Save Thousands by Right-Sizing Crews
Contractor Tommy Ganz, founder of the American Landscape Maintenance Association (ALMA), talks about the importance of right-sizing crews for maximum profitability. Through years of experience, Ganz knows when two-man crews are better than three, and when three-man crews are better than five. Listen in to learn how you can also right-size your crews so the work’s getting done, quality is maintained, crews are happier, and you make more money.
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I am very interested in your articles about rightsizing crews and about communication. The sound on my computer is not working so your podcast is of no value to me. Is it possible to get a hard copy of these discussions?
Thanks,
Dave
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Hey Dave. Sorry to hear about your computer. Tommy and I plan to spin this ProCast into a feature article for a fall issue of PRO Magazine, with additional meat above and beyond what’s discussed in this ProCast. So stay tuned!
June 24th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I had trouble opening the file,Would it be possible to get a hard copy?
I am sizing up our crews right now,I have 70 men,and started out using 2 man crews,went to 3-4 man crews to get more work done,Now were losing margin on most of our routes,I would like to See what others have to say.
Thank you,
Brian
June 24th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I just wanted to say this was a great pod cast. I do have one question I am a smaller company with 3 man crews I feel like my mean down time at the job is shrubbery pruning. Would you recommend that one of my 3 man crews go to the property once a month and prune out the whole property or just prune sections when the cut?
June 25th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Great pod cast. thanks for putting it together, guys!
June 25th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Lee, most of the time, our trimming/pruning which we call “detail” work is done by “detail crews”. Their route is detail work only. In Florida, our detail crews visited our properties weekly because of the growing cycle. In New England, a one-man detail crew handles all of our trimming work. Typically in New England, landscapers will trim 2-3 times per season. Our guy visits all properties once per month. He only has to trim selected areas since he is there monthly. He is merely “sniping” each time rather than heavy trimming. Not sure where in the country you operate but try the “snip-snip” all-the-time-method. Your staff will like it and your customers will “love it!” Feel free to email me with more details and I will be happy to help!
Tommy Ganz
ALMA
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:29 am
My company takes care of High End Residential clients. Our contract states that we perform “selective / minor pruning”. However, our clients are always insisting that they want more of the “tight” look with their pruning. Even though I bid these properties for “minor” pruning it always seems to go more in depth with trying to keep these clients happy. How would you suggest bidding “detail” work in Ohio? My contracts are set for bi-weekly visits or 15 occ per season. Thanks in advance for your response. Great pod cast!!
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Dave, you have two issues that need to be addressed. First, with residentials, especially high-end ones, you should be “snipping” each and every visit. Operating in Connecticut (not much different than OH), I have never come accross a residential property (and we have maintained some luxurious ones) that 10-15 minutes of light snipping each visit didn’t take care of regarding trimming needs. You will agree that most landscapers in the northeast trim 2-3 times per season…maybe 3-5 times on high-end properties. Snipping every week beats heavy trimming every time…both in productivity and appearance! If you don’t have 15 minutes allocated in your service bidhours, I would suggest you eat those manhours for the rest of the season and snip weekly for the remainder of this year. Your customer will have grown so acustomed to that level of service, trust me, they’ll pay you whatever you need next year! The more important issue I think, is the fact that you said you were only visiting your properties twice per month. Possibly you meant for detail (I hope). But if you are only providing two cuttings per month, your detail woes are insignificant. It would be impossible to provide a high level of quality, especially to higher-end properties only visiting twice per month. I’d be glad to help you through that process, just shoot me an email and give me as much information as you can and I’ll help you sell your services much differently!
Hope this helps.
Tommy Ganz
July 6th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Tommy- Yes, I did mean 2x per month for the Detail Crew. When it comes time for bidding…..do you seperate the Detail work from the weekly mowing in the contract? Our contracts are sent out with it all combined. I’m looking for the best way to bid the detail work for high end residential. Also, would you bid HOA’s and Commercial detail work the same? Thanks!!
July 8th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Glad to hear that! Typically, we combine the detail into our pricing especially on residentials. However, should the property have “extensive” detail and gardening requirements, we will isolate that pricing. This gives us the flexibility to alter the program during the contract period. Don’t get frustrated on the pricing of detail…it’s one of the toughest tasks to develop a production ratio for since no ornamental is the same, especially mature landscapes. You have to pull from past and current detail performances to gage the needed manhours for each properties trimming needs. From your above comments, I would say that a bulk of your problems stem from not having a clear understanding of your clients expectations. It’s happend to all of us. Use this season to stay extremely close to your customers and get a real understanding as to what they expect and when they expect it. These sound like fairly easy fixes next contract period so long as they are happy with your staff and the quality of work.
PS
I can’t emhasize enough to closely doccument your detail manhours as you perform them. For example, every time you trim a Topiary, doccument how long each trimming took, it’s size category and how many trimmings it took to maintain its shape during the season. Do the same with large or unique ornamentals, etc. For those residentials with large perennial beds- how long it takes to go into that bed and pinch-off dead blooms and how often, etc. These are all tasks that you can develop production ratios for…but it is tedious! But the payoff is accurate estimating, accurate job-tracking and profitability!