Scott's lawn service ??

[green with envy]

Hey guys, have any of you worked for Scott's? How are they to work for. I am looking for new work and do not want to work for TGCL and have an oppertunity for Scott's.

Thanks!

Mike

[teeca]

the health insurance was great, i learned alot (fist time fert/squert, used to do mowing only) about weed id, grass id, and disease id (mostly because we caused so much of if!). they worked off production $$ which between the base salary,commisions, and retension $$ the money was ok (winter sucked). just alot of b/s with upper managment. service calls were high (free bee's) mostly because of the salesmen not knowing anything but selling and nothing about lawn care. promising the world i just 1 app. and also a ton of people that could not measure a lawn to save there life! i'd pull up to lawns that said they were 3K and be well over 10K and this was done on 80%+ of the lawns. all in all i would say their better then trugreen, just for the fact the daily production was about 200K and not 400K+ and did 1 spray app (weed), the rest granular. i'm glad i'm out of their and don't really regret the experance and info gained..

[McGuire's Outdoors]

I ran a large market for Scotts. I came from an aquisition and have very little good to say about them. They are hypocrites with their employees and their customeralike and should be exposed in the Fleecing of America series. :angry:

[green with envy]

Anyone Else ???

[teeca]

if you can stand a $20-$25k year job, then take it, learn the ropes, let them pay for your testing/certifications, learn to deal with pissed off customers, let them pay for any lawns that you may screew up, take the knowledge and start your own company next year. :cool2:

[NattyLawn]

There's another thread about this...I really didn't learn anything while I worked there...Increase goals, take back bonuses...Standard bs...

Teeca....when you said 200k, were you talking about square feet per day pushing?

[MrBarefoot]

I never worked for Scotts...

But, Scotts is managed by the very same people who started Barefoot Grass Lawn Service many years ago, and I did work for them.

From what I understand. Scotts is being ran much the same way that Barefoot was ran, up until it was sold to TGCL in the mid 90's.

They have the same fatal flaw in their business model that they had before. So unless they figure it out, I expect history to repeat itself.

However, I did learn a lot about lawn care during my time a Barefoot. I would not be where I am today without that experience.

[teeca]

There's another thread about this...I really didn't learn anything while I worked there...Increase goals, take back bonuses...Standard bs...

Teeca....when you said 200k, were you talking about square feet per day pushing?

yah, all push. but that 200k was what the invoice's stated.. it was more like 300-350k after i figured product used.. i would refill a 200gal tank during R2 which was weed control about 2-3 times per day! only had i day of the month that my sqft to product came out almost perfect, and may be 3 day's a month that i was within 20%, the rest were 60% plus on overage's, they didnt care as long as i made goal $$... (and yes i calibrated my spreader.. which the never asked if i had)

[Envi-Lawn]

My son worked for Scotts for about a year. He received very little training, almost like they don't want you to know too much. Last Fall, while spreading lime he was told not to get too close to the edges or driveways because there was no way to clean up the overspread! Their rate = 50#/10,000 s.f., IMO a useless amount of lime.
There was little thought to details, just production. he couldn't return to the office until $1000.-$1200 in sales were complete daily . Their turnover rate was so high, they were pulling guys off the street to work. The candidates they hired couldn't pass the pee test, many couldn't pass the background check. Mass mailings would bring in tons of new work, without enough applicators.
As a result, the good guys, (like my son), were pushed so hard they quit.
Keep it up, SCOTTS, my small business is booming thanks to you.

[Maniac]

So EnviLawn, one question. Why don't you have your son working for you? Scott's seems to have helped you so much to the point where your business is "booming" and your son is one of the "good guys". It seems like a perfect fit. Why would he work for Scott's when you are in the same business?

[rdran5]

the good guys, (like my son), were pushed so hard they quit.
Keep it up, SCOTTS, my small business is booming thanks to you.


Maniac, I think he addressed that.

[Envi-Lawn]

maniac, I love my kid, but some people have to learn things on their own. He is one of those people.

[teeca]

So EnviLawn, one question. Why don't you have your son working for you? Scott's seems to have helped you so much to the point where your business is "booming" and your son is one of the "good guys". It seems like a perfect fit. Why would he work for Scott's when you are in the same business?

to steal their customers of course!! :D
a whole list of nieve consumers, wow! you are going to make a killing!! :angel: