Manufacturers Go Pink to Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 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.

Fisher Engineering, SnowEx Go Pink to Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Fisher Engineering announces the support of Breast Cancer Awareness month in partnership with SnowEx. During the month of October, Fisher is running a special promotion featuring limited edition pink FISHERXV2 v-plows and pink lift arm kits. Fisher will donate $100 from the sale of each pink XV2 v-plow and $50 from the sale of each pink lift arm kit to the Maine Breast Cancer Coalition, where purchasers can choose to make the donation in memory of a person that has been affected by breast cancer.

Husqvarna Partners with Men Against Breast Cancer for 2017 Campaign
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Husqvarna is partnering with Men Against Breast Cancer. Now in its fifth year, Husqvarna’s “Saws for a Cause” campaign will drive awareness and raise funds. Consumers in the U.S. and Canada can purchase limited-edition pink toy chain saws from local Husqvarna dealers during October. For every purchase Husqvarna and its partners will donate $3 (for up to $15,000), to Men Against Breast Cancer. Husqvarna is also holding the 2017 Husqvarna Breast Cancer Awareness Giveaway, where one randomly selected winner will receive a limited-edition pink 450 Rancher chain saw and limited-edition pink toy chain saw. That giveaway entry period runs from October 1 through November 15.

Weed Man Hits $100 Million Milestone
Weed Man USA, the largest franchised lawn care company in North America, is proof positive that when a business wholeheartedly invests in people, an ongoing culture of success is created. With systems in place that are strategically designed to create multiple advancement opportunities for franchisees and their employees, Weed Man has experienced year over year growth. This week, the company announced that it has officially hit the $100 million revenue milestone in the United States. Since January, Weed Man USA has expanded into 21 new territories. The franchise has now established roots into 520-plus territories throughout the United States. Weed Man USA has grown almost 12 percent in 2017 and is projected to continue growing at the same rate in 2018.

Billy Goat To Give Away A 13 HP Debris Loader At GIE+EXPO
GIE +EXPO trade show attendees are invited to enter a drawing for a Billy Goat 13 horsepower debris loader when completing a demo at the Billy Goat outdoor booth #6374-D. To register to win a DL1301H, attendees must complete a demo of any Billy Goat machine at booth #6374-D and submit a completed registration card at indoor booth #10168 or outdoor booth #6374-D. A combination of power and size, at 2,000 cfm of commercial suction, the DL1301H is designed for small to mid-size jobs and crews. A dual shredding 14.25-inch diameter armor plate impeller with Piranha blade that reduces debris up to 12:1 and maximizes trailer loading across multiple properties before dumping saves time and dump fees. The DL1301H is powered by a 388 cc Honda engine.

Asplundh Tree Experts Rocked with $95 Million Penalty
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia recently reported Asplundh Tree Experts Co., a tree trimming company has been handed a $95 million penalty, the largest ever imposed in a United States immigration case. The government said that the company hired employees who provided fake identification documents from 2010 to 2014. The company’s chairman and CEO Scott Asplundh said in a statement that it has taken steps to improve its hiring practices, including reviewing the identification of all employees. “We accept responsibility for the charges as outlined, and we apologize to our customers, associates and all other stakeholders for what has occurred,” he said.

PBI-Gordon Celebrates 70 Years
The year was 1947 and the United States was in the post-World War II economic boom. Four industrious men in Kansas City pooled their considerable talents and shared values to create what would one day become a leading manufacturer of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and growth regulators for the professional turf and ornamental management industries. PBI-Gordon continues to thrive to this day. The company, which became 100 percent employee-owned in 2002, is pursuing an aggressive 10-year growth plan that includes investment in manufacturing and warehouse facilities and the reformulation of products to reduce costs and improve efficacy.

KYOCERA to Acquire Power Tool Business from RYOBI
Kyocera Corporation has announced that it has concluded a basic agreement, as of September 29, to acquire the majority of shares, 80 percent, of a company to be established from the company split of Ryobi Limited’s power tool business. The acquisition is expected to be completed in January 2018. Kyocera has recently strengthened its power tool business in the U.S. and European markets through the acquisition of the Unimerco Group in Europe (now KYOCERA UNIMERCO A/S) in 2011 and the acquisition of SENCO Holdings, Inc. in August of this year (now KYOCERA SENCO Industrial Tools, Inc.) Ryobi has a strong market position in Japan and Asia encompassing a wide range of products with highly advanced technologies, Kyocera will be able to expand sales globally.

NCNLA’s One-Day Profit Planning Event Nov. 6
The North Carolina Nursery & Landscape Association (NCNLA) is offering a new local one-day intensive designed for landscape business owners and managers. Partnering with the Carolina Green Industry Network and two of the country’s leading experts on landscape business profitability, NCNLA’s inaugural One-Day Profit Planning will launch on November 6, 2017, at the Harris Conference Center in Charlotte. The one-day intensive will include interactive sessions on ­– Budgeting and Cost-Based Estimating (Marcus vandeVliet – MV Enterprises) and Defining and Sizing Your Team for Profit (Tim Smith – Ignite Business Strategies). 

DTN Acquires Wilkens Weather Technologies
DTN, a provider of information and actionable insights in agriculture, weather, refined fuels and trading, recently acquired Wilkens Weather Technologies, a Houston-based weather company, from Rockwell Collins. Wilkens Weather Technologies provides weather forecasting services to customers in the offshore/maritime industry, in particular oil and gas.

New Reduced Risk Product Available for Production Ornamentals
Environmental Science, a business unit of the Bayer Crop Science, is launching Altus insecticide for use in landscape ornamentals. Altus controls sucking pests before, during and after bloom, as well as providing compatibility with honey bees, bumble bees and many beneficials. Altus provides a new foundational chemistry for the ornamentals industry, which is available to growers for use with production ornamentals in greenhouses. The product offering flexible applications, broad-spectrum control, systemic and translaminar protecting of plant growth. It is also classified as a reduced risk product by the EPA.

NJPA Awards Contracts to 15 Green Industry Vendors
The National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA) recently awarded contracts to 15 vendors who offer grounds maintenance solutions. Through these contracts, government, education, and nonprofit entities can purchase mowers, chippers, diggers, landscape rakes, snow blowers and plow attachments, and much more. The vendors are: Ariens Company; Bandit Industries, Inc., John Deere–Mowers/Tractors; Exmark Manufacturing; Hustler Turf Equipment; Jacobsen; Kubota Tractor Corp.; Land Pride, Morbark, LLC; Power Distributors, LLC; Rhino AG, Inc.; Schulte Industries; The Toro Company; Ventrac by Venture Products, Inc. and Vermeer Corp. Purchasing off an NJPA contract streamlines the procurement process for public entities, saving them time and money. Effective as of August 18, 2017, the contracts are available to all NJPA members throughout the US and Canada.

FNGLA Landscape Show Set for Nov. 2-4
The Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association plans to host The Landscape Show Redux Nov. 2-4, 2017, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. The original show had been canceled due to Hurricane Irma in September. The Landscape Show Redux will take place in the West building due to limited availability of convention center space. Also, the headquarters hotel moved from the Rosen Centre Hotel to the Rosen Shingle Creek on Universal Boulevard in Orlando. Complimentary bus service will be available directly to and from the Rosen Shingle Creek and the convention center. For more information on the rescheduled show, visit FNGLA’s website.

Arborjet Welcomes Bill Keogh to the Team
Aroborjet, Woburn, Massachusetts, announced that Bill Keogh joined the company as production supervisor. Prior to his role at Arborjet, Keogh worked as Director of Fulfillment at Shawmut Communications Group, where he managed online ecommerce storefronts for customers and oversaw warehouse shipping and receiving operations. Also, Kevin Brewer joined the company as New England Territory Technical Manager responsible for identifying and securing new business in New England and maintaining existing accounts with distributors, municipalities, landscape companies, arborists and universities. Prior to his role at Arborjet, Brewer worked as general manager at Kaiser Tree Preservation Co.,

The Cleary Bros. Welcome New VP of Sales
The Cleary Bros., Danville, California, recently hired Morgan Hall as its new vice president of sales. Hall is a Bay Area Native with 15 years sales experience, the last nine in commercial landscaping.

Valley Irrigation Announces Two Promotions
Valley Irrigation, a division of Valmont Industries, Inc. in Valley, Nebraska, promoted Jodi Wacker to vice president of global human resources – Irrigation and Tubing, and Darren Siekman to vice president of global business development – Irrigation and Tubing. Wacker joined Valmont Industries in 2014 as the North American Irrigation human resources manager. Two years later, she became senior director of Global Human Resources. Siekman originally joined the team in 2014 to lead a joint development between Valmont and DuPont/ In 2016, Darren became director of business development for Global Irrigation and Tubing.

Anuvia Plant Nutrients Partners with Vereens Turf
Anuvia Plant Nutrients announces an agreement with Vereens Turf to distribute Anuvia’s GreenTRX to Vereens golf, sod, lawn care and landscape customers. GreenTRX is an enhanced-efficiency, multi-nutrient, slow-release specialty fertilizer made to deliver fast deep greening of turf and lawns while also protecting the environment. Vereens Turf is a regional fertilizer formulator and blender serving Southeast golf, sod, lawn and landscape customers for over 20 years.

Read last week’s industry news roundup: Yale Replacing Grounds Gear With Electric Alternatives

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What’s Your Employee Damage Policy?

Not every employee will want to admit to making a mistake and taking the time to fix it. Employees are working long, stressful hours during a snow storm and sometimes mistakes happen. Some company owners put a policy in place to keep employees on track and repair any damages from their mistakes. See what these PlowSite members recommend as a policy for keeping mistakes and damage while on the job at a minimum.

GimmeSnow!!: I had a guy hit three mailboxes in one night a few years ago. He kept telling me he was going to go out and fix them but never showed up. Finally, I had another employee go fix the boxes and it took him 20 hours to figure it all out. I had to pay him $400 plus $200 in materials. I made a rule after that: I will pay for the mailbox but you have to fix it on your own time which I think is fair.

One of my drivers hit a mailbox the other night and I told him he would have to go fix it on his own time after he gets sleep. Then he called me when he was on a commercial property and asked me where to put the snow. I was explaining it to him but he wasn’t getting it. I told him to go in and talk to the manager, as I knew him well. The employee put two medium sized piles of snow in front of their loading bays. The customer called me the next day and said he needed it fixed ASAP. I got a hold of the employee and told him he needed to go to the customer and fix the problem. It took him 10 hours to dig the bay out. Now he wants me to pay him $240 to fix a mistake that could have been prevented in the first place and then he wants me to send another person with him to help fix the mailbox.

I was starting to suspect the employee of milking the clock mid-summer and kept making comments that the times are too long and he needs to get back on track. If I pay him his plowing wage to go fix all his mistakes after all the snow is done, that just means that he gets more money and I feel like there is no incentive for him to not be careless. I’m curious to see what everyone else’s policy is on this.

ktfbgb: I would never pay them their time to fix the mistakes. Period. Yes, paying for materials yourself seems OK but would be dependent on if I found that it was because of negligence on the driver’s part. Hitting three mailboxes in a single night seems pretty negligent to me, bordering on intentional. But I’m tough to work for and don’t let any of my guys take advantage of me. I am, however, more than fair according to my long-time employees who have a good work ethic and common sense. And I wouldn’t pay him to move the snow from the loading bay either. I give everyone a copy of the satellite image of the property with the owners/managers notes on exactly where they want snow piled. So, no excuses with me. If you’re not doing that, you may want to consider it. My customers really appreciate that I hand them the satellite image and ask them to mark approved locations. It makes sure everyone is on the same page before the first snow flies.

Randall Ave: As far as the first guy hitting three mailboxes, he’d have been fired right then. Legally you have to pay them for all their time, unless you have a previous agreement on such matters. Before he got to the commercial lot, the specifics on where the snow was plowed to, etc. should have been gone over. But any person should know not to dump the snow in front of the loading dock. When I had the town bid contract, I swear the one year it always snowed on recycle night. If it’s in the road its fair game.

1olddogtwo: A point system needs to be put in place.

Jeep_thing: Guess it depends on the supply/demand of plow operators in your area. Is it hard to find a decent guy? Or do you have to settle for a warm body?

kimber750: You are probably not going like this but here it goes: Where is the management? Employee asks a question and you tell him to talk to someone else? Old saying, “Don’t let the employees run the company.” You are the one letting them milk the clock. Twenty hours to fix three mailboxes is absurd. To me it sounds you have let the employees get away with everything and anything, and now you want to change it, well good luck. Remember employees are only as good as the training you give them. Yes, some can’t be trained, I have dealt with my fair share of them, and those are the ones you need to replace.

Mr.Markus: My father used to say: “There are no bad employees, just bad managers.” I think what the saying means is that as a good manager, you fire the bad employees which makes you a good manager. Keep them around, and you’re a bad manager.

Mark Oomkes: So, you’re going to fire a guy that screwed up and not pay him for the time on the clock. He gets pissed, goes to Labor Department and you get an audit of everything. Then you get fined and pay the employee for his time anyway. You cannot withhold pay for mistakes unless you have an agreement signed by them, and their pay cannot go below minimum wage. You must pay them for the time on the clock. Like it or not, it’s the law. And it’s your fault for the pile being in the wrong place, not his.

iceyman: We print out full-size pictures of every lot and draw exact spots where snow can and can’t go. Not his fault at all for not knowing where to put piles. And for $200, I’ll fix your mailboxes in two hours.

JustJeff: Managing mistakes or not, anybody that pushes snow in front of loading docks ought to be fired.

FredG: We all know the employees we hire need a chief, but to knock down a mailbox and then repeat it, I don’t think I need him. As far as fixing it, he won’t have the brains if he knocked it down. A guy that’s sent to a job and doesn’t know where to put the snow should never have been turned loose. I understand some need some degree of training. I will say this again, the laid-off heavy highway guys, laborers, operators, etc. are the guys to catch. They know about traffic and running trucks and equipment in small areas with Jersey barriers separating them from traffic. All are safety minded or they’d probably be dead or have had killed somebody else. You may need some creative payroll.

BUFF: My policy with employees is that damage caused by negligence is their problem. This is only if it’s a continual problem over a three-month period, each time they are talked to and the incident documented. The third time they have the choice of being fired or making it right. They know this policy going into the job and I figured if they’re signing on after knowing that, they’ll be good employees and it weeds out the bad ones. I’ve only had to do this once and he quit.

It’s making sure the employee understands company policy and expectations. When you consider the resources and money involved in training an employee, it’s foolish to invest in a warm body that creates rework along with not hitting the quoted labor/equipment budgets. Everyone has their own protocol and approach. I’ve found what I’m doing works well for me.

Foybles: Driver’s meetings, site maps and even walk-throughs on more demanding properties is essential to reducing expenses from mistakes and other types of rework. With that said, I personally have inadvertently pulled up a 6-foot section of curb. It happens.

GimmeSnow!!: I had an HR firm write my handbook and there is a clause in it for neglect and carelessness (although I do not remember the exact wording or what it entails). My shop manager is going to cement the post in a bucket and set it out and I will pay someone to put it back in the ground. I will pay the employee $10 per hour for digging the snow out of the bays. I was angry when I wrote the original post, but since then I have hired two more drivers and took him out of the salt rotation. He will be on residential only from now on and as soon as we are caught up, I will send someone to the back end of his route. If he picks his times up and doesn’t have any accidents, he can earn some more hours. Any more accidents and he will be moved to the walk crew. This guy has been with me for three years and has been trained on a different contract. The contract that he was on decided to go through a re-bid process on Dec. 12, so it was either he sits at home and I let my subs work, or the subs sit at home and he works. The subs will be back next week anyway because we will be back on the contract. The lot is a container factory and there are truck trailers and containers everywhere and they shift things constantly so the map is irrelevant. He was being lazy and did not want to move the snow twice to get it where it needed to go. The thing that pissed me off was that he was playing dumb on the phone, which is why I told him to talk to the manager.

Visit PlowSite.com for more forums on equipment, business management and technical information. Join the conversation in the largest community of snow and ice business professionals.

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New Product Roundup: October 2017

Arctic Snow & Ice Products
Sectional wingless power-angled plow
The Sectional wingless power-angled plow has individual moldboards with AR400 steel-tip edges. It also features polyurethane mounting blocks and slip-hitch universal drop-and-go mounts.

Ariens Company
Snow Thrower
The Professional 21 single-stage snow thrower is designed for heavy-duty work. It features a spring-loaded scraper bar that self-adjusts and a think paddle that cleans the surface. It has an open engine design and an hour meter to keep maintenance schedules on track.

BOSS Snowplow
Pre-Wet System
The new Pre-Wet System allows contractors to pre-wet solid de-icing materials as they are distributed. The system activates the de-icing material to melt through snow and ice faster at low temperatures. It also reduces material bounce for improved material placement and efficiency. Equipped with a 60-gallon tank capacity, the Pre-Wet System is available as an accessory on all new VBX and FORGE spreaders.

Earth & Turf Attachments
SC-Series Plows
Earth & Turf has released the latest mounting bracket for its SC-Series, 60-inch snow plows with 19.5-inch moldboard height. The new mounting is designed to fit Kubota BX-Series tractors. It also features manual angling of 30 degrees left and right, bolt-on reversible edges and optional skid shoes.

SnowEx
SnowEx UTV V-plow
The SnowEx UTV V-plow is 6 feet wide, and the blade angles to 5 feet wide to fit most sidewalks and through gates. It is constructed of high-strength, low-alloy- steel components and reinforced with six vertical ribs for additional stability.

SaltDogg by Buyers
Pro2500
The all new Pro2500 is an electric series spreader. The new design is available in chain or auger drive. The side swing-out chute feature allows for easy bulk unloading. The double- walled poly hopper has a 14-inch spinner that broadcasts material up to 30 feet.

SnowWolf
ProPlowFX
The redesigned ProPlowFX is an all-purpose plow made possible by a semi-floating torsion system that provides infinitely variable down pressure and shock absorption, a trip-lockout feature and a shorter blade-to-machine distance for greater maneuverability.

Western Plows
Impact UTV snow plows
Western Impact UTV snow plows are designed and built exclusively for utility vehicles. The tough, 6-foot-wide v-plow adapts to handle 5-foot sidewalks and gates in angle, scoop or V mode. The 6-foot straight blade is a lighter- weight package that fits more UTVs.

 

Have a new product? Submit entries using our Product Form for Turf, Turf Design Build and PLOW, a supplement to Turf.

Visit PlowSite.com for more forums on equipment, business management and technical information. Join the conversation in the largest community of snow and ice business professionals.

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Story Of A Landscape: Enhancing Landscape For Client’s New Home

There’s nothing like a happy client to bring in a bit of repeat business, and with the Case family, Escondido, California-based PCA Summit Services had just that.

Summit Services had designed and installed the landscape for their previous home, and designer Pete Atkins says an aerial view of that property — shot by a drone — helped clinch an immediate sale, “so when they moved into this house they gave us a call.”

They also gave Atkins a big palette on which to work – he estimates approximately 10,000 square feet – and a desire for many of the amenities on which Californians dote, including two shaded outdoor pavilion areas, an outdoor kitchen, pool, spa, fire pit and putting green.

Photo: Summit Services

Of course, water use was also a concern, and the plant palette is designed to thrive while being watered as little as three times per week.

Certainly, the centerpiece of the project is a pool, designed by Summit Services and installed by Mission Pools, also of Escondido. As with the patios, the pool decking is a mix of colored concrete and 12- by 12-inch mission tiles.

“We used the tile as accents or medallions, if you will, in the paving,” Atkins explains. “We also incorporated our concrete control joints off the corners of those medallions so that when the concrete’s poured and scored on finish, there’s a rhythm to it. It’s not just to mitigate cracking, but to make it look decorative.”

Photo: Summit Services

The elevated spa adjoins the pool and spills into it, with a fire pit area behind it, and a seating area. The spa itself incorporates the tile and is capped in a bullnosed mission-style coping. Controls for the pool and spa share space with a large run for the family’s dogs.

The seating area has an arbor constructed of two large posts that span the space, creating a cozier environment and tying it architecturally to the other elements of the house. The area also incorporates some of the seating/retaining walls that Atkins built into the project.

He compares the backyard to a bowl.

Photo: Summit Services

“As we got closer to the bottom of the hill, we stepped up with elevations on the back of the pool and then walls to encapsulate it,” he says. “You look at the seat level walls and the backfill, and it integrates with the base of the hill beautifully.”

Drainage for the backyard makes use of the retaining walls, as well, since the areas behind them are all French drains which pass the water into a hard pipe system which drains to the street. The system drains the deck areas, the roof gutters and the planting areas.

Atkins says the pool area is his favorite feature in the project.

“The whole pool environment is pretty special,” he says. “I love the combination of colors and the spa. At night, it really comes to life with the lighting.”

Photo: Summit Services

Because of the clients’ desire to entertain, the project also includes two pavilions attached to the rear of the home.

“They wanted some big gathering spaces for seating for big, long tables,” says Atkins. “We went through a variety of different options for them, and settled on a really heavy beam-and-post-type structure. We then used a wonderful vinyl-encapsulated shade cloth that’s double stitched into an aluminum track that’s then screwed into the wooden frame, so the fabric is stretched taut.”

Not only does it give the illusion the fabric is floating, but it provides 90 percent sun protection, but allows a bit of moisture to pass through. It also cuts down on the amount of lumber that must be re-stained.

Photo: Summit Services

While one area is designed specifically for seating, the other includes the home’s outdoor kitchen area, which includes a refrigerator, beer tap and grill, as well as poured and polished concreted countertops. The flooring in both pavilions is more of the concrete-and-mission-tile mix.

Summit Services also did the softscape for both the front and backyards. Atkins describes the front yard as a wedge-shaped slope that’s short on one end and tall on the other. To reduce the feeling of the slope, the company installed some large olive trees that frame the house.

“We then took the straight line away at the top of the slope by building out a couple big columns at both ends and planting a huge red-rose hedge between them,” Atkins says. “It’s now grown into a wall of color. The front slope is a weave of bright-colored succulent ground covers and a few exotic species of palms with some understory bright colored grasses.”

Photo: Summit Services

There is a small amount of turf nearest the street, but by being at the bottom of the hill, it receives the natural flow of the underground water.

“It gives it a little texture,” he says of the grass. “We have low water irrigation heads – Hunter Industries MP Rotator Sprinkler Stream Nozzles – that are water efficient. Up by the house, we used drip in the planting beds.”

The front door is further enhanced by a tile entry and a custom iron trellis on which bougainvillea climb. The side yard includes succulents and a couple seating areas.

The same plant palette is carried into the backyard, although rather than natural turf, the putting green utilizes a synthetic product, and Atkins says a putting green is becoming a popular option for people who want a little green in place of a lawn.

Atkins adds that probably the project’s biggest challenge was the soil conditions and designing the irrigation system and the softscape to handle the different sun exposures.

Photo: Summit Services

“It’s a typical clay soil and there’s just so much you can do with soil additives and things that like,” he says. “We used organic matter, sand, gypsum and other things to improve the structure of the soil. It’s very easy in clay to overwater.”

As for learning something from this project, Atkins says this job reinforced the need to get the scale right. In this case, he says that meant going with 8- by 8-inch posts and 8- by 12-inch wood beams for the patio covers.

“If you get the scale right, the entity within its space feels like it belongs,” Atkins says. “If you get the scale wrong, it doesn’t fit together and it doesn’t feel right with the eye. This was a big house on a big property and we had to use huge timbers, but it looks gorgeous and fits the scale of the job.”

Photo: Summit Services

And, he believes, it was all worth the effort. While the project won first place recognition from the California Landscape Contractors Association San Diego chapter in the category of design build construction large, Atkins says he’s most proud of the way the project enhances the lives of his clients.

“I think if you’d talk to them, they’d say that every single day it enhances their lives,” he says. “They feel good about coming home, they feel good about being home and they feel good about being in the backyard. If that doesn’t make you proud, nothing will.”

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Make Your Company More Productive: A Lesson From Football Champions

Recognize the name Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr., the greatest “steal” in the history of the National Football League draft? We’re referring to Tom Brady of course, the quarterback of the the New England Patriots, 2017 Super Bowl Champions.

Graduating from the University of Michigan, Brady didn’t exactly wow football scouts with his size, speed, arm or his athleticism. Consequently, he was a sixth-round pick in the 2000 draft, the seventh quarterback and the 199th player taken overall.

Since being drafted however, Brady, now 40, has quarterbacked the Patriots to five Super Bowl championships. That’s not all. A four-time Super Bowl MVP, Brady has appeared in more playoff games than any player at any position, has never had a losing season as a starting quarterback in the NFL, and his 208 combined regular-season and postseason wins are also the most of any quarterback in NFL history.

Looking back at the 2000 draft, who would ever have dreamed he could achieve so much? Perhaps Patriots coach Bill Belichick saw something about Brady that the scouts overlooked.

Belichick also joined the Patriots in 2000. An all-business, detail-obsessive guy, Belichick implemented and maintains systems and processes to get players to perform at their highest level but also cohesively as a team. Who can argue with the success that his star pupil, Brady, and his teammates over this past decade has achieved?

A recent webinar by green industry business consultant Jeffrey Scott touched on the similarities between a championship football team like the Patriots and best-performing green industry companies.

Start by considering the language we borrow from football to describe our business activities.

When we make a big sale that’s a touchdown, a big score. Alternatively, who wants to fumble a sales presentation or drop the ball on a service call? But there’s an even bigger business nightmare, having to rely upon a Hail Mary to avoid a business failure.

Scott offered another football term that is just as apt for our business world and one that we can use to markedly increase the effectiveness of our companies. The word is “huddle.” He shared its significance in his recent webinar entitled Achieving 10X Productivity.

Used as a noun or a verb, the meaning of the word huddle is essentially the same. In football, a huddle is a gathering of teammates in a close circle or tight bunch to receive instructions from a team captain, quarterback or sideline coach. Defined in a business context, it’s a conference, or consultation, especially a private meeting to discuss serious matters. Whether used in football or business, the definitions are not that dissimilar.

Scott shared the analogy of a football team that doesn’t huddle but rather rushes to the scrimmage line, each player just assuming what they should do when the football is snapped. What a mess. The results can be just as disjointed for companies when “team members” don’t regularly get together (huddle) to discuss issues, review their individual roles and measure their progress in reaching defined goals for themselves and their company.

Here are suggestions from Scott to make the huddles within your company more productive:

• Develop and stick to a clear time-stamped agenda. Stay on schedule.
• Include individuals that need to be in the meeting, team members that have a clear role within the meeting.
• As the coach, maintain control and don’t let discussions get sidetracked with sidebars.
• Encourage feedback from team members. When the coach does all the talking it discourages feedback and buy-in.
• Focus on strategy and the execution of strategy. Keep the focus on bigger issues and don’t get too bogged down on details.
• Develop and agree upon clear actions and decisions, then move forward to implement them. “That’s the movement that gets everybody excited about being in the meeting,” said Scott.

Beyond being great for team building, regularly huddling with key team members keeps them apprised as to both their individual and their collective progress in reaching agreed-upon goals.

“Everyone should have a metric or two that they are accountable for, some way to measure their progress, their success for the day and ultimately for the week,” shared Scott in the webinar.

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7 Inspiring Ideas for Fire Pits

When enhancing a client’s residential property, landscape contractors should factor in features that create outdoor areas that extend the living space and can be used into the fall or winter months. Adding a fire feature, such as a fire pit (or two in some cases), allows clients to extend their summer season and bring some warmth and light to their entertainment spaces. We scoured our Story of a Landscape project archives to share seven of our favorite fire pit ideas.

1. Fire Pit Enhances Beautiful View

Photo: Landmark Pavers Inc.

This California property was updated with a large fire pit and circular seating wall. “In this case, the fire pit is the focus of the design. The client still has an outdoor dining patio to the side and an area of turf, but the focal point of the yard is all about the fire pit. They wanted a softer look with curves incorporated. That’s why our designer decided on a large, round fire pit with a circular seating wall,” says Christine Bristol, the marketing director for Landmark Pavers Inc.

2. Site Planning Made This Nevada Backyard Makeover A Success

Photo: Gail Willey Landscaping

Among the client’s wishes for their backyard were a large paver patio for entertaining and a fire pit. The fire pit is serviced by a 160-foot gas line and includes a seating wall. Thomas Sloniker, project manager for Gail Willey Landscaping Inc., says he’s particularly pleased with the way the three main features — the patio, the water feature and the fire pit — communicate with each other. “There are path lights to help illuminate the patio area, and there are some wall lights with the seating near the fire pit and spotlights in the yard,” he explains.

3. Planning Helped Make This Backyard Redo Successful

Photo: Stonepocket Inc.

There are several reasons the tabletop-height fire pit for this project had eight different contractors contributing to it. First and foremost is the tabletop itself, which is copper hand-hammered to a 3/16-inch thickness by a group of Mexico-based artisans. Underground are both electrical and natural gas connections. The electrical not only lights the exterior of the fire pit, but powers a remote on/off switch for the gas. “The copper fire table is amazing, and despite copper being a fantastic conductor, when you have the fire going and you touch it, the copper is actually cool to the touch,” says Tim Heelan, owner of Stonepocket Inc.

4. Circular Patio Creates Backyard Destination

Photo: Paver Designs, LLC

This Nebraska project by Paver Designs, LLC encompassed a covered, raised patio next to a residence, a round paver patio with the fire pit and seating walls, and a water feature. The seating walls around it and the fire pit are assembled from Belgard’s Weston Stone.

5. Minnesota Lakefront Resort

PHOTO: Mom’s Landscaping & Design

Surrounding one or the two fire pits is a unique feature of the pool terrace: a glass wall. “Not only does it give a cool, modern feel, but it also protects the lake view for the swimming pool, and the property sits on a point which is quite breezy. It makes sense to be able to be outside there and still be nestled down and protected from the wind,” says Jim Sweeney, founder of Mom’s Landscaping & Design.

6. Complementary Split-Level Hardscape Patios

PHOTO: Lindgren Landscape & Irrigation Inc.

The two levels of this project are separate entertaining spaces. The lower level is a large paver patio with a fire pit that’s outside the home’s basement entertainment area. The upper level is a separate, more elaborate patio.

7. Contractor Lassos Award with Western-Themed Landscape

PHOTO: Level One Landscaping Inc.

A unique touch for this cowboy-themed property included a natural-gas fire pit surrounded by tree stumps for seating, and sculptures of a stallion on the patio area and a coyote overlooking the small water feature.

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Buying Attachments For Compact Utility Loaders

The versatility of a compact utility loader depends upon the attachments. With a possible selection of more than 50 attachments, you can eliminate the need to purchase several dedicated pieces of equipment by purchasing a base unit offering the flexibility of adding multiple attachments. This flexibility greatly reduces your overall fleet costs. Therefore, when purchasing a compact utility loader, consider the features of the base unit, but also the manufacturer’s breadth of attachments and their potential, capability and willingness to grow with your business.

But there’s more to the attachment than versatility. In order to increase efficiency and minimize expenses, durability and the overall longevity of the attachment are key factors. For optimal performance, select a brand that offers heavy-duty gear motors and hydraulic bearings and double-shielded seals to protect the hydraulic mechanisms from debris and damage. Ground-engaging parts should be manufactured from abrasion-resistant materials to extend longevity.

Although, in theory, any manufacturer’s attachment could be fit to any brand’s compact utility loader, doing so is not recommended if you wish to maximize the life of both the base unit and attachments. By purchasing attachments from the OEM of your base unit, you guarantee a match in hydraulic system requirements, as well as appropriate flow and pressure ratings. Not only will this improve the overall performance, but it will also extend the service life of both the base unit and attachments.

Top 4 Attachments

The top four compact utility loader attachments are:

• High torque earth augers
• Trenchers
• Soil Cultivators
• Hydraulic breakers

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in September 2015.

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