Ideal Landscaping

[idealscape]

Originally Posted by Jelinek61

Thats quite the ditch witch trencher you got. Is that for large irrigation installs like athletic fields?

Athletic fields and reclaimed lines to spray fields...anything with golf course style "valve-in-head" heads.

[GMLC]

Very nice! This is what keeps me motivated. Funny thing is I just updated my business plan this week as the season is just about over up here. I would love to pick your brain but it would take all day!!

What part of NC are you in? I have family in New Bern.

[idealscape]

Originally Posted by GMLC

Very nice! This is what keeps me motivated. Funny thing is I just updated my business plan this week as the season is just about over up here. I would love to pick your brain but it would take all day!!

What part of NC are you in? I have family in New Bern.

We are located in Wake County near Raleigh, NC. Feel free to ask away, I don't mind helping out any way I can.

[RPM90]

This is an awesome thread, so my question is how do you keep that quality of work being in so many different things and being so diverse in what you guys do. I have a hard enough time finding good employees for my small operation I run one landscape/hardscape crew and one maintenance crew. Its so hard to find good employees that show up each day and can do some of the work we do? How did you get this big?

[DLONGLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by RPM90

This is an awesome thread, so my question is how do you keep that quality of work being in so many different things and being so diverse in what you guys do. I have a hard enough time finding good employees for my small operation I run one landscape/hardscape crew and one maintenance crew. Its so hard to find good employees that show up each day and can do some of the work we do? How did you get this big?

Im in the same boat and would love to find some good guys or tips on good guys. I was paying my maintenance foreman(we are a three man opperation) 16 dollars per hour and he was asking for an advanced each week because he was "out of money" working 60 hours a week with overtime. Then the laborers come in 15 min late and piss and moan about doing anything that doesn't involve sitting on a mower. Been through about 6 guys this year.

Where do you find good help!

BTW, this is an inspiration to a lot of people and i love seeing such a huge operation do some amazing work!

[idealscape]

$16/hr...goodness gracious. You must live in an area with a higher cost of living. Our foremans do not make that much! The quality control is done through a system of audits. Maintenance crews have laborers, foremans, account manager and an area supervisor. The Account manager will audit or grade a property based on a 100 point scale. Anything below 75 and the crew has another "training day" where the issues will be fixed with the help and supervision of the account manager, this will only happen 3 times before a foreman will be repositioned. The Account managers properties will be graded by an area manager with the same standards. This keeps our QC to the highest possible level. Account Managers visit their properties at least once per day. Area managers have 3 account managers under them so they see each property once per week. Our installation department has 2 project managers one with 19 years experience with us and one with 10. Under them are 4 install foremans and laborers. They work on the same kind of QC schedule. Irrigation crew only does irrigation, spray tech only sprays. And most importantly we have an on staff mechanic that keeps all the equipment and trucks running perfectly. Implementing systems, understanding the importance of Quality Control and sticking to the plan are the keys to controllable growth.
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[RPM90]

At what point did you bring someone else on to help with they business end, like how did you know when to bring them on? Also what do you daily routines consists of now and days with being so large?

[Swampy]

Originally Posted by idealscape

$16/hr...goodness gracious. You must live in an area with a higher cost of living. Our foremans do not make that much! The quality control is done through a system of audits. Maintenance crews have laborers, foremans, account manager and an area supervisor. The Account manager will audit or grade a property based on a 100 point scale. Anything below 75 and the crew has another "training day" where the issues will be fixed with the help and supervision of the account manager, this will only happen 3 times before a foreman will be repositioned. The Account managers properties will be graded by an area manager with the same standards. This keeps our QC to the highest possible level. Account Managers visit their properties at least once per day. Area managers have 3 account managers under them so they see each property once per week. Our installation department has 2 project managers one with 19 years experience with us and one with 10. Under them are 4 install foremans and laborers. They work on the same kind of QC schedule. Irrigation crew only does irrigation, spray tech only sprays. And most importantly we have an on staff mechanic that keeps all the equipment and trucks running perfectly. Implementing systems, understanding the importance of Quality Control and sticking to the plan are the keys to controllable growth.
Posted via Mobile Device

First I got to say awesome, I'm subbing to this thread to see where this goes and become a fan of your company. I like to see success.

I'd like to pick more into detail about your audit system. I found, as a super for LCO, QC is directly related to the employee's themselves. When I worked up to the Super position, that company had a very high employee turn over rate, demoralized crew, and poor employee retention through the season and winter months. The only reason actually how I got the Super position was that I had been there the longest, 3 years in fact. I since moved on and started my own company, due to some employer reasons, but always wanting to learn for future reference.

[idealscape]

We have somewhat of a high turn over rate in terms of laborers. After about a year with us, they will hear of another company hiring and being that they worked for our company, they are trained well and are worth good money to a smaller LCO. Again, another aspect of business where I don't blame the employee or the other company. We do however have several employees that have worked for our company for over 15 years. It takes a lot of team building to get to where we are today. As I said in another thread, always make the employees feel just as important to the business as you, the owner, are. The company is only as strong as the employees.

[muddywater]

What do you try to charge per man hour on maintenance, irrigation and landscaping?