Is Spring the Time to Dethatch My Lawn?

Thatch control is an essential aspect of maintaining a vibrant and healthy lawn during the spring and summer. By removing the layer of dead grass and other organic matter that has built up on your lawn over the winter, you are opening it back up for improved nutrient and water intake. The dethatching process is typically done during the spring, but what time of the season is best for your lawn? This mostly depends on what type of grass you have.

 

Warm-season turf types should typically be dethatched in the late spring to early summer. This includes grasses such as Zoysia, St. Augustine, Bermuda, Bahia, and Centipede. Cold-season turf types, on the other hand, should typically be dethatched in early spring, although they can also be dethatched in early fall before the cold sets in. Cold-season turfs include Kentucky bluegrass, rough bluegrass, fescue, and ryegrass.

 

Spring may be the best time of year to dethatch your lawn, but how do you know if it actually needs to be dethatched? If your lawn has a thatch layer thicker than half an inch, or if it feels spongy when you walk over it, this means it’s time to dethatch. After your lawn has already begun growing for the season, and after you’ve mowed it a couple of times, you should be ready to bust out the dethatching equipment. Although non-powered dethatchers tend to be more reasonably priced, powered dethatchers are typically more effective and less physically strenuous.

 

Thatch control is just one of the many landscape maintenance services provided by Borst Landscape & Design. Our lawn care experts will get your lawn looking lush, green, and healthy even after the toughest winters, and keep it looking that way all season long. Contact Borst today and breathe new life into your lawn.

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Why Go Organic?

Why Go Organic?

 

Here at Borst Landscaping & Design, we offer an organic and sustainable approach to lawn care that delivers consistently satisfying results. However, organic lawn care does much more than simply providing a healthier and greener lawn. Choosing organic over synthetic lawn care methods can be beneficial in other very important ways that you may not be able to identify as easily. Here are just some of the reasons why organic lawn care is your best option.

 

Cost

Although organic fertilizer can initially cost more than synthetic fertilizer, going organic will actually save you money in the long run. Organic lawn care methods promote natural, healthy soil and root development, which reduces the need for herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides later on because healthy plants can effectively fight off pests and diseases on their own. This means that ongoing organic lawn treatments will ultimately cost you less than synthetic alternatives.

 

Environmental Benefits

Though forgoing the use of synthetic chemicals on your lawn will reduce your overall cost, it will also provide significant environmental benefits. Synthetic chemicals used in lawn care can be washed away and end up polluting storm water systems, or even groundwater used in wells. Synthetic pesticides also kill off many beneficial insects such as ladybugs, which typically prey on pests that can damage your lawn and your plants. Using organic pesticides can eliminate these pests and keep your drinking water unpolluted.

 

Health

At Borst we pride ourselves on a lawn care approach that is safe for your entire family, including your children and pets. This means avoiding the use of chemicals that can potentially cause health issues, particularly in children. Borst uses only natural ingredients in our lawn treatments, which have no adverse health effects.

 

As you can see, organic treatments are truly the best way to keep your lawn, your family, and the environment healthy. Contact Borst today and make your way to a healthier landscape!

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Portfolio Pictures Worth One Thousand Words And Millions Of Dollars

Our society is bombarded with images. In the 1970s, the average American saw 500 advertisements a day. In 2017, that number has increased tenfold. And that’s merely commercial advertisements, not to mention all the cat pics and selfies.

Our brains can only absorb so much. In order to prioritize limited memory space, information is subconsciously sorted and many of these images are discarded.

The old saying goes that “a picture’s worth one thousand words.” But when a prospective client sees your company’s images, will the first word in their brain be “meh…,” triggering the mental garbage disposal?

Stock photos of green lawns that are obviously not in their area — DELETE.

Another typical patio with a half pallet of pavers sitting nearby on the dug-up lawn — DELETE.

Blurry, underexposed landscape lighting shots — DELETE.

The green industry is the seen industry. Prospects are analyzing our work, our trucks, our people and every other possible image they can feed to their subconscious to make an informed decision about how you can help them accomplish their goals.

Too close to see

Images are powerful. And conversely, they can also become completely useless. Since your prospect’s brain can only retain so much, anything that doesn’t clearly stand out gets discarded as advertising noise. The status quo won’t do. Only the exceptional, extraordinary and unique will be etched into their conscious.

Sometimes, we need to take a step back. Don’t just follow what you see most of your peers doing. In fact, look outside of the green industry. Think about other extremely successful companies. Are they using professional photography? Then, why aren’t you?

But yet, the overwhelming majority of green industry companies are still doing the following:

• Having busy team members shoot pictures on smartphones.
• Dabbling with apps and software to filter and edit photos.
• Buying a nice camera and expecting it to deliver the same results as a pro.
• Using frequently used stock photos. (Seriously, you’re all using the same photos.)
• Hiring professionals who don’t have experience working with lawn and landscape photography.

Take your own advice

You tell your prospective clients this all the time: “You get what you pay for.” Why would you not take your own advice?

Have you ever wanted to say, “Mr. Customer, put down the shovel and hedge shears. Trust me to get you what you’re really hoping for?”

Well, Mr. Landscaper, put down the tripod and take your finger off the shutter button. Do what you do best, and understand in order to be truly memorable you can’t afford to look like an amateur or a company that’s cutting corners to save money.

You may not think your prospects will pick up on it, but they will. Or at least when they see your competitor that invests in exceptional professional photography, they will notice the stark contrast.

Lessons from insightful, prosperous companies

The Landscape Leadership team looks at about 20 to 30 lawn and landscape companies’ websites each week. Every now and then, a few stand out in an instant. I went to a couple of these innovative industry leaders to ask them to share their insights about how using professional photography has changed their businesses.

Jarod Hynson and his team at Earth, Turf, & Wood in Denver, Pennsylvania, specializes in high-end residential landscape design and installation. Take a trip over to their website and you’ll instantly see that this company’s work is anything but typical.

As a business owner, Hynson tried his best to capture images of his projects when he could. However, after a hardscape manufacturer asked him to provide some images for their upcoming catalog, he realized that he had not gotten the shots as often as he should. Plus, he was concerned his novice photography skills might not be worthy of the national stage.

The manufacturer provided a professional photographer to shoot a few of their projects. Upon seeing the contrast in the end result, Hynson was convinced. “I told my team, ‘Wait a minute, we’re missing something pretty big here.’ I had thought our images were pretty good, but there was no comparison.”

Hynson understood that using that same professional each year for a consistent look would be one of the best things he’s ever done to help grow his business over the next 10 years. “We budget $6,000 to $9,000 every year for photography to shoot about three to four projects. That’s a drop in the bucket for a multimillion dollar company.” He also adds that even if companies aren’t performing at that level, they could choose to shoot at least one project and it would be money well spent.

Understanding that people, lighting and the finishing staging touches mean the world, Hynson states, “Our images make you want to walk into the setting. They call you into that backyard. If they don’t, we have failed at what we do. We have to capture those images – the family get-togethers, the memories – in those spaces.”

But homeowners aren’t the only targets for these visual marketing assets. Commercial landscape companies like Level Green Landscaping in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, make it a regular part of their budget to include the services of a professional photographer.

Michael Mayberry, CTO for the $15 million company, says their leadership team came to the realization that using a professional photographer on a regular basis was vital to their success. “In order to show prospective clients what we can do, we needed to have detailed, crisp, pro-quality images,” he says.

Mayberry adds that these images have a tremendous impact on commercial property managers when they use their robust website to validate them as a potential service provider. The company utilizes photography to illustrate detailed case studies, blog post images and various website content for lead generation and recruitment purposes. “You may be great, but if your website doesn’t show that well, you’re out of luck,” he says.

Each year, Level Green Landscaping has been allocating several thousands of dollars for new visual content. Using a green industry- specific photographer has made a world of difference in the end result.

“It’s not just a matter of pulling up on a site and having someone snap some pictures.” The pro and Mayberry go over a detailed creative brief prior to their multiple-day shoot each year. The locations are planned, the sites are prepped, and there are contingency plans if the weather isn’t ideal.

Mayberry is emphatic about using someone who understands the landscape industry. Items such as crews utilizing the proper protective equipment, how light interacts with landscape materials and exteriors of buildings, down to taking images from creative vantage points like balconies or even laying on the ground, are all details that a pro naturally considers.

The continued success of professional photography has influenced Mayberry to have a strong stance on the matter. “If you haven’t spent much on professional photos, you may have to invest more in the beginning until you have a good library of images,” he shares. “Or you may have to choose to ramp up your efforts each year. And don’t take all of your pictures at the same time of year. You want to be able to show all of the services you provide, throughout all of the seasons.”

Seeing the big picture

The value of using professionally shot images in your marketing efforts is extremely impactful. And finding the right professional will help you to maximize a regular investment and develop a long-term strategy to build a library of useful visual assets as you scale your company.

Successfully creating and leveraging visual content in your marketing requires a deliberate and systematic approach only a pro can bring to the table. Without it, photography will be unmemorable and more pictures of just another lawn or landscape.

With so many of your competitors missing the mark with subpar images, you have an incredible opportunity to connect with your audience on a much deeper level. Budget for professional photography on an annual basis. Put a lot of thought into which types of images your company needs. Spend the time looking for a pro who has experience capturing images that will resonate with your specific audience.

That’s how to be remembered, and how to make your pictures worth a thousand words and millions of dollars.

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Story Of A Landscape: Country Club Expands Outdoor Area With Patio

Just as with homeowners, businesses sometimes feel the need to expand into the great outdoors. When the Blue Bell Country Club started considering such a move, officers found they had an extra club in the bag with Brian Stover.

Stover is not only a member, but he’s also a landscape designer and the owner of FS Landscaping Contractors, Inc., and Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting in nearby Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

“The general manager asked me to design an outdoor living area for the members to sit outside,” Stover explains. “They were thinking about a fire pit, so, I designed a patio and fire pit using Belgard Products, and then I also integrated a Trex Deck cantilevered out over a pond to view the fountain.”

Photo: FS Landscaping Contractors, Inc., Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting, Belgard Products

And, he incorporated several different types of lighting because, as Stover says, “The idea was to extend the time when people are done dining or golfing; they wanted to extend the time they’d spend there at night.”

Stover went with quality over quantity with his design. What he describes as “a stone patio walkway” is only about 300 square feet, but it supports a 36-inch gas-supplied fire pit and features both Adirondack chairs and a seating wall made from Belgard’s Belair wall product.

It also carries visitors out to the approximately 120-square-foot Trex deck.

Photo: FS Landscaping Contractors, Inc., Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting, Belgard Products

“We had Amazing Decks out of Ambler, Pennsylvania, come in,” Stover says. “They specialize in curving deck railings and deck boards, and we did a custom curved deck where the front-end curves out over the pond.”

Not only is the look attractive, he feels, but because the pond’s embankment falls away at that point, it was the best option to extend the usable area.

However, excavating for the project proved to be its biggest challenge.

Photo: FS Landscaping Contractors, Inc., Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting, Belgard Products

“We had to make it ADA- [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant,” Stover notes. “We were working with a little bit of a hillside, and we needed to cut into that to make it level. There was some challenge to the topography, but being a commercial property we had to make sure we followed ADA.”

Thanks to the seating wall and the deck extension, Stover estimates the addition can easily accommodate 15 people.

Stover’s particularly pleased with the fire pit, and not just because he says working with the Blue Bell team and his own crew enabled them to run just the right amount of gas out to the fire pit to create a great flame.

Photo: FS Landscaping Contractors, Inc., Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting, Belgard Products

“My team custom-cut the Belair Wall product to veneer the fire pit, and that really makes it sparkle,” he says. “It also has encouraged Belgard to potentially make a fire pit kit out of their Belair wall product.”

And, to make sure it meets the club’s need to retain late visitors, the project is amply lit by Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting products, including hardscape wall lights as part of the seating wall, up-lighting for nearby trees, path-lighting along the walkway, and Tru-Scape post cap lights on the deck posts.

The project also didn’t stint on the softscape. Where the pond embankment had been disturbed, Stover worked in some boulders, and then planted Purple Verbena to cascade over them. While the newly planted area includes both spring and fall color, he says the greatest emphasis was on summer color because that’s when the country club sees the most visitors.

Photo: FS Landscaping Contractors, Inc., Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting, Belgard Products

“Summer colors include Black-eyed Susans and the Verbena,” he says. “Some of it was creating balance with focal points. For instance, there’s a Japanese Maple to the left of the patio and a Pink Dogwood to the right. Not only does it create a nice balance with the plant material during the day, but when you’re putting lights on it, you have balance, as well.”

Actual construction of the project took less than three weeks utilizing FS Landscaping crews, but Stover says putting together the team to do the project — and figure out its financing — not only took longer, but was a real learning experience.

Stover explains that originally the country club had a smaller budget worked out for the project.

Photo: FS Landscaping Contractors, Inc., Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting, Belgard Products

“When they saw the design, they really wanted it, and so I said, ‘I’d rather build this than the smaller version that fits your budget,’” he says. “I worked out several deals with the team, and I worked out a deal with the country club where I now have a membership there for life. I figured I’d rather go big and work out the other stuff.”

The key, he says, turned out to be a good bit of networking.

“Putting the team together, Blue Bell Country Club and Belgard Pavers, Trex Decking, Amazing Decks, FS Landscaping, Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting and Froehlich’s Farm & Garden (of Furlong, Pennsylvania, who provided the plants), was just awesome,” Stover says. “I learned that putting a team together and having a success project like this goes a long way.”

And, the project is a success no matter how you look at it. Not only did it win awards from Hardscape North America and the North American Deck and Rail Association, but it’s achieved the country club’s goal of keeping people there into the evenings.

Photo: FS Landscaping Contractors, Inc., Tru-Scapes Landscape Lighting, Belgard Products

“Over the summer they did a wine-and-cheese event, they did a beer-tasting event and they’ve put live music out on the deck,” Stover says. “It’s definitely become a feature, and the ambiance is fantastic.”

Just receiving compliments from his fellow members and seeing how much they’re enjoying the space is one reason Stover is proud of the project. However, he’s also pleased with how well the job turned out.

“I’m proud of how I integrated so much outdoor living in one small space,” he concludes. “We took a lot of really great outdoor living elements, squeezed them into one small space, and it all flows and works. It all works.”

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Strong Market Bodes Well For Landscaping In 2018

Single-family housing starts are strong across all regions in the nation, reported the U.S. Census Bureau on February 16. This is good news for professional landscape and lawn services providers. While there’s often a lag in the demand for significant landscape purchases such as outdoor kitchens and entertainment areas from new homebuyers, other services show an almost immediate uptick. This includes lawn installations, lawn care and landscape plantings.

The Census Bureau reported that in January, U.S. new-home construction grew to the highest level since October 2016. Starts came in 9.7 percent higher than the December 2017 total, and are up 7.3 percent year over year.

For 2018, the National Association of Home Builders expects a 5 percent growth rate in single-family housing starts, which it says is still well below the potential growth rate and falls short of meeting demand for the sector. This is due, in part, to a shortage of skilled construction workers, rising lumber costs and land constraints, says the NAHB.

Even so, residential construction is expected to pick up this year because of a provision in the new tax plan that provides pass-through entities a 20 percent deduction on taxable income, say industry experts. Under the new tax plan, many contractors will be able to deduct 20 percent of their pass-through income, which may cause them to increase wages in an effort to attract labor.

With those predictions in hand, let’s look at the hottest housing markets for 2018, according to zillow.com:

1. San Jose, California: Household Income $110,040, Zillow Home Value Forecast 8.9%.
2. Raleigh, North Carolina: Household Income $71,685, Zillow Home Value Forecast 3.7%.
3. Seattle, Washington: Household Income $78,611, Zillow Home Value Forecast 5.4%.
4. Charlotte, North Carolina: Household Income $59,979, Zillow Home Value Forecast 4.%.
5. San Francisco, California: Household Income $96.677, Zillow Home Value Forecast 3.8%.
6. Austin, Texas: Household Income $71,000, Zillow Home Value Forecast 3.3%.
7. Denver, Colorado: Household Income $71,926, Zillow Home Value Forecast 3%.
8. Nashville, Tennessee: Household Income $60,030, Zillow Home Value Forecast 3.8%.
9. Portland, Oregon: Household Income $68,676, Zillow Home Value Forecast 3.7%.
10. Dallas, Texas: Household Income $63,812, Zillow Home Value Forecast 4.7%.

Compare the above list with the list offered by realtor.com this past December:

1. Las Vegas, Nevada: median home $285,045; projected sales growth 4.9%; predicted price growth 6.9%.
2. Dallas, Texas: median home $339,300; projected sales growth 6%; predicted price growth 5.6%.
3. Deltona, Florida: median home $275,050; projected sales growth 5.5%; predicted price growth 6%.
4. Stockton, California: median home $385,050; projected sales growth 4.6%; predicted price growth 6.4%.
5. Lakeland, Florida: median home $226,950 projected sales growth 3%; predicted price growth 7%.
6. Salt Lake City, Utah: median home $360,828 projected sales growth 4.6%; predicted price growth 4.5%.
7. Charlotte, North Carolina: median home $325,045; projected sales growth 6%; predicted price growth 3%.
8. Colorado Springs, Colorado: median home $375,000; projected sales growth 3.1%; predicted price growth 5.7%.
9. Nashville, Tennessee: median home $358,501; projected sales growth 1%; predicted price growth 7.7%.
10. Tulsa, Oklahoma: median home $199,586; projected sales growth 7.5%; predicted price growth 1%.

In additions to the markets listed above, some sources say that the housing markets in several communities in the Midwest — Madison, Wisconsin; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Columbus, Ohio, etc. — are heating up, as well.

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A Good Year For Salt Contracts

If you don’t separate your salt contracts from your push contracts, then you probably left money on the table this year.

The snow didn’t start as early as many might have liked, but once it came, steady snowfall and a few big storms have kept crews moving since before Christmas. The lake-effect snow machine dropped record accumulation in Pennsylvania and New York. But even the late 2017 dump in the Midwest and the East Coast couldn’t push December snow totals to average numbers. Outside of Montana and Wyoming, snow states failed to hit average precipitation totals.

January began like December ended, with a few strong storms and more lake-effect snow that should bring January snowfall totals up to 10-year averages. So, there is some optimism that snowfall totals will trend toward average numbers in the beginning of the new year.

One thing that makes this snow season a lot like other years is that you are probably wondering if your contract types are helping or hurting your profitability. Your yearly contracts likely are playing out fairly well, whereas your per-push and hourly customers are getting a good deal this year. Sure, they are only paying for when you are there, but you are paying for the infrastructure to service them year-round.

In this year’s dynamic, salt contracts should be a large contributor to your overall revenues and profits. It’s been a perfect storm for ice contracts this year. First, there are the snowfalls of less than 2 inches that made up most of the precipitation in December. Those salting events probably didn’t even need a push, which affords almost drive-by efficiency.

The unusually cold temperatures for most of the country means that the little snow that did fall stuck around parking lots and walkways longer. If you’re not salting, it probably looks like you’re not doing your job very well, and I would expect the guy who writes the checks will re-examine your contract for next year.

Our office parking lot showing hazardous conditions in addition to losing parking spaces and a general free-for-all with driving lanes. Our building manager was never offered a salt contract.

I’m intimately familiar with this no-salt scenario every time I walk through our parking lot here at the offices of PLOW and PlowSite.com. Our snow contractor might be a good one, but you wouldn’t know it given the constant ice sheet that has remained for the past month. Never mind that the discerning owners of our Class B office space likely declined the salt contract at the beginning of the season. It’s still the contractor’s job to convince them that salt is a necessary management technique. You wouldn’t tell a dentist which instrument to use, and how you manage snow events depends on your expertise and judgment as a contractor.

Additionally, compared to recent years, salt looks to be fairly inexpensive and in abundant supply, as is the case in many low-snowfall years. Cities and departments of transportation aren’t buying as much and driving up prices in the name of public safety. That means more profit for the de-icers that you use.

These factors, plus the overall safety of your clients, should prompt snow contractors to re-evaluate the structure of their seasonal contracts. Salt should be separate, and it should be insisted upon as a tool for snow and ice management. Consider that salt contracts are generally more profitable than push contracts. You should make at least 50 percent profit on salt contracts, and they should be structured on a per-event basis. That way there is no wasted resource for you. You show up when there is a trace to less than 2 inches, the times you otherwise wouldn’t need to service the property. Sure, you will be showing up to sites more often, but the level of service and the final product will cement your commitment to the property owner, manager and public safety.

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Is it Time to Retire Your Zero-Turn Mower?

Keeping your mowers in tip-top shape also means running an efficient mowing business. Is there a point when mower maintenance outweighs the benefits of investing in a new machine? How do you make those big-purchase plans in your business? These LawnSite members share their experiences on the life of a mower.

LushGreenLawn: How many hours do you expect to get out of your zero-turn mower before you sell it and get a new one? Also, how many hours do you typically put on it in a year with full-time guys working five days a week?

Another question: Do you guys replace motors or figure the mower is done once the engine goes? Does the mower typically out-last the engine (assuming regular maintenance, replacing parts as they break, spindles, bearings, etc.)? I am not opposed to doing things like changing an engine or replacing a deck, if the juice was worth the squeeze.

I know that this question has no definite answer, but I’m just looking for an average. I’m working on a five-year business plan, and need to know roughly when I will need to buy a new one. Would it be too much to expect 3,000 to 4,000 hours out of a commercial zero-turn, if I was not worried about resale value? Have any of you run yours that long? If so, did it have the original engine and deck? I’m guessing the hydraulic pumps will outlast everything else.

haybaler: I do a lot of maintenance and I’m a little optimistic, but I plan on getting at least 3,000 hours on my zero-turns. But I’m not planning on selling them; I just run them until they die and then keep any parts that are still good.

GreenN’Clean: It depends on how well you keep your equipment. If you take care of it, then it will last you a long time. But if you beat the heck out of it, then it won’t last as long.

fiveoboy01: Without considering resale or trade-in value, 3,000 hours would be doable with a good maintenance schedule. In my opinion, 4,000 hours is really pushing it, at least for an air-cooled gas engine. You’ll get more life out of a liquid-cooled gas or diesel engine. I’ve seen numerous mowers with a second engine on them and the mower itself (frame, deck, etc.) is still in pretty decent shape. Regarding pumps and wheel motors, I have no clue there.

Swampy: Ten years for diesel zero-turning radius mowers and front mounts. Starts becoming a reliability issue when it gets that old. Plus, you get somewhat of a trade in/bigger down payment toward a newer machine. We put on about 500 to 600 hours in one season.

New2TheGreenIndustry: I would plan on a mower running 2,000 hours minimum. How long it lasts after that depends on how well it’s been maintained.

PenningsLandscaping: Maintain the mower and put about 2,000 hours on it, then sell it and buy a new one if you don’t want to dump money into it. Two thousand hours is generally the number you’ll hit without any major repairs. One guy hit 7,000 on a Ferris when another guy’s Exmark only hit half of that. My cousin’s Ferris started having problems at 1,800 hours. You just don’t know.

corriepick: We put 1,000 to 1,200 hours a year our diesel Walkers. Generally, the engines never give us problems but everything else wears out. Blowers every 1,000 hours, hydro at 2,000 hours, etc. I usually flick them at 4,000 as that seems to be the point at which maintenance costs more than repayments on a replacement. I do have an old one at 6,000 hours but that had an operator that treated it like he owned it for most of its life. We’ve recently moved to leasing mowers; after the lease period, you just hand it back and get a new one. It’s well used by then anyway. There are some tax benefits to it, too.

Mow-Daddy.com: For a five-year plan, at about year three or four, I would look at buying a new one and keep the one you have as a backup mower. Or if you get help, you always need more mowers. Don’t just park it though; use it every couple of weeks for a day. It’s not good to just let them sit unused.

ashgrove landscaping: Between 1,500 and 2,000 hours and about three to four years. Downtime costs much more than a payment and the financing is interest free. Also, when you sell it, you get liquid cash to do what you want with – put it toward a new one for a smaller payment or pay off some interest-bearing debt, whatever you need. And you’re right back into warranty land.

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Like A Boss: Educating Clients About Water Conservation

Water conservation is an important focus for Gachina Landscape Management, headquartered in Menlo Park, California, but it hasn’t necessarily been an easy sell. The company, which does both maintenance and construction work for commercial clients, has found that the slow return on investment for water conservation efforts have posed unique challenges. Because it can be difficult to get clients on board with the concept, ongoing education has proven to be valuable.

While water conservation efforts are important everywhere, the need is particularly evident in a state like California, where drought conditions are more prevalent.

Photo: Gachina Landscape Management

“Water is a precious resource,” says Stacie Callaghan, marketing manager for the company. “Not only because of the drought, but because it needs to be around for future generations. People need to think of water use as conservation long term — not just in drought years.”

But with this technology-driven society, Callaghan says people believe there is a solution for everything. She says they aren’t as concerned about water as they should be as they don’t truly grasp the fact that water can’t just be made.

Photo: Gachina Landscape Management

“Plus, while water conservation programs and sustainable practices save money long term, people don’t want to wait for long term benefits,” she adds. “People want instant results. But most ROIs are realized in three to five years. Today’s generation wants results yesterday.”

So, the company has fought through those challenges with education. They put together case studies that highlight some of their work. Most recently Gachina shared a “Water Conservation Success Story,” which profiled Oak Creek Apartments, their client in Palo Alto. After implementing an extensive water conservation program, Gachina was able to save the client 4,995,000 gallons of water (16 percent) and over $50,000 in the first 18 months.

Photo: Gachina Landscape Management

Callaghan says the water savings were accomplished by the installation of 28 new WeatherTRAK Smart Controllers, removing tens of thousands of square feet of water-loving turf, converting old spray head zones to high efficiency in-line drip irrigation, and the installation of attractive low-water use, native plant material.

Although it hasn’t been a simple feat, Callaghan says they can see the effort put into education paying off with more and more clients beginning to express interest in water conservation programs. It also helps that Gachina is well-educated on rebate opportunities and can help clients take advantage of savings that are out there. That was the case for the Oak Creek Apartment client. Callaghan says they assisted them in taking advantage of Santa Clara Valley Water District’s rebate program, enabling Oak Creek to receive $50,000 in funding toward the project.

The company received a merit award from the NALP for the project. Photo: Gachina Landscape Management

Ultimately, Callaghan says it is their goal to be a guide to clients and help them make the best choices.

“We assist them with rebate programs when applicable and we do our best to educate our clients in sustainable practices that benefit them and the environment,” she says. “It is the wave of the future. We just need more people to hop on board.”

Our Like a Boss series highlights some common business challenges landscape professionals face and how they conquer them.

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I Am A Landscaper: Mick Ribault

Having grown up on the rugged coastline of Brittany, France, Mick Ribault says he can date his love for the water back to his childhood. He spent a lot of time playing on the beach in tidal pools. Ribault says he loved creating pools and dams in the sand and watching the tide flow in and out. When he was 11, his family moved to the U.S., where he has been ever since. After graduating from North Carolina State University, Ribault ultimately wound up working in lake and pond management.

In 2006 as waterway regulations grew, Ribault recognized a need for more service work and branched off to form his own business. Since that time, Dragonfly Pond Works has experienced rapid growth, adding three branches in 2016 with plans to add two more this year. The company is headquartered in North Carolina but serves from Maryland all the way down to Florida. Ribault says he feels fortunate to have known from such an early age what he was meant to do. But even before he got into lake and pond management, Ribault always had a strong work ethic.

From the time I was a kid up through college, I held 14 different jobs. That included everything from being on an assembly line building school buses to working in a plant nursery to cleaning school buses to working at Walmart. I always loved the idea of being able to get a job and earn a paycheck — even from an early age.

I think having a lot of different jobs has helped me understand the mechanics of business. I did not start my business from the businessman side or with business metrics or analytics. I came at it knowing what it takes to do the work. From it’s very start, Dragonfly has been built on the principles of hard work — making everything as efficient and as high quality for the customer as possible.

All through college I played Ultimate Frisbee. In 1999, the North Caroline State men’s team made it to the national championship, which was exciting. After that I played on a local team called the Ring of Fire. It taught me a lot about team work and how when you work toward a common goal, and put in the time, you can achieve whatever you’ve put your mind toward. Today I’m still involved with helping out at the NC State men’s team.

I enjoy outdoor activities like mountain biking and skiing when I have the time. We took a family ski trip in December and enjoy traveling when we can. I was able to get back to France last summer with my family. As I get older, the value of returning to my roots and exposing my children to the experiences I had growing up have become important to me. I currently have a 2 1/2-year old daughter and a son on the way.

We have chickens and a big garden and I love it. I love being able to take my daughter outside and pick tomatoes right from the vine. And I love having fresh eggs. I’m not the type of person who likes to sit inside. As the business has grown, more office work has been a necessity. But I still get outside as much as I can whether it’s to work in the garden or even just do some yard work.

I never take for granted how lucky I am to have moved to the U.S. There is a lot of opportunity here — whether it’s finding a job or starting your own business. I have family in France that have started their own businesses and it is not the same — it’s much harder there to have the opportunities that are available here. I feel very lucky to live in a place where you truly can control your own destiny.

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TCIA Releases Report of Tree Care Related Incidents in 2017: This Week’s Industry News

Want to keep up with the latest news in lawn care and landscaping? Check back every Thursday for a quick recap of recent happenings in the green industry.

TCIA Releases Report of Tree Care Related Incidents in 2017
TCIA learned of 129 tree care-related occupational incidents in calendar year 2017. Seventy-two of them were fatal. This report provides what we know about these incidents from the media accounts. Comparing 2017 with previous years, we reported 81, 92 and 92 occupational fatalities in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. The youngest victim we recorded was 20, the oldest was 71. The average age of the victim (all incidents) was 43. This relatively high average age suggests that complacency rather than ignorance plays a significant role in these incidents. Supporting this claim:

• The typical fall victim was unsecured
• The typical struck-by victim remained in the drop zone
• The typical electrocution victim violated MAD and made contact through a conductive tool/object.

For those accounts in which an employer was identified, 22 percent of all incidents occurred with TCIA member companies, and 78 percent occurred with non-members. The “Big Three” types of accident causation are the same as they have been in recent years: Fall, struck-by and electrical contact incidents comprise 33, 33 and 17 percent of the total incidents, respectively.

Granz Turf Depot Named Wright New England Dealer of the Year
Granz Turf Depot in New Hampshire has been named 2017 New England Dealer of the Year by EDM Distributors and Wright Manufacturing. The award recognizes Granz Turf Depot’s  outstanding performance as a Wright full line commercial mower dealer. Granz Turf Depot, owned by Bruce Yennaco and Joseph Chevalier, operates four stores in New Hampshire – Granz Power Equipment in Salem; Still’s Power Equipment in Manchester; and Turf Depots in Portsmouth and Londonderry.

DEWALT Unveils Two Lawn Mowers
DEWALT has unveiled the 2x20V MAX* Brushless Mower (DCMW220) and 40V MAX* Brushless Mower (DCMW290). The 2x20V MAX* Brushless Mower is optimized for use with DEWALT construction battery platforms. The two DEWALT 20V MAX* 5.0Ah Batteries (DCB205) work simultaneously to deliver the power demanded by the user and provide flexibility to be used with other tools in the DEWALT 20V MAX* system.  The 40V MAX* Brushless Mower is optimized for use in landscaping applications. It is powered by one DEWALT 40V MAX* 6.0Ah Battery (DCB406). Both the mowers feature high-efficiency brushless motors to deliver consistent cutting performance. They also both offer a 20-inch metal deck to cut a large path, a folding handle for upright storage, and front deck and rear deck carrying handles.

Ditch Witch Dealerships and Individuals Receive Service & Leadership Awards
Ditch Witch has announced recipients of its annual Harold Chesnutt Award, Service and Support Leadership Award, and Service and Support Excellence Award for 2017. Jon Ahlman of Ditch Witch of Arizona was presented the 2017 Harold Chesnutt Award. The annual award recognizes the parts manager in the worldwide Ditch Witch dealer network who best exemplifies the enthusiasm and dedication Harold Chesnutt brought to his profession for more than 30 years. Ahlman has been a member of the Ditch Witch family since 1981. Kyle Liebman of Ditch Witch Northwest was recognized as the 2017 Service Manager of the Year. Presented annually, this award honors the Ditch Witch dealership service manager who best promotes the highest level of product support to customers and superior leadership to co-workers. With a passion for mechanics, Liebman joined the Ditch Witch organization in 1998 and served as a “jack-of-all-trades.” The No. 1 dealership for service and support in 2017 was Ditch Witch of South Louisiana. The other top dealerships included: Ditch Witch of Arizona, Ditch Witch Mid-States, Ditch Witch Sales of Michigan, Ditch Witch of North Dakota, Ditch Witch Northwest, Ditch Witch UnderCon, Ditch Witch of Virginia, and Jesco, Inc.

LiveWall Living Wall Blooms on Bloomington Parking Garage
The new Monroe County Parking Garage in Bloomington, Indiana features a LiveWall installation. LiveWall fills five of the parking structure’s window openings with a variety of plants that bloom in shades of yellow, red, pink, purple and green. Axis Architecture + Interiors was the project architect and ProCLAD, Inc. was the contractor selected to install the parking garage green wall. The window openings in the parking garage measure 8 feet long by 6 feet tall. ProCLAD designed and installed a framework within the window openings with 4-inch by 4-inch by ¼-inch tube steel. They bolted the LiveWall system’s horizontal aluminum rails to the tube steel frames. Each of the five sections of green wall has six rows of LiveWall modular planter boxes, which slide into the rails.

Honda Plans $10.5 Million Expansion of North Carolina Plant
The Alamance County Board of Commissioners gave Honda Power Equipment $157,500 incentives over five years in a 3–2 vote for a $10.5 million expansion of its Swepsonville, North Carolina plant. There could be more investment and incentives in the near future, but not more jobs. The plant has been operating in Alamance County for more than 30 years, company Vice President Robert Whitehead said at the commissioners’ first February meeting Monday, but growing EPA regulation of small gasoline engines, of which the plant produces millions each year for things like lawn mowers, means the plant might need to expand into another product. But the parent company hasn’t decided whether the Swepsonville facility is the best plant for the job. Over the next year, Whitehead said, the plant would expand by 116,000 square feet — 100,000 square feet would be factory floor and the rest offices, according to a report by The Times-News.

Vanguard Launches All-New Single-Cylinder Engine
Vanguard has introduced the first in a complete line of all-new single-cylinder horizontal shaft commercial gasoline engines built from the ground up based on customer input. Vanguard developed the new engines around key areas of performance critical to improving overall productivity, including starting, maintenance intervals, service and support, and total cost of ownership. The new line will span from 5 to 13 gross horsepower to meet power requirements for a wide range of global commercial applications. The new line of engines also includes an advanced version of TransportGuard, Vanguard’s single ignition and fuel shutoff designed to prevent oil dilution during transport.

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How To Target Your Audience On Social Media

How important is social media to your marketing strategy? Do you have an active presence on social media — or are you just there? Or maybe you’re not on social media at all. While there is a lot of debate as to how much social media matters in your business strategy, most would agree that it makes sense for a business to at least have a presence on some of the most popular platforms. After all, there’s no question that your customers are there. Reportedly, there are approximately 3 billion internet users across the globe and 2 billion of them have active social media accounts. Getting involved on social media is a great way to engage with clients and meet them where they’re at.

A lot of companies make the big mistake of just copying what others in the industry are doing, says Chad Diller, landscape industry certified technician, ISA-certified arborist and account manager for Landscape Leadership. They might see a post that a brand they respect puts up, and they’ll do something just like it. What that ends up doing is make you look like every other landscaper out there. That’s a big problem when the name of the game is differentiating yourself. When every landscape company out there starts to look exactly the same, it’s not doing much for your business — or the industry as a whole.

Of the various social media platforms out there (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram being the standouts), Facebook seems to be the most popular among landscape companies. Glen Baisley, marketing and customer service director for Neave Group Outdoor Solutions in Wappinger Falls, New York, says Facebook gives you “a lot of bang for your buck” when you invest in it as a marketing tool.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that only a small percentage of your audience is seeing your Facebook posts if you aren’t investing in boosting their reach,” Baisley says. “For just a small amount of money — typically we do $25 to $50 — you can expand your reach to a pretty big target audience.”

Of course, Baisley adds, it’s important to know who you want to target. Neave Group varies their social media strategy based on which application they’re using.

“We would never go after a commercial market on Facebook,” Baisley says. “But we might try to target some commercial accounts using LinkedIn. You need to know your audience.”

Michael Mayberry, chief technical officer for Level Green Landscaping in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, says he uses different social media outlets for different purposes, as well. Instagram is their portfolio where customers can see a lot of job photos, while Twitter is a constant and ongoing voice for the company. LinkedIn is more focused on recruiting potential new hires, whereas Facebook is where Mayberry has an ongoing dialogue with customers.

Mayberry says his approach to Facebook is using it as a tool to keep customers aware of what Level Green is up to as a company. Since they have a very family-like atmosphere and like to convey that to the customers, Mayberry uses social media to wish team members happy birthdays or to congratulate them on achievements, such as new certifications.

When using social media, it’s important to research and use hashtags appropriately, adds Mayberry. Understanding how and when to use them, and thinking outside of the box, will help attract people to your content, he says. Mayberry uses hashtags all the time on Instagram but never on Facebook and very rarely on Twitter.

Terra Phelps, president and handler for Utopian Landscapes LLC, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, says that one of the things they like most about Facebook is how closely they can target their audience in posts. They typically go after a more affluent customer population, and Facebook allows them to focus their reach to that specific audience.

“I think Facebook is a brilliant place to invest marketing dollars,” Phelps says. “They have a lot of really useful tools that allow you to be very targeted in your approach.”

One area in which Facebook has been particularly helpful to Utopian’s business is in their holiday lighting services. In fact, Phelps says the most they’ve spent on a Facebook ad was the $300 they invested in a holiday lighting post that ran for seven days. Because it is such a time-sensitive service, Phelps says social media has allowed them to get the word out early and generate valuable leads.

“One of the biggest pushbacks I get is when we reach customers too late and they say, ‘it’s not worth it to invest the money when they will only be up for three weeks.’ So, we really went for an early push this year,” Phelps says. “One of the most helpful tools from Facebook was a tool where the customer could fill out a form if they were interested. We generated a ton of leads using that.”

Baisley has also used Facebook for a stronger holiday decor push, and he says the service has easily doubled in sales since last year because of it. He says that Facebook was a great way to start marketing early.

“In the past, we started our push for holiday decor too late,” Baisley says. “This year I did a whole Christmas in July theme and used Facebook to get ahead of the curve.”

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Winter’s Wildcard: Predicting And Managing Lake-Effect Snow

A snow plow contractor starts his day in Toledo, Ohio, with a sunny sky. This seems like a quiet day until a call comes in from Cleveland saying they are getting 2 inches per hour snowfall rates and blizzard-like conditions. What could cause this extreme, abrupt change in such a short distance? The short answer is a phenomenon called lake-effect snow.

As the winter season kicks into high gear, lake-effect snow begins to take shape across the Great Lakes region of the United States. Snowplow contractors that work around the Great Lakes know the variability and challenges lake-effect snow produces in just a short time period. However, even if you live away from the Great Lakes, it is still worth understanding how lake-effect snow works as it can impact areas well downwind of the shore, up to 500 miles away from the lake.

While most in the U.S. associate lake-effect snow with the Great Lakes, this process can occur with any larger body of water (especially with any lake that has a fetch of 50 miles or greater). Other bodies of water that experience the similar phenomenon include the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and areas near the Great Salt Lake, Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

Meteorologists look for signs of lake-effect snow when there are two main factors taken into account. These are the temperature difference between the lake surface and the air mass above it and wind direction.

1. Temperature difference

One of the key properties of any body of water is the high latent heat capacity (meaning it takes longer for the temperatures to change). Therefore, as the air temperature turns colder heading into the winter season, the water temperature still remains relatively mild. This temperature difference between the air above the ground surface and water helps set the stage for the lake-effect machine during the late fall months.

When a cold, Arctic airmass passes over, the warmer water conducts and convects heat upward, warming the air just above the lake. The temperatures gradient (difference) between the air right above the water and the temperature of the air mass around 5,000 feet above lake will then determine if conditions are favorable for lake-effect snow and how much. The general rule of thumb is a 13-degree Celsius temperature difference between the air and the water. The greater the temperature difference, the higher potential there is for a major lake-effect snow event.

2. Wind and the lake-effect snowbelt

The orientation of where a snow band will ultimately set up is determined by the direction of the wind and the distance of the water in which the wind travels over (also known as the “fetch”). As a general rule of thumb, a fetch greater or equal to 62 miles over open water typically leads to the most significant lake-effect snow events. The two most common fetches are short and long. A long fetch is defined as wind that travels over water over a long duration of time, and a short fetch is the wind travelling a short duration of time over water.

The most common wind direction across the Great Lakes is from the northwest. This often results in the southern and eastern portion of the Great Lakes regions receiving the brunt of the lake-effect snow. Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan climatologically experience a shorter fetch, with the longer fetch and greatest potential for substantial lake-effect snow originating from Lake Erie and Ontario.

Wind speed also plays an important part in the development of lake-effect snow. With lighter winds, the snow maximum will be closer to the lakeshore. The opposite happens when there are stronger winds. This allows the lake-effect snows to travel much further inland — as much as 250 to 500 miles away.

Make it stop!

As we have talked about earlier, lake-effect snows are most intense through the late fall and early winter seasons (November through February). Once we get into the heart of the winter season, lake-effect snow can diminish completely. When plowing snow around the area, you can look for some particular signs to watch out for that may signal the end of lake-effect snows for the winter season.

The main signal is when the majority of each lake freezes over. This shuts off the ever-important conduction and convection process because the necessary moisture and instability is no longer available for lake-effect snow formation. Each lake is different as the depth of the lake plays a factor as well. Lake Ontario may experience little to no freezing during an entire winter season. However, most times, just the cooling of the lake water by February is enough to drop the temperatures difference to less than 13 degrees Celsius.

In the U.S., most do not ever have to worry about lake effect snow. But for those who do, it is the wildcard of the winter with the ability to change conditions quickly over such a short area.

Knowing how it forms and ways to track it will help you keep operations running smoothly and efficiently through the heart of the winter.

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Story Of A Landscape: Installing A Movable Hardscape For A Commercial Client

When Church Mutual Insurance Company, the leading insurer of worship centers and related organizations in the United States, outgrew its headquarters and a secondary location in Merrill, Wisconsin, it opted to utilize a second office facility in the community’s former Walmart building.

While the building offered plenty of space inside, it had some distinct challenges outside for Carey Owen, owner of Colorscapes by Carey, who was called in to upgrade the landscape.

Photo: Colorscapes by Carey

The biggest challenge: because Church Mutual is only leasing the building, nothing that couldn’t be removed could be installed on the property. That the project has been recognized by both the Wisconsin Masonry Association and Hardscape North America, which cited it for its use of a combination of hardscape materials on a commercial project of less than 20,000 square feet, gives some indication of how well she succeeded.

Owen, who only recently relocated her business to her hometown of Racine, Wisconsin, four hours south of Merrill, explains she got the job because she’d worked previously on landscape projects for Church Mutual and had a good relationship with its facilities manager.

“Walmart had built a whole new building,” she explains. “Church Mutual wanted to utilize the existing space and revamp it into something that was usable and work-environment friendly. Their focus is on their employees’ well-being and making things environmentally pleasing.

Photo: Colorscapes by Carey

“What they wanted to do was create a space where the employees could go outside and enjoy the outdoors and have something appealing to everyone.”

While the inside offered the company space for more than 150 employees, because the site was being leased, the building’s footprint could not be altered and no physical changes to the surrounding property were allowed.

Ultimately, that meant Owen was constrained to repurposing what had been the outdoor garden center while coming up with a design that allowed Church Mutual the option of removing the landscape materials if the company was ever required to move.

Photo: Colorscapes by Carey

That left Owen to contend with a cracked and broken concrete pad that couldn’t be removed because of an easement with a pipeline company that runs through the property. That easement proved to be particularly burdensome because it pushed the start date for the renovation to almost Halloween of 2015.

“We didn’t find out about the easement until we had already started on the project,” Owen says. “We had gotten about three days into it when the pipeline people came over and said, ‘We’ve had no discussion on this,’ so we were delayed about six weeks. Fortunately, the weather held out a little longer than usual.”

The approximately 4,500-square-foot project began mortaring the base layer to the existing concrete and grinding off some poles that had been left in the former garden center.

Assisting Owen with the actual construction was Rhinelander, Wisconsin-based PICS, Inc. Owner Steve Cooper advised on repairing the concrete, and then utilized Landscape Step Units to create a border for the paver section.

Photo: Colorscapes by Carey

“Every piece had to be leveled with mortar,” Owen says. “It was crazy how much work went into just mortaring the first layer down.”

Once that was in place, a base layer of aggregate was filled within the border. Owen explains that it contains both the irrigation system for the planters and electrical for lighting. It also allowed the area to be pitched away from the building for drainage.

Supplying the project was County Materials. That was a decision of the Church Mutual facilities director, Owen says. The pavers are from the company’s Grand Milestone Paver line in its Serenity color to add warmth to the area, and installed in a running-bond pattern.

 

“They’re big pavers,” she says. “We had to use air tools to move them into place, and we couldn’t have them teeter-tottering because they’re such large pieces. It was a tricky situation because we had only six inches to get our sand, base, drainage and irrigation system in there and the pavers, as well. There were some tight tolerances for depth.”

Photo: Colorscapes by Carey

Concrete was also the answer to part of the six-foot retaining wall that separates the new area from the parking lot.

“This abutted the parking lot, and when the snowplow goes to clean up and hits a retaining wall, it’s not pretty,” Owen relates. “It pretty much explodes. We couldn’t mortar them in, but we filled in the first three layers with concrete.”

The retaining wall serves several purposes. Its height is helpful in keeping out blowing trash from a nearby fast-food restaurant, Owen says. And, since the side opposite the parking lot was built as a multi-tiered planter, it provides visual interest for employees utilizing the outdoor area.

The wall is constructed of County Block Retaining Wall System Jumbo Units in a Buff color, with darker Brown utilized for accents. Charcoal Landscape Step Units give access to the second layer of the planter and for raising and lowering a United States flag.

On the other side of the space, a single level planter wraps around the corner to help enclose the area. The entire wall system is capped with a Crest Bullnose Paver in Timeless.

Photo: Colorscapes by Carey

In between the two planter areas is an outdoor grill and serving area, and a pergola for company events.

“The grill is also from County Materials, and Church Mutual wanted the kitchen area large enough so there were food prep areas and space to serve a buffet,” Owen says. “The pergola was built by the staff at Church Mutual and installed prior to us putting up the grill area.”

The grill also provided a learning experience for Owen.

“I learned you can’t mortar veneer in the middle of winter,” she says. “It took us (herself, two men from PICS and two of her own crew), about four weeks to do the rest of the job, but we had to go back in the spring of 2016 and finish the grill.”

However, even building the planters was a challenge because of the area’s cold winters.

“We had about three feet of soil and the remainder is drainage (via a geogrid),” she says. “It was important that the water not freeze in the planters and we could avoid frost issues.”

Photo: Colorscapes by Carey

The planters contain a mix of perennials for seasonal color, small shrubs for winter greenery, and some 700 bulbs. There’s also an area where employees can grow herbs for company cookouts.

Owen admits to being more than thrilled with the plaudits this project has garnered, especially because she’s not a trained landscape designer.

“This is just simplistic and tailored to what they were asking for,” she says. “They wanted clean lines to go with the clean lines of the building and they went with a very European look for cleanliness. I’m especially pleased that I got to create the plantings.”

Still, she says her favorite feature of the $300,000 project is the grill and its Norstone Ochre veneer.

Photo: Colorscapes by Carey

“The coloring of the pavers is more in the earthy tones to blend in well with the area,” Owen says. “The Ochre veneer provides a nice contrast, but it’s one of several things I had to think through.”

Not surprisingly, asked about her biggest challenge with the project, Owen goes back to that concrete pad. But, she says, it also provided its own learning experience.

“Who builds retaining walls on concrete that you can’t rip up?” she asks. “I can understand if it was a beautiful, level concrete pad, but this was just a piece of junk.”

Ultimately, though, Owen recognized she’d have to work around it — and she did.

“Even if there are obstacles involved in a project, with patience you can overcome them,” she says.

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