Landscape Management, December 2015

Industry Pulse LABOR REPORT No silver bullet For most landscape companies hiring and retaining workers is their top growth challenge By Marisa PalMieri W hat one word would you use to describe your companys No 1 obstacle to growth in 2016 People Manpower Help Employees Personnel Workers No matter how respondents worded it some form of the word labor was the top answer given to our open ended Industry Pulse question about challenges heading into next year More than 40 percent of respondents gave some variation of this answer No other response came close Its no surprise with the federal unemployment rate at 5 percent in October Its the lowest level since April 2008 and half the peak of 10 percent during the Great Recession As the economy improves our labor force gets tougher to fnd says Tom Hougnon president and CEO of Reliable Property Services The company which is based in Minnesota and has operations in Iowa and Wisconsin competes for workers with the rebounding construction industry the booming oil felds of North Dakota and new warehouses All of the sudden the Amazon warehouses are popping up and thats 1500 people making 12 18 per hour he says Those are similar to our people and theyre able to work inside 12 months of the year Reliable which does about 32 million in annual revenue plans for 12 15 percent growth per year At that level it has to add six crews per year for the landscape side of its business Where are we going to fnd those six crews he says As the labor gets tighter we may look at subcontracting some work to alleviate the pressure of fnding more people Other contractors also wonder where workers will come from and are seeking new strategies Its a challenge and its never going to change says Chris Joyce president of Joyce Landscaping in Marstons Mills Mass The state has an unemployment rate just below the national level Joyce Landscapings plan of attack is trying to get people ing process but its worth it Joyce says The company has had some success recruiting from the hospitality industry which often has undesirable hours for people with families His toughest positions to fll are production managers and skilled design build workers My average mason is 55 years old and its scary he says Id rather get someone who has no experience with a good attitude and willingness to learn then someone whos been in the industry for a long time and is bringing a bad attitude In some regions contractors fnd the labor situation is less competitive For Steve Biernacki at WaterQuest Landscaping in New Mexico which has a 68 percent unemployment rate the overall economy and demand for labor arent as strong as other parts of the country He says his region is slower to get into and out of recessions We dont have too much of a problem with the labor market he says adding he benefts from operating in a year round market Its a pretty steady base for us and we keep our employees a little longer than other companies do Were a family company and we portray that to the employees Pat Morstad who operates in a second home market in Minnesotas lakes region calls his region fairly recession proof Add to that his controlled debt free approach to growth and hes not sweating the labor issue A lot of the guys I talk to in the industry have problems getting employees he says I feel blessed that we dont have that issue Continued on page 48 from other industries The result is a longer costlier trainphoto 46 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET December 2015 istock com pepo123 Wage RepoRt HouRly 5 years change 5 years change experience over last year experience over last year Mower operator 1157 2 1407 2 Construction worker 1320 3 1683 2 Lawn care technician 1377 0 1687 2 Irrigation technician 1386 3 1895 3