THE NEW JERSEY
Fall 2018
Landscape Contractor
The Official Publication of the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association
• Choose the Right Technology • Addressing Cost of Services on Your Website • The Glyphosate Controversy • The Opioid Crisis • The Business of Snow and Ice • Data Breaches • And much more!
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Published By
The New Jersey Landscape Contractor magazine is the official publication of the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association, dedicated to the professional landscape industry of New Jersey. NJLCA was founded in 1966 as the Bergen County Landscape Contractors Association, and is today comprised of over 550 member companies throughout New Jersey. New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association 465 Mola Boulevard, Ste. 4, Elmwood Park, NJ 07407 Phone | 201-703-3600 -- Fax | 201-703-3776 E-mail | info@njlca.org Visit our website at www.NJLCA.org Publisher/Editor Gail E. Woolcott Contributing Writers John Allin | Chuck Bowen | Greg Carpenter | Bill Eastman | Buddy Freund | Kevin Gilbride | Neal Glatt | Jonathan Goldhill | Barbara Kauffman | Jeff Korhan | Nelson Lee | Bill Lillis | Nicholas Polanin | Todd Pretz | Bill Silverman | Scott Smith | John Vitiello | Gail Woolcott NJLCA Combined Board President | Nelson Lee Vice President | Richard Goldstein, CLT Treasurer | Greg Carpenter, CLT Director | Anthony Agudelo Director | Jeff Baker Director | Joe Bolognese Director | Justin Flatow, CLT Director | John Freitag Director | George Futterknecht, CLT Director | Dan Kindergan Director | Michael McMorrow Associate Director | Tom Barillo Associate Director | David Gaynor Associate Director | Gregg Straffin Advisor | Dr. Bruce Clarke, Rutgers University Advisor | Dr. Steven Fischer, Bergen Community College Advisor | Dr. James Murphy, Rutgers University The New Jersey Landscape Contractor magazine is published triannually. 600 print copies are distributed to members and over 4,000 digital issues are sent to professionals in the Green Industry of New Jersey, as well as educational and governmental institutions. Subscription rates: $45.00 per year; $15.00 per copy. New Jersey residents only, please add 7% sales tax. To advertise in The New Jersey Landscape Contractor, please contact Gail Woolcott at (201) 703-3600 or e-mail gwoolcott@njlca.org. Article and photo submissions are encouraged and may be sent to NJLCA at the above address. Publisher assumes no responsibility for safekeeping or return of photos or manuscripts, and reserves all rights to edit material submitted for publication. © 2018 New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher. PUBLISHED October 2018
Cover Photo: Exclusive Stoneworks, LLC, 2018 Landscape Achievement Awards Winner
contents Fall 2018
FEATURES
9 Leveraging Technology for Education 12 How to Install Reclaimed Materials 15 The Might Oak? ‘Tis the Season for Bacterial Leaf Scorch 16 How Your Business Can Choose the Right Technology 21 Is Technology Your Friend or Foe? 22 Why and How to Address Cost of Services on Your Website 30 Use Your Attention as a Tool to Drive Better Results 33 The Glyphosate Controversy 35 Is Your Business Prepared to Address the Opioid Crisis 36 The Business of Snow and Ice 39 Protect Your Sensitive Information from Data Breaches 41 People Problems 42 A Snapshot of Landscape Technology 44 Ch-ch-ch-Changes 46 Outdoor Entertainment Design Guide
IN EVERY ISSUE...
NJLCA News Briefs 4 President’s Message 4 Upcoming Events 5 Letter from the Editor 7 Mobile Apps for the Industry 19 NJLCA/IANJ Golf Challenge 27 Welcome New Members 28 Contractor Focus: Lakeland Landscaping 29 Associate Focus: LP Statile 31 Landscape Achievement Awards Dinner 32 NJLCA Paver School and Mixer 48 Landscape Industry Certified Tech. Exam 50 Advertiser Index
Columns 5 The Buzz: Industry News 7 Turf Talk 25 Legal Ease 41 The [Safety] Culture Club 43 En Espanol NJLCA.ORG
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President’s Message Looks like Mother Nature is still toying with us! A very rainy and hot summer has had us all working around the clock just trying to keep up. On the positive side however, it has been a very profitable year. This December we are trying to reach all of our members and non-members alike and offering a really cool workshop at the NJ Green Expo in Atlantic City. Mike Tous, an audience favorite, will be teaching Paver School on December 4th. Immediately following, you can attend the NJ Turfgrass Association Trade Show, then we have a member mixer, free and open to all to attend! So those of you in central and south Jersey, get out there and take advantage of your association. And those of you in North Jersey, it’s not that far of a ride and the show has many educational opportunities, pesticide credits and things to do, you will not regret it! Join us December 4th - 6th in AC. We’re also “gearing” up for the next trade show, pun intended. This year’s theme is racing and we promise it will not disappoint! Register early and save money. More info will follow, so watch your mail. The NJLCA just completed a member survey and want to thank all that filled it out. The information we brought together will be helpful in giving you, our members, more of what you want and need to prosper this year. We asked how valuable certain benefits are to our members. The outcome showed us that you most value education and networking opportunities and that you mostly read our weekly eblasts and magazine to get information. Your topics of interest center around industry updates, human resource and labor issues, how-to’s and pest/weed control. Of concern among you and your peers are labor, regulations and licensing issues and of those answering, 80% of you are satisfied or extremely satisfied
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with your membership. NJLCA wants to increase that number, so will be taking what we’ve learned from this survey and turning it into results for you! Stay tuned for more of what you want and need and as always, let us know if there is something that you think would increase the value of being a member of the NJLCA. In this issue of The New Jersey Landscape Contractor we are focusing heavily on technology. Whether it is equipment related, software, smartphone apps, social media, technology is front and center in our industry. We expect that many of the articles you read in this issue will help you perform your job better, help your employees be more efficient, and propel your business forward. I look forward to seeing all of you at the Landscape Achievement Awards Dinner and Holiday Gala. This annual party is talked about weeks and months after it happens each year and you can’t afford to miss it! We will be honoring the best and brightest in the industry, thanking our volunteers and donors, as well as recognizing our scholarship award winners. And of course, don’t forget all the amazing food and company. Hope to see you on December 11th at The Venetian in Garfield. Happy Thanksgiving to all and warm wishes for a happy holiday season!
Nelson Lee, President
PCOMING EVENTS:
October 15th -
Landscape Achievement Awards Deadline
October 11th -
Member Meeting at Bobcat of North Jersey with John Allin
November 7th -
NJLCA 4th Annual Bowling Night
November 8th -
Member Meeting at Primerica in Mahwah
November 15th -
Memorial Tree Dedication and Proper Tree Planting Demo
December 4th -
NJLCA Offers “Paver School” with Michael Tous and Mixer at Green Expo in Atlantic City
December 11th -
NJLCA Landscape Achievement Awards and Holiday Gala
4 FALL | 2018
The Buzz New Jersey Deer Control Welcomes RJ Curcio In June of this year, NJ Deer Control announced their newest employee. RJ has a degree in Neuroscience from Drew University, where he focused on wild mammal behavior and ecology. He concentrated his research on the impact of white-tailed deer on both native flora and fauna in several locations and conducted population research for the NJ Audobon Society S cherman-Hof fman Wildlife Sanctuary. After college, he worked for the NJ Dept. of Agriculture. RJ is now bringing his background in environmental education, deer biology and native plants to the NJ Deer Control family. You can see RJ at any of the NJLCA meetings where he is always in attendance! NALP Hires New VP of Government Affairs Andrew Bray, NALP’s new vice president of government relations began the position on July 9th and replaced Paul Mendelsohn. Bray is a seasoned association advocate, having worked in a government relations role for the North American Meat Institute, the Grocer Manufacturers Association and most recently as vice president of public policy at the National Pest Management Association. Early in his career, Bray honed his policy, advocacy and political skills working on Capitol Hill in a congressional office and while working on multiple federal, state and local campaigns. He earned his law degree in 2013 and maintains an active license to practice law in the state of Virginia. Aquarius Supply Welcomes Brad Mittelstadt In September, Aquarius Supply welcome Brad Mittelstadt, CIC as the North Jersey Regional Account Manager. Prior to Aquarius, Brad spent 12 years with Brickman, then Brightview as an Operations Manager, then Account Manager. Brad is a NJ licensed irrigation contractor and a Certified Back flow inspector. Since joining Aquarius, Brad has already spent time volunteering at the NJLCA’s Landscape Industry Certified Technician exam.
Letter from the Editor
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hat a whirlwind this spring and summer have been! The rain....I know....so much rain! But on the positive side, I keep hearing how busy and fruitful everyone has been this year. Here’s to hoping that continues through the fall and into the winter! If you haven’t been to a member meeting lately, you are missing some great speakers and amazing topics. I know how busy everyone is, but you have to eat sometime, so why not join us for a free meal and some really great education at the same time? Take some time out to come to a meeting or event in the coming months and I promise you won’t be disappointed! I was able to participate in my first NALP Renewal and Remembrance event this year in July, along with the Legislative Day on the Hill. I cannot tell you how moving the day was at Arlington National Cemetery, and how we all really felt honored to be there and giving back to our veterans. And Day on the Hill was simply rejuvenating and renewed my faith in those that lead our country. Being able to sit with our senators and congressman and have them really listen to our issues and understand them was amazing and I think that many of them truly want to help. Therefore, keep calling your legislators. Tell them what you need from them and thank them for their public service. I was also able to attend a workforce development workshop in Virginia in September and am so excited to try to put some of the ideas I came away with in motion. We certainly can’t solve all of your labor troubles, but I sure will try to help! By now, everyone should have received your invitation to the NJLCA Landscape Achievement Awards Dinner and Holiday Gala. This event is such a great time, but more than that, we honor the fantastic work that all of you do each year. We have some new awards that will be presented this year and more time to mingle, dance and have a great night with your colleagues and peers. Bring your employees that have worked so hard this year...bring your spouse, who is sometimes a “landscape widow” during the season....bring your friends to relax and have a great night of excellent food and fun. Then get ready, because 2019 will be the biggest education year yet! Sick of being undercut by companies that don’t carry the proper licenses and insurance? Tired of bidding on a job, getting the job and then figuring out that you’re barely breaking even? Worried about how you will get and keep employees next year? The answer to all of those is education and professionalism. And we will teach you how! Take a class, even if it is just one class, this winter and you will definitely go home with knowledge and skills to start using right away! Happy Holidays to all of you and thanks for another great year! Sincerely,
Gail Woolcott Director of Operations Editor in Chief
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Turf Talk
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o, the question of the day is “how are you all doing?” I have never seen a year with so many dejected faces. As is typical in this industry, feast can be more stressful than famine. When you ask how owners and managers are doing; they mostly say “busy, too busy”. Just as the 4th of July was approaching, when you might have been catching your first breath, Mother Nature hit us with two punches – 90 plus degree temps followed up by Monsoon season. No, we aren’t in Bora Bora, but it sure seemed like it. 12” of rain in late July and it went right into August. So how many of you were dumping fungicide down on the lawns thinking that the dead white grass was fungus damage? I did actually find one example on a lawn in a classic location – bottom of a 200’ grade change adjacent to an open field. Yes, the fuzz on the grass looked like powdered sugar on a funnel cake. However, most of my damage was once again from sod web worm moth. I know what you’re going to say, “NO WAY!! They like it hot and dry, just like chinch bugs.” Well, hear me out. I applied a second application of Alectus around July 4th (the week after actually, just as the first of the rains began). I thought great, insecticide will be dispersed immediately; I’ll kill any worms present at that time. With the continued rain, the two week residual was cut down to maybe 10 days. The hot, muggy, damp weather continued – so what do you think that did to the percentage of larva that hatched during the wet period? The larva were feeding on the blades of grass, sucking the life out of them. With all the rain, some of the grass actually was able to bounce back from the injury, masking what was going on. Given a few weeks the spots randomly started to appear in lawns. I thought, “can’t be sod web worm, it’s too wet”. When I took a closer look, I was astounded that it was indeed sod web worm. When I went to my chemical supplier, I found out they were selling insecticide like crazy. I was relieved I wasn’t alone with the infestation. The picture is of a lawn with heavy shade and well irrigated. You will notice no sod web worm or fungus at all. Why? No sun, it is not just shady here, it is down-right dark. Ok, so why have we had 2 years with such bad infestations of sod web worm? Well, #1 is what you had last year usually carries over to the new year. So if you had a problem – be it grubs, chinch or sod web worm – it can take 2 years to really knock it out. But I think the real culprit is the loss of one of our best tools, Dursban. If I could have used Dursban in May, the first and second generation would have been wiped out, which means the third generation would have been too insignificant to do any damage. Good Luck and Keep Growing!
Greg Carpenter, CLT is co-owner of American Beauty Landscape Design since 1983. He attended the SUNY Farmingdale Turfgrass Program and is the Treasurer of the NJLCA. Greg also serves on the Rutgers Turfgrass Advisory Board and the Bergen Community College Horticultural Advisory Board.
News Briefs
Mobile Apps for the Industry by Gail Woolcott, Director of Operations
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here are so many apps available on multiple platforms these days. Below is a list of apps you may find useful to your business. Most are free and some are several dollars. I can’t recommend one or another, but check the ones out that you’re most interested and be sure to read the reviews. I’ve put a star next to the ones I personally use. :) Adobe Photoshop Fix – Photo editing * CamScanner – Document scanner * Check This – To do lists Dropbox – File Sharing and storage * Evernote – Organization and planning * Expensify – Expense report aide and receipt tracker First Aid: American Red Cross – Safety GasBuddy – Fuel pricing and locator GeoMeasure – Area calculator Google Earth – Property views Google Translate – Translation Harvest Landscape Calculator – Calculators Hootsuite – Social media tools ID Weeds – Weed ID Invoice 2 Go – Invoicing iPunchclock – Time tracker iScape – Design Landscape Calculator – Multiple landscape calculators Landscapers Companion – Plant material field guide * Lawn Care Pro – Invoicing, financial and contact management Leafsnap – Tree identification and field guide Morpholio Trace – Design OSHA Heat Safety Tool – Safety Planimeter – Land area and distance measuring Plantifier – Plant ID Pro Landscape Companion – Design Safety Meeting App – Planner/Education Slack – Group messaging for employees Square – Point of sale credit card acceptance The Weather Channel – Weather * Toggl – Time tracker TripLog – Mileage and gas tracker TSheets – Time tracking Turfpath – Pest tracking Weatherbug – Weather
NJLCA.ORG 7
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Hydrangea macrophylla ‘SMHMTAU’ pp#27,035, cbr#5283
Are your designs missing something? Perhaps the hydrangea flowers you had planned on? If your reblooming hydrangeas haven’t performed as you expected, try Let’s Dance® Blue Jangles®. This sturdy little hydrangea blooms and blooms, flowering on both old and new wood. Its compact size fits nicely into any landscape, and this variety is especially easy to shift to blue when the soil conditions are right.
Available from these suppliers Condurso’s Garden Center Montville, NJ • 973-263-8814
Hope Grange Nursery Bridgeton, NJ • 856-491-5204
Mayhew Nursery Bridgeton, NJ • 856-455-4855
Chesterfield Gardens Chesterfield, NJ • 609-298-2726
L.P Statile Nursery Colts Neck, NJ • 732-294-1991
Loew’s Nursery Bridgeton, NJ • 856-451-7047
Cohansey Nursery Bridgeton NJ • 856-453-4900
L. D’Ottavio Nursery Buena, NJ •856-691-7843
Riggins Nursery Bridgeton, NJ • 856-455-2459
www.provenwinners-shrubs.com
Feature Story
Leveraging Technology for Education by Neal Glatt, CSP, ASM, Managing Partner, GrowTheBench.com. Content First and foremost, what content will be delivered? Safety training, equipment usage, account management, leadership skills, and office software skills are all areas which may choose to be addressed. Content should be industry-specific to better engage employees and help them put skills into context for their positions and companies. The next question is about company-specific content. How can a company deliver it’s own unique spin on best practices, processes, and skills? Is the education platform customizable to fit the needs of each specific company or is only a one-size fits all approach?
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or landscape and snow contractors, one of the most difficult challenges is educating employees due the high turnover nature of the industry. Running lean crews while trying to maximize production time affords little time for tailgate talks, training days, and employee development. In today’s economy, this more important than ever before as every company must fight for talent. In fact, Gallup’s State of the American Workforce reports that the number one reason employees leave a job is a lack of growth and development opportunities. Quite simply, developing employees has become a necessity to keeping them engaged in a job. Unfortunately, the costs and time of trade shows and training days make them very difficult for entire teams to attend. But technology has evolved to the point where affordable, on-demand education is available to deploy training programs to employees. Whether purchasing off-the-shelf education subscriptions or building an in-house program, here are some considerations when to consider when choosing a platform.
Teaching Method Once the training content outline and objectives have been decided, the method of teaching must be evaluated. Are employees expected to learn by reading books or PDFs? Or is video and audio training the primary method of learning? Which method will be the most engaging and effective for teaching the level of employee? Another consideration for teaching method is the length of content. Adult attention spans for online learning is less than 20 minutes, so hour-long modules are probably not sustainable for effective teaching. Learners also learn best when there are interactive and frequent knowledge checks but will get frustrated with burdensome quizzes and questions. Ensuring that the platform provides the right balance is key. The best providers have instructional design professionals on staff to help design the courses for effective learning. If creating in-house content, this service should be demanded of any provider. Without this guidance, money invested into online education will likely be wasted.
Develop Training Strategy Before selecting a training platform, it is critical to determine the training objectives. In what areas, and at what levels of the organization, do employees need to be trained? At what point in an employee’s career will training happen? Who is responsible for administering the program and holding employees accountable? Technology exists to speed up processes, but without the proper strategy in place, objectives can never be achieved. Inevitably, the system will force the results if they aren’t defined before finding a system that will fulfill the strategy’s objectives. The questions below will help shape that strategy.
Delivery Does the system only deliver education via desktop computers? If so, how will field employees learn? The best systems should have the capability to deliver education to mobile devices on mobile internet networks. This permits scalability across service regions, eliminates time constraints, and reduces cost. Part of the delivery consideration should also be on the administrative use of the system. Can learner progress be tracked and reported on? Is it simple and intuitive to enroll users and manage their accounts? When systems are difficult to manage, they will become neglected and forgotten.
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Feature Story Scalability Does the system continue to add content frequently? Do they feature new perspectives, varying faculty, and a variety of focus areas? As learners progress, is there another level of education for them to jump to? Personal growth never ends so long as the educational system continues to grow. This means selecting the right system actually increases the potential for employees and teams. Scalability also means considering how many users may be using the system and what the costs for them will be. When companies grow larger, they should have a system in place that offers site-wide licensing to dramatically reduce the costs of training deployment. Starting down the path with a company which doesn’t offer this type of arrangement leads to frustrating change management down the road. Resources There are several options contractors have used that are good education platforms to leverage technology to help development. Some are listed below: Greenius (www.GoGreenius.com): Offering “over 40 training videos” for “landscaping businesses, from onboarding new employees to equipment and safety training”. GrowTheBench (www.GrowTheBench.com): Offering over 100 videos on management and leadership “available
24/7 and fully mobile friendly…focused on the professional landscape and snow management industry”. LinkedIn Learning (Learning.LinkedIn.com): Offering “thousands of course from Lynda.com covering business, tech, and creative skills”. Not industry specific. OSHA Education Center (www.OshaEducationCenter. com): Offering OSHA “education and training programs given by American Safety Council”. Neal Glatt, CSP, ASM is a managing partner with GrowTheBench. com. In his career as a snow contractor, Neal joined Case Snow Management, Inc. as an Account Executive in 2010. The company owned a single pick-up truck and had annual revenues of less than $1 million. Leading the sales effort and serving as part of the leadership team, Neal helped the company exceed $40 million in annual sales before beginning his own coaching practice in 2017. During that time, Neal discovered the power of focusing on strengths and the ability of strong leadership to influence amazing results. His passion is to help other people also find fulfillment and success in life. He is a Certified Strengths Coach through Gallup and a John Maxwell Certified Coach, Speaker, and Trainer. Neal earned Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Marketing and Spanish from Northern Michigan University. He is a regular columnist for Snow Business magazine and lives in Hopkinton, MA. You can learn more about Neal at www.NealGlatt.com.
Congratulations to our good friends of over 40 years, Lorry and Jerry Siani for receiving Man & Woman of the Year. Jerry is the publisher of T he New York Landscape Contractor and a great supporter of the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association NJLCA.ORG 11
Feature Story
How to Install Reclaimed Materials
Kushequa Street Brick with spacing lugs
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hen working with reclaimed brick and stone pavers or curbing, one thing is for sure: There is no one right way to install these historic materials. Over my time in the industry, masons have consistently surprised me with new methods that work well for them—and who can argue with success? In this article, we will discuss the materials’ unique attributes and installation idiosyncrasies you should know to help make your project a success. (Basic knowledge of paver installation is assumed.) This is the second installment of a three-part series on reclaimed hardscape materials. In the last issue, we shared the history of reclaimed materials, and next time we’ll showcase creative uses of these versatile materials.
Cobblestone Pavers First things first: Which side is up? You can install cobblestones in a variety of ways to achieve any look your customer prefers: with the worn top side facing up, the rouge split sides up or a combination. In addition to providing multiple design options, there are pros and cons to each side. For example, the worn tops can be slippery when wet, but offer the authenticity of worn stone. With a quick brush blast—after the stone is set, but before the joints are filled—you can roughen up the surface enough to improve slip resistance without losing the worn face. You can increase the coverage area of most jumbo cobblestones by laying the stones on their side because they are taller than they are wide. The bedding for cobblestones needs to support their oftenuneven bottom face. Wet-set cobbles should be tapped into an overfilled bed to ensure complete contact. Meanwhile, the bedding for sand-set cobblestones benefits greatly from adding 3/8” broken stone to give the bedding more structure and increase its load-carrying capacity. Always use cement sand (crushed stone fines) because the more angular particles in cement sand will “lock up” when compacted and are less likely to flow under loading. Do not use mason or beach sand; which is rounded pieces of stone that act like tiny marbles—not a material that will produce a solid foundation for your work. A timehonored trick to provide even more bedding stability is to add a small amount of Portland cement (1:10-13) in a bone-dry mix. This will further solidify the bedding, while still allowing the pavement to be flexible and permeable. Wet setting Cobblestones
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FALL | 2018
Feature Story by Scott Smith, Experienced Brick & Stone Joint width is always a matter of debate. Wider joints can provide 5 to 15 percent greater coverage with the same stone. On the other hand, the tighter the joint, the more the stones lock up with each other to prevent movement. Though tighter joints are harder to fill, especially with mortar, original cobblestone roads I’ve seen were always in100+ year old Medina Cobblestone stalled with the stones tight street with sand joints for strength. The joints were filled with crushed stone fines and likely refilled as the fines settled over the first months of service—and these roads are still in service 100 years later. Cobblestone is generally 5-8 inches tall and cannot be restrained properly by a typical staked-edge restraint that’s 2-3 inches tall. Instead, use a solid-edge restraint to counteract the lateral forces produced by vehicles and freeze-thaw cycles, and stop the stones from “walking” away from the center of the paved area. To accomplish this, you can either set stone curbing as in roads, or install buried concrete curb, a solid pour with embedded rebar that extends below the bottom of the cobblestone 4-5 inches. The top of the concrete slopes away from the cobblestone and reaches within 2 inches of the top of the cobblestone to allow for drainage and turf growth. Experienced stonemasons cut cobbles with a hammer and chisel. A saw works as well, but requires more time and effort. Street Paver Brick Historic brick pavers were manufactured during a 50-year period, and over that time, they became easier to install, lighter to transport and more durable. Most bricks had some sort of spacer lug on one side, ranging from simple pips to extruded lugs. Some lugs were a “wave” cut in Dry setting Granite Cobblestones the brick’s face by the wire that sliced it from the extruded log of shale clay. Typically, the lugs are only on one side, requiring the installer to ensure the lugs face a flat side of the adjacent brick to maintain straight courses.
As with cobbles, you can install reclaimed pavers with any side up to create your preferred aesthetic. For instance, if you prefer a more rustic appearance, consider facing the bricks side up, as the sides often have some mortar or tar residue that can add to the mix of colors in your finished project. In addition, the sides often have the manufacturer’s name stamped onto them, which will also add some historic character to your installation. As a bonus, since most bricks are slightly taller than they are wide, laying them on their side will increase coverage. Meanwhile, the original top side is often worn smooth enough that it can be slippery when wet but not excessively so, while the bottom usually has small protrusions that help the brick lock into the bedding material to better resist movement.
Curb cutting
You can mix the installation method if the height and width of the brick is consistent; in other words, don’t lay some on their side and some standing up if the height is different than the width. The “shorter” pavers will eventually settle below taller ones, and your project will become uneven. Historic brick pavers have been field-tested in streets for more than a century, so no sealing is required as the pavers are vitrified clay and solid color all the way through. You can use standard bedding and joint materials for installation. And, though bricks are harder than concrete pavers, you can cut them with a typical saw. Granite Curbing Curbing can be used as large paver slabs, steps or wall caps by laying it on its side. The easiest way to cut curb to the length required is to score it and strike it with a sledge, a 30-second process that will produce a straight but rustic surface that complements the material. Saw cutting also works, but requires more effort because the material then needs to be dressed. Curbing usually comes with stains from asphalt and being buried; if you’re looking for a more consistent color, you can stain the granite with India ink.
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Feature Story
The Mighty Oak? ‘Tis the season for Bacterial Leaf Scorch by Nick Polanin, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Somerset County
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iding in plain sight. So often Mother Nature can play tricks on us as land managers, tree experts, nursery and landscape specialists, and especially homeowners. The late summer / early fall seasonal browning of tree canopies is often attributed to drought conditions, or extremely hot weather, or even just the normal changes in leaf coloration as trees approach winter. But this is where and when we who should know better need to identify the ‘usual’ from the ‘unusual’ and target our efforts on controlling or at minimizing the effects of Bacterial Leaf Scorch on our prized possessions – oaks. Bacterial Leaf Scorch (BLS), caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, clogs the xylem, the cells that transport water between the roots and the leaves of a tree and causes the leaves to scorch, which leads to branch dieback. The overall decline of an affected tree can last for several years, but the tree will eventually die. This slow killer can almost be called the “Dutch Elm Disease of Oaks” since just like DED of elms, it will clog the “plumbing” in the tree to the point of no return and the tree in question will have to be taken down. BLS is spread tree to tree aerially by leaf hoppers that are so numerous in a single tree that any pesticide intervention is unrealistic, and there is some conjecture that underground root grafts may also play a role in disease transmission tree to tree. Our over-reliance on oaks as a popular street tree in NJ has been repeated over the years in our landscapes and golf courses, as seen below. A tree can harbor a BLS infection and refoliate for several years, but eventually the stress of the disease and the resulting branch dieback will make the tree more susceptible to other pathogens and insects which will speed
As bacterial leaf scorch of oak progresses, more branches develop symptoms. About 60% of the crown of this tree is affected by the disease. (Courtesy A.B. Gould)
the tree’s decline. Currently, there is no known cure for BLS. Injecting diseased trees with antibiotics can suppress symptom development, but cannot eliminate the bacteria. The injections are expensive, must be repeated annually, put additional stress on affected trees, and result in only marginal success. The New Jersey Forest Service recommends that affected trees be watered and affected branches pruned off well below the symptomatic leaves. As older or severely declining oaks are being taken down along our streets and golf courses, attention to disease resistant alternative plantings should be a priority. References: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/forest/community/bls.html http://plant-pest-advisory.rutgers.edu/its-not-too-late/ http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/prokaryotes/ Pages/BacterialLeafScorch.aspx
Due to the determinate growth habit of oak, most leaves on a branch affected by Xylella fastidiosa will exhibit scorch. (Courtesy A.B. Gould)
Since joining Rutgers University in 1999, Nick has been nationally recognized for his leadership and educational initiatives in training arborists and other tree care professionals, Green Industry workforce development programs, distance education for consumer and commercial audiences, and volunteer management. He currently serves as statewide coordinator for the Rutgers NJAES Master Gardener Program. Nick holds an M.S. in Horticulture/Urban Forestry (1989), and a B.S. in Natural Resource Management/Forestry (1982), both from Rutgers University. Areas of expertise include urban and community forestry, street tree management, christmas tree and nursery production, landscape IPM, and public relations.
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Feature Story
How Your Business Can Choose the Right Technology Steve Jobs had this to say about technology. “You have to start with the customer experience and work backward to the technology. “(Asking) what incredible benefits can we give to the customer?” Somewhere in your customer experience there are gaps that can be closed with the right technology. To determine which will have the greatest impact on your business, look no further than earning the trust of leads, prospects, and customers.
Align Technology with Your Customer Experience
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usinesses nowadays are compelled to adopt technology solutions to keep up appearances, to be a recognized member of the club. It may well be necessary to attract and keep top talent. Fortunately, it’s never been easier to fit new technology solutions into the budget. The problem is technology can eat away at your most valuable resource – time. The test drive alone is often a significant commitment. Before you know it your free trial runs out. Not long after that you stop using it, but of course, you keep paying because your intention is to eventually make it to work. Sound familiar? Don’t get guilted into trying every platform or piece of software that people rave about. Instead, listen to your customers. Here’s why.
Ask Where Technology Can Add Value For Customers
Most customers will never know what goes on behind the scenes to make those beautiful lawns and landscapes that give them so much enjoyment. The truth is most probably don’t care either. What they do care about is what they experience, discovering, acquiring and enjoying those solutions. A segment of that overall experience is the sales process. • • •
Does your business have a written sales process? Does it consistently follow all of the steps? Does it share that process with its customers?
Many companies cannot answer yes to all three of these questions. As a result, they are ill-equipped to choose a CRM that fits their sales culture.
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Design fees proved to be a chronic obstacle with our landscape customers. So, we did exactly what Steve Jobs suggested, walking our process all the way back to our first point of contact. We smoothed out our talking points to help people understand the value of our design process. Nowadays we can have that conversation in advance with websites, social media, and other content marketing tools. But here’s the thing. Your customer experience may not call for a fancy website. And your business may choose to forego social media completely. The point is there is no perfect technology platform or tool. However, there are thousands technology solutions that when paired with your customer experience will move it closer to ideal, to perfection. The key is to first design the ideal experience and compare it to your current reality. • • • • •
How should the buyer’s journey ideally start? What are buyers’ typical mindsets? What is the desired path that will best serve them? What might trip someone up? How can you remove those fears and obstacles?
You probably know where you are coming up short, but to be certain, talk to customers one-to-one to get their input. Now you are ready to find what works.
Prioritize Decision Making Criteria Before Buying
Decision criteria are unique to each and every buyer. Develop a decision criteria template that will make short work of the evaluation process. Here’s my short list. • • • • •
Reasonable price and payment terms Free trial and onboarding Provider’s company culture aligns with ours Consistent user experience across devices Timely customer communication and support
Feature Story by Jeff Korhan, Landscape Digital Institute • • •
Regular technology upgrades and training Integrates with related technology solutions Gets better with use
In my opinion, price is the easiest one to check off the list because thanks to cloud computing most technology today is rented, not owned. This allows for flexible pricing and pay as you go terms that are easy on the budget. You should have a warm feeling about your technology provider because they will become a partner that must be committed to your success. As you know, technology breaks. This is why I’ll only work with a company I can reach and trust. Another must-have is getting technology to do what it should with minimal effort. This means providing the right data when and where I need it, on whatever device I happen to be using. To further illustrate my criteria, let’s unpack how I use a few tools and why each is part of my daily workflow. Evernote – Consistent User Experience As a marketer and customer experience strategist, the most valuable data in my world is information -- ideas, stories, and other customer data. Evernote captures them in the form of web clippings, photos, embedded links to documents, and of course, text notes. Most important, the app synchronizes everything across all of my devices. Evernote allows users to have hundreds of themed notebooks and thousands of tags to make everything easily discoverable. This is what makes it an invaluable tool. After all, what good is information if you cannot find it when you need it?
Courtesy of Google
Here are just a few of the ways I use Evernote (*some available only available with the modestly priced premium version). • Daily journaling to capture ideas • Summarizing books read for later access • Tracking client activity • Drafts of articles, presentations, and books • Conversation summaries • Photo ideas, such as unique landscape solutions • Forwarded emails automatically inserted into a notebook* • Capturing countless articles from the web in one click • Retrieving relatable quotes like the one above from Steve Jobs G Suite – Integrates with related technology solutions G Suite is Google’s suite of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools that includes Gmail and Google calendar, among others. When you consider how productivity is driven by email and calendar appointments and reminders, G Suite is worth checking out. It started a decade ago as a service (then Google Apps) for using Gmail on your own domain. Today I have dozens email aliases using multiple domains and GSuite manages it all for about $50/year. Like Evernote, a huge benefit of G Suite is its searchability, frequent updates, and integration with other services, including most cloud-based CRM’s. Spotify – Get’s better with use I’m a heavy user of Spotify because I do a lot of writing in coffee shops and on airplanes and the right instrumental music becomes a stable background that keeps me focused. Some of my favorite artists are Marconi Union, Eluvium, and Max Richter. The primary reason I’m loyal to Spotify is that it gets better with use, learning my music tastes and making informed recommendations. As machine learning and AI becomes more universal, the same will be true for all technology solutions. Everyone wants to get better for their customers and the right technology makes that possible if you follow a predictably reliable path like the one outlined here. Jeff Korhan is the author of Built-In Social and founder of Landscape Digital Institute. He helps green industry owners, marketers and sales teams craft and communicate branded customer experiences that sell. Learn more at www.landscapedigitalinstitute.com and contact him at jeff@landscapedigitalinstitute.com
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NJLCA/IANJ Golf Challenge 2018.
A warm thank you to our Golf Gift Sponsors: Aquarius Supply - Bottled Water Sponsor Atlantic Irrigation - Golf Gift Bags and Shirt Sponsor Bobcat of North Jersey - Dinner Sponsor Central Salt - Closest to the Pin Sponsor Hunter Industries - Lunch Sponsor Middleton & Co. Insurance - Golf Tee Set Sponsor New Jersey Deer Control - Golf Towel Sponsor New Jersey Turfgrass Association - Golf Ball Sponsor Scirocco Group - Dinner Sponsor Site One Landscape Supply - Golf Hat Sponsor Toro / Irritrol - Golf Glove Sponsor SponsorTYSigns2018.indd 1
NJLCA.ORG 19 9/6/2018 10:58:15 PM
Is Technology Your Friend or Foe?
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rtificial/robotic intelligence and technology tools have crept into our daily lives in such a pervasive way that it’s become the dominant paradigm in how we live. Think about how many times you search Google or your favorite apps each day for email, texts, traffic, news, weather, banking, finance, driving directions, hotel/flight reservations, etc. So how has technology changed and changing the way you run your landscape businesses? Many of us have already migrated to cloud-based applications for estimating, time tracking, job costing, scheduling, tracking personnel, crews and projects. Drones are being used to monitor productivity on job sites, keep job sites secure, show progress to customers on jobs and to market proudly your completed work. Many of you already may use industry specific software programs like Aspire, Boss LM, Hindsite, LMN, Pool Studio 3D, Structure Studios, Dynascape, etc. to design, estimate, produce bids, proposals and presentations. Marketing, customer and contact relationship management (CRM) solutions like Hubspot and Infusionsoft, and calendar integration tools, like Calendly, TimeTrade and ScheduleOnce, expand your reach into your target audience and customers and connect with your calendar to schedule calls, appointments and inquiries. Technology forward companies utilize email marketing programs, retargeting ads,
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and social media tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Houzz and Instagram to recruit employees, promote your completed jobs and create a following among the types of people who buy your type of service. I have used LinkedIn for years to connect with prospective customers and then email market valuable stuff to them. Most of my clients use Facebook to promote their work with videos and photos while some utilize drones to showcase the progress and completion of jobs. A high-end design-build firm I coach uses Instagram to create a massive following to generate referral business and keep their true cost of advertising to a puny figure. The beauty and benefit to most of the technology apps is the portability they give us and the ability to store and retrieve data that you can access and share between the office and job sites. Being mobile means you can work from home, work, the job site, your truck or while on the road. In my business, I can work anywhere in the world where I have a high-speed connection to the Internet. Apps like Zoom, GoToMeeting and Skype allow me to ‘video teleport’ into 1-on1 meetings, company huddles and staff meetings. An app like Safety Meeting helps you keep track of your business’s safety record. Fieldlens, Mavenlink, Teamwork, Basecamp, etc. are all programs that allows you to view your projects from anywhere including on your mobile device. These programs facilitate users connecting and collaborating with others whether on the jobsite, in the office or from your mobile device.
Feature Story by Jonathan Goldhill, The Goldhill Group What’s coming that we need to be watching as it creeps into our industry? Since iRobot Corporation released its first Roomba robotic vacuum more than 15 years ago, it has sold over 10 million home robots worldwide. So, if iRobot can vacuum floors, your lawn could be its next destination. Robin Autopilot, which pitched a combined “Uber for lawn care” and robotic-lawnmower-as-a-service made a big debut on Shark Tank last year looking to raise funds to expand its robot service nationwide via a franchising plan. They present a threat to lawn mowing services “targeting traditional landscapers who are notoriously unreliable due to guys skipping work, equipment breakdowns and rain delays”. And, according to their marketing video, “their mowers never take a day off, don’t mind working in the rain and are quiet.” And, their mowers are battery powered and emissions free versus gas mowers which emit pollution equivalent to 11 cars per hour. When it comes to commercial robot mowers, BigMow, MowBotix, Belrobotics are competing in the commercial side of our industry. BigMow brags that it has the “most powerful robotic mower in the world.” Belrobotics’ flagship robo-mower can handle steep 45% (24 degree) slopes and can cover 5 acres worth of grass and is equipped with sonar sensors that help it avoid knocking into fences, tree stumps and other obstacles. Meanwhile Husqvarna and Worx are competing in the residential space with Robin Autopilot. If robots mowing your lawn is already here, then autonomously driven cars and trucks providing driverless solutions
are coming soon. Companies like Tesla, Google, Apple and Uber have done some advanced testing of these solutions and at times this reality doesn’t seem too far off. So, the reality we all must face is we must embrace change. Talk to your industry colleagues and competitors to see what they are doing. Observe trends that are happening outside of the industry that may have disruptive or income altering effects on our business and industry. The biggest impactful changes will always be focused on the biggest pain points in an industry. So, look for technology that might seek to solve labor or water shortages or employee recruitment, training and management. If you choose to ignore trends outside the industry, then operate your business at your own peril. Jack Welch, the celebrated CEO of General Electric once said, “If change is happening on the outside faster than on the inside, the end is near in sight.” So, make technology your friend not your foe if you are to thrive in the future. Jonathan Goldhill has been advising and coaching business owners and entrepreneurial leaders of privately-held, family-owned businesses in the green industry to build healthy, more valuable and sellable businesses since 2007. Jonathan can be reached at Jon@TheGoldhillGroup.com. To learn more about his company, visit www. TheGoldhillGroup.com.
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Feature Story
Why & How to Address Cost of Services on Your Website On the other hand, you hate wasting time on tire-kickers that have no clue what your services cost. You want pre-qualified prospects with realistic budgets that know the value in using your company, even in the cases where you’re priced higher than your competition. You and your prospects want the same thing. Only there is a giant chasm between the cost-curious prospect and your company. Cost is a subject your website doesn’t tackle.
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f I gave you three guesses of what activity occupies the most time on my 13-year-old son’s smartphone, I’d be willing to bet that you wouldn’t be able to even nail it with three tries. It’s not games nor social media. It’s researching prices on Amazon, Craigslist, and Google. Even if we drive to a physical store, my boy knows what the item costs elsewhere and where he could even get an upgraded version of it for a smarter purchase. In fact, it’s probable that we won’t even leave the store with the said item inhand, and it will be ordered online before we even walk out the door. It happens all of the time. He’s the personification of the modern, educated consumer. Guess what...he’s going to be your customer in the years to come. Now while not all shoppers are quite as research-happy as my boy, you probably recognize that there has been a trend in the past 10 years that has caused a drastic shift in the buyer’s journey. For billions of items, it doesn’t take more than a few seconds to research cost. And today’s buyer is willing to spend a decent amount of time researching a $50 item that may only get used for a few months. How much time do you think they’ll spend when considering an $800 lawn care program or a $50,000 landscape project? Why Addressing Cost Builds a Bridge to New Business We’ve analyzed data from many landscaping companies over the recent years and do you want to know which website pages generate the most traffic and even result in the most leads? It’s the ones that directly address cost. Your prospects want to understand what your services cost. Most of them do not want to waste their time talking to multiple companies. They want to narrow down their choices and only engage with the company that both meets their budget and can deliver great value. They’re trying desperately to accomplish that before they ever pick up the phone or fill out an online consultation request.
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The only way your prospect can learn about your costs is to either: A. engage in the antiquated, frustrating sales processes of 20 years ago (which likely means their wasted time and yours), or B. keep searching for cost information elsewhere. They’re reluctant to reach out to you and you’re wasting time talking to tire-kickers. But there’s a way to effectively bridge this gap, aligning pricing expectations all while generating qualified leads for your sales team. How to Address Costs on Your Website At this point, you may have some objections rattling around in your brain such as: 1. I can’t give exact costs because there are multiple factors that go into pricing. 2. I don’t want my competitors to know what I charge. 3. If I show costs, it doesn’t allow me to build value into that figure and prospects will shop based on price alone. While those are legitimate concerns, they won’t outweigh the benefit of addressing cost on your website. You can alleviate these concerns and still bridge the gap between your company and the cost-curious prospect by using the following tools. Cost-Focused Blog Articles & Guides As I previously stated, articles centered around cost and pricing are clearly one of the best ways to generate traffic to your website. This is because buyers go through three main stages of their journey: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. After a buyer starts their buyer’s journey researching Awareness Stage problems like their ugly lawn or an upgrade of their tiny patio, they then start to consider specific solutions to those problems. Part of the Consideration Stage is not only evaluating possible solutions but also beginning to explore their costs. As the prospect’s pricing expectations align or are adjusted, then
Feature Story
e by Chad Diller, LandscapeLeadership.com they start to move into the Decision Stage where they narrow down their choices for a lawn or landscape company. Your company’s website affords a tremendous opportunity to not only talk about Awareness Stage topics but also answer the questions your prospects have centered around cost in the Consideration Stage. Blog articles and in-depth, downloadable guides can help buyers learn about factors that affect pricing, see examples with rough cost ranges, and help a buyer to move into the Decision Stage, where they use both price and value information to compare you against other options. To effectively market your business, you should be helping, not selling. This type of cost-related content helps your prospect to get the information they’re seeking from you versus your competitor that is most likely being silent on the matter. And, addressing cost in articles and in-depth guides also helps your company to filter out some of the worst tire-kickers. This will help your team to focus on the prospects that are primed and ready to buy from you. Website Pricing Pages Another way to clearly communicate the cost of your services is with pricing pages. While this is more easy for some services than others, much of a lawn care or landscaping company’s pricing can be given attention. Here are a few examples: Lawn Care Programs Have a page that lays out your various program options, along with what individual treatments/services are included. Use an example lawn size and show the price. Explain that you would be happy to give an exact quote based on their property after they fill out the form below. Tree & Shrub Care Programs In a similar manner, you could lay out detailed program options for typical properties in your area, or even just have it
apply to a certain measurable amount of plant material. Again, an exact quote can be provided after they submit their request. Landscape Maintenance This type of service has more variables, but you can put together various packages and give some average costs with monthly charges that will be more clearly defined after they fill out a form below and you visit their property. Landscape Design & Installation If your company charges design fees or has any clear positioning about what projects you will or won’t do, talk about these costs or ranges on pricing pages. Installation services will be the most difficult expectations to set, but the following tool can do a great job addressing this. Interactive Calculators You can customize a pair of shoes, a vehicle, and millions of other items online and get an exact price. Now while many of your lawn or landscape company’s services require interaction on your part, there’s no reason you can’t help your prospects at least be in the same ballpark when it comes to cost. Now I know what you’re probably thinking again. You don’t want your competitors to know how much you charge. Well, I’ve worked with enough lawn and landscape companies over the past 20 years to know that most companies actually have a good sense of what their competitors charge. In fact, in a lot of cases, I’ve even seen many of you doing your own “mystery shopping” to get a pulse on this. I’d encourage you to stop being scared of your competitor getting a glimpse at your pricing. If they realize you’re higher, they’ll either position themselves as the “cheaper” company or they’ll raise their own prices to get closer to what you charge. Either case shouldn’t have a confident business owner worried. With more simpler services such as lawn care, you could go a step beyond example pricing pages. If a prospect knew their lawn size, they could enter it and purchase a program online. Obviously, you’d want to make them aware it was subject to your verification, but this may be an option you may want to explore. In the case of even the most complicated services like landscape construction, you could help your client put together items with a project calculator to get to a more probable range for their project. Have several options for each project item
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Legal Ease
T
Leaf Blower Bans
hroughout the country, communities are banning or restricting the use of leaf blowers, or are considering doing so. The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute is working to help landscapers counter these challenges. Many objections to leaf blower use are based on emotion, misinformation, or unfounded beliefs. And don’t think this is just a gas-powered equipment issue. Bans and restrictions are being put in place regardless of the power source. OPEI is doing our part to prevent and fight these bans, but it’s vital that you get involved at the local level to ensure you don’t lose access to this vital equipment. OPEI has developed a toolkit to help landscapers, dealers, retailers, and other stakeholders educate members of their communities on the vital role leaf blowers play. You can view the videos and find more information about this topic at www.opei.org/leafblowers. A leaf blower ban is not only a severe and unnecessary remedy, but is also one that is expensive and difficult to enforce. A more reasonable course of action is for landscapers to use the most modern, efficient equipment, and to follow industry best practices for safe and courteous use. Landscapers should work together with community leaders, homeowners, equipment dealers, and other stakeholders to find common ground and compromise, and to develop ordinances that focus on permissible hours of operation, as well as safe and courteous use of equipment, while allowing you the freedom to choose the best equipment to complete your work. But if the issue does make it to your local government, you need to be prepared to protect your interests. That is OPEI has developed this toolkit to help you educate the public, local officials, and the media. And, should the threat of a ban or restriction arise, these documents can help you defend your business and your ability to continue to use this important equipment. Included in the toolkit are: • A series of videos that outline what industry is doing to encourage safe and courteous use of leaf blowers, • A template opinion piece and letter to the editor to send to your local media, • “Myth-busting” talking points to help frame your conversations with local officials, • A safe and courteous use pledge for you and your workers to share with local officials, and • Social media posts that you can use to share information. We encourage you to be vigilant in watching for leaf blower issues in your local communities and to respond when you see a challenge arise. As the green industry, it takes all of us to respond on these issues, and we appreciate your involvement. Chuck Bowen is director of communications and member relations for the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, an international trade association based in Alexandria, VA. Previously, Chuck was editor and associate publisher of Lawn & Landscape magazine, published by GIE Media.
Feature Story available to choose from. Maybe they choose a mediumsized patio, a simple outdoor kitchen, and some basic plantings around the patio. If you’re somewhat vague in your descriptions and give a range, you could easily show the buyer they’d be looking at $37,000 - $63,000 for the project. That’s much better than wasted time with a prospect that assumed a project like this would cost $20,000. Success Starts with Transparency Imagine two paths for your prospect. One leads in the typical, frustrating experience of getting little or no information about cost. The other results in a refreshing change. They see you as helpful and transparent. They also realize that you’re confidently interested in doing business with people who align their assumptions with accurate expectations.
But that won’t happen unless you’re willing to do the hard work of educating your prospective customers in a meaningful way. However, when you do, you’ll soon realize the top activity of your website visitors’ is just like my son’s, researching their options and making the best purchase possible. If you liked these tips for your lawn care or landscaping business, join almost 4,000 professionals that subscribe to our blog for regular insights. And when you’re ready to learn more about how to attract qualified prospects right through your website, schedule a meeting with us to learn more. Chad Diller has held credentials such as a Landscape Industry Certified Technician, ISA Certified Arborist, and has worked in the green industry for approximately 20 years in various production, sales, and marketing roles. He is currently an account manager for Landscape Leadership, a digital marketing agency specializing in green industry companies. You may reach him at chad.diller@ landscapeleadership.com or on Twitter at @ChadADiller
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A fifth-generation 30-acre facility supplying one of the most diverse selections of plant material and landscape products in Northern NJ. o o o o o
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A warm welcome to our newest and returning members... All Year Round Landscape & Design, LLC Kevin Hines West Milford, NJ
CLI Landscape Services & Supply Shane Kuykendall Belleville, NJ
Jarrod & Sons Landscaping Jarrod Smeyers Secaucus, NJ
Anthony Politi Snow Removal Anthony Politi Matawan, NJ
Copper Creek Landscape Management David DeFrange Frenchtown, NJ
John Morgan Thomas Landscape Architects John Thomas Lambertville, NJ
Atlantic Salt Company Doug Koelsch Lowell, MA
Felicia Ramadhin Student Mine Hill, NJ
KC’S Landscaping Kurt Cassidy Fort Lee, NJ
Baylor’s Landscapes, LLC Craig Baylor Stewartsville, NJ
G.A. Landscape Design & Assoc., LLC Keslowe Landscaping, Inc. Kurt Bongiovanni William Keslowe Westfield, NJ Whitehouse, NJ
Bamboo Bob Robert Foley Morristown, NJ
Greenleaf Lawn and Landscape, Inc. Landscape Communications, Inc. Charles Bacon George Schmok Pennington, NJ Tustin, CA
BCB Services, LLC Judith Rakowski-Bodecker Old Tappan, NJ
Green Scaping Landscape Services Rob Kelly Chatham, NJ
Lawn Doctor Chris Sherrington Holmdel, NJ
Johnny Betts Student Old Tappan, NJ
Green Touch Landscapes Paul Gomes Glen Gardner, NJ
North Jersey Landcare Services, LLC Marty Dowd Moonachie, NJ
Bella Campanelli Student Student Garfield, NJ
Impeccable Landscaping, LLC Joe Convery Ramsey, NJ
Pflueger Landscaping, LLC Michael Pfleuger Allendale, NJ
Blu Sol Pools Jeff Stolarik Bloomingdale, NJ
Imperial House James Rivera Keasbey, NJ
Russo Contracting John Russo Oakland, NJ
Chemical Equipment Labs Bob Frey Newton Square, PA
Investco Property Management Clifford Toth Old Tappan, NJ
Unique Services Landscaping, LLC Pete Dowd Montague, NJ
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News Briefs
Contractor Focus: Lakeland Landscaping
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n 1975, a young man with a passion for the outdoors and a uniquely creative mind decided to buy a 1966 GMC pickup truck and a used 21” mower. He was left with only a few dollars in his pocket and didn’t have help or a garage to store his newly purchased equipment. What he did have though, was a dream to pursue. It was at this time, Dan Skarbnik Sr. founded Lakeland Landscaping. Fast forward 43 years and many things have changed, but some remain the same. Dan Skarbnik Sr. is still driving a pickup and pursuing his dreams. He has an office and nursery, shop to store his equipment, excellent employees and a large family to support him. In those 43 years, he is accredited with having a strong record for reliability, an unmatched level of experience in the trade, and an unparalleled creativity for landscape design. Over the years he has developed a reputation that extends throughout the Morris, Sussex, Somerset, Essex, Warren and Hunterdon counties. He has built a company that covers all facets of the landscape, from concept to completion. In 2005, after graduating from the University of Delaware studying Landscape Horticulture and Plant Biology, Dan Skarbnik Jr. came aboard full time to pursue and share the passion his father and he have for their work and the business. Dan Jr’s role is to continue the legacy his father had started many years ago by utilizing the same core values and principles that got them to where they are today. Lakeland’s foundation is simple, its family. Today, Dan Jr. is responsible for managing all of Lakeland’s maintenance accounts and daily operations. His job is to keep their landscapes looking the way they were designed and intended to look. He is known for being a passionate, particular, perfectionist with his work, much like his father. He enjoys riding motorcycles, snowmobiling, working on his home and time with his dog Bella.
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Their family extends beyond their next of kin and to their long term valued employees and clients. They are a team that has a love and passion for what they do, a creative perspective, and a hard working mindset. “This is the formula that helps us achieve the results we deliver to our clients from job to job and from year to year”, says Dan Jr.
Janae Skarbnik is a landscape designer for Lakeland and a certified professional floral designer. Janae has attended Morris County Community College and Rutgers University for landscape architecture. She is known for her exquisite artistic ability in her designs and creative floral displays. Janae custom designs floral gardens, potted planters and indoor silk flowers for our residential and commercial clients. Debbie Skarbnik, Dan Sr.’s wife, also helps with the business. She oversees the duties of the office work and is the ever-important moral support behind her husband and son. Her other full time job is raising six kids and a handful of animals. She enjoys reading, time with her dogs and kids, and the nights when she doesn’t have to cook dinner. Bella Skarbnik is the mascot for Lakeland Landscaping. She is in charge of greeting all the employees each morning and putting a smile on everyone’s face. She likes to receive treats of all kinds and enjoys riding in the truck and going to the jobsite and supervising. Lakeland Landscaping provides landscape design, construction and renovation. They also handle property maintenance, lighting, gardens and snow and ice management to their clients. They have won several Landscape Achievement Awards in the past and have been a member of the NJLCA for over 15 years.
News Briefs
Associate Focus: L.P. Statile
Three generations - Lenny Statile, Phillip Statile Sr. and Phil Statile Jr.
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amily-owned and operated, L.P. Statile is a New Jersey based wholesale-only nursery and landscape supply business. With locations in Colts Neck and Springfield, New Jersey they serve over 1,800 contractors throughout the tri-state area. They carry a full line of plants and hardgoods and are widely known for the quality of their plant material. LP Statile’s history spans nearly a century and is rich with entrepreneurship, hard work and a true love for the plants and landscape supplies. In the early 1900’s Leonardo Statile immigrated to New Jersey from Italy. He worked as a propagator for local nurseries and then purchased the existing property on Mountain Avenue in Springfield to start his own nursery. Springfield Nursery started as a propagation/production nursery, growing
broadleaf evergreens and specializing in Azaleas and Hybrid Rhododendron. Leonardo’s son, Philip, not only grew up in the nursery business – he was literally born at the nursery! After attending Rutgers University and serving in WW2, Philip joined the business full time. Soon thereafter, Philip’s brotherin-law William Doland joined in the family business and the two continued the business after Leonardo’s death in 1956. A third generation joined the family business when - Philips’ son, Leonard P. Statile, graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Landscape Architecture in 1972. Leonard saw an opportunity to develop a horticultural distribution center in Springfield. In 1974, L.P. Statile, Inc. was formed to provide landscape contractors with all their plant material needs. Philip L. Statile, Leonard’s son, joined the company full time after graduating with a Business Management Degree from Seton Hall University. Philip worked in the family business through his school-age years, but after college he was encouraged to work outside the family business to gain additional work experience. As Vice President, Philip has been fully immersed in the family business, playing a large role in management, customer service and operations. L.P. Statile is proud to represent a multi-generational family owned business that continues to provide the finest quality plant material to landscape and building contractors throughout the New Jersey tri-state area. (Continued on Page 39)
LP Statile not only purchases from over 70 growers around the country, they grow roughly 30% of what they sell at their Colts Neck, NJ Facility. Through the season they will carry as many as 750+ varieties of tress, shrubs, perennials, grasses, and seasonal plants.
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Feature Story
Use Your Attention as a Tool to Drive Better Results
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ave you ever heard the saying “What gets measured, gets done?” How about “Inspect what you expect” or even “What you focus on grows”? What all of these sayings have in common is the idea that whatever you consistently focus your attention on will tend to improve. Whether you want to improve sales, profit, customer satisfaction or some other aspect of your business, the more you focus everyone’s attention on an area needing improvement, the more improvement you will see. There’s employee research starting in the 1920’s and continuing to today that backs this idea up. It makes sense if you think about it. Let’s say that you and your team set a goal for this year to increase net profit from 5% to 10%. But now that the goal is set, you never pay any attention to it – you never examine why your net profit is lower than you want it to be, you never measure your net profit to see how you’re doing, and you never talk with your team about your net profit. How much do you think your net profit will improve? My experience shows, not much! On the other hand, if you measure your profit, focus on it regularly with your team and continually look for and implement ways to improve, you will make improvements in a big way. In fact, one of my clients doubled his profit last year by focusing everyone’s attention on profit improvement every day and in every way. Focusing everyone’s attention on driving the results that are important to your business is a simple idea, but as simple as this idea is, I don’t see it executed very well in most contracting businesses. There are just too many competing priorities and distractions. And the result of not focusing everyone’s attention on what matters to your business is subpar performance. Here are three ideas on how to use your attention systematically as a tool to get better business results: 1. Focus on a short list of priorities. If you have too many priorities, then you really have no priorities. You’ll spread your energy, time and efforts too thin, and your employees will be confused and lose focus. So, keep everyone focused on a short list of priority goals that you want to accomplish this year.
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2. Measure and discuss results frequently. To get great results, you must measure and track progress toward your goals and share your results with your team regularly. Consider having a monthly all employee meeting to discuss results with everyone in the company and weekly one-on-one meetings with each of your management team members to review last week’s results and this week’s goals and to resolve any challenges that might keep your managers from meeting their goals for the week. These weekly meetings enable you to systematically spread your attention around and keep your managers focused and accountable for achieving their goals. These meetings also help you identify problems and make adjustments to keep things moving in the right direction. If you have a sales manager with a sales team or a production manager who oversees their crews, they should have regular weekly meetings or brief daily meetings too, to focus everyone on the results you’re trying to achieve. Here is an example of five questions that some of my clients’ production managers have adopted to keep their crew leads focused everyday on driving productivity: • What were your man hours yesterday compared to your goal? • What did you accomplish yesterday? • What is your goal for today? • What obstacles do you see that will keep you from reaching that goal? • How do you plan to overcome those obstacles? Similar questions could be developed for a sales manager for their sales team. The key is that asking the same questions daily keeps everyone focused and thinking about how to drive better results. 3. Reward and celebrate successes. Rewards and recognition are key tools to keep everyone’s attention focused on what matters. Audit your compensation, rewards, recognition, incentives and performance reviews to ensure that all incentives align with your goals. You’ll be surprised how many aren’t!
Feature Story by Bill Silverman, Springboard Business Coaching Pay attention to this idea! There’s huge power in focusing everyone’s attention on driving the results that are important to your business. So, take an hour and focus your attention on implementing the ideas that I’ve laid out here. It will help you and your team produce better business results and simplify your life in the process! Not a bad return on your investment for such a simple change in how you manage!
Bill Silverman specializes in coaching contractors with multimillion-dollar businesses, who feel challenged by the demands of running a complex multi-million dollar business and who know that they have untapped potential in their business that they just can’t seem to harness. He helps clients restructure their businesses, learn new management skills and implement the strategies needed to sustain a thriving, profitable multi-million dollar business and a balanced life.
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HARDSCAPE SEMINAR: PAVER SCHOOL Presented by Michael Tous
Tuesday, Dec 4. 1:00 - 4:00 PM
at NJ Green Expo at The Borgata Hotel - Atlantic City, NJ Take this hands-on class and learn how to design and install better paver projects. Michael Tous will discuss basic excavation, establishing a base layer, cutting techniques, edging, installing, and many tricks of the trade. SPEAKER: Michael Tous of Grass Masters Inc., a full service hardscaping, landscaping, and lawn maintenance company in Lumberton NJ, has been ICPI Certified since 2001 and enjoys educating other contractors to properly install hardscapes. He specializes in design & installation of creative hardscaping projects. CREDITS Approved: APLD-1.5, ICPI -3, LIC -3
NJ Green Expo - Trade Show Hours Tuesday, December 4, 2018 - 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Beverages and Dine Around the Trade Show
Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - 11:30 am - 2:30 pm Lunch and Beverages at the Trade Show
Then join us in the Aqua Room from 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm for a Mixer/Reception All are welcome!! Free to attend!! NJLCA’s Membership Committee invites you to mix and mingle with other members, the membership committee, Board members, and staff! Cocktail reception includes heavily passed hors doeuvres and salads.
To read more or register, visit www.njturfgrass.org NJLCA members pay NJTA member pricing!
Early registration ends on November 12th...After 11/12, prices increase and you must register on-site
Feature Story
The Glyphosate Controversy by Buddy Freund, NJGIC
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lyphosate is one of the most widely used and effective herbicides in the world. In the last few weeks it’s received lots of media coverage following a legal case in California, USA where the jury found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a man who alleged the company’s Glyphosate products caused his cancer. The media coverage of this case has raised lots of questions, so we hope that the following information and brief video helps you to understand glyphosate and the issues around it. There have been lots of headlines about Glyphosate causing cancer and calls to ban glyphosate, does this mean it is not safe to use? Let’s look at the facts. There isn’t a single regulatory authority around the world that has banned glyphosate for agricultural use. Glyphosate has been around for more than 40 years, and it has been widely studied and approved as safe to use by many regulatory authorities around the world who have strict safety approval standards. The regulators also review registrations on a regular basis. In short, if it doesn’t meet these stringent standards it will not be approved for sale and use.
So why do people think it might cause cancer? In 2015 one of the World Health Organization’s agencies, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a monograph which stated that Glyphosate was ‘probably’ carcinogenic to humans. For context, other compounds and activities that fall into this category include drinking very hot beverages, frying, hairdressing and red meat. IARC is not saying that Glyphosate causes cancer, it is saying that it is probably carcinogenic. The conclusions of more than 800 scientific studies, regulatory agencies around the world and the World Health Organization (WHO) Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) none of whom have found that Glyphosate is carcinogenic when used in accordance with the manufacturers safety instructions. Will there be any more court cases like the one in California? We believe that there will be more court cases, and some are already scheduled to start, however we don’t necessarily think that the outcomes of the other cases will be the same
as the recent case in California. The recent case in California is not finalized and we expect there to be further legal processes and reviews related to this case.
Will Glyphosate still be sold? Yes, Glyphosate will still be sold. It is registered for use by regulatory authorities and there are a variety of manufacturers that have EPA registrations allowing them to actively sell it. The industry will continue to work with regulatory authorities around the world to maintain the scientific database for Glyphosate at the level required by the regulators. The manufacturers of Glyphosate are confident that the weight of existing scientific evidence will continue to be recognized by regulators around the world to keep the registrations for Glyphosate products. Where can I find more information? • USA (Environmental Protection Agency): https:// www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/ glyphosate • Investigation showing that IARC participant was paid £120,000 by cancer lawyers: https://www.thetimes. co.uk/article/weedkiller-scientist-was-paid-120-000by-cancer-lawyers-v0qggbrk6 • Reuters investigation on non-carcinogenic findings “edited out” by IARC: https://www.reuters.com/ investigates/special-report/who-iarc-glyphosate/ • Investigation into concealment of draft 2013 Agricultural Health Study findings by IARC chair: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/ glyphosate-cancer-data/ • Links to reviews by regulators around the world since IARC: https://monsanto.com/company/media/ statements/glyphosate-report-response/ • Agricultural Health Study Background — largest epidemiological study ever on pesticides and cancer: https://aghealth.nih.gov/about/ • 2018 Agricultural Health Study In Journal of the National Cancer Institute showing no link between glyphosate and cancer: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/m/pubmed/29136183/
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825 Black Oak Ridge Road, Wayne 973-616-SNOW (7669)
BY THE BAG, PALLET, TRUCKLOAD
Feature Story
Is Your Business Prepared to Address the Opioid Crisis? by Barbara Kauffman, MA, CPS, Director of Prevention Services at Morris County Prevention is Key (MCPIK) and Bill Lillis CPS, PDFNJ’s Drug-Free Workplace Coordinator
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he workplace is not immune to the opioid crisis that has gripped New Jersey. Business owners and supervisors are facing the challenges on a more frequent basis as both their employees and customers are impacted. More and more media coverage has been focusing on overdoses in the workplace: a customer in the bathroom of a convenience store, a resident in a public library or a waiter in the bathroom of a restaurant at which he was working. There are also scenarios that are not in the news, but ones of which every manager or business owner should be aware. One example involves an employee in long-term recovery for opioid misuse who felt pain at work. She complained to a co-worker that she was not feeling well, and the co-worker offered the woman one of her prescription opioids. After taking the pill, the woman relapsed and returned to using heroin and died a short time later. Education of employees is especially important as employers can play a pivotal role by teaching employees about the potential for dependency on the opioids they are prescribed. Employees need to understand that sharing their prescriptions can be a dangerous and possibly fatal mistake. Educational programs on substance awareness should be completed on an ongoing basis and often work better if they are part of a company’s health and wellness program. Having supervisors well-trained to identify and know what steps to take regarding opioid misuse, including an overdose in the workplace is also important. Attendance problems, performance and/or behavior issues, and strained work relationships are all possible indicators of a substance abuse problem. Here are guidelines should an overdose occur in your workplace: How to Respond to an Overdose • Call the person’s name to see if he or she responds. • If this does not work, vigorously grind a knuckle into sternum (the breastbone in the middle of chest) or rub a knuckle on the person’s upper lip.
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If the person responds, assess whether he or she can maintain responsiveness and breathing. • If the person does not respond, call 911 immediately. Identify your address and location, and follow the dispatcher’s instructions. • If there is a person trained to do so, administer naloxone. An opioid overdose death can be prevented when naloxone is administered in a timely manner. Naloxone displaces opioids from receptor sites in the brain and reverses respiratory depression. For treatment information, call 1‐844‐Reach NJ or visit www.reachnj.gov. Part of a comprehensive policy regarding substance use disorders includes having access to quality treatment programs, return to duty guidelines and assistance in long-term recovery. The Partnership for a DrugFree New Jersey (PDFNJ) recommends employers work with a qualified employee assistance program (EAP) to do this. If the company does not have an EAP, connecting with local agencies (treatment facilities, counseling and support groups) is essential. Similar to people suffering from chronic diseases such as cancer or heart disease, millions of Americans with a substance use disorder are in recovery and are hardworking, reliable employees. Should your company consider revising any policies and procedures, PDFNJ recommends that you consult your attorney before implementing any changes. Many members of NJLCA are already taking advantage of the free programs and services provided as part of PDFNJ’s drug-free workplace program. Those interested in joining our program to receive future updates, have access to our drug-free workplace kit or who wish to schedule a free training session for supervisors may visit the PDFNJ website at www.drugfreenj. org or contact Bill Lillis at bill@drugfreenj.org or 973-4672100. There is no charge for PDFNJ programs and services.
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Feature Story
The Business of Snow and Ice
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he world has changed over the last 50 years. No longer is the handshake and ‘our word’ good enough to get by when dealing with customers. Larger, national organizations that hire us to manage snow and ice on their sites simply will not do business without a written and fully executed contract in hand. This is the way business is conducted nowadays. No longer are snow contractors just “plow jockeys” who move snow from one area of a paved surface to another. We move snow today much the same as we did 75 years ago. We put a piece of steel on front of something with rubber tires and push the snow to the outer edges of a parking lot. However, unlike the plow jockeys of the past, today we are risk managers charged with providing safe environments for vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Today, most every customer or client wants or demands a written agreement outlining how we are to do business with them. There is nothing to be afraid of when working with contracts. The laws that apply to such contracts are such that underhanded, one sided contracts are rare nowadays. Commercial customers want their vendors to make a profit as they have come to realize that without profit a company (even a snow management company) cannot survive. No large retail facility wants to beat up their vendor to the point where it is cheaper for that vendor to go out of business rather than continue to service the account. What could be worse than a big box, brick and mortar retail outlet finding out that their plowing contractor closed up shop just before a 12 inch snowfall hit the area? Do not, for a minute, think that this is what these customers want to have happen. However, these people also assume that we are all businessmen who know our costs and have quoted a viable price for the work that we want to do for them. Contracts between customer and vendor are there to make certain that all parties understand what is expected of each. Very large organizations, use contracts that they have paid lawyers to write. These attorneys are working on be-
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half of the organization that hired them, so it is reasonable to believe that the contracts are written in favor of their client. Wouldn’t you (if you hired an attorney to write your contract) want them to act in your best interest? Also, laws are enacted to protect everyone, not just the big companies. Imagine the chaos if we had no laws to work with, or from. No speed limits to control how we drive, no limitations on the medical profession, or no restrictions on taking things that don’t belong to us. The world of business is also governed by laws. The trend during the past dozen years or so, seems to be that government is stepping in more and more to govern the behavior of business people. Thus, we see more laws and regulations regarding sexual harassment, proper treatment of those with disabilities, proper treatment of employees with regards to hiring and firing of employees, enforcement of environmental laws, how to deal with independent service providers, safety and tax laws. As one might expect, businesspeople often want to set their own standards. Unfortunately there are a few unscrupulous people that spoil it for the rest of us. Also, at conventions for small business owners you’ll often hear people say that “this law doesn’t apply to us” or, “I won’t follow that principle of law”. And, too often the person just starting out in business will think that it is too expensive to follow the laws that apply, and that they cannot make a profit if they follow the law. These laws are implemented for the good of all concerned, and are there to guide us how we conduct our business as it relates to others we have to interact with. Business law refers to rules, statutes, codes and regulations established to provide a legal framework within which business may be conducted and that are enforceable by court action. Business people today need to have some working knowledge of laws regarding sales, contracts, liability, taxes, and bankruptcy. Tort law relates to wrongful conduct that causes injury to another person’s body, property, or reputation. These are the
Feature Story by John Allin, SnowFighters Institute types of laws that come into play in the event of a ‘slip-andfall’ incident. Liability laws fall under Tort Law and holds a business liable for negligence in performance of its duties with regard to safety and execution. Thus, if you fail to adequately clear a property while plowing, you may be held liable for any injury that may occur as a result of your apparent negligence in adequately clearing the lot. Obviously, this author strongly recommends that the laws of the land be followed and not circumvented in any way. This can lead to bad accounting practices and possible imprisonment for violation of the various tax laws. Ignorance is not an excuse for avoiding the payment of necessary taxes, therefor it is highly recommended that you engage an accountant to assist you in navigating the tax quagmire. Additionally, it is strongly recommended that all plowing and ice control agreements be done in writing. Even with residential customers written contracts are recommended. Using a written contract is good business, and good practice. In this way everyone knows what is expected, what your company will do in most situations, and what the compensation (consideration) is for both parties. Working on a handshake (while admirable and commendable) is usually
bad form and not viewed as professional anymore. However, you must do what is best for you and your business acumen. John Allin, CSP, ASCA-C, is a full time consultant to the snow and ice management industry. He is the founder of Snowfighters Institute. John can be reached by email at john@ johnallin.com
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Feature Story
Protect your sensitive information from data breaches
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our company has a lot of sensitive information on file: names, credit card numbers, and other personal identifying information. A cyber breach of any of that data can expose your clients and employees to risks, and cause damage to your business and your reputation. The Federal Trade Commission recommends businesses develop a data security plan based on five key principles: take stock, scale down, lock it, pitch it, and plan ahead. Take stock Take inventory of the data your business collects, where it’s stored, and who on your staff has access to it. Knowing how information flows through your business will help you identify any potential risks. Pay special attention to: • Accounting and bookkeeping • Corporate information • Contracts • Tax and payroll
Scale down Only keep sensitive customer information (like credit card numbers) on file if you have a business need for it. Reduce your security risks by only keeping information that’s essential for you to do business. Lock it Protect data files with a system that works best for the storage methods you use. Consider doing the following: • Perform a full-scale security audit to identify any vulnerability in your network • Equip all internet-enabled devices with an anti-malware program to block malicious software that may be used to access data • Install firewall software or hardware to protect computers and electronic devices from being hacked In addition, encryption and email authentication can help ensure only the intended recipients can view files shared through the internet. Authentication can also keep customers from falling for phishing scams, where hackers mimic a business to trick customers into providing personal information.
Pitch it Critical files and records containing personally identifying information are often targeted by thieves to commit fraud, identity theft, or similar acts. Take a close look at the personal information you have on hand—both employee and customer—and decide if it’s needed. If you don’t need it, delete it. Plan ahead Conduct training to educate employees on best practices for keeping data secure. A password could be all that stands between an attacker and your organization’s confidential data. Consider the following common criteria as you establish passwords: • Include at least 14 characters—longer is better • Avoid easy-to-guess passwords (i.e., username, dog’s name, birthdays) • Don’t use default passwords (i.e., admin, password, 1234) • Include a complex mix of lowercase letters, capital letters, numbers, and special characters • Password habits are also very important. You can avoid common pitfalls with the following tips: • Don’t reuse work passwords for personal accounts and devices, or vice versa • Don’t tell anyone your password, regardless of who is asking • Don’t keep a physical copy of the password with the mobile device (e.g., a piece of paper) • Change passwords often Also, teach employees how to recognize security threats. Data security is a team effort and the more your staff is informed, the more likely they are to report suspicious activity. Take action sooner, rather than later Implementing multiple protection measures and establishing best practices can minimize risk. However, never underestimate the likelihood of a data breach. Be proactive and work with your IT department, staff, and service provider to develop a response plan. Reacting quickly to a data breach or hacking incident can reduce the impact on your business. Depending on the information that’s been compromised, you may be required to notify affected employees and customers, law enforcement, credit bureaus, and more. Research your state’s data breach notification law to determine the parties you’ll need to contact, and the information you must provide. You can find additional privacy and security tips at the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov. Hortica® property and casualty coverages are underwritten, and loss control services are provided, by Florists’ Mutual Insurance Company, Florists’ Insurance Company, and Florists’ Insurance Service, Inc., Edwardsville, IL, members of the Sentry Insurance Group. For more info, visit hortica.com. This document is made available by Sentry Insurance with the understanding that SIAMCO is not engaged in the practice of law, nor is it rendering legal advice.
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Feature Story
People Problems by Kevin Gilbride, Accredited Snow Contractors Association
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verything you’ve heard about staffing levels, unfilled positions and the market being a workers’ paradise is true. I’ve spoken with snow and ice management company owners regarding their employees and service providers, and they mirror what I’ve read in business publications. I also spent a few days in early September in Washington, D.C. and heard from a number of industry insiders on the impact the economy and unemployment are having on small businesses. Right now, the economy is strong, which is a good thing. Unemployment is hovering at 3.9%, which is very positive … unless you are in an industry that has historically been at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to gobbling up employees. Currently, the U.S. has more available jobs than people to fill them, and this puts a lot of pressure on small business owners. In fact, I heard a statistic that workers are so confident that they’re voluntarily quitting their jobs at the highest rate in 17
years. Essentially, they’re earning a promotion by leaving their current employer. This creates a disastrous situation at the bottom of the human resource food chain, especially in an industry where the hours, nature of work and overall environment can be deemed less than desirable. It’s no wonder you easily get outbid for employees. One unintended consequence is this trend forces your managers and supervisors back into frontline positions just to get the work completed. This creates a tempting situation for them to also want to leave. So, how do we address this? Consider the following. Culture Create a company culture that makes you the desirable company to work for in your market. Communicate this to your employees and live and breathe that culture. Your employees are your company’s best recruiting tool. If they love what they are doing and love doing it for your company, they will tell everyone they know and do your recruiting for you. Training Provide the proper training to all levels of employees. Don’t lose people because you haven’t properly trained them or provided them proper tools to do the job. Know Your Market Who are you competing against for these jobs? The construction industry? Paving companies? Know what they are
Once a week, George Futterknecht, Owner of Wood Landscapes (Closter) and his employees gather as a group to discuss Horticulture topics. Here they are looking for grubs that are feeding on the roots of turf grass. He has also started an Instagram page for his employees to share other topics of interest pertaining to work. Finally, he has coined his employees as “El Mejor Group” to let them know and remind them that they are the best and should be proud. George says, “A company culture that everyone believes in gives you a strategic advantage. I remind the crew what it takes to become El Mejor Grupo, they listen and their performance is outstanding. Running a business is easier when everyone buys into the same vision.”
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The [Safety] Culture Club
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perating a chainsaw can be hazardous. Potential injuries can be minimized by using proper personal protective equipment and safe operating procedures. Before Starting a Chainsaw • Check controls, chain tension, and all bolts and handles to ensure that they are functioning properly and that they are adjusted according to the manufacturer’s instructions. • Make sure that the chain is always sharp and that the oil tank is full. • Start the saw on the ground or on another firm support. Drop starting is never allowed. • Start the saw at least 10 feet from the fueling area, with the chain’s brake engaged. Fueling a Chainsaw • Use approved containers for transporting fuel to the saw. • Dispense fuel at least 10 feet away from any sources • of ignition when performing construction activities. • No smoking during fueling. • Use a funnel or a flexible hose when pouring fuel into the saw. • Never attempt to fuel a running or HOT saw.
Chainsaw Safety • Clear away dirt, debris, small tree limbs and rocks from the saw’s chain path. Look for nails, spikes or other metal in the tree before cutting. • Shut off the saw or engage its chain brake when carrying the saw on rough or uneven terrain. • Keep your hands on the saw’s handles, and maintain balance while operating the saw. • Proper personal protective equipment must be worn when operating the saw, which includes hand, foot, leg, eye, face, hearing and head protection. • Do not wear loose-fitting clothing. • Be careful that the trunk or tree limbs will not bind against the saw. • Watch for branches under tension; they may spring out when cut. • Gasoline-powered chainsaws must be equipped with a protective device that minimizes chainsaw kickback. • Be cautious of saw kickback. To avoid kickback, do not saw with the tip. Keep tip guard in place. Courtesy of OSHA QuickCard (OSHA 3269-04R 2013). For more information visit www.osha.gov or call (800) 321-OSHA (6742)
Feature Story paying and offering. You may have to adjust your hiring approach to attract these same folks. Find out what makes your happiest employees so happy. Why do they love working for you? Why do they love the work they are doing? What in them makes them want to go out at all hours of the winter to do a job that most people wouldn’t want to do? Then, use those answers and recruit similar people to hire. Service Providers This of course is something that makes winter work a little easier to staff up for. At the same time, remember that your service providers, especially if you are hire a service provider that is providing multiple people and pieces of equipment, are also dealing with the same employment issues you are. They, too, are losing people. Make sure you are more diligent with your service providers this coming season. Make sure they have the staffing for the amount of work that they are taking on for you. Work with them to make sure you have the amount of work they need to keep their teams employed. For your best service providers, perhaps offer them more opportunity.
Work Ahead You should be working right now, or should have been for the last two months, to fulfill this winter’s staffing requirements. Solidify your commitments as soon as you can for employees and service providers, and don’t wait till the day before the first snowfall. Always Be Interviewing At this rate, you are going to lose some people, as well. Be prepared. Constantly seek out new people who will be ready to step in and take those jobs. Technology Always be looking out for new ways to do the job. Perhaps it is more efficient equipment or new consumables that are more efficient. Have a back-up plan What are you going to do if you lose five employees in the middle of the season? Who do you have who can come in and pick up where they left off? Maybe it’s a service provider you keep on retainer just for those worst-case scenarios. We have not seen unemployment at this level in ages, and it may take some time for the market to correct itself. Your best bet is to work ahead, work smart and work diligently to make sure you can best manage through this. Kevin Gilbride is the Executive Director of the Accredited Snow Contractors Association. He is currently Publisher of Snow Magazine as well. Kevin can be reached at kgilbride@ascaonline.org.
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Feature Story
A Snapshot of Landscape Technology 2019
W
by Bill Eastman, GreenMark Consulting
elcome to our 4-part series on the opportunities technology provides for smart landscape and snow & ice companies. The topic of technology and the future is always dangerous because what is relevant and cutting-edge today is obsolete tomorrow. This series is based on a snapshot of the industry in the fall of 2018. Background We did an expansive search of technology companies planning to introduce new opportunities in the landscape industry. We also touched base with a group of customers on what they using or are planning to use in 2019. We took all of that information and organized into 3 articles: • Internal Business Operations • External Business Operations • Technology Myths
Internal Business Operations The key word here is autonomation, and that is not a spelling error. Don’t confuse it with automation which replaces people with machines or software. Autonomation means removing tedious tasks from people so they can use their brains to focus on a higher payoff role like customer engagement. We will address this in the final article on Technology Myths. Some examples of autonomation in landscaping: building everything in the cloud instead of installing software on computers. It is easier to implement a web-based application than trying to maintain multiple devices - office computers, laptops, mobile devices, etc. All the marketing, sales, scheduling, ordering, inventory, job management, and customer service functions can be handled with just 1 or 2 software suites. That includes the ability to “talk” to people in the field in the real time using messaging apps. External Business Operations
We started with the internal advantages because you need to build the infrastructure to make it work in the field. Every member of your team can be connected to ensure the right people, equipment, and materials are in the right place at the right time. Imagine using virtual reality to plan a designbuild project that interacts with the customer. Another major tool are drones to survey the property and combined with virtual & interactive design software to make the customers dream a reality and accurately forecast materials and labor. Now for the fun. This is both a branding issue as well a major improvement of the customer’s engagement. Since landscaping is a “green” business, why not use all the environment intelligent solutions you can afford. This ranges from changing energy sources from petroleum to propane or electric. Battery advances has made it possible to get the job done for less cost and much quieter than the internal combustion engine. Another avenue is the use of edible plants wherever possible instead of just the garden. In smaller spaces a vertical garden works well or it could be the creation of rain gardens to channel rain water and reduce water costs. Given the new capabilities 5G technology is bringing, the customer can automate or control irrigation and lighting from their smart device. Technology Myths There are some legitimate concerns around hacking. However the cloud providers have far more advanced firewall tools than your private network. The concern it will remove the personal touch is no longer an issue. Since we are discussing using technology to free people up from routine tasks, they are now available to better manage their teams and interact with customers. We will drill on each subject over the next 3 articles. This is your primer for finding smart and low-cost ways of improving your business operations and create distinction from the competition. Next article will cover how to use technology to improve internal operations.
Bill Eastman is a Senior Consultant with the GreenMark Group and can be reached at 833.RUGREEN (833.784.7336) or weastman@greenmarkgroup.com
42 FALL | 2018
EN EspaÑol
Feature Story
Associate Focus: L.P. Statile
(Continued from Page 25)
O
perar una sierra de cadena puede ser peligroso. Heridas potenciales pueden ser minimizadas utilizando el equipo de protección de seguridad y procedimientos de operación seguros. Antes de poner una sierra de cadena en marcha • Inspeccione los controles, la tensión de la cadena, y todos los tornillos y mangos para asegurarse que estén funcionando apropiadamente y que ellos están siendo ajustados de acuerdo a las instrucciones del fabricante. • Asegúrese que la cadena esté siempre afilada y que el tanque de aceite esté siempre lleno. • Ponga la sierra en marcha en el suelo o en otra superficie firme. Nunca la ponga en marcha dejándola caer. • Ponga la sierra en marcha a un mínimo de 10 pies desde el área donde se echa la gasolina. Echar gasolina a la sierra de cadena • Use embudos aprobado para transportar gasolina para la sierra. • Dispense la gasolina un mínimo de 10 pies a lo lejos de cualquier fuente de ignición cuando esté haciendo trabajos de construcción. No fume cuando esté echando gasolina. • Use el embudo o la manga flexible cuando esté echando gasolina dentro de la sierra. • Nunca intente echar gasolina si la sierra está en uso o caliente. Seguridad de la sierra de cadena • Quite todo lo sucio, escombros, ramas pequeñas de árboles y piedra del camino de la sierra de cadena. Asegúrese de que no haya clavos, puntas y otros metáles en el árbol antes de cortar. • Apague la sierra o engrane el freno de la cadena cuando lleve la sierra en terreno desigual o irregular. • Mantenga sus manos en el mango de la sierra y mantenga los pies balanceados cuando esté operando la sierra. • El equipo de protección personal apropiado debe ser usado cuando esté operando la sierra, el cual incluye protección para las manos, pies, piernas, ojos, cara, oídos y cabeza. • No se vista con ropa suelta o que le quede grande. • Tenga cuidado que el tronco o las ramas de los árboles no estén amarradas contra la sierra. • Tenga cuidado con las ramas que están en tensión, pueden saltar hacia afuera cuando las corte. • La sierra de cadena que se enciende con gasolina debe ser equipada con un dispositivo protectivo que minimiza que la sierra de cadena invierta el giro (te patee). • Tenga precaución con las inversions de giro (patadas) de la sierra. Para evitar la inversión de giro no corte con la punta. Mantenga el protector de la punta en su lugar. Courtesy of OSHA QuickCard (OSHA 3269-04R 2013). Para mas informacion: www.osha.gov or call (800) 321-OSHA (6742)
Quality has always been important to L.P. Statile. Their combination of on-site growing, and decades long relationship with nurseries is focused on the highest quality plant material.
Technology is impacting all aspects of the landscape industry and wholesale nurseries are no exception. At L.P. Statile, a wholesale-only nursery, technology is central to their customer service and business operations. Says Phil Jr., “The number one challenge for a nursery that serves the landscape and construction contractor is to have the right plant, at the right place, at the right time. L.P. Statile publishes on-hand availability at the start of each day. So far this year, those availability pages have been accessed over 20,000 times. It is clear that contractors want to know if the plants they need are in stock at a nursery at the start of each day. Our typical availability report includes the status of over 40,000 individual plants. Without computer, inventory and web technology it would be impossible to alert contractors to our inventory levels.” Contractors want to minimize the time required to collect materials for a job. Over 10 years ago L.P. Statile made a commitment to minimize the time required for check out. They instituted a hand-held scanning unit system that they use to scan plants as they are loaded. When completed the invoice is transmitted to the office where a printed copy awaits. He states, “Our customers clearly appreciate the time savings. Point Of Sale technology clearly cuts wait times.” Web technology is constantly changing what is possible and the core of this trend is the company web site. Beyond availability reports, their What Is Prime page, published monthly, shows contractors what looks best at that moment in the nursery. Instagram and Facebook pages allow suppliers to easily update new products arrivals, sales specials and more. GPS technology allows the tracking of both inbound and outbound plant material. Of course email is an indispensable part of any business operation, and the ubiquity of smartphones means the whole company can be alerted to important information via email or text. Phil concludes, “If you survey the landscape supply industry that we are a part of, the depth and importance of technology is impressive, growing rapidly, and constantly changing. We feel strongly that the smart use of technology clearly helps us serve the customer better.”
NJLCA.ORG 43
Feature Story
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes... by Todd Pretz, Jonathan Green, Inc.
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awn care has changed over the years The growing of modern day manicured lawns for “the common folk” started about 100 years ago. Much has changed in lawn care since that time including the development of many chemicals to treat turfgrass, lawn mower and equipment improvements and slow-release nitrogen sources. The introduction of 2,4-D in the 1940’s allowed selective control of broadleaf weeds, what a game changer! Imagine where we would be today without the power leaf blower or weed wacker, we take these all for granted. Now we have battery powered blowers and natural gas mowers in an effort to reduce emissions. However, in the last 20 years there has been a strong trend towards using fewer inputs to produce a great lawn or “doing more for less.” I started in the lawn supply business in 1981 and back then 4 applications per year, with each application providing one pound of Nitrogen, was the standard program along with other “add-on” services such as weed, insect and fungus control or limestone. It wasn’t unusual to see a lawn service offering 7 or 8 applications a year on a printed promotional brochure like a diner menu. Lawn care professionals frequently applied pesticides to every inch of the lawn so there would be no breakout of weeds, crabgrass or unsightly grub damage. Early spring brought crabgrass pre-emergent applications for fear of crabgrass appearing in summer months. In the 1990’s, Dimension (dithiopyr) came on the market offering a wider window of application based on weather conditions. It also was the first non-staining product available and one of the first with much lower use rates. State and Federal regulations have really put the squeeze
44 FALL | 2018
on the lawn care industry. Nitrogen amounts allowed have been reduced and phosphorous eliminated, unless you are seeding or sodding or you have a soil tested showing a deficiency in phosphorous. These steps were taken to reduce the algae blooms in lakes, river and waterways. IPM or Integrated Pest Management has also been endorsed by the Green Industry and State Universities. This idea is to monitor and evaluate situations on the lawn and then treat when and where necessary. Make an effort to be more environmentally conscientious, spot spray weeds where they appear, do not blanket spray the entire lawn and reduce pressure on the environment. This also helps save your business wasted dollars on labor and pesticides. Possible legislation to remove neonicotinoid insecticides from the market may further limit the industry’s ability to produce a great lawn.
Feature Story
Consumers are becoming more aware of the food they eat and the products used to grow them. There is a big trend towards the use of Organic products in both the growing of food and in lawn care. Organics, environmentally friendly products and sustainability are hot topics today, but naturalorganic products generally do not work as quickly or perhaps as well as traditional synthetic chemical choices. What are some of these new Organics technologies? Organic weed prevention came about in the 1990’s utilizing corn gluten. Corn gluten does a pretty good job of feeding turfgrass and also controlling 20+ weeds over time. Recently the next phase of corn gluten came on the market utilizing a corn steep liquor process to extract proteins from the corn, proving even better weed control. You need to translate to your homeowners that Organic programs may take a 2-3 year commitment to achieve a great lawn, be patient. Why not control crabgrass and weeds organically by applying more quality grass seed? If you kill everything in the lawn and then have bare spots, eventually you will need to apply grass seed. Why not offer a vigorous seeding program that’s good for the environment, no chemicals at all? You cannot maintain a poor quality lawn; you need to re-seed with updated improved varieties. In the last 20 years Tall Fescues have made tremendous strides in performance and provide the closest thing to a low input lawn than other cool-season grasses. Tall Fescues perform well in sun and shade areas and can resists some bug damage. Tall Fescues look better with less water and fertilizer too.
How many of you have started soil testing each and every lawn? Rutgers University has a great soil testing laboratory and they are ready to help you grow better lawns. If you keep applying fertilizers and grass seed to your lawns and not getting the response you think you should, you probably have a soil problem. What’s the pH? Is there a deficiency of certain nutrients or low organic matter? Correcting these soil situations will be the first steps towards growing better lawns. What about soil compaction? Sure, you may aerate some lawns if they need it but unless you change the soil chemistry, in a few months the holes you created will fill in again. Consider aeration and then apply gypsum-type products to help break up compaction and neutralize road salts. The introduction of amino acids and Humates also spurs microbial activity in the soil thus producing a better growing environment for your lawns to thrive. Of course follow up with some quality grass seed. Your lawns can only be as good as the seed you sow! Todd Pretz is a Vice President with Jonathan Green, Inc. that supplies grass seed, fertilizers and turf care products to the Green industry.
NJLCA.ORG 45
Feature Story
Outdoor Entertainment Design Guide
D
esigning the Perfect Outdoor Music System
Beautiful music goes great with virtually every outdoor activity. Here are some points to consider when designing the ideal outdoor music system… Blend it in With so many sizes and shapes, it’s easy to find speakers that fit well within their surroundings. Among foliage and shrubbery - try rock shaped speakers or unobtrusive bullet shapes that are colored in deep, matching earth tones. On large decks or patios – consider speakers disguised as planters. They come in many styles and work well to spread the sound around. They also add the opportunity to have some live plants in close to the seating area. On a small porch - consider speakers mounted up under the eaves of the house or on each side of the sliding door. Both can be painted to match the house.
Placement is Key Unlike interior rooms, the back yard is often irregular in shape and offers a multitude of listen positions. As people move around its important that the sound become neither too soft nor too loud. In large spaces - consider several smaller speakers as opposed to two big ones. That will help even the sound out as people move about. For example, around the perimeter of the pool place one small speaker every 20 or 30 feet. That will provide much better experience than two large speakers at opposite ends. When neighbors live close by place most of the speakers along the property line and face them in towards your property. It will sound great in your yard while minimizing spill over to the neighbors. In smaller, more intimate settings it is best to use just a few speakers and keep them close to the centers of activity. Individual speakers can often be tuned to have just the right amount of volume relative to the rest of the system. That keeps speakers close to sitting areas from overwhelming the conversation.
46 FALL | 2018
Break the Space Up Using multiple speakers allows you to break the property up into different rooms or ‘zones’. Each zone can play its own program and volume independent of the rest of the system. This allows you to tailor the sound to the day’s activities. Typical zones include: Patio/BBQ – often a smaller but heavily used area, a pair of wall mounted speakers is often sufficient but it’s important that the music can be controlled easily. Many times the BBQ is used in the off seasons and having a keypad for the music (and possibly the lights) right inside the door will allow for easy enjoyment during the quick trip to the barbie. Pool – as previously mentioned, it is best to use several speakers to provide even sound throughout this large space. Be sure to use sufficient power so that the speaker volume can overcome the sound of the kids splashing and especially the noise of any waterfalls, fountains etc. Hot Tub – a pair of small speakers hidden in the surrounding foliage is ideal in this small space. A button on the doorway keypad and possibly a local volume knob will make control easy with wet hands. Fire pit – again, a pair of small hidden speakers is sufficient in this intimate setting. Smartphone control will allow you to easily pick the right song to set the perfect mood. Cabana – another smaller but heavily used area, a pair of wall mounted speakers is usually sufficient. If a TV is mounted in the cabana the ball game can play over the same speakers as the music. Party mode – Remember that when having a large group of people over it is easy to turn on all of the above zones to play the same thing for seamless entertainment throughout the entire space.
Feature Story by John Vitiello, Alpine Home Media Inc. Keep It Simple Ease of operation is important. The simpler it is, the more it gets used. Most modern systems can be completely controlled with a simple, intuitive smart phone app. Each member of the family can have their own app on their phone for instantaneous control of the song, radio station, volume etc. Radio stations and streaming music services come in from the internet and everyone’s iTunes library can be controlled directly from the app. The app also provides the ability to quickly search your music library by song, artist, album etc.
Outdoor Televisions
Many people use their patio or gazebo as their outdoor living room during the warmer months. With such heavy use people often want TV out there as well. Important considerations when selecting an outdoor television are waterproof characteristics and picture brightness. When determining the location for your TV, try to keep it in the shade and out of the rain. Bright sunlight will make a regular television virtually impossible to see as they are designed for indoor viewing. If it must be in an exposed area there are special waterproof televisions built for outdoor use with extra bright pictures.
If you are using it in a covered porch or a gazebo a regular indoor television may be an economical option. Note however that even in a covered outdoor environment, the conditions are much harsher than in a living room. Because of that you will either want to cover the TV each winter or consider an inexpensive set which will be less costly to replace should the outdoor environment shorten its lifespan. Another consideration is overall size. It the TV will be in a gazebo where everyone will be sitting relatively close to it, a normal size TV will be fine. If however, the TV is mounted out by the pool, you should consider a larger set so that the picture is big enough to see from the far side of the pool.
Outdoor WiFi
Modern music systems and smart TVs require a strong WiFi signal for best results. At the same time, people often take their iPads outside to read email or surf the web. Indoor WiFi signals are often too week to make it very far outside. This can be especially true if your home is made of brick, stone or stucco. Fortunately outdoor WiFi antennas are available to boost the signal throughout the yard. Many outdoor antennas are small, easily hidden and require no local power source – just a single wire going back to the home router.
And Most Important - Get Started Early
As with most projects, timely planning will help insure that the end result is reliable performs well and meets your needs. Consider contacting a professional AV installer that is experienced in residential outdoor installations right around the same time you contract with your landscape designer. They will want to coordinate their efforts to insure that all aspects of the AV system are in harmony with the overall landscape design. John Vitiello is president of Alpine Home Media Inc. Established in 2005, Alpine is a residential systems integration firm serving Northern New Jersey and the tri-state area. Alpine services and installs home theaters, home automation, lighting control and music systems. John can be reached at 845.398.4582 or johnv@alpinehomemedia.com. For more information, please visit www.AlpineHomeMedia.com
NJLCA.ORG 47
Feature Story
2018 Landscape Industry Certified Technician Exam
48 FALL | 2018
News Brief
C
ongratulations to our newly certified Landscape Industry Certified Technicians
Mario Gomez - Tode Landscape Contractors, Inc. – Ornamental Maintenance Keith Hitch Jr. - Bella Terra Landscapes - Softscape Installation Travis Hohman - Level Green Landscaping – Turf Maintenance Max Juarez Tolentino - YardApes, Inc. – Ornamental Maintenance Joseph McInturff - Ruppert Landscape – Turf Maintenance Eric Middleton - Ruppert Landscape – Softscape Installation Jesus Alberto Millanez - YardApes, Inc. - Ornamental Maintenance Kyle Onorato - YardApes, Inc. - Ornamental Maintenance Michael Pickett - Empire Landscape, LLC – Hardscape Installation Erinson Reyes - Tode Landscape Contractors, Inc. – Turf Maintenance Horacio Rojas - Lawns By Yorkshire – Turf Maintenance Marcelo Simone - Jacobsen Landscape Design Construction – Softscape Installation Christopher Smith - Eastern Land Management – Turf Maintenance Filemon Vargas Galarza - YardApes, Inc. - Turf Maintenance Pearnell Wilson – Hardscape Installation Harold ZuBrinitz - Ruppert Landscape – Turf Maintenance
2018 National Landscape Industry Certified Technician Exam The Landscape Industry Certified Exam is administered by the New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association with the support of the National Association of Landscape Professionals & Bergen Community College
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84% 86%
Advertiser Index
What services do you offer? Choose all that apply.
59%
41% 38% Maintenance Al D. Landscaping and1. Tree Service and Garden Supply Stop.................................2 35% 2. Lawn care www.aldlandscapingandtree.com 3. Design/build 4. Irrigation 5. Snow and ice management 6. Tree care
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50 FALL | 2018
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