Q&A

Questions from our readers...

Q. I have a small, but rapidly growing landscape maintenance company. My biggest problem is quality control and customer turnover. What policies would you recommend to provide better quality work and less customer turnover?



J.L.

San Diego, CA



A. You are experiencing a common problem for many business people, not just landscape gardeners. The first thing you need to do is ensure that your employees value your customers as much as you do. All the threats in the world will not do this. You must give them the responsibility. You must pay them well. Only pay unsupervised employees by commission only. They only get paid if you do and only a percentage, not a flat fee. Provide a bonus plan based on monthly customer service reply cards (mail them out with the bills and offer a discount if they are returned - this way you get the good comments as well as the bad). Also call customers regularly for additional input. Make the bonus worthwhile for excellent work. Set up a program to allow your employees to share in the profits on commission sales of materials (fertilizer, etc.) Give each employee the responsibility to handle their own customer's complaints. They, not you, should contact the customer and discuss the problem and resolve it (lay out the guidelines of what can and cannot be done). Be sure to follow up on this to make sure it was done. Do a monthly profitability analysis on each employee's route or list of customers. Set up a scoring method. Incorporate this into the bonus plan. Set minimums for profit, customer complaints, equipment care, etc. and stick to them. Have written guidelines as to what occurs when an employee drops below his minimum (sliding commission scales, warnings, then ultimately termination). This provides a lot more carrot than stick, but for certain people the stick is necessary (if nothing else it will eliminate your problem employees before they cause you problems). Lastly, for employees with over a year in the company set up a profit sharing plan. Give them a stake in your future and they will guard it for you.



Q. Is there an easy way to remove old lawns before rototilling? Also, how do you keep Bermuda type grasses from coming back?



C.D.

El Toro, CA



A. A machine called a sod cutter is available for rent at most rental yards. It will slice away the top layer of lawn allowing you to get down to the dirt. Before doing this spray the lawn with Round-up (allow a month for the following process). First make sure that the lawn is in good shape, nice and green. Yes, nice and green. Round-up must be absorbed into the plant's system to work so the grass must be healthy and growing. Spray the lawn thoroughly with Round-up (follow manufacturers directions). After allowing period to dry (follow directions) resume watering of lawn as normal. Wait one to two weeks to assess results. Spray again if necessary. After another two weeks if there is no living grass you can proceed with the sod cutter.



Q. We often do landscape jobs on residences that have small sloping lawns that we seed instead of sod. Watering this area just right is very tricky to keep the soil in place. Is netting appropriate in a case like this?



S.T.

Pacific Beach, CA



A. A fine netting can be used, but you will still have a problem with the netting interfering with the growth of the grass. A better solution is a soil stabilizer like Soil Seal. We will have an article in an upcoming issue on this technique. For now, though, if you want more information contact Soil Seal Corp., 1111 West Sixth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017, (213) 481-7185.



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