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4 great labor-saving tips
1 Oct, 2007 By: Jody Shilan Landscape ManagementWe're all acutely aware of the labor shortage facing our industry, which has been exacerbated by the limitations being placed on the H-2B seasonal guest worker program. This is a real problem for the Green Industry, but one that can be minimized if we approach it from new directions.
 JODY SHILAN |
There's no relief in sight, at least in the short term. Therefore, wouldn't it be prudent to evaluate our business practices and procedures? Wouldn't it be smart to start exploring ways to make our companies less labor intensive?
As business owners, we're always looking to improve our bottom lines, perhaps by controlling costs, raising prices, developing efficiencies or some combination of the three. What do all of these factors have in common? They're all linked, in one way or another, to labor.
Labor is the hardest factor in our businesses to estimate, manage and control. It's a very real cost of doing business and an expensive one as well. In addition to payroll, consider workers' compensation, disability insurance and FICA. Additionally, our employees need vehicles, which must be insured, fueled and maintained. That's assuming that we can find legally licensed drivers to transport everyone to work and then to the jobsite.
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What if, by changing a few simple business practices, we could minimize the need for extra laborers and make our companies more efficient?
When I ran my design build company 15 years ago, I had a rack truck and trailer, a skid steer with a bucket, pallet forks and a backhoe attachment. I also had just one employee, Mike, who had never worked in the landscape industry before and who did not have a driver's license. Sound familiar?
With some training and proper project planning, Mike soon learned to perform the majority of a landscape installation completely by himself. He could demo the site, rip out and remove any hardscape or existing plant material (including stumps) and load everything into the appropriate truck or container. After demolition, he could excavate for new patios, walks, walls or drainage work. He would then import or export any quantity of fill or topsoil, which was trucked by an independent trucking company. Between loads he would rough grade the site and stockpile soil as needed. Next, he would install the base materials (3/4 clean, quarry process, recycle, etc.) and place all the pallets of pavers or wallstone within an arm's length of their future location.
All materials were delivered by the quarry or mason supply yard. Finally, he would excavate the planting holes, offload the plant material delivered by the nursery and place the plants at appropriate locations in preparation for planting.
One properly trained man performed all of these tasks. There was no secret to how he did it. The job had been planned and materials specified and ordered prior to him arriving on the jobsite.
Another huge benefit to Mike being self-sufficient was that I could meet with new clients, focus on designs and proposals, sell more install work, keep the current project properly staged and manage the business.
Naturally, there was still plenty of manual labor required to install the pavers, walls drains and plantings, but we always used the skid steer to help. Whether it was to move a pallet over a few feet, backfill our walls and trenches or help us position and plant larger trees, one of us was usually in the machine — typically Mike.
When the project was near completion, we had subcontractors install the irrigation and lighting, blow in the mulch and install the sod. We did a little fine grading here and there and were on our way to the next project.
What can you do to use your labor more effectively? Following are some suggestions.
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