Grounds Maintenance Blog

Water has a way of taking over. 

Whether it’s from heavy rain or an irrigation system that has a sprinkler head that is leaking or broken, water will flow and travel on the easiest nearby path. If it has nowhere to go, it’ll collect.

A college or university campus with its rolling hills, shade trees, vast turf expanses, and gathering nooks surrounded by educational buildings is a special environment. Students get to soak in the sights while they expand their educational horizon.

What draws students and their parents toward choosing the right college and university that meets all of their needs?

If this would have gotten posted in February it would have looked significantly different.  The year 2020 has been a roller coaster to say the least and what would have been the commercial landscape trends have changed over the last couple of months.  Our personal lives look a lot different and so do our professional lives.  

At some point working in the landscaping industry developed the negative connotation of being a dead end job.  This mindset couldn't be further from the truth, and working for a professional landscaping company can be a very rewarding career choice for anyone.

In fact, landscaping is a very large industry accounting for $98 billion in yearly revenue, according to .With over a million of individuals working in the green industry, it has to be more than just a dead end job.  Here are a few reasons why working in the green can be a beneficial career.  

It's a business

Just like any business, a landscaping company still needs all of the functions that any other business would. 

• Sales & Marketing:  There is a service that needs to be sold, therefore sales and marketing are an essential component. 
• Estimating:  All landscaping contracts and projects needs to be measured and bid in order to provide a competitive proposal.  
• Human Resources:  There needs to be hardworking and talented individuals to perform grounds maintenance, snow removal, and instal beautiful landscapes.  Therefore a strong HR department is important to recruit these talented landscapers.
• Finance:  Budgets need to be prepared, assets needs to be depreciated, bills need to be paid, and invoices need to be sent out.  
• Operations Management: Services such as grounds maintenance, landscape installs, & fertilization needs to be planned and scheduled, so companies need a strong operations management team.  
• Account Management:  Customers need someone to nourish the relationship, and handle any concerns or complaints.  Contracts need to be renewed.  
• Landscape Design & Architecture:  Landscape installs need to be planned out and designed.  

No Experience Required 

Most landscaping companies will hire someone with no experience in the industry.  At Turfscape we focus on hiring for personality and training for skill set.  A commercial landscaping company like Turfscape will invest a lot of time and effort into training and education so anyone with an interest in working outdoors can learn a productive skill set.  

Advancement Opportunities

Whenever a mid to higher level management position opens up, Turfscape will always try to promote from within.  Doing so allows the company to provide career advancement opportunities to their team and gives them something to work toward.  It also creates a competitive environment that drives production and high performers can be rewarded by advancement.  Promoting from within is also beneficial to the company because they can develop their employees so they are ready to take on the challenge of management.  

Fun Work Environment

Working outdoors with a crew of landscapers that you enjoy working, and joking around with can be a lot of fun.  At Turfscape, we believe in this concept so much that one of our core values is, "Have Fun At Work".  The company cookout, Christmas party, or friendly competition goes a long way in developing a fun work environment.  

When the people you work with are your most valuable asset as they are in a commercial grounds maintenance company like Turfscape, it only makes sense to invest in hiring and developing the best.  That is why at Turfscape, our Human Resources team has the motto of, "WE ARE ALWAYS HIRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE".  If you or someone you know might be interested in a landscaping career please

An effective Arbor Car Program for a Condo Association or HOA should provide a detailed plan to maximize the well-being of trees.  Healthy trees obliviously benefit our communities by improving air quality, providing shade, and help provide beautiful landscapes.

If you live in North East Ohio it is easy to understand that the weather isn’t always a landscapers best friend.  The weather is one variable landscape professionals cannot control and can make things difficult.  We often get the call from some of our customers wondering why we are mowing grass in the rain.  The answer is pretty simple: “BECAUSE WE HAVE TO”, not necessarily because we want to.  Mowing grass in the rain takes substantially more time and creates a dangerous environment for our staff to work.   

A few years ago a friend of mine gave me a book called "2 Second Lean" by Paul Akers.  This book, which is a very easy and fun read, has changed the way we operate here at Turfscape.  Paul Akers takes the extremely complicated concept of "lean manufacturing" and breaks it down into a simplified version that can easily be implemented into any business.  The idea of lean was originated in the auto industry with “TPS”, or Toyota Production System and has gained lots of traction in the manufacturing arena.  However lean can also be applied to a service business such as a commercial grounds maintenance company like Turfscape. 

The commercial landscape design trends in 2018 included incorporating sustainable elements, reducing total water usage and stormwater runoff and showcasing native plants and flowers. As we wrap up the year and look forward to 2019, here are some of the main commercial landscape design themes you’ll see. All of these contribute to one common goal—giving your facility the landscape elements you need to give employees and visitors the best possible first impression.

The grass isn’t going to stop growing due to the current pandemic.  Therefore landscape professionals have been declared essential and are able to continue working.  With safety being the primary focus of all our operational procedures and after much careful and thorough research, Turfscape has determined that taking the following precautions will help keep help our employees and customers safe during these unprecedented times.  

Bidding commercial landscape maintenance services can be a very difficult process, especially when dealing with a larger property. As a landscape contractor, we want to make sure our bid is competitive and that we quote the job properly in order to have the resources needed to provide the level of service expected.