Despite crews experiencing delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and rain washouts, Richard Bare, CEO at Arbor-Nomics Turf in Norcross, Ga., has tried to adopt an optimistic outlook.

“On the positive side, we don’t mind working evenings and weekends because we are in an essential industry,” he says. “So, we aren’t having to stay at home during this crisis waiting for our government check to pay our mounting bills … Someone has to keep our economic engine going so these unfortunate industries can come back again.”

In the meantime, Arbor-Nomics Turf is training its people to stay apart from one another by at least 6 feet, use the hand sanitizers installed around their offices, to stay home if they feel ill (they will still continue to get paid) and to follow any other presidential or governor recommendations.

“Everyone is still coming into the branches every day. We can move their computers to their homes if that becomes necessary, but we are hearing that home networks are failing due to their small size,” Bare says. “We are running our guys in shifts to avoid exceeding the 10-person limit in the fill areas, we also went to weekly video training to limit the spread of germs in the branches.”

While Arbor-Nomics has embraced a positive outlook for the time being, the company maintains a realistic attitude in that it has curtailed shopping for new trucks and other large capital expenditures because of the present uncertainty.

“I agree with President Trump that the financial crisis could be worse than the COVID-19. We are a country that operates on cash flow, not government handouts,” Bare says. “This disease could mutate and sweep through the world again. This could be like 9/11; it could be a permanent change in our world that we are going to have to adapt to the rest of our lives.”