If you had to sum up landscape companies’ main focuses heading into the new year two words that capture their goals well are: efficiency and growth.
Many owners are upping their technology budgets as they explore innovations that will benefit their operations’ productivity. Also, landscape businesses are buckling down on implementing strategies to recruit and retain quality employees.
Technological Advancements
Allen Sweeney, CEO of APHIX, based in Frankfort, Kentucky, says he believes the future of the industry is in battery power and autonomy. More and more landscape companies are either currently using battery-powered equipment or piloting its rollout.
In some cases, like California, the transition to battery-powered equipment is driven by regulations. Nada Duna, COO of Gothic Landscape, based in Valencia, California, says their usage is increasing substantially.
“The technology is improving fast, so we are piloting added technologies, especially in the battery charging space,” Duna says.
Toby Mancini, operations manager for Franz Witte Landscape Contracting, Inc., based in Nampa, Idaho, says they spent 2024 testing out a number of battery-powered brands, considering everything from the battery systems and infrastructure improvements needed to the feel of battery products versus gas-powered equipment.
“There are a lot of great resources and the availability of experts to pull together all the details and evaluate all of the different systems,” Mancini says. “Ultimately, we decided to go with Echo and have created a relationship that includes a dealership that we will sell out of our retail location as well as utilize it on our maintenance and construction crews migrating to mostly battery-operated tools.”
J.T. Price, CEO of Landscape Workshop, based in Birmingham, Alabama, says they will utilize battery power only when specifically requested by customers who are willing to pay the incremental cost or when there are specific cases of economic value for using the equipment.
“Our view is that our job is to give our customers the best value possible, and if they want us to use more expensive solutions, we will need to charge them for that,” Price says.
Similarly, Alan Handley, CEO of Visterra Landscape Group, based in Rosemont, Illinois, says many of their clients in the Northeast require the usage of battery-powered equipment, but they are not getting the same push in the South or Midwest. He is more interested in exploring the ROI of robotics as they have bought 25 autonomous mowers as part of a beta project they will roll out in the Midwest.
“I’d rather invest the time and effort into robotics and put our capital there because we think the returns will be fairly significant and more justifiable,” Handley says. “I will use my capital on robotics in a market where they’re not demanding battery. I don’t have the desire to push battery over robotics if they’re not asking for it.”
AI is another area of innovation that landscape companies are curious about delving into further. Price, Sweeney and Mancini say they have only used AI in a limited capacity.
“As a company, we are not leveraging it like we should be,” Mancini says. “AI is being built into so many everyday office tools, so we may be using it without knowing it. We need to continue exploring it to stay relevant.”
Duna says Gothic currently uses AI to measure and estimate jobs as well as project equipment usage needs and many other processes, including but not limited to design, take-offs, and GPS tracking.
“In general, we are experimenting with new ideas that are meaningful to the operations and provide meaningful data,” Duna says.
Becoming a Destination Employer
One trend that has consistently been at the forefront as owners strive to grow their businesses is finding the talent to sustain it. Duna says this is being heightened by an aging workforce and a new generation not being as interested in the work their parents did.
“When we start every meeting, it’s always about how do we win the war on talent?” Handley says. “Because that really is the biggest impediment to our ability to grow as set out in our strategic plans.”
Handley says employees are even harder to find in growing markets like Dallas or Houston. Mancini notes that housing prices and wage pressure are challenges for them in their region.
As businesses seek out alternate labor sources due to the uncertain future of the H-2B program, the need to become a destination employer has become even more critical.
“As we have continued to grow, the labor opportunities have seemed to get better for APHIX as we strive to be a destination company,” Sweeney says. “In all of our current markets, we believe that people are starting to seek out the opportunity to join our team, which has significantly impacted our retention. Our team truly experiences a people/culture-first environment in which they want to be a part of.”
Duna says they’ve seen opportunities recruiting trade people in services who are being replaced with digital and/or AI processes and looking for work.
Mancini says they are working on being consistent with their training of hands-on and leadership skills.
“We have people coming up through the company that have the knowledge and know-how of the job but have not mastered the ability to manage people,” Mancini says.
Handley says his company rolled out free health care for all their field workers this year in response to employee surveys.
“That was not a small undertaking,” Handley says. “It costs a lot of money, but it’s a huge retention tool. They’re the ones that are out every day working in snow and the heat and everything else, so you really want to take care of them. How do we make the work more meaningful? How do we give them careers? How do we give them low-cost benefits and a safe environment? I think that’s how you win the war on talent.”
