As robotic and automated mowing options became available to green industry professionals several years ago, it wasn\u2019t certain how they would affect everyday workers. Now that contractors have had some time to work with the technology, it\u2019s easier to see them as another tool that can improve business when used correctly.<\/p>\n
Joe Langton, owner of Automated Outdoor Solutions in Woodstock, Illinois, started researching automowers in an effort to make his landscaping services more efficient to match the snow removal services his company offered. He remembers first seeing an autonomous model at an industry conference several years ago. While others around him were dismissive of the prospect, he immediately began working the numbers of what it cost him to mow per acre with a human compared to this machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took the information from the show and did some calculations and said, \u2018OK, these things could work,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Now he\u2019s so involved in the technology that he runs a podcast talking about what he\u2019s learned in the process.<\/p>\n
Eric Cross, president of Duke\u2019s Landscape Management Inc., Hackettstown, New Jersey, has pushed for the company to be involved in a peer group that has been focused on technological advances for mowing for years. \u201cWe\u2019re really big on taking advantage of the latest technology,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a nonstop learning experience for me.\u201d For him, watching the strides that manufacturers have made since the concept became popularized, \u201cI feel like I\u2019m watching history being made, like watching us land on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Mayberry, chief technology officer for Level Green Landscaping, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, recognizes that it might not seem common to many for a role like his to exist at a landscaping firm. \u201cAs you look around the industry, you aren\u2019t seeing companies that have a CTO or director of technology,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do for Level Green, is to keep us on the cutting edge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Langton started out by purchasing five units and placing them at his house and with some key employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat way, if it was a failure, it was no big deal,\u201d he says. \u201cFor every landscaper or irrigation contractor, that\u2019s what I would urge. You don\u2019t have to go crazy with it. You can just start simple.\u201d Working directly with the technology let him get more familiar with what he and his team liked and disliked about it, which has also better prepared them to talk with customers.<\/p>\n
Even if you aren\u2019t looking to incorporate some kind of autonomous or robotic mower into your fleet, it\u2019s important to stay on top of developments. Companies that treat them like a fad \u201cwon\u2019t be able to compete once enough companies have really switched to this,\u201d says Mayberry. \u201cIf you\u2019re not ready to do it, that\u2019s completely understandable. But keep a close eye on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re feeling paralyzed by the options on the market and the jargon surrounding them, start by finding someone in your company or a consultant who has a passion for interacting with technology who can explain it to you, he says. Even if it\u2019s not the right time for you to move forward with it, you need to be ready for when that time comes around.<\/p>\n
Finding an anchor person in your crew to dig into the options can go a long way toward bringing the rest of the team on board as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at who on your crew would find this something enjoyable, to just watch technology blossom right in front of your eyes,\u201d Cross says.<\/p>\n
Be ready to make an investment of time as you add robotic or autonomous mowers to your fleet, as both you and your team will need to learn how best to use them. \u201cEach week that we go, it gets more and more efficient,\u201d says Cross.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t wait for a new technology to come along that will promise to do everything because you\u2019ll never make the jump. \u201cThat\u2019s a pitfall,\u201d Langton says. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing else in the industry that\u2019s a 100% solution, right? They\u2019re never going to have something that does everything.\u201d It\u2019s also important not to think of a smaller machine as necessarily less effective, as it can mow at a steady pace and in off-usage hours. Larger mowers are more needed for human operators who need to get through as many yards as possible along a route as quickly as they can to improve margin.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t think of adding autonomous technology to your fleet as a one-time switch, but rather finding the right pace to fill in gaps over time. \u201cIt\u2019s about feathering in the technology over the next five to 10 years,\u201d says Mayberry. \u201cIt\u2019s never a point of saying, \u2018OK, tomorrow we\u2019re switching to all robotics.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, it might make more sense to work with partners or peer groups to see how autonomous mowers are working for them. \u201cThere are lots of ways to be a part of the early stages without having to invest in the early stages,\u201d says Mayberry.<\/p>\n
Mayberry\u2019s journey into robotics began several years ago, and he\u2019s worked with multiple manufacturers to try out different forms of technology. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of options out there, and I think it\u2019s worthwhile to explore all of those.\u201d Keep in mind that what works for one company might not work for your situation.<\/p>\n
Client education plays an even more important role with robotics and autonomous mowers than with many other landscaping services. Make sure you have a solid understanding of what you\u2019re offering before taking it up with a client, because they\u2019ll likely have many questions right from the start, Cross says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first question I get is, \u2018Is it safe?\u2019 It\u2019s very safe,\u201d he says. Seeing how the mowers operate and the level of control available to the technician, especially if the client is concerned about obstacles entering the mower\u2019s path, can make a big difference.<\/p>\n
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Early in his work with robotic mowers, Mayberry looked for clients that could benefit from the kind of service provided by those machines. He partnered with a local monastery to install two units there and with a private school to have one of the mowers handle the sports fields.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to make sure that somebody could get to that site two to three times a week in order to mow it and maintain that look that the school was expecting,\u201d he says. With the robotic mower, he was able to take both the reel mower and dedicated technician off that project, saving a large amount of time. \u201cNow the field presents itself at its optimal level all the time because it just keeps mowing. That\u2019s a huge benefit for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Look for clients that need a clean, consistent look; a sports field could be a good candidate, he says. A wide open area with few obstacles that needs maintained can be helpful as well. Mayberry now uses both locations as case studies to deploy the mowers with additional clients.<\/p>\n
A large, flat topography, similar to a soccer field, isn\u2019t required, but can be helpful in showing off how robotic mowers can add efficiency, says Cross. It\u2019s also important to look for clients who would be interested in the ways that an autonomous mower can add benefits through specific applications, such as mowing at night.<\/p>\n
Langton took a different approach by reaching out to past clients who had fired his company because of issues with operations such as blowing too many clippings into mulch beds. He suggested that they let him place a robot on the property instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo my surprise, more than half of the people I called said yes,\u201d he says. \u201cThey understood that when they fired us and went with somebody else, they had the same problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
For current and new customers that he offers the service to, he pushes for an extended contract of at least four years to make it more cost-effective. That\u2019s worked out for him as clients are often eager to lock in a price over time. In his contracts, he\u2019ll install the robot and if the customer ends up not liking the service, all they pay for is the installation itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s where the industry is going to have its biggest hurdle,\u201d he says. \u201cIn order for the landscaper to really make money with these, you need to be able to make them last five years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding the right clients to set up as early adopters of the service can open up new opportunities, Mayberry says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you do good installs in great locations, then those clients are going to be evangelists for you and for the technology,\u201d Mayberry says. \u201cThe last thing we want is clients getting the impression that this technology is not going to provide the consistent quality that they expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Duke\u2019s, Cross calls out the new technology in presentations to new clients as a way to prove that his team is always looking for ways to do work more efficiently and save the client money, he says.<\/p>\n
Just having the machines on-site can do some of the legwork for you as well, as visitors to the field or yard will spot the new technology and begin talking about it. \u201cYou want to generate some conversation about it so people will start asking questions,\u201d Mayberry says. For his homeowner association customers, he\u2019s pushed to place a mower at the entrance so visitors understand how the lawns are cared for.<\/p>\n
That visibility can not only start people talking but make clients more comfortable with the concept. \u201cWe have a large corporate campus that has a five-man crew five days a week,\u201d says Cross. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the ones that has a machine full time. At lunchtime, people do their lunch walk and they\u2019ll see the machine going.\u201d<\/p>\n
The client\u2019s employees have gotten used to saying hello to the mower as they pass it, and have named it Dexter, he says.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest concerns for many contractors looking into robotics is how it interacts with labor. \u201cIt is going to disrupt the industry,\u201d says Mayberry. \u201cEveryone complains about labor, and it\u2019s not just from COVID. That shined an extra bright light on it, but we\u2019ve had these issues prior.\u201d Robotics allows a forward-thinking company to be less reliant on local hires to maintain stability and to rearrange to maximize value.<\/p>\n
There can be a definite \u201cus vs. them\u201d mindset for crews wary of robotic and autonomous mowers taking over jobs, says Mayberry.<\/p>\n
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\u201cRobots are not replacing our humans,\u201d Mayberry says. \u201cThey are giving us a chance<\/p>\n
to do more with the human beings that we have. Rather than our humans just mindlessly mowing in the middle of a field, we can have those humans focus on the detail work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cross uses mainly three-person crews on his routes, but when there\u2019s a robotic mower on the property, he\u2019s able to shift to a two-person crew format. Now he has two people trimming, blowing and doing detail work. \u201cThey\u2019re keeping an eye on the mower,\u201d he says. As he brings on more in the next year, \u201cthat\u2019s more crews I could put out with the same amount of labor. That really lets me generate a lot more revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Langton trains his employees to think of themselves as a bridge between the customer and the technology. When a robot gets stuck on something in the yard, his crew will come out and reset it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though the customer is dealing with less people, they\u2019re still dealing with people,\u201d Langton says. \u201cThe only thing that\u2019s changed in my models is that instead of having three people show up to an account is that there\u2019s typically only one or two now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Incorporating a robot allows Mayberry to continue looking for company growth despite attrition in workers and allows him to better pay the humans who are on staff and learning new techniques. \u201cTheir skill set will evolve from where we don\u2019t need people who just go sit on a mower,\u201d he says. \u201cWe need someone who understands when to prune a plant.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Langton, reducing mowing as an assigned job has allowed him to provide different opportunities for his employees, sometimes finding a better fit for them in irrigation or construction projects. The crew members who are used to doing the detail landscaping work often are good choices for route supervisors because they know what needs to be handled alongside the robot.<\/p>\n
Cross\u2019s crew is excited for the possibilities presented by robotics, especially as they\u2019ve started to work alongside them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always looking to improve, to learn,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is just another tool in the toolbox now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robotic mowers will also create new jobs entirely involving technicians who know how to efficiently manage them and keep them running correctly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we have 150 robotic mowers, we\u2019re going to have somebody sitting behind a desk with three screens and an Xbox controller deciding when these mowers should cross the road. That\u2019s definitely not a job people are thinking about in the landscaping industry at this point,\u201d Mayberry says. That gives industry professionals the opportunity to attract people from different labor pools than in the past.<\/p>\n
Direction of autonomous mowers is one option, but maintaining them will open up new job opportunities as well. Langton has a background in small circuitry, giving him the skill to make repairs, but he expects to be hiring more with that skill set soon to help keep the mowers running long past a few years, as with more traditional mowers.<\/p>\n
The new technology has led to additional hires for Cross, as a way of showing that working at Duke\u2019s means staying on the cutting edge of the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want to work for a place where they feel like there\u2019s things happening, there\u2019s learning,\u201d he says. Instead of just a daily grind, a focus on technology provides new angles from which to see the landscape industry for potential hires. \u201cYou can\u2019t just have old trucks and old mowers. You\u2019ve got to enjoy the people you\u2019re working with and it has to be a learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mowing technology helps contractors build business in new ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3804,"parent":0,"template":"","main-categories":[28],"class_list":["post-3595","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","main-categories-landscape"],"yoast_head":"\n