{"id":3532,"date":"2018-10-11T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovativepixel.com\/IGIN\/?post_type=features&p=3532"},"modified":"2021-12-30T16:27:11","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T21:27:11","slug":"shifting-gears","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/innovativepixel.com\/IGIN\/features\/shifting-gears\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifting gears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the beginning of time, we humans have innovated, inventing tools and machines to help us accomplish tasks more quickly and precisely. And whether it\u2019s the Stone Age or 2018 A.D., the primary goal has been the same \u2014 to save the amount of time and manpower that must be expended.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s economy, when it\u2019s hard to find workers to perform manual labor, getting the most from the ones you do have becomes even more important. Landscape contractors have been forced to figure out ways of accomplishing more work with fewer people.<\/p>\n

To fill in the labor gaps, they\u2019re leaning on technology and machinery more than ever, and they\u2019re getting really good at it. And the companies that make those tools for them are also getting better at providing contractors with solutions to ease their labor pains.<\/p>\n

Jason Ambro owns Ambro\u2019s Landscaping in Sequim, Washington. This is his eighth year in business, and he says it\u2019s the worst labor market he\u2019s ever experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been horrible. This year has by far been the most difficult year finding good help or finding just employees in general,\u201d he says. For example, of the five guys he hired this year, only two actually showed up to work the next day. \u201cThree of them I hired, and then later that night they literally texted me and said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ve found another job, but thanks.\u2019\u201d It\u2019s a good thing Ambro decided to take his father\u2019s advice. \u201cOne of the things my dad always taught me is to let the equipment do the work, because it\u2019s easy to replace a piece of equipment but it\u2019s not easy to replace your body. The labor has been really hard to find, so that\u2019s why over the past several years I\u2019ve been investing in equipment that eliminates as much labor cost as possible, of either hiring an employee or saving myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labor pains<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to find any good help these days,\u201d is a lament often heard from small business owners. Steve Jordan, president, Turf Masters Lawn Care Inc., Pascagoula, Mississippi, does have some good help, but he\u2019d sure like some more of it.<\/p>\n

When I called to talk to him for the story, the call rang into the garden center where he was both answering the phone and helping a customer inside the store. He was filling in because one of his employees was at lunch and there was no one else to cover. \u201cWe\u2019re a little shorthanded right now,\u201d he explained, and asked me to call him back in an hour.<\/p>\n

While the company operates a garden center that grows about 40,000 annuals each quarter, the company\u2019s main business is grounds maintenance, making up about 70 percent of the contract work the company takes on. The other 30 percent consists of landscaping and irrigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor is just hard to find,\u201d Jordan says. That\u2019s why he, like many of his peers, are looking at other options. To make up for the people shortage, he says the company is constantly looking for productivity-enhancing equipment, from different loader attachments to use in the field, or ways to automate the potting process at the garden center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really tough to find the type of laborer that wants to do the type of work we do,\u201d he says. Jordan is fortunate that his employees generally stick around about five years, on average. He has 45 now, but needs more. Earlier this year, he tried to swell their ranks, but struck out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe applied for H-2B labor, but we didn\u2019t get chosen in the lottery. We didn\u2019t get those 12 additional workers, therefore, we\u2019re constantly looking for ways to better manage the labor that we do have, from the routing of our jobs to the tools that we use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed Castro is in a similar boat at his Roswell, Georgia-based business, Ed Castro Landscaping. He also serves on the board of the National Association of Landscape Professionals Foundation, and he can tell you that landscapers are feeling the shortage everywhere, not just in the Southeast.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is suffering from the same things,\u201d he says. \u201cNobody has been spared from the labor shortage, and we\u2019re also competing with other trades. Everybody in hospitality and construction, they\u2019re all looking as well, and we\u2019re all competing for the same people. Some of the things we\u2019re trying is to automate more of what we do with technology \u2014 by that, I mean equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having your back<\/h2>\n

Anytime Ambro purchases a piece of equipment he asks himself a few basic questions. \u201cIs this going to improve my productivity?\u201d \u201cIs it going to help me get the job done faster?\u201d \u201cWill it enhance the overall look of the job?\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve been investing in certain pieces of equipment to help us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He purchased a front-loader tractor earlier this year, which helped out when he had to load 60 bags of fertilizer weighing 50 pounds each onto his truck for one of his condo clients. (His back probably thanks the new loader, too.) \u201cInstead of having to throw those in the truck individually, now we can throw them on pallets, lift them with the tractor and put them on the truck.\u201d<\/p>\n

When doing large installations of mulch or bark, Ambro can use the tractor to just scoop up the material with a bucket and drop it in his clients\u2019 flowerbeds. \u201cBefore, we had to use wheelbarrows,\u201d Ambro says. \u201cThat\u2019s a big strain on you, because they can\u2019t haul as much, and that wears you down. We\u2019re able to get a lot more done throughout the day and accomplish a lot more because of our equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also invested in a dump truck and dump trailer, which, after a full day of landscape work, can be emptied with the push of a button.<\/p>\n

Ambro can remember when all he had was a flatbed truck. At the end of a long, tiring day, he\u2019d still be faced with the task of shoveling all the clippings and other debris out of the truck. \u201cHaving the dump truck and trailer has saved us so much time \u2014 and our backs. And, because we\u2019re not so tired from having to do all that extra labor, we get a lot more done on our properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Test pilots<\/h2>\n

While finding enough workers has been difficult, finding enough business has not. Instead of turning away clients, both Castro and Jordan have decided to experiment with a different type of equipment in hopes of saving time and labor. Both Turf Masters and Ed Castro Landscaping are test sites for Greenville, South Carolina-based Greenworks Commercial\u2019s battery-powered equipment.<\/p>\n

Turf Masters has two trucks set up with charging systems built into them. Each truck is equipped with two string trimmers, two edgers, two backpack blowers, a hedge trimmer, a chainsaw, a mower, a pole saw and a pole trimmer, plus six batteries for every charger and a backpack battery. Jordan has found that having the trucks right on-site to provide power is a huge time saver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of time not spent dealing with the types of issues we\u2019ve had with gasoline-powered products has had a big savings impact,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s done the math. The company runs eight other crews who still use gas-powered products. \u201cWe constantly track our numbers, and we know what six minutes a day costs our company. If we can save that six minutes a day per each employee that\u2019s not having to drive as far or not having to deal with a gas engine that\u2019s flooded, that\u2019s a significant cost savings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan says he was concerned at first that the battery-powered machines wouldn\u2019t be as productive as the gasoline-powered equipment, but that has not been the case. The crews were also a bit hesitant. \u201cThey didn\u2019t think these tools could do the job, but they\u2019re believers now,\u201d he remarks.<\/p>\n

Jordan plans to move more crews over to battery-powered equipment once he tests out a few more scenarios. \u201cI really think this is the way our industry is going,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we couldn\u2019t meet our productivity goals \u2019cause we\u2019re using a tool that\u2019s not quite as powerful as we need, we wouldn\u2019t try it, but we aren\u2019t seeing that. The battery-powered stuff has been every bit as powerful as the gas-powered tools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castro thinks battery-powered tools bestow some additional benefits besides saving labor. The employees that use them like that they\u2019re quieter and lighter than gas-powered equipment and have zero emissions. He thinks that might make the work a bit more appealing to certain demographic groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think the battery-powered tools are beneficial for our industry and the public\u2019s perception of it, and also makes it more attractive to the current and next generation of the workforce,\u201d Castro says.<\/p>\n

He thinks more women might enter the field if they knew they\u2019d have battery-operated tools at their disposal. Castro says women have tended to like them better than \u201cmessing with gasoline.\u201d<\/p>\n

The benefits don\u2019t stop there. \u201cWe have a solar-powered charging station in one of our vehicles,\u201d Castro continues. \u201cThe 83-volt batteries charge up overnight or during the day. Since we added the solar panel to our van, we don\u2019t have to spend time unloading the equipment, taking it into the shop, plugging it all in and bringing it all back out.\u201d An extra bonus is that his workers are allowed to carry the battery-powered equipment into certain buildings where gas-powered equipment or gas cans would never be allowed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a safety issue as well. When we\u2019re on university campuses or at hospitals or government buildings, we\u2019re finding that we\u2019re more mobile and can use different equipment.\u201d That goes for the transportation as well. A worker can put a mower inside a van and not have to worry about fumes. Equipment also doesn\u2019t have to be unloaded to be charged up, since it can do that right on the truck.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big marketing piece for our internal clients (our employees) and external clients (our customers),\u201d Castro says. \u201cOur employees love it. Everybody thinks it\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d Castro says.<\/p>\n

Attracted to technology<\/h2>\n

I remember how working in an office where I was forced to use an ancient Macintosh computer that would crash every half hour used to make me feel \u2026 not good and not appreciated at that job. (Luckily, it\u2019s not this current one.) The same thing goes for your workers. Investing in new equipment and technology can improve morale among your existing employees and even help recruit new ones.<\/p>\n

When your employees are able to use tablets and GPS technology instead of paper time sheets and folded maps, it sends a message to them that the company is forward-thinking. \u201cWe\u2019re scanning in documents,\u201d says Castro. \u201cWe\u2019re using tablets. We think that is a competitive advantage and a draw for labor. We can bring tech-savvy people into our industry. All the GPS we\u2019re using makes us more efficient, and I think that\u2019s attractive to workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castro estimates that using GPS and doing paperwork electronically saves a half hour per person per day versus doing things the old-fashioned way.<\/p>\n

But in this day and age, it\u2019s not only about buying more equipment and technology but about making sure that it works well. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to be inefficient with our labor because we have so little of it,\u201d says Castro.<\/p>\n

Turf Masters has been using Fleetmatics GPS software (recently rebranded as Verizon Connect) for the last 18 years on its trucks. More recently, the company began using BOSS LM software to track the time spent on every job. All the crews have mobile devices to clock into jobs when they arrive and clock out when they leave.<\/p>\n

At the end of each day, the software knows how much time was spent getting to and from a specific job and the time that was spent on it. When Jordan first started pulling reports from the software, he couldn\u2019t believe how much time was being spent behind the wheel. So, he checked the numbers against the GPS data. That really opened his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers were surprising as to how much windshield time we were spending, so I addressed that with my management team,\u201d Jordan says. \u201cI told them, we need to make sure we\u2019re routing our jobs efficiently as best we can to eliminate windshield time.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Ambro\u2019s favorite apps is called Mile- IQ. \u201cThe old way of keeping track of mileage was, you wrote down your odometer mileage at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day, and where you drove to,\u201d he says. \u201cAt the end of the year you would add it all up and send it in with your taxes. That process took forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ambro had three different trucks that he used for both work and personal trips, so business mileage was hard to keep track of. He found that because of this, he was leaving money on the table every year.<\/p>\n

MileIQ keeps track of everywhere you drive from beginning to end. You can swipe left or right as to whether the trip is for business or personal reasons, and it sends you an email. \u201cIt saves me a lot of paperwork. I used to hate doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re on the subject of more efficient routing, about two years ago, Ambro decided to do something a bit differently to maximize the amount of work he can get done.<\/p>\n

The company had been doing landscaping, property maintenance and irrigation installations, but was competing against some firms that had been around for 20 to 30 years. It was a hard market to break into. Ambro decided to direct all his efforts strictly toward property maintenance for commercial sites and condo associations and ditching the residential business altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be that jack-of-all-trades, I wanted to be the master of one,\u201d Ambro says. He notes that while his company may not have a lot of accounts, the ones it does have are big. One of the condo associations it services is on three acres and contains 19 homes. \u201cTo most guys, that\u2019s 38 yards, so we do 38 yards in one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just one of those big condo complexes can take Ambro an entire day to finish. \u201cI show up, and our truck sits there all day so we\u2019re not wasting all this fuel, and we\u2019re not putting miles on our vehicles. We literally load up and go.\u201d Another bonus is that he only has to deal with one person instead of all 30 homeowners in the complex.<\/p>\n

Another way he saves time and postage is by using electronic invoicing. A friend of his created a piece of software for him that is similar to Quick- Books. It does his taxes, and he can email invoices to all his clients in about 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Because of all of Ambro\u2019s investments in equipment and technology, he\u2019s been able to get by much of the time with only one additional employee. \u201cWith the accounts we\u2019re maintaining, I should have at least two or three guys working for me full time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering the difficulty he and others are having hiring employees, those investments are looking very wise. \u201cSeeing how things are going, I\u2019ve been trying to look at investing in more equipment so I can be prepared should someone decide to quit,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019ve invested in specific tools where if my guys can\u2019t be reliable, that\u2019s where my equipment can come in. I can rely on that instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wally Wood, owner of Beach River Landscapes, Jacksonville, Florida, says he\u2019ll go through 60 or 70 applicants just to find a handful of \u201cawesome guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those aren\u2019t the greatest odds, so he has to make up for it in other ways. \u201cWe invest in the nicest equipment we can to make the job easier. The better the equipment, the less reliant you have to be on a certain number of people to do the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the tools that\u2019s helped Wood save labor is his Gravely Atlas Job Site Vehicle. With it, rather than having to hire one or two extra people to do a mulching job, he can just use his existing crew. \u201cUsually, you\u2019re paying a few guys to move around straw and mulch and all that stuff,\u201d he says. But with the vehicle, \u201cone or two guys can do four or five guys\u2019 worth of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

While labor-saving technology keeps advancing, it still only supplements what human workers can do. Machines won\u2019t ever completely replace a landscaping company\u2019s biggest asset, its labor force. Even as robotic mowers and other autonomous devices continue to develop, \u201cwe still have to rely on people, no matter what,\u201d says Wood.<\/p>\n

Find out how equipment manufacturers are stepping up to the plate to meet the needs of smaller contractors in the online exclusive sidebar below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Stepping up to the plate<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A number of outdoor power equipment companies are recognizing the void they can fill when labor is lacking or can\u2019t cut it. ASV, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, launched the RT-25 Posi-Track compact track loader in October, which, at 48 inches wide, is designed to appeal directly to the smaller contractor working in tight spaces.<\/p>\n

Buck Storlie, ASV testing and reliability leader, explains \u201cThere is a need in the market for a very small or compact machine. People today are either doing that work with manual labor \u2014 rakes and shovels \u2014 or in some cases, stand-on type skid loaders. We are really trying to offer them a sit-in track loader that can be small and compact and do the work that you might otherwise do with a stand-on product or with manual labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the ASV track loaders come in larger versions, all the way up to the RT 120, Storlie says, \u201cThe small side of our lineup has always been one of our best sellers and that market continues to grow.\u201d
\nCompact equipment is appealing to small landscape contractors trying to save time, especially those that are strapped for labor. More fall protection, comfort and faster speeds come with an investment in a loader. Some, like the RT-25, offer features such as low weight, low ground pressure and tires that are designed not to tear up a yard as it drives through.<\/p>\n

ASV will conduct live demonstrations of the RT-25 during GIE+Expo, Oct. 17-19 in Louisville, Kentucky.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This column originally appeared in Irrigation & Green Industry magazine.<\/em><\/h6>\n
Kristin Ely<\/strong><\/a> is editor-in-chief of Irrigation & Green Industry magazine and can be reached at kristinsmithely@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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