bearing walls and therefore is ideal for blocking — the filling, spacing, joining or reinforcing of frames — as well as for flooring, furniture, and cabinetry. Lumber from Rockefeller Center Christmas trees has been used to help build Habitat homes from New York to Mississippi.
Lumber milled from the 2017 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was donated to Greater Newburgh Habitat for Humanity to help Lakisha build her home.
Lakisha and her five children have lumber from the 2017 tree in their Habitat home in New York. Lakisha treasures making breakfast for her family on Christmas morning and finally having the space to spread out, relax, and enjoy the day together. Several pieces of exposed lumber in her pantry and cabinets are branded with a commemorative stamp celebrating the anniversary of Rockefeller Center’s 85th tree lighting. “Every day, it’s a beautiful reminder of how far I’ve come,” Lakisha says. “And that you should never give up on your dreams, no matter what.”
For Habitat for Humanity International employees, a symbol of the longstanding partnership with Tishman Speyer is visible year-round. Several walls featuring exposed lumber from the 2018 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree are scattered throughout Habitat’s national headquarters in Atlanta, GA. The lumber is branded with stamps from multiple years commemorating the annual tree lighting ceremony.
In 1931, men working on the excavation for Rockefeller Center put up the site’s first Christmas tree. The workers decorated a 20′ balsam fir using garlands made by their families and the tinfoil ends of blasting caps. The site of their celebration was situated on the same area of the plaza where the tree is now raised each year.
In 1933, Rockefeller Center decided a tree would be the perfect way to celebrate the Center, and an annual tradition was born.
The 1986 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was planted at the same time that work on the Center began in 1931.
Rockefeller Center works with the families who donate their trees to replace them and replenish the landscape.
An estimated 500,000 people visit Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree each day during the holiday season.
For more Tree Services® articles, see:
Building A House Around A Tree
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