Sometimes you learn more from mistakes than you do from successes, says H. Jaclyn Ishimaru-Gachina, president and co-founder of Gachina Landscape Management headquartered in Menlo Park, California. That was the case when one of the company’s branches secured a difficult client. While the company was initially quite proud to announce they landed this very large […]
In the past three years, NALP member Ben Carruthers, owner of Carruthers Landscape Management Inc., in Dallas, says the company has become more “HR-focused” than ever before. He’s been working with Human Resources “Harvester” Steve Cesare, of The Harvest Group, on a number of ways in which the company can improve their employee onboarding process—among […]
When it comes to hiring more labor, NALP member Lisa L. Kuperus, vice president of Farmside Landscape & Design in Wantage, New Jersey, says it must be a multi-faceted and ongoing effort. In this tight labor market—and with the industry’s struggle to receive H-2B workers—there is no time to become complacent. “We absolutely must have […]
Motivating employees and making them feel like valued members of the team has always been at the core of how Jason Musch, owner and president of Dutch Valley Landscape Contractors, has run his business. He says “without our employees, we are nothing.” Even so, in the past, the Chicago-area landscape maintenance company has experienced problems […]
Employee retention has never been much of an issue at McHale Landscape Design, a $20-million full-service landscape and maintenance company based in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. In fact, the company has many long-term employees who have been with the business for two decades or more—including McHale’s 50 foremen. But Kevin McHale, president, says he was getting […]
Though his son has grown up around the business—and the industry—Cody Whelchel, owner of Texas-based Cody Landscape, says the process of transitioning business ownership to his son has been more complicated than he anticipated. Currently in the midst of that process, Whelchel, who founded the landscape design, installation and maintenance business in 1986 along with […]
Let’s face it: As a result of the lack of knowledge available to people about the landscape industry and the career potential within, its image is tainted. This is particularly true with younger generations. “Students and parents think it’s a dirty job and that you don’t make any money in landscaping; we just have this […]
A savvy business owner knows he or she constantly needs to be on the lookout for a growth bottleneck. If they want their businesses to continue to grow and perform, they need to remove these “hold-ups.” But what if the owner is the bottleneck? That was exactly the case for Doug McDuff and his business […]
Switching companies—or even just positions within the same company—always brings a new set of challenges. For Bill Horn, East Branch Manager for Gachina Landscape Management in Menlo Park, California, 30-plus years with the same company had him used to a certain way of doing business. Horn brought his ideas to Gachina and had to find […]
Located in Austin, Texas—where technology is basically a way of life (and most certainly a way of business)—Ben Collinsworth, owner and founder of Native Land Design, says he felt embarrassed that his company appeared to lag in that arena. Watching friends outside of the industry transform their businesses with technology inspired Collinsworth to do this […]