FEATURES PORTFOLIO
COMMERCIAL AFTERCARE
IN LONDON
the care of large country gardens, courtyards, London squares, town gardens and residential rooftop developments. We principally operate in London and the home counties, and have more than 70 regular customers whose gardens we service on a weekly basis. Of these, 15 or so are large country houses, while the rest are London based. Lengths of visit vary from three man-hours to three man-days per week, depending on the size and complexity of the site. As well as aftercare, my team is involved in small installations and soft landscaping, adding to its members’ job satisfaction. Let’s consider the mobile aspect of the job. Managing vans and driving in town comes with its own set of issues and costs (including the Congestion Charge). It is unbelievably hard to find quality gardeners who also possess the ability to drive, let alone manoeuvre vans confidently in the maelstrom of London’s traffic, where taxis, cyclists and lorries all compete for road space with scant consideration for decency and fair play. Minor accidents and altercations are invariably part of the mix. Once the stratagem of understanding protracted journey times through London is mastered, the next contentious issue is parking: finding a space can be a ridiculously lengthy process. Parking spaces can be some distance from site, necessitating tool drop offs
JEFF STEPHENSON DISCUSSES SOME OF THE CHALLENGES FACING THOSE PROVIDING AFTERCARE SERVICES IN LONDON
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hat an idyllic lifestyle being a gardener is – a laid-back, bucolic appointment. Well, that would be nice, wouldn’t it? If you’re in the business of caring for high-end designer gardens in the capital and managing the attending horticulturists under your wing, its time to throw away the rose-tinted spectacles and thicken your skin. Commercial gardening for the affluent echelon is invigorating and rewarding, but it can also be frustrating and exhausting at the same time. There’s the opportunity to work on a great variety of interesting schemes, but client expectations are always high and can also be unrealistic. The Gardening and Aftercare Department at Bowles & Wyer was born out of the business model of our early years: design, build and maintain. When I joined in 1996 I brought along one staff member (who is still with us) and an already up-and-running maintenance round, which served domestic clients in and around Kew. As the company grew we diversified to the point we are at today, where, as well as our own builds, we provide garden aftercare for well-known designers and independent customers. Our client base is a mix of business, semi-public spaces and private residential – all at the well-heeled end of the market. It includes 16
Pro Landscaper / London
Jeff Stephenson.indd 16
or else epic marathons in which gardeners find themselves enacting a form of ‘It’s a Knockout’ – balancing gardening paraphernalia on mowers while traversing crowded streets. Timekeeping is imperative to avoid penalty parking charges, with services regularly interrupted by the need to move a van before its permitted time has elapsed. Then there’s the concern for security: vans are a target for theft (whether parked near a property in Chelsea in broad daylight, or outside a staff member’s home). Diligence, fitting locks and alarms, and being cautious about which tools are carried are all ongoing ordeals – but is far cheaper than the costly, timewasting process that follows when machinery is stolen, and vehicles are damaged in the process. As my opening line suggests, gardening is suited to people with calm temperaments, who would like a serene existence. However, working in London on multiple sites, with a wide variety of client attitudes, demands adaptability; staff are viewed as knowledgeable companions by some, and as chattels for servitude by others. This places a large onus on individuals to be many things – responsive, respectful, dutiful and diplomatic among them. Preparedness to travel (which includes using London transport to meet at differing locations each morning) is an imperative, as well as the ability to be self-reliant and to work as a team. Gardening in this sector is not for the fainthearted. www.prolandscapermagazine.com
12/06/2018 14:41