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HOW TO BE EVERYWHERE ALL
AT ONCE.
The art of growing a landscape company
www.golmn.
Introduction
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Mark Bradley
Landscape Ontario Member: 13 years
TBG Landscape
Landscape Management Network
TBG Landscape History
 Started in Beaches (Toronto)
under my stairs
 Rapid growth early
 Doubled revenue per person
 2011 Top 100 Landscapers
 2014 and still growing….
TBG Today
 Aprx 125 staff (peak season)
 Office staff description
 A lean and „flat‟ organization
Where Does My Time Go?
Sales/New Business
Estimating/Contracts
Managing Jobs
Financial Mgmt
How to Manage Less + Delegate More
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Better people: Hire better
Better systems
Use a company scoreboard
Create an entrepreneurial spirit
start with BETTER HIRING
www.golmn.
First Things First: Hire Good People
A hiring process is a must-have for
better staff
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Good companies are always hiring
Where do you post?
What time of the year?
What do you do with incoming
applications?
THE HIRING PROCESS
Post Ads
• Always be hiring
PreInterview
• Email
Analyze
• Review responses
Interview
• Overhiring
Orientation
+ Training
Job Descriptions
Written job descriptions…
 Set clear expectations for potential hires
 Clearly define roles + responsibilities
 Enforce accountability
 Improve perception of professionalism
 Help support standardized wage program
(next)
Job Descriptions
Standardized Wage Program
 Creates an
opportunity
structure
 Defines opportunities
for new hires and
existing staff
Standardized Wages + Opportunity
Salary for Key Roles
 Shows a commitment to
staff and to “the big
picture”
 Attracts career-minded
individuals
 Suits lifestyle for staff
who are raising family,
owning a house
Don’t Be Cheap!
 You need good people to grow profitably
 Good people aren‟t willing to work for
cheap… lesser people will be happy to!
 When you hire cheap (less-skilled) staff
to save money, you need to be involved in
all their decisions
 Easier to pay better, hire better people,
and not need to be responsible
Use the Apprenticeship Program
Apprenticeship program
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Trains better, safer staff
Instills a career mindset
Tax grants
Employer bonuses for hire
or completion
Use the Apprenticeship Program
Apprenticeship program
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Trains better, safer staff
Instills a career mindset
Tax grants
Employer bonuses for hire
or completion
Career Development
 What do I want to do in
my life?
 What opportunities are
available?
 How can I progress?
 How am I evaluated?
 What help is available?
 RRSP, Retirement Planning
develop BETTER SYSTEMS
www.golmn.
Great Systems + Procedures
 Great systems are the backbone of any
great company
 Help solve the people problem
 I don‟t need to find great people to fill
my shoes…
Just need to find good, disciplined people
that will follow my systems.
What Great Systems Can Do For You
 Don‟t need great chefs to
make consistent food
 Automated order processing
for efficient production
 Standardized procedures
make everyone replaceable
 Repeatable model
 Emphasize training + offer
career development paths
The McDonalds Result
 Over 33,000 restaurants in
118 countries
 Super-successful results
with a poor labor pool and
low wages
 They serve (with amazing
consistency) 1% of the
world‟s population every
day!
Systems I Couldn’t Survive Without
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Estimating
Job Planning
Fleet + Repair Management
Job Tracking + Scorekeeping
Incentive + Motivation
Owners
Business planning
Create Systems
Tools + resources
Supervisors
Implement Systems
Ensure work is efficient + safe
Create company culture
Field People
Improve skills
Learn + understand processes
Complete work on time and to quality standards
It All Starts With The Estimate
 Good estimating and job planning allow
the transfer of responsibility
 Clarifies the expectations of the job
 Man hours to complete
 The equipment that was planed when the job
was estimated
 Materials, quantities, specifications
System: Estimating + Pricing
 An estimating system is required to
delegate pricing/selling/planning work
 A budget to help you calculate overhead
 Prices based on labor, equipment,
materials, subs + overhead + profit
 Solidifies your confidence in their pricing and
builds their confidence as negotiators
 Profit is not a “dirty word”
System: Estimating Templates
 Makes estimating
faster/easier
 Eliminate forgotten
costs
 Stop estimators from
making all the same
mistakes you made
all over again!!
Estimate Double-Check
 A few minutes spent double-checking the
job can save hours of rework or untold
dollars in missed costs
 Have a system/checklist on how to
double check estimates
System: Estimate Double-Check
Estimate Used for Job Plan
System: Pre-Work Conference
A good pre-job conference will transform
the way people look at your company.
 Owner
 Customer
 Foreman
 Sales/Estimator
 Architect
Pre-Work Conference: Keys
 Foreman is the 1st point of contact
 Foreman business cards
 Company cell phone + company email
 Train foreman to manage meetings
 Use a form/template
 Clients will direct questions at foreman
 Save you hundreds of hours in pointless
meetings + insignificant management
Foreman: Keys
 If you want to grow a
company that can run
without you, you must
hire good people!
 Pay foreman well
 Motivate foreman like
entrepreneurs
scoreboard MANAGEMENT
www.golmn.
System: Time Management
 Timekeeping must be more than payroll
 Project profitability
 A scoreboard for management + motivation
 Material costs may be off by a few
percent, but managing time is where
profits are made and lost
Estimates: Time Management
 Estimates start the time
management system
 They define the expected
hours to the crew
 Based on the equipment
estimated
Tracking: Time Management
 Punchclocks + paper timesheets are only
good for payroll
 Too much time spent transferring to
spreadsheet
 Inaccurate field data
 Mistakes need corrections/clarification
 Not possible to give up-to-date feedback
Tracking: Time Management
 E-tracking (LMN Time) shows hours on any
job in real-time, from anywhere
Everyone Likes To Play…
… But a Scoreboard Makes a Difference
Tracking: Knowing the Score
 Estimated hours are not
good enough
 Foreman need to know
progress
 Supervisor/foreman must
be aware of the
success/failure of each
project so owner is not
chasing every detail
spirt of the ENTREPRENEUR
www.golmn.
If you want people to work as
hard as you do, you need to:
motivate staff to think
and perform like you
Employee Incentives
For better performance,
you must offer more
than an hourly wage…
– Clear opportunities
– Clear wage
advancement paths
– Regular feedback
– Bonus or wages tied to
productivity
Why Your Employees Don’t Care
Your Brain
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More productivity
Faster job times
Lower costs
More sales
More Income +
Profit
Their Brain
• Less productivity
• Easier workload
• Lower
expectations
• More hours
• More overtime
• More pay
Incentives – Why It Matters
• Gives crews a reason to care
• Teaches employees to think/act like
owners
• Inspires the right employees
• Drives out the wrong employees
Keys To Successful Incentives
 Must be objective (based on data, not
feelings)
 Must be simple to track
 Must be simple to communicate to staff
 Must be (mostly) within the crew‟s
control
 Production Revenue
 Labor Costs
LO Seminar Information @ Booth #1506