June 2011 Landscape Trades

JUNE 2011

VOL. 33, NO. 5

Avoid pitfalls of success Stopping work: Contract rights, responsibilities Waste management can pay returns

PM40013519

New economy, new thinking Recovery strategies for contractors Financial management for growers

contents JUNE 2011 VOL. 33, NO. 5

PUBLISHER Lee Ann Knudsen CLP | lak@landscapeontario.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Sarah Willis | sarahw@landscapeontario.com EDITOR Allan Dennis | adennis@landscapeontario.com WEB EDITOR Robert Ellidge | rob@landscapeontario.com ART DIRECTOR Melissa Steep | msteep@landscapeontario.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Mike Wasilewski | mikew@landscapeontario.com ACCOUNTANT Joseph Sabatino | joesabatino@landscapeontario.com SALES MANAGER, PUBLICATIONS Steve Moyer | stevemoyer@landscapeontario.com COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT Angela Lindsay | alindsay@landscapeontario.com

FEATURES 6

BY LEE ANN KNUDSEN

12 Turning green into gold Nursery saves money by composting

BY SARAH WILLIS

14 Growing for profit

ADVISORY COMMITTEE Gerald Boot CLP, Laura Catalano, Hank Gelderman CHTM, Tim Kearney CLP, Marty Lamers, Jan Laurin, Bob Tubby CLP

Good costing information enables growers to make hard business decisions

Landscape Trades is published by Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association 7856 Fifth Line South, Milton, ON L9T 2X8 Phone: (905)875-1805 Email: comments@landscapetrades.com Fax: (905)875-0183 Web site: www.landscapetrades.com LANDSCAPE ONTARIO STAFF Gilles Bouchard, Rachel Cerelli, Paul Day CDE, Lexi Dearborn, Tony DiGiovanni CHTR, Denis Flanagan CLD, Sally Harvey CLT CLP, Helen Hassard, Lorraine Ivanoff, Jane Leworthy, Kristen McIntyre CHTR, Kathy McLean, Linda Nodello, Kathleen Pugliese, Paul Ronan, Ian Service, Tom Somerville, Martha Walsh Landscape Trades is published nine times a year: January, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, October and November/December.

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The challenge of getting it right

Has pricing changed during the economic recovery?

BY SARAH WILLIS

20 Troubleshooting on the job site A few short sentences that should set off warning bells

BY MARK BRADLEY

DEPARTMENTS GREEN PENCIL NEW PRODUCTS PROVINCIAL NEWS CNLA NEWS INDUSTRY NEWS COMING EVENTS CLASSIFIEDS WHERE TO FIND IT

4 26 28 29 31 35 36 38

SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPING

18 Our efforts do make a difference

BY SEAN JAMES

BUILDING BUSINESS

22 Challenge your preconceptions

BY GEORGE URVARI

ROAD TO SUCCESS

24 Be prepared to manage your success

BY ROD MCDONALD

LEGAL MATTERS

33 Read this before you stop work on a project Landscape Trades is the official media partner of Congress and EXPO

ISSN 0225-6398 PUBLICATIONS MAIL SALES AGREEMENT 40013519 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT LANDSCAPE TRADES MAGAZINE 7856 FIFTH LINE SOUTH, MILTON, ON L9T 2X8, CANADA

BY ROBERT KENNALEY

greenpencil An oft-cited statistic may be an urban legend

Who controls household spending?

The weather

has done nobody any favours this spring, and I’ve exhausted all platitudes. In fact, I’ve started to equate my feelings for meteorologists on par with those for my dentist — I dread seeing them both.

I sincerely hope that, by the time you read this, the flood waters in Manitoba will have receded and spring will be running to catch up with the rest of us across the country. In the meantime, let’s stop talking about the weather and take a look at some breaking news.

Apart from the power equipment sector, the green industry’s entire marketing strategy has revolved around the idea that women hold the purse strings.

The most commonly quoted figure being that women control 80 per cent of household spending.

However, this long-held notion is coming under question. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal suggests that nobody can locate the origin of this statistic, and recent surveys indicate that when men and women live together, they participate nearly equally in spending decisions.

The story reports that researchers for Futures Co. found that, “Just 37 per cent of women said they have pri-

4 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

BY SARAH WILLIS

mary responsibility for shopping decisions in their household, while 85 per cent said they have primary or shared responsibility. The respective figures for men were similar: 31 per cent and 84 per cent.” Ira Mayer, publisher of the newsletter Marketing to Women, says the 80 per cent figure has “become accepted folklore.”

There’s a lot more information in the WSJ story, citing differences between the sexes in electronic and automobile spending, but what’s most pertinent to the landscape and garden centre industries, is that our typical customer might not be that 35­- to 55-year-old female.

With this possibility in the back of my mind, I’ve approached my part-time job at a garden centre this spring with renewed purpose — to investigate the premise that men are participating in plant purchasing decisions nearly as much as women. Unfortunately though, the historically slow start to spring (there it is again), has had a dampening effect on my observations.

To find a link to the WSJ article, go to the News page of www.landscapetrades.com. Melissa Steep, our art director, has put a lot of thought into the new look of the site, and we’ll be updating it frequently. Our archive search function has been improved too, which will give readers greater access to our selection of online articles. We’re excited to be unveiling the new Landscape Trades website. While we can’t do much of anything about the weather (sorry!), we can help you with tools to build a better business. Don’t forget to search the electronic Source Book, as you hunt LT down the products you need this spring.

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Recovery pricing The recent recession has shaken up landscape construction business models across Canada. How have pricing, marketing and business management strategies changed in the recovery?

BY LEE ANN KNUDSEN

“It has been an interesting couple of

clients through upgrading the landscapes of offs? What are the opportunities?” years,” says Audrey Partridge of Toronto their first and subsequent homes.

Partridge says processes are important. design/build contractor Juergen Partridge With the changing price points, make “Analyze the hiccups, build your company Ltd. The company is a high profile, high- sure clients understand they are getting into an efficient wheel. A good on-site end design/build contractor in the Toronto good value, Partridge cautions. She felt foreman is not enough, you must have a area. a tangible, vindictive backlash in client bigger method and management system.

Has Partridge held its prices? Audrey attitudes over the last two years, an unstated Give clear directions, and never panic.”

Partridge honestly says no, particularly observation: “It’s about time prices came She also keeps a very close eye on sub design fees. She says today’s client requires down, contractors have been ripping us trades. “They must be well supervised and more handholding, and today’s contractor off for years.” She takes the challenge in do good work, or else the contractor is must focus on what the client needs, and stride, noting that more wary customers, holding the bag.” be sure to spell demanding more details, is a good thing.

Partridge, who has been through three everything out.

Partridge observes it is more common recessions, seems to take a long, thoughtful She believes now to break projects down into phases — look at how the recession challenge has the contracting not her favourite thing to do, but necessary affected her fellow business owners. If industry had to make the work affordable. While it facing depleted resources, she says it’s time become lazy over takes more effort and time, it is critically to look at lifestyle changes, maybe it’s time the prosperous important to explain the alternatives, so the to go back to your roots. To ask the question, years.

Today, client can make realistic choices. “Be true to what is important in my life? She observes “We have to sell, your clients’ budgets,” she says. that Canadians seem to live to work, while to use good The company’s business management Europeans work to live. She urges her fellow s a l e s m a n s h i p strategy has been to control cost creep, and green industry pros to watch for burnout, Audrey Partridge and marketing take a fresh look at all costs, even revisiting and not beat yourself up too much over t e c h n i q u e s . ” line items such as phone service. Watch for mistakes, or it will affect your current Clients are more sophisticated when it hidden costs, such as deliveries or dumping business. comes to communications. “You must keep fees. Know how to negotiate with suppliers.

The bottom line, according to Audrey them informed at every step; never skip this, Do the work right the first time, to prevent Partridge, is to prosper through integrity or it will bite you.” costly warranty work. She is open that tight and good business skills. Otherwise, your The market has changed; Partridge used times have forced the contractor to shave business is a charity. to focus on large, upper-end jobs. Now it’s ROI and margins, taking it down sometimes going after a mix of prices, styles and client to breakeven, in order to continue working. Productivity rules demographics. This switch brought an Meanwhile, the company kept a close eye Jean Paul Lamarche says the key to success unexpected bonus: it has helped designers on capital investments. “Must we replace is not glamorous, it’s good old-fashioned on staff grow and mature, as they lead this? What are the alternatives and trade- productivity. Lamarche has been a green

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industry business management consultant Lamarche says to work cheaper, smaller, for over 25 years, based in Toronto but quicker — more efficiently — and if you are serving businesses across the continent. nervous, simply aim for breakeven.

He is an evangelist for understanding “In these tough times, if playing with your true business costs, including return on margins is not enough, you can play with the investment, and setting prices for profit. return on investment you have, hopefully, The spring of 2011 finds Lamarche built into your pricing. This strategy allows still cautious about the green industry’s you to keep people over the short term, but economic prospects. be aware that you are depleting your equity Customers are not to stay alive. showing urgency “As an owner/manager, you should get to book jobs, and into your accounting software every day. advising them to You should eat numbers for breakfast.” book before the Productivity is key; Lamarche recommends trade gets busy is not showing $3,000 in sales per working day to working. Rising food support a crew. Labour burden should be 25 and utility costs are per cent or less. pinching households.

Lamarche recommends asking employees The HST in many to be a better team. Low pay rates are not Jean Paul Lamarche areas of Canada is the answer. He has seen real-life success also still a significant depressing factor. with hourly pay rates as high as $40; the key According to Lamarche, holding prices is a pay structure to reward efficiency, and is not necessarily the objective in today’s refusal to accept mediocrity. recovery climate. Rather, contractors must For sales success, Lamarche says use the have a firm grasp of their material and old-fashioned telephone. Phone up the labour costs to then “buy” a job if necessary quotes you did last year that did not sell. Ask to reach breakeven — if it’s a matter of if the customer did the job, and if not, ask, keeping the company afloat. “Once you “May I requote? We have made some changes achieve your breakeven for the year, you can that have given us some cost efficiencies.” feel better, and then go for profit.” Holding He says it is surprising how many customers prices simply for the sake of holding prices welcome the follow-up, and how many sales could cause contractors to miss the boat. this strategy can generate.

Seasonal cash flow management is also critical. Lamarche believes contractors are hurting themselves by not promoting credit card payment. First, it helps overcome affordability objections from customers.

But more importantly for the contractor, upfront cash combined with zero collection cost is well worth the merchant points that Visa charges. And he finds that Canadians are point-crazy anyway, they want to pay by credit card.

Enhance your cash flow by asking for 50 per cent the day you start a job, which assists in buying materials. As an industry, Lamarche says contractors need to be more aggressive in asking for advance payment — after all, Home Depot operates by asking for 100 per cent advance payment on its installation work.

“Don’t panic. Don’t get greedy. Look at how deep you are into your credit line; it may not be as bad as on this date a year ago.

Understand your numbers. And believe in your value.” According to Lamarche, there is nothing like confidence.

True to himself Bruce Hunter, of Hunter Landscape Design in Surrey, B.C., stood out in reporting little recessionary pressure on his pricing; instead, his company has responded by changing its product mix. He finds customers are

The American take Canadians generally recognize the recession has been even more challenging south of the border. When asked for his take, American green industry consultant Charles Vander Kooi says contractors there can be in control and working, but knowing and controlling costs is more important than ever.

seeing contractors assign just one person to leave from the shop; the other crew members report direct to the job site, and start getting paid the minute work begins.

He thinks contractors have reacted out of panic, assuming their overheads are the problem. If a company’s overhead is at 25 per cent, profit margin is at five, and costs make up 70 per cent, Vander Kooi says shaving costs is the intelligent place to start. He stated confidently that cost cuts of five-15 per cent are achievable by most contractors.

What about the contractor bidding to survive based on costs and overhead — forget profit margin — that still gets beat? Vander Kooi cautions, do not assume your competitor is bidding below cost, because nobody is that stupid. Instead, he suggests, what if you competitor bid the job assuming his crew worked at 110 per cent efficiency? Your competitor gets the job, goes to his crew, and asks, “Are you glad to be working today? If you are, you need to know I had to bid this job based on everybody speeding up.” Bottom line, the competitor’s crew understands the situation, and steps up the pace accordingly.

The effort spent on cutting costs also yields the competitive bids necessary to get work in today’s environment. He says to shop smart with suppliers, tighten up your equipment expenses, and work to get more value from your production hours. The time it takes a crew to load up, get coffee and arrive at the jobsite is just one opportunity to reduce costs — Vander Kooi is

“The boom days are gone forever, this has affected the economic psyche of North America wide, deep and far,” Vander Kooi says. Yet he feels the changes have been good for the industry. He said he gets nervous when things are too good, and young guys get themselves into situations where they can’t recover. “I feel better when things are tight.”

Charles Vander Kooi

8 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

more interested in looking at a range of alternatives, rather than automatically going for the higher end. Projects are smaller-scale.

In the past, customers were eager to start right away, now they want to think before committing, and they want to break work into phases.

He says 2010 was a tough year for him, his sales were down 20 per cent, but his labour costs were the highest ever. To meet the new reality, Hunter puts more effort into finetuning supervisor training, spends more time in the field streamlining efficiency, making best use of resources. Working smarter and more efficiently carried him through, he said.

Another move helped Hunter weather the recession, almost by accident. The company diversified into nursery production, which gave unlookedfor material and labour flexibility.

Hunter believes that, “staying true to who I am,” helped him weather tougher times.

He has always been Bruce Hunter a one-crew company, never believing that more volume meant more money.

Hunter can sympathize with new companies starting out, from his own experience. He started in commercial contracting, where the low bid meant everything. He called it, “a real rat race, push-push, go-go, for not much reward.”

His own journey to better prosperity began by joining BCLNA, where he met landscape contractors that seemed happier and more relaxed. “Gee, I really liked that.” Hunter moved to residential landscape contracting, and kept refining his business. “We are about reputation,” says Hunter; while his company is selling fewer barbecue surrounds this year, Hunter’s business foundation is solid.

Master strategist “First, we sell value. We did have to lower pricing over the last two years, but I do not want my company perceived as Walmart. So we lowered the price, then threw in an extra service for added value,” says Glenn Curtis of Plantenance, a residential design/build JUNE 2011 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

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and maintenance contractor in Montreal. invites potential clients to his office. It a Curtis is another numbers guy, keen on great pre-qualification tool, and it gives him knowing costs and watching his bottom much better control of his sales message. line. He understands and uses breakeven in Prospective clients get a presentation on managing his business, typically attaining it Plantenance, information on the company’s in late October. certification credentials — Curtis calls He urges fellow industry members to this powerful, even if the client is not be very cautious about lowering prices, familiar with green industry designations as you can belittle your — and details on landscape construction brand. He sees scores specs required by the Quebec Bureau of of competitors using Normalization. Curtis’s sales success rate unit pricing, rather than with this technique runs 75-80 per cent, knowing their true costs though it has been somewhat lower during — and believes these the downturn. guys are not making any A strategy that worked for Curtis was to money, and have put book jobs with a very small deposit, called themselves into a slow a service order or booking fee, only $1,500 Glenn Curtis going-out-of-business or $2,000 — the amount reverts to him if sale. He believes the the job is cancelled. He found it effective to industry will become more successful when confirm $60,000 jobs. players regard themselves as businesspeople Curtis also allows installment payments, first, rather than craftsmen. which made the difference in affordability Curtis is unusual, in that he does not for clients. His first step is to break the make site visits to sell jobs. Rather, he quote into phases, allowing the client to pay

the last 15-20 per cent with three post-dated cheques, at no interest; possible, because he already built in two per cent at the top.

Stepping up marketing during a recession is classic advice; Curtis says he actually did it. He seems to have a jealous regard for the value of his brand, and uses marketing to enhance it strategically. Curtis singles out two suppliers, Laniel Prodamex and Pépinière Pierrefonds, who have joined his effort to help educate consumers on the value of quality.

Curtis has a couple of industry friends who are struggling, and advises them and others to stick to their prices as much as they can. From his own experience, he says when he and his wife founded Plantenance, they set prices too low, and it took years to dig out of that hole.

“When the pressure is just too much, as with the recent downturn, add on extra services rather than lower your prices.

Especially with higher-margin softscape, the happier customer costs you less.” LT

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From green to gold

Nursery makes a profit using community’s green waste

BY SARAH WILLIS

Good news travels fast. When Landscape Trades heard through Vic Krahn of Lakeshore Tree Farms in Saskatoon about the green waste program run by Bylands Nursery in Kelowna, B.C., we had to follow up and find out more.

President John Byland said the primary reason for starting his own green waste composting facility was that Bylands does not have a convenient disposal site on its farms, and the local landfill was charging an exorbitant rate for disposal. His nursery, like most, generates a lot of organic waste, which can be heavy and costly to dispose of in an area where land is valued at nearly $100,000 per acre, according to Byland.

Starting an organic waste composting facility fit right in with company values.

The nursery prides itself on environmental stewardship, collecting and recycling irrigation water, recycling nursery poly and following an IPM program complete with the use of beneficial insects, Initially, Byland explains, the nursery composted its own waste and applied the organic matter to fields after harvesting bare-root trees in the autumn. This not only enriched the soil, but allowed the nursery to plant another crop the following spring, and skip the step of letting the field lie fallow for a season. “It gave us great results,” he says.

“Then we looked at our container program. We were spending between $50- and $100,000 on peat moss for our potting mix each year. We worked to process the product more finely and used 12 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

Managing a large compost operation on only three acres requires careful work, and some high piles.

it to successfully create a compost/bark mix for our containers. Because we’re not having to truck in peat moss any more, we actually make money on our composting operation.”

It requires a lot of green waste to create amendments for a nursery the size of Bylands, since 20,000 cu. yds. of raw material yields 12,000 cu. yds., or less, of finished compost. “We dedicate three acres to the site — which is really tight, and requires some management of high piles of compost,” explains Byland.

The company has a contract with the regional district to accept its green waste, and even opened up its facility to local landscape contractors and arborists. For a fee that is less than half the price at the regional waste depot, contractors receive their own PIN code to Byland’s gated facility and can drop off green waste at their convenience.

“They can dump their green waste 24/7, and are responsible for sorting out rocks and garbage,” says Byland.

When asked about success of the selfserve operation, he says that standards are enforced with tenacity. “Our foreman in the field drives by every hour or so to check the facility, and is insistent with anyone she finds dumping unacceptable waste. If someone continues to leave us garbage, we suspend his dumping privileges. We found suspension necessary only a few times, and people are now careful to follow our guidelines.”

Vic Krahn said he was impressed with Bylands’ investment in the facility, and its commitment to the local industry. “Not only is John creating his own product in a clean, controlled environment, but he is also providing a much-needed service and good LT will for the local green industry.”

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Growing for profit

Nursery growers need good costing information to quantify the impact of decisions

BY SARAH WILLIS

The reality is that the business climate today is much more complex for nursery growers than it has ever been. Savvy homeowners, big box stores and cut-price plants from south of the border have put downward pressure on pricing, while rising labour costs and inflation require growers to sharpen their pencils and be more competitive.

Growers face many other challenges, not the least of which is the fact they must plan production and inventory on a lengthy time line. This is a critical success/failure factor for growers — they must chose wisely.

But, what if despite extensive research and planning, you find that lots of other nurserymen chose to grow the same variety as you, and the market is flooded? Or, the species you chose has been labelled invasive and is now persona non grata in the plant world? Or, despite all your expertise, weather conditions have resulted in an undersized plant that needs one more year in production?

John Chisholm, CEO of SB Partners in Burlington, Ont., explains that in order to make tough decisions, growers need to have an accurate financial picture of their operations, and understand the exact costs of doing business. Last winter, Landscape 14 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

Ontario hosted a think tank for its nursery growers, and one thing that became obvious was growers are looking for help understanding their costs.

Chisholm, who was a presenter at the think tank, explains that the cost of producing a plant includes direct costs, variable costs and production overheads.

Direct costs, which are everything needed to produce the plant, include seeds, liners, pots, equipment, fertilizer, etc., and variable costs include labour and production overheads. These make up the important figure known as the cost of goods sold (COGS).

Another vital number to know is gross margin — typically measured as a percentage of sales. For example if sales are $100, cost of goods sold is $50, then gross margin is $50 or 50 per cent.

Gross margin (%) = Sales - COGS Sales Once gross margin has been determined, the rest of the expenses can be applied to the calculations, including figures for general and administration expenses and selling expenses (what did it cost me to sell this plant?).

A simplified example of a financial statement would look like: Sales revenue Cost of goods sold Gross profit margin General and administration expenses Sales expense Total expenses Profit before tax

$100 $50

$20 $10

$50 or 50%

$30 $20

Chisholm admits that a critical success factor for growers is having the know-how to produce an excellent product, but if they can’t generate a sufficient gross margin, growers are not going to be able to create net profit within their company. “At the end of the day, this is a business. Nursery growers have a huge amount of capital, and need to obtain a good rate of return on their investment, or they can get into trouble.

Pricing by rule of thumb will catch up with them,” says Chisholm, “usually in regard to cash flow.”

Management tool By understanding the costs of doing business, growers can then learn to manage inputs to get the rate of return they are looking for. By taking the time to set up

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Help is on the way Recognizing that growers struggle with understanding their costs, SB Partners is creating a workbook for the industry. It will contain an interactive electronic spreadsheet, into which producers can enter their expenses and adjust the line items, to determine desired gross margins or their company’s Profit Improvement Potential.

Chisholm expects the nursery grower’s workbook to be rolled out by this fall, with seminars on how to use it offered throughout the winter. Plans call for the workbook to be offered free online to all

provincial association members across the country.

Watch for an announcement from Landscape Trades this autumn.

Also included will be tables that illustrate the effects of discounting or raising prices. Growers will be able to see how many more plants they will need to sell at a discounted price to make the same net profit, or the percentage of sales they can afford to lose at an increased price, and still make the same net profit.

a method to understand what drives fixed and variable costs, inputs can be managed to produce the product most efficiently, with the goal of maximizing the selling price — and gross margin.

This means drilling down into every aspect of each plant’s production to show all the costs and inputs needed to grow it to a saleable size. Chisholm notes the importance of this process, as producers need a handle on all their costs in order to make decisions on putting prices up, or discounting them.

“Fundamentally, growers need to have a breakeven analysis — they need to know what they need to sell in order to break even. Growers can’t sell plants at their breakeven point, as they will lose money after applying the general administrative and selling expenses.”

Price-point variables An age-old issue is, how is price determined?

Does the pricing pressure come from the consumer or the producer? Typically, it is the consumer, with the end result that growers are getting much the same price for their plants as they did five years ago.

Chisholm explains, “If the plant’s price is inelastic, growers need to drive down direct and indirect costs in order to improve gross margins and their returns.” Once growers have a model in place that helps them understand and track costs, they can start looking at what he refers to as Profit Improvement Potential, and see the effect small savings will have on net profits. In order to save on inputs, growers might look at automation to reduce the number of times a plant is handled, or conduct an efficiency study to speed up processes within the production cycle.

Gaining an understanding of costs will help growers be more proactive in decision-making and improve return on LT investment.

16 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

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sustainablelandscaping

Good news stories

So often today we’re bombarded with news about how the world is ending, environmentally speaking. I thought perhaps it was time for a bit of hope. It’s important to realize that our efforts do make a difference.

I gave a series of talks for Permacon recently, and was happy to see how many people stayed to hear about sustainability, even though they had a choice to go see new products, or learn about being more environmentally-responsible professionals.

There were droves of questions, and after the talk several people came up for more information and to network. This was an event which was primarily focused on hardscaping, which makes it even more noteworthy since many sustainable techniques move beyond the hard aspect of landscaping. Our industry is turning the corner in a fast and big way.

The public is also aware of the issues and is trying to make a difference. A workshop I recently gave on permaculture, or edible landscaping, drew a very large crowd (and work for my company quickly sprung from it). Our buying public is eager to spend money to make the world better. I have a customer in Oakville, Ont., who is upgrading his entire house; solar panels, geothermal, alledible landscape, and re-insulating from the outside. Some aspects will pay for themselves over time and others are just to do good for the planet.

A beautiful and popular park has been created in Guelph, Ont., with the main goal of making a decommissioned garbage dump into a pollinator haven, complete with signage and scientific experiments. New public gardens are being created including the Anderson Parkette for the Town of Oakville/Oakville Horticultural Society and also at Green Glade School in Mississauga, Ont., for Credit Valley Conservation. These 18 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

BY SEAN JAMES

A crew strips asphalt to build a more permeable garden, improving our environment one landscape at a time. gardens aim to educate the public, clean rain water, foster biodiversity and protect pollinators ... and of course, beautify our cities.

Native plants have finally lost the ‘boring’ stigma and are being planted in many new and revitalized landscapes. This movement has been promoted by several forward-thinking landscape architects and designers. A new program called American Beauties, intended to focus on more ornamental cultivars of native plants, is even being backed by the World Wildlife Federation.

Groups such as the Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition are gathering many different disciplines together to promote greening of our cities. Interest is high and awareness of the synergy gained from sharing

our strengths is gaining momentum.

On a more global scale, protection efforts are paying off. Numbers of tigers in India are finally rising. Tens of millions of trees are being planted in Africa by the Green Belt Movement, which you can support by donating online. Underwater parks are being set up all over the world and these parks are already paying off with the size and variety of fish going up dramatically, even outside the protected areas.

We are trying. We are making a difference.

It’s not a waste of time, effort and resources.

LT It’s inspiring.

Sean James is owner of an Ontario-based environmentally-conscious landscape design/ build/maintenance company. In addition, he is an eco-consultant and a popular speaker.

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Three little sentences mean something’s about to go wrong

Short sentences.

Big problems.

BY MARK BRADLEY

With spring upon us, we rarely have the time for lunch, so what better time to look at some simple ways you can improve your business?

We narrowly avoided an issue onsite recently that would have cost many hours of productivity, added stress, and a resulted in a lot of finger pointing. As we went through the questions to examine the problem, I felt my blood pressure rising. Over 15 years in this industry, and previous work in construction and project management, I’ve subconsciously trained myself to react strongly to certain sentences. They’re just a few words each, but they’re enough to set off my warning bells — I know something bad is about to happen. At that point, everything stops and we get clarity, because I’ll spend a lot less time and money stopping a problem than I will solving one.

The best time to solve a problem is before it starts. Certain answers to questions result in problems just about every time I hear them. Here, in this article, I want to take a look at three sentences that should shout to you that something’s about to go wrong. “i was going to, but…”

The real meaning: “It’s not done, but I have an excuse.” There are rare occasions where there is a good justification, but upon hearing this answer, I’m mentally prepared to deal with an excuse. It’s critical that we, as owners and managers, look hard at the second half of this sentence, the excuse, to ensure we create a culture that doesn’t tolerate lazy habits.

Why it’s said: People generally fall into two categories: people who ask themselves, “Why won’t this work?” and people who ask themselves, “How can I make this work?” As Tony Robbins says, your brain will find the 20 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

answer to any question you ask it. If you ask yourself why you can’t get something done, your brain will justify. Ask yourself how you can get something done, and your brain will figure out that answer, too. Unfortunately, most people ask themselves why something can’t be done — especially in their work lives. And when you ask these people why something hasn’t been done, they’re primed and ready with a “reason.” Be realistic and recognize this fact. Anyone can come up with a reason why something can’t be done … that’s easy. Good employees get things done in spite of reasons. Unfortunately, most employees aren’t wired this way. You need to deal with it.

What to do about it: Your job as an owner is to get tough on the “Why won’t this work?” thinkers. They are costing you time and money and worse, you are likely working extra hours thinking and planning to compensate for “why I can’t” thinkers. Train your staff to ask themselves, “How could I get this done?” by always replying to this warning sentence with, “What did you do to try to solve the problem?” Don’t think for them — that’s critical — they’ll soon expect you to do the thinking. Instead, keep asking questions. It won’t take long for lazy workers to paint themselves into a corner. Good employees will get the message, and in the future, start to prepare themselves for your line of questioning by asking themselves, “How can I get this done?” before they have to answer to you. When you and your staff start to change the questions you ask yourselves, you’ll find your jobs go smoother and your work lives get easier. (Tip: this works great for your personal life as well!)

“We don’t have the right designs/ specs/takeoffs/information…”

The real meaning: “Something’s wrong … but it’s because someone else didn’t do his job.” In landscape, especially construction, we hear this sentence all too often. Blame is shifted to the designer, the architect, the operations manager, the customer, or even the owner.

The employee feels that, since the problem occurred before he got involved, he is not responsible.

Why it’s said: Having incomplete information is an easy excuse to fall back on. There are so many variables that need to be considered in landscape, or any construction, it’s impossible to create an airtight job plan in the design and planning phase. There are only two circumstances when this sentence should be an acceptable reason for slowdowns: the foreman or crew has made attempts to get the information, but is still waiting, or your company policy is to put together perfect work packages for crews Since the second statement doesn’t apply in my company, reason number one is the only reason we can tolerate slowdowns as a result of missing information.

What to do about it: Hundreds of potential billable hours are wasted because field crews don’t have accurate information when they need it. Worse yet, people will spend more time complaining about missing information than they would have spent picking up a phone to deal with it.

When planning any project, we do our best to build a solid execution plan, but in this industry, we’re never going to have a plan for everything. The foreman is in charge of the job. It’s the foreman’s job to identify missing or incorrect information and to deal with it.

Profitable companies employ foremen who, on their own, get the information and surface any key questions or decisions based on the new information.

Smartphones (Blackberrys, etc.) are considered essential equipment for our crews, right up there with shovels. If the crews are missing information, smartphones give them the tools required to deal with it, on the spot. When you don’t deal with problems immediately, you put your head down and forget about them. You don’t think of it again until the moment you need the solution. A quick email, on the spot, is enough to get the request out there, before we’re in a position where we’re losing productivity. Remember, most people naturally avoid surfacing problems. They don’t want to bug someone senior, they don’t have the confidence to admit they don’t have the answers, or they procrastinate because solving problems isn’t as easy as staying busy. You need to be firm on this one: “If you need information, it’s your job to ask for it!”

“i think [insert name here] is doing it…”

The real meaning: This is the thinking man’s way of saying, “That’s not my job.” Unless you’re in a union, you can’t get away with the “not my job” sentence anymore. Instead, people are using new and improved ways of saying the same thing.

Why it’s said: Beginning the sentence with, “I think” means they’re not doing the task, they haven’t make any attempts to do the task and they haven’t done anything to make sure it’s being done.

To make it even worse, they try to deflect responsibility, by redirecting the blame on the person they are fingering.

What to do about it: Your job is to immediately ask the return question, “Does [insert name here] know they’re responsible for this?” If that answer is, “I think they do,” or worse, “I don’t know,” then brace yourself for problems. Unclear answers clearly demonstrate a lack of control. The answer you need to hear sounds like this: “Yes, I asked him yesterday.” Anything more vague than that

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means your company stands an excellent chance of dropping the ball on this task.

Winning teams hold each other accountable. Foremen have to coach their crews in the field. They are responsible for ensuring that tasks are clearly assigned, and are being executed. Can you imagine sports teams where positions (roles) were left unmanaged? “Who’s playing left defense?”

“Who’s batting fifth?” The results are going to be embarrassing.

Whether it’s equipment maintenance, material planning, loading fuel, or filling out paperwork, your foremen are responsible for ensuring that the work gets done right.

“I think someone else is doing it,” is going to cost you (the owner) a lot of money. LT Mark Bradley is the president of TBG Landscape (The Beach Gardener) and the Landscape Management Network (LMN). LMN is an online suite of software and systems to help landscape contactors build better businesses. Learn more at www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com

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21

buildingbusiness

Changing the way you think

BY GEORGE URVARI

Just for fun, cross you arms the way you normally do. Stop, relax and then breathe.

I bet it feels normal, even natural. Now, try crossing your arms the other way. I bet it feels awkward, even unnatural. Human beings are conditioned to behave certain repetitive ways and this limits our ability to change.

If you take a frog and drop it in hot water, it will jump out immediately. Take the same frog and put it in a pot of cool water on top of the stove, turn up the heat and notice, as the temperature increases to the boiling point, the frog will not jump out. The frog did not see the gradual change coming, and as a result could not save itself. I suspect we humans are guilty of the same.

We all have prejudices and biases that keep us from changing the way we do things. Our natural reaction is to use words like ‘but’ or ‘because’ or ‘you don’t understand’ or ‘we can’t.’ We tend to make lots of excuses. This certainly does not help us change or adapt.

Recently, I read a book called The Rainmaker, with a section about sharing trade secrets. The guy would basically give away all his knowledge to whomever asked ... eventually, he made a business out of it. Of course, someone inevitably questioned, why he would do this. His answer was, that even if he told 100 people how to do something differently, perhaps only 10 would actually do it. Most of us just do not want to change.

Reasons are varied; fear is one. Not seeing into the future, like our friend the frog, is another. Other reasons for avoiding change include ignorance, apathy, stubbornness or pride.

Or my favourite ... we need to learn the hard way! (That is hogwash, by the way.)

The wheel has already been invented. We should all be focused on copying those who have been there, and done that. A very select few will of course lead the way and invent — the top five per cent.

22 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

Don’t be afraid to ask questions When I give lectures to audiences around the country, maybe 10 per cent of the people stay behind to ask questions. The other 90 per cent either know it all, or are afraid to ask.

Remember, if you do not ask, you will not find out.

A few more typical barriers to improvement and education are thoughts such as, I do not like someone so I will not talk to him, or He is my competitor so I will not talk to him, or He was my former employee, and is undercutting me, so I will not talk to him.

Just look at what the philosopher had to say centuries ago: “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” General Sun-tzu, The Art of War. All these notions are barriers to opportunities. Just because you do not like someone, does not mean you cannot learn from him. The same is true of your competitors. Even former employees make great sub-contractors, and are usually cheap.

You can sell your used equipment to them — even rent yard space. Refer work for a finder’s fee when you are too busy. Just think of the opportunities. Chances are they probably will not succeed in business, and you can rehire these entrepreneurs five years later after they burn out. Statistically this is a high probability — they might even be grateful.

Common misconceptions and solutions I cannot find good staff.

Advertise 24/7, 365 days a year, and schedule interviews for the same time each week.

There are no D drivers available as there is a shortage of skilled people. No one wants to get into the trucking industry anymore. I therefore will not buy large trucks.

Pay to train your own drivers.

I cannot afford to pay good people well.

Average crew wage,” (Landscape Trades,

March 2011, p. 36) If I find good people, I will train them and then they will leave.

Better to have trained people who leave, then untrained people who stay.

I can’t afford it.

You cannot afford not to!

I do not have time.

You will never have the time if you do not make the time.

I am not that type of person.

Change, or hire someone who is that type of person.

We cannot let him (or her) go, he has been with us for years.

Watch as others leave your company, while you hold on to a fallen star from the past.

But we just adopted this new process. Why do we need to change again?

You are right, live with a mistake and do not fix it. Too bad that the train is approaching a bridge that will not be there when you get to it.

I am sure you could add to this list …Your provincial and national trade associations have answers to most of your problems. Take advantage of all the courses they offer; you will learn a lot, and you will network. Get out of your bubbles and join the 10 per cent that are at the top of their game. It is no accident.

Another excellent learning opportunity is the Landscape Management Network. Go on line and learn about Dan. This is a story about a typical entrepreneur who makes typical entrepreneurial mistakes.

Read business books or self improvement books.

Hang around with winners in your associations. Remember, you do not have to like everyone to learn, and you just might meet a few new friends along the way. LT George Urvari has been a partner in a Toronto-based design-build landscape firm, for over 20 years.

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JUNE 2011 | LANDSCAPE TRADES | 23

roadtosuccess

Managing success

I have seen this scenario

more than once: A young person starting out in business does well, increases sales and staff, flounders and then disappears. What happened, we ask? The short answer is, he did not manage success.

When we are starting out, we manage ourselves quite well. We have dreams and aspirations. We yearn for success and all that it entails. We manage hypothetically, and in that world of yet-to-come, there are no mistakes. If we are fortunate, success will not arrive too quickly or too slowly. Success has to be just right, like Goldilocks’ porridge.

To the outside world, success is filled with all the trappings: money, prestige and power.

Cadillacs, exotic condos and five-star dining.

On the inside of the paradox, it is wrought with responsibility and confusion, unless…

Systems save thousands Managing success is something that we have to prepare for. Perhaps my biggest mistake was to not hire a chartered accountant early enough in my career. I was always good with numbers and I managed the books for my company just fine. Then one day, I realized I was operating with the same accounting system at a million dollar in sales, as I had used when I was doing $50,000. My home-made system had no provision to split expenses or revenue into departments.

I had limited ability to track funds, leaving myself open to fraud, and I was not keeping up with tax issues. Then one day, Revenue Canada came along and changed all of that.

They said I owed $60,000. In desperation, I hired an accountant who put my books in good shape and reduced my tax liability by half. He incorporated my company, set up proper reporting and instituted checks and balances. He, in essence, got me to manage my success, at least on the accounting front.

After everything was said and done, I realized

24 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

BY ROD McDONALD

I had engaged his services six years after I had required them. Some might argue that I was better late than never, but in the light of the day, a stitch in time would have saved nine.

The reason I mention accounting so often is simple. Without proper accounting, we are like a pilot flying a plane with no instruments.

Sure, we can fly by the proverbial seat of our pants. We are good at that; but sooner or later we have to realize that we are no longer bush pilots and that we now are flying a 747 filled with many passengers. We need those instruments to keep us afloat.

Delegate, delegate, delegate A second opportunity we often ignore as young entrepreneurs is delegating or sharing responsibility. There is a time in our lives when we can do everything, from selling to hiring to sweeping out the store. However, there does come a time when we have to share those responsibilities with others, and sometimes we have difficulty letting go. A friend of mine had a greenhouse business that was doing $4-million a year in sales. He would not delegate, to the point that when you phoned his greenhouse, no matter what time of day, he answered the phone. Micromanaging is exhausting. I would ask him why he didn’t let go, let others assume levels of responsibility. His answer was an honest and simple one: “I can’t.”

He eventually reached a breaking point — one of those epiphanies when God gives us the choice of a heart attack, a total breakdown or allowing others to share the burden. My friend let go slowly, allowing others to do some of the tasks he had always done. It was difficult for him, at first. I reassured him that others will make good decisions, albeit different ones than what he might have done, but nonetheless valid decisions.

Slowly but surely, he moved himself from a do-bee to a manager. His success story writes

itself. Today, his greenhouse is three times the size of what it once was.

Leadership: Not for everybody Assigning responsibility to others is a major part of being a successful manager.

Sometimes, the worst person to assign responsibility is your hardest-working employee. As strange as it might sound, hardworking employees do not always translate into good managers. I had a wonderful salesperson working for me. Loyal, dedicated, personable and could she ever sell. I allowed her to order the inventory for her area and to set the prices. This did not work out, because she set the prices at the point where she could sell, not where they made a profit. There is a difference!

Another hard-working employee never came to understand that to manage people, polite requests are preferred to loud demands.

Sadly, there are people who never understand the requirements of a good manager. Those people are best left as line employees.

Stephen Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) points out that leadership does not belong to those who work the hardest, cutting the path through the jungle.

Rather, leadership belongs to the person who climbs the highest tree and says, “We move in that direction.”

Watch the yes-word Another attribute of someone who has learned to manage success is understanding the distinction between saying yes and no.

Most successful business people are people pleasers. We find it hard to say no, as our first inclination toward any problem is, “I can take care of that.” We enjoy the challenge as much as we enjoy making people happy.

Here is the reality, for every ‘yes’ word we utter in a successful operation, there has to be at least five ‘no’ words to balance our scales. If

you do not learn how to say ‘no’ early on in your career, it will cost you. “Can I have this for half price? Will you buy this from me?

Will you hire my idiot nephew? Will you do my job tomorrow?”

I have seen business people, especially contractors, who say ‘yes’ to every customer, and then they spend their time running from job to job, putting out fires. The most successful contractors have a plan. They outline to their customers when the job will be done, and they spell out everything that is included and excluded from the price. If the customer cannot accept where he fits into the organizational plan, it is time to remove him from the equation. There is very little money to be made by starting many jobs and finishing none. There is good money to be made by those who remain organized.

I know of at least one contractor who would start every job he booked within a day or two. Of course, he could not finish that job, as he had to return to other work that was already in progress. I asked him why he did this and he said it was to ensure the customer was committed to him to carry out the work. I always thought the written contract with a deposit was the right way to manage a customer’s level of commitment.

Details matter Learning how to organize yourself so that you are most effective is not always easy. The question has to be asked: Is doing this task the most important thing and the best use of my time? I loved to climb into the back of a truck with the guys and unload trees and shrubs. And as important as it is, organizing the schedule so that you have all of your areas covered for the next two weeks is important as well.

If we ignore details, we pay a price. An increased overdraft at your bank to cover early spring is always arranged. Early booking of orders to receive maximum discounts is also something that is arranged, and not left to happenstance. Those are items that fall onto your desk and need to be addressed.

Whenever success arrives for a young entrepreneur, I always caution him to ramp up his attention to details. Details often slide away when one is busy being a success. Yet, it is the attention to those details that brought us the success. The chicken and the egg

question has been answered. If you do not have a list of details that need addressing in your back pocket, chances are you have been overlooking those things that built your crescendo.

The best managers of success are always planning ahead, by weeks, months and years.

They have a plan, a vision of where they want their company to be and more importantly, their plan includes the details of how they are going to arrive at their destination. Success is

both a noun as in a destination, and a verb as in an action. Manage success to stay on the LT road to success.

Rod McDonald owned and operated Lakeview Gardens, a successful garden centre/landscape firm in Regina, Sask., for 28 years.

He now works full-time in the world of fine arts, writing, acting and producing in film, television and stage.

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JUNE 2011 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

25

newproducts Cordless tools

Stihl Limited unveils its new cordless family of tools.

Powered by a universal long-lasting 36 V Stihl lithium-ion battery, the lineup includes a cordless grass trimmer, hedge trimmer, handheld blower and chain saw. Batteries can be charged hundreds of times without noticeable loss in capacity. Tools are strong enough for landscape pros looking for a no-emissions option.

Stihl Limited www.stihl.ca

Spirit levels Bora, a product division of Affinity Tool Works, introduces its updated line of spirit levels. Featuring a functional design and rugged construction, the levels are intended for the most demanding environments and jobsites. Available in nine sizes, ranging from 16 to 96 inches, the advanced

construction also features a heavy-duty exterior made of aircraft-grade structural alloy steel. The vials are protected by UV- and scratch-resistant acrylic. Slip-resistant wall pads and rubber-coated handgrips complete the durable design.

Affinity Tool Works www.affinitytool.com/bora

Post hole drill Little Beaver’s new HYD-NTV11H UN-Towable Drill offers an easily transportable solution for one-man hole digging projects including landscaping, fence installation, and park and recreation departments.

The NTV11H is built with an 11 hp Honda GX340V engine. Hydraulic pressure of 2,500 psi and an operating speed of 150 rpm further enhance power output. Equipped with 16-inch semi-pneumatic

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tires, the NTV11H easily moves across jobsites and pivots into digging position without causing damage to delicate lawns and turf.

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Spreader/sprayer

Turfco introduces the newly redesigned T3000 spreader and sprayer, featuring improved durability and reduced maintenance needs. The model has a compact design that can fit through a 36-inch gate, while still offering six- and nine-ft. spreading widths, making it versatile enough for both residential and large commercial properties. Operators will enjoy the optional electric start. A 16-amp charging system provides turf professionals with greater versatility in mounting accessories. Cruise control helps maintain speed while freeing operators’ hands to control spreading and spraying.

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Masonry blades

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www.specimentrees.com 26 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

Dtec presents the new line of turbo diamond blades from its Contractor Series, available in five sizes.

The contractor turbo blades feature an increased, 10-millimetre segment height, exposing more cutting surface to allow faster cutting and improved cut quality while preventing premature dulling. The manufacturer claims the turbo blades last up to 43 per cent longer. By offering a break or relief in the

blade’s rim, the Contractor Turbo blades’ segments also help to prevent detrimental heat transfer. In even the most extreme conditions, the blade runs cooler in both wet and dry applications, preventing blade warping for longer life.

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Chain saw According to Stihl, the innovative engine technology

on its new MS 261 chain saw reduces emissions up to 50 per cent and provides improved fuel efficiency, up to 20 per cent. Made for a variety of professional users like landscapers, arborists, loggers, farmers and municipalities, this chain saw comes equipped with a decompression valve for easier starts, and an advanced anti-vibration system that helps reduce user fatigue. The compact, spacesaving design of the split-barrel carburetor and the stainless steel muffler reduce overall weight.

Captive bar nuts are retained in the sprocket cover to prevent their loss and are designed for self-guided mounting. Pre-separation air filtration provides greater air cleaning efficiency and longer run times between filter maintenance.

Stihl Limited LT www.stihl.ca

JUNE 2011 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

27

saskatchewanupdate Landscape Trades devotes space in each issue to provincial association news. This month features the Saskatchewan Nursery Landscape Association.

The SNLA is pleased to announce that we held a very successful two-day conference, AGM and awards ceremony in April. Our 2011/2012 Board includes Aaron Krahn (president), Norm Altrogge (vice president), Leslie Cornell (director), Luke van Duyvendyk (director) and Lloyd Trask (director). The Board would like to thank past board members James Polley and Glen Thrasher for their dedication to the association for many years.

Three merit awards were handed out at the ceremony; one of the winners will go on to compete in CNLA’s National Awards of Excellence Program. Managed by Landscape Alberta, SNLA’s Landscape Awards Program reflects the association’s commitment to the development and promotion of excellence in landscaping.

Congratulations to Willow Creek Landscaping for the following awards: Merit Award for the Rhinehart Residence Merit Award for the Heffner Residence Merit Award for the Kleinsasser Residence SNLA members should start preparing now for next year’s awards program — put your camera in your truck and start taking pictures now!

Members of the SNLA are looking forward to welcoming the CNLA Board of Directors and provincial associations from across Canada to Saskatoon this summer for the 2011 CNLA Summer Board Meetings. The meetings are held

SNLA award-winner Sherry Jurke (left) with Willow Creek Landscaping staff at the 2011 SNLA awards ceremony.

SNLA members enjoyed a two-day conference in March 2011.

from Aug. 24-26 at the Delta Saskatoon. A tour and industry reception are planned during the meetings on Wed., Aug. 24, which will include a reception at Lakeshore Tree Farms. All members are invited to participate on Wednesday afternoon.

The association is also planning a softball tournament on Sat., July 23, and calls on all members and prospective members to enter teams. It will be a family affair, with a barbecue following the tournament. If you are interested in participating in either of these events, visit our website at www.snla.ca for more information.

SNLA will partner with the Saskatchewan Greenhouse Growers Association for its annual SK Green Trades Conference in November.

Speakers will be selected to specifically address our members’ needs, and a trade show and

FINALSAN

networking opportunities will also be available. For more information on this conference, visit www. sgtc.ca.

SNLA will work hard to recruit members this spring and summer through a member referral program. We are calling out to all current SNLA members to help us recruit new members, so that we can grow our association, offer more networking and educational opportunities and have a stronger voice! If you know a company that would benefit from belonging, please spread the word about the benefits of membership. In return, members will be entered to win a $50 discount off the registration fee to an upcoming SNLA event.

SNLA is a growing, active association — together we can make a difference. We wish all our members a successful year. LT

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cnlanews CNLA just completed

its newest strategic plan. The document will help lead the national association for the next five to six years.

The top three priorities set out in the plan include human resources, government relations and the environment.

Tactical alliances will also be high on the association’s priorities. These include relationships with municipal, provincial, federal and international organizations.

Plastics recycling week Garden Centres Canada (GCC) is once again holding National Plastics Recycling Week, to highlight the good work of retailers, and drive traffic to stores after the peak season.

The event will cover two weekends this year, running from Sat., June 25 to Mon., July 4. Last year, over 120 skids of horticultural plastics were collected in Ontario and B.C. Additionally, over 20 skids of used plastic pots were collected during Member Appreciation Day at the LO Growers Auction. The event was a thumbs-up success by all accounts.

Now in this second year, there are big changes in how the plastic will be collected and the number of partners (provinces, collection points and recycling partners) has dramatically increased.

This year, garden centres and nurseries will serve

as depots. Both homeowners and members of the horticultural trade will be invited to bring their used horticultural plastic to these locations.

GCC will supply marketing material (signage, posters, bag-stuffers, etc.) for each provincial association to share with its retailers. The sector group is also looking into getting ready-made posters sent to each participating retailer. Press releases will promote members’ participation, and drum up interest this great event.

Questions may be directed to Renata Triveri, retail priorities manager, renata@canadanursery. com, or 1-888-446-3499, ext. 8730.

National awards program expanding The ninth annual National Awards of Landscape Excellence program will include an expanded number of categories when Halifax hosts the event in February 2012.

The awards program is part of CNLA’s annual meeting. Last year, the growers’ sector celebrated a new award with the RBC Grower of the Year.

This year the program will include landscape design awards.

The program involves the top award winners from each provincial association across Canada.

CNLA attending Floriade 2012 Members of the CNLA board of directors will attend Floriade 2012 in the Netherlands along with taking part in board meetings and regional tours.

Floriade is an international horticultural exposition, with many countries participating. Also featured are international music, dance, literature, theatre and visual art. Floriade has been held in the Netherlands roughly every 10 years since

1960. The exposition will take place from Apr. 5 to Oct. 7.

While in Europe, right after the Floriade tour, members of CNLA will also take part in the annual International Garden Centre Congress. The 2012 event will take place from Aug. 26 to 31 in Bonn, Germany.

COHA hires consultant The Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance (COHA), the national voice of the Canadian ornamental horticulture industry, has hired a government relations consultant. Mark Buzan will coordinate work with the federal government in Ottawa, bringing a strong advocacy voice for the Alliance.

COHA consists of three groups, CNLA, the FÊdÊration Interdisciplinaire de l’Horticulture Ornementale du QuÊbec, and Flowers Canada Growers.

Human resources are one of the most critical issues for COHA, working with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council (CAHRC). Recently, COHA met with eight other sector councils in Ottawa. Part of the process was to demonstrate the importance of ornamental horticulture to the councils, which included Canadian Trucking, Canada Apprenticeship Forum, LT Eco Canada, Canada Ag., and more.

The Canadian Nursery Landscape Association is the federation of Canada’s provincial horticultural trade associations. Visit www. canadanursery.com for more information.

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industrynews Landscape Alberta establishes Haberl Award The Board of Directors of Landscape Alberta Nursery Trades Association (LANTA) has approved the establishment of an annual award in the memory Mike Haberl Sr., who Mike Haberl Sr. passed away in April.

The award will be called the Mike Haberl Sr. Landscape Industry Certified Award, as Haberl championed the development of certification in Alberta. The program continues to grow, thanks to his vision and perseverance.

The recipient will be the person who obtains the best score in the Landscape Industry Certified test for a given year.

Haberl was LANTA president in 1992 and

1993. He also served as chair of a number of committees including the Landscape Contractors Group and the Southern Chapter. He also served as the association’s CNLA representative for many years. Haberl’s passion for the industry was unprecedented. He believed that a vibrant industry needs a strong trade association, and he exemplified leadership to make that happen. His can-do attitude was infectious, not only for those around him, but also his family, as his son Mike Haberl Jr. followed in his footsteps to become an industry leader. Mike Sr. retired a few years ago, but his legacy will live forever.

New application rates for horticultural vinegar The Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) has recently approved a label amendment allowing full-strength application of Munger Horticultural Vinegar Plus on established annual and perennial weeds. According to Munger, this will allow for more effective control of larger weeds. The product is the only registered vinegar herbicide on

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Nova Scotia minimum wage to rise On Oct. 1, the minimum wage in Nova Scotia will rise from $9.65 per hour to $10. The rate for inexperienced workers, those with less than three months’ experience in the work they were hired for, will rise from $9.15 to $9.50.

The last minimum wage increase in the province was in October, 2010. After the last increase, the Minimum Wage Committee met to make recommendations. Its report was released in March for public comment.

After the October increase, future increases will start in April, 2012. The minimum wage will be indexed to the low income cut-off, and based on the national estimated consumer price index from the previous calendar year, according to the Nova Scotia government.

The increase brings Nova Scotia in line with the other Atlantic provinces, which have minimum

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industrynews wages of $10 an hour or have announced plans to increase the minimum to that amount, according to the province.

Scott Ride joins Husqvarna Husqvarna recently appointed Scott Ride as the president of the Canadian division of the company.

He reports to Michael Jones, president of North and Latin American divisions.

Ride joins Husqvarna with over 16 years of sales and marketing leadership experience with organizations such as Canon Canada, Onyx Marketing Group and Maytag Canada. For the last

six years, Ride has been working for Electrolux Home Care Products and Electrolux Central Vacuum Systems, where he most recently held the position of president of global operations.

As president of Husqvarna Canada, Ride is responsible for delivering a strategic plan for on-going growth of the Canadian division, creating and developing strong customer relationships and working with business unit leaders and staff to ensure a high level of customer service across Canada. Ride assumed his new position on May 2, and will be based at the Group’s Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, Ont.

Dr. Leslie Laking, 1916-2011 Dr. Leslie Laking passed away on April 16, 2011 at the age of 95.

You may or may not have known Dr. Leslie Laking, but he was my high school idol. I remember watching him on TV, being interviewed in the Rock Garden at Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ont. When I was 16, the first time I drove a car outside of my hometown was to visit my idol.

I will never forget being on the other side of his desk and asking him, “How can I become like you?” Years later, after he retired, I joined the RBG staff. I had an opportunity to work with Dr. Laking, who at the time was an RBG volunteer. It took him a while to figure out who I was.

Dr. Laking was a gentle, humble and very knowledgeable horticulturist and plantsman. As director of Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, for 27 years, he built a relatively undeveloped garden into a world-class botanical garden.

As a child in the 1930s, Leslie Laking travelled from Freelton (north of Hamilton) to school daily by bus. Through the bus windows, he watched Hamilton’s Rock Garden being built by men who moved huge stones into a former gravel pit with horses and wagons. After high school, he completed his B.Sc. in horticulture at the University of Guelph, and later completed the Kew Certificate in Horticulture in England at RBG Kew. While he was in England, he met a British girl named Barbara, who at the time, was teaching people how to grow Victory vegetable gardens. She returned to Canada with him and they eventually married. In 1946, he was hired as the horticulturist at Royal Botanical Gardens by its first director, Dr. Radforth. In 1954, Dr. Radforth resigned and Mr. Laking became director.

As such, he built the botanical garden from the ground up with the help of his British-born bride and horticulturist, Barbara, by his side. While he directed the staff, she volunteered at RBG and started the Volunteer Organization (Women’s Auxiliary), the Educational Program and the Children’s Teaching Garden. Leslie Laking eventually received several honorary doctorate degrees and the Order of Canada for his work at Royal Botanical Gardens.

Contributed by Dennis Eveleigh, assistant taxonomist and course instructor at Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture, and former horticulturist at Royal Botanical Gardens.

32 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

New Holland dealer awarded top honour Great Lakes New Holland in Mitchell, Ont., has earned membership in New Holland Agriculture’s exclusive President’s Club. Membership in the President’s Club, the highest honour that can be attained by a New Holland Agriculture Dealership, recognizes outstanding achievement in all facets of business management and customer satisfaction.

President’s Club winners achieved the highest levels in excellence in facilities, business management, sales, parts and service support, and customer satisfaction.

Beautification program awards tree planting grants TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF) and Tree Canada provided grants to 23 recipients of the 2011 TD Green Streets program. The grants — up to $15,000 — will be used for tree planting, as well as maintenance and educational activities.

This year TD Green Streets received 103 applications from across Canada. The selected applications ranged from sustainable tree maintenance and the construction of arboreta to tree watering technology research and tackling urban heat islands.

The winning municipalities are: In Alberta: Olds and Stony Plain In Ontario: Guelph, Kenora, London, Pickering, Thunder Bay, County of Wellington and Gananoque In British Columbia: Cambie Village BIA in Vancouver, Kelowna, Quesnel and Surrey Transcona BIA in Winnipeg, Man. Saint-François-de-Madawaska, N.B. St. John’s, Nfld.

Amherst, N.S. In Quebec: Premiere Nation des Innus Essipit, Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles, Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe and Victoriaville In Saskatchewan: Regina and Saskatoon Applications to the 2011 TD Green Streets program were open to Canadian municipalities, First Nations communities and Business Improvement Associations (BIAs). All submissions were reviewed by regional Tree Canada advisors, board members, urban forest practitioners and TD FEF representatives based on innovation, community involvement and technical expertise.

For more information on the 2011 TD Green Streets winning submissions, visit www.

LT tdgreenstreets.ca.

legalmatters

Think before you stop work for breach of contract

While performing

contractual ob足liga足tions, be they to provide work, service, material or equipment, situations can arise where a contractor, subcontractor or supplier might wish to stop work for various reasons.

These reasons can include non-payment, delay, unsafe conditions, permit issues, or other instances of non-performance by the other side. They can also include factors beyond the control of both you and your client, such as strikes, lockouts, acts of God, or even material unavailability.

BY ROB KENNALEY, McLAUGHLIN & ASSOCIATES Whether or not a party can stop work or supply under a contract without being exposed to consequences will depend on circumstances, and on what that contract says. As will be discussed below, the decision to stop work must be made carefully and cautiously.

Not all breaches of contract will allow you to stop work, of course. If, for example, you have not been provided with certain materials, information or approvals as required, you are not necessarily entitled to simply stop all

work and leave the site, to sue for damages.

Whether or not the breach gives rise to a right to stop work will usually depend on the extent to which you are able to continue.

Check contract terms Accordingly, if you want to ensure that you will not be required to continue to work in certain circumstances, it is preferable to have your right to stop work in that instance expressly included in the contract. This includes the right to stop work in the event

JUNE 2011 | LANDSCAPE TRADES |

33

legalmatters of non-payment. While it is true that many a Court would recognize the right to stop work for non-payment, it is not always clear.

Contracts are, of course, allocations of risk between parties. If the parties have decided, in the contract, who will bear the risk of a certain event, the contract will generally prevail in that regard (unless the clause in question is unconscionable, for some reason).

It is accordingly important, before deciding if stopping work is something you want to consider in the event a problem or dispute arises on site, to check the terms of your contract.

The contract, for example, might state that you are responsible to get permit approvals or do subsurface investigations, such that it would be difficult for you to argue you were entitled to stop work pending the approvals or based on subsurface conditions, for example. (That is not to say that where an owner puts the onus on the contractor to do investigations, the contractor will never be able to pursue a claim in relation to unforeseen conditions. It is just to say that, where such a clause exists, it should be considered in deciding how to proceed in the event of a dispute).

The contract might also include clauses which require you to comply with certain notice provisions before stopping work, giving the other side the opportunity to rectify the default before the project is affected. Stopping work before such provisions are complied with can result in a claim for damages from the other side. These damages can be substantial if your work stoppage has had an impact down the line on the project.

The contract might also set out what is

34 | JUNE 2011

| LANDSCAPE TRADES

to happen in the event that a dispute arises.

Where the contractor, subcontractor or supplier, for example, believes he or she is entitled to be paid for certain work as an ‘extra,’ the contract might provide that the claimant provide the work in question at its cost, leaving the dispute for resolution to another date, without any guarantee that the ‘extra’ will be paid. If the claimant were to refuse to perform the work in those circumstances, the claimant might then be exposed to a claim in damages for breaching the contractual provision in question.

Know your rights We should point out that if you are considering a decision to stop work under a contract, you should be very, very careful to ensure you have correctly assessed your contractual right to do so. This is because the consequences can be relatively severe if you are wrong. If it is determined your stopping work was improper, for example, you can be liable for more than the value of your outstanding work: you might also be liable for the increased premium costs charged by another contractor to complete your work, as well as whatever architectural or costing survey work is required to develop a completion scope of work. In addition, it will generally take some time to get another company in to complete your work. This can lead to delay claims from the owner, and perhaps other contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, who suffer damages as a result of the delays. In short, the damages associated with a wrongful termination of a contract, or with wrongful stoppage of work, can be severe.

Lastly, we should point out that how you characterize your work ‘stoppage’ can have impacts, in law. In many jurisdictions, for example, whether or not you ‘abandon’ your contract or not might determine when your lien rights will expire. Also, if you ‘terminate’ the contract (as opposed to simply stopping work, pending a correction of the breach by the other side) you will in many circumstances restrict the type of damages you might be able to recover in the event of a claim. Similarly, if you have been terminated by the other side, whether or not you ‘accept’ the termination will have an impact on the type of damages you might pursue.

Given these issues, in the event that you are considering whether or not to stop work on a project, or have been terminated by the party who hired you, you would be well advised to seek advice from someone knowledgeable in construction law issues, before deciding how to proceed. The issues can be complicated, and the consequences of a poor decision LT significant.

Robert Kennaley practices construction law in Toronto and Simcoe, Ont. He speaks and writes regularly on construction law and contract issues and can be reached for comment at 416-3682555, 519-426-3777 or at kennaley@mclauchlin. ca. This material is for information purposes and is not intended to provide legal advice in relation to any particular fact situation. Readers who have concerns about any particular circumstance are encouraged to seek independent legal advice in that regard.

comingevents June 7-8, Climate change and the implications for plant protection, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ont. www.cropprotection.open.uoguelph.ca June 22-25, 14th annual Snow and Ice Symposium, Schaumburg Convention Center, Schaumburg, Ill. www.sima.org July 9-12, OFA Short Course, Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio www.ofa.org July 17-22, 29th Annual Perennial Plant Symposium, Atlanta, Ga. www.perennialplant.org July 17-22, Turf Producers International Summer Convention, Reno, Nev. www.turfgrasssod.org July 23-27, ISA Annual Conference and Trade Show, Sydney, Australia www.isa-arbor.com

August 2-4, Penn Allied NurseryTrade Show, Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, Oaks, Pa www.pantshow.com August 7-11, CGTA Fall Gift Show, International Centre and Congress Centre, Toronto, Ont. www.cgta.org August 16-18, Independent Garden Center Show, Navy Pier, Chicago, Ill. www.igcshow.com August 21-24, Canadian Fertilizer Institute 66th annual conference, Fairmont Empress, Victoria, B.C. www.cfi.ca August 24-27, Plantarium, International Trade Center, Boskoop, Holland. www.plantarium.nl

September 4-6, Spoga-Gafa 2010, Cologne, Germany www.spogagafa.com Sept 11-16, IGCA Congress, Italy www.igcacongress2011.com September 19-21, GLEE, Birmingham, U.K. www.gleebirmingham.com September 21-24, IPPS Western Region Meeting, Radisson Hotel, Sacramento, Calif. www.ippswr.org September 22-24, IIDEX/NeoCon Canada, Direct Energy Centre, Toronto, Ont. www.iidexneocon.com September 28-29, CanWest Hort Show, Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, Vancouver, B.C. www.canwesthortshow.com LT

August 25-27, Farwest Show, Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Ore. www.farwestshow.com

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CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING INFORMATION Payment: All classified ads must be pre-paid by VISA or Mastercard. Rates: $56.50 (includes HST) per column inch (Approx. 25 words). Min. order $56.50.

Annual rates also available. Deadlines: The 10th day of the month prior to issue date. (eg: June issue deadline is May 10th). Jan. deadline is Nov. 10. If day falls on weekend or holiday, deadline is the next business day. Space is limited to a first-come, first-served basis. To place an ad: E-mail your name and phone number and your ad to Rob at classifieds@ landscapeontario.com. Also mention the ad is for Landscape Trades. You will be sent a proof/confirmation/payment form by e-mail. Online advertising: All paid ads are posted to our website at www.landscapetrades.com/classifieds for the corresponding calendar month. Website only ads are available for $45.20 (HST included) and are posted for 30 days. Additional charge for ads over 325 words.

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