Landscape Management, January 2012

JANUARY 2012 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET S27 equipment maintenance costs and evaluating prior repairs Proper budgeting maintaining good records and being proactive on repairs are sure fi re ingredients Each year Cagwin Dorward Landscaping Services in the San Francisco Bay area projects fl eet and equipment sales revenues and maintenance expenditures for the upcoming year based upon actual costs from the previous year We drill down on actual equipment purchases says Steve Glennon vice president treasurer and COO Cagwin Dorward uses tracking software to evaluate its remaining vehicle and equipment life versus the cost of repair and replacement to make the decision about repairing existing equipment or spending the money to purchase new We try to keep the evaluation process simple by breaking down the condition of each unit into four main categories age of unit running condition and interior and exterior conditions says Glennon After that its just making quality decisions based on data and budgets Dennis Seven Dees has a similar system We know what expenses go into service work and what portion goes toward repair says Snodgrass To make a decision about when to retire a vehicle we review all of the data We do a physical check up and talk to the operator We will review what money has been spent When repair costs outweigh the actual value of the piece of equipment EarthWorks replaces it If repair and replacement parts costs are 60 or more of the actual value of the piece of equipment its taken out of commission says Lee Dennis Seven Dees eliminates extra expenses like towing bills or major damage repairs which Snodgrass says can add up signifi cantly to the bottom line We keep close tabs on the performance of our vehicles by having our operators give us constant feedback he says noting his fi rm also tracks all repairs on hand equipment such as blowers edgers and trimmers to determine turnover by projected repair costs and performance EarthWorks used to have a policy to sell and replace all its smaller equipment at the end of every season What we sold it for did not cover the capital of the initial outlay says Lee After subtracting the maintenance and repair savings it was still 30 more expensive Larger landscapers fi nd it feasible to do their own repairs with in house maintenance staff We perform 95 of our own repairs in house says Glennon Cagwin Dorward still fi nds it challenging to manage repairs however because its operations are so spread out Our entire geographic footprint covers 14000 square miles Glennon says EMPLOYEE BUY IN The landscapers Landscape Management interviewed all agree that its a good practice to encourage support from their crews on equipment maintenance Dennis Seven Dees conducts a tag out system When a vehicle is tagged it goes into the work order list for our mechanics to schedule says Snodgrass We write it up quickly and can do a 24 hour or better turnaround on most basic repair jobs EarthWorks includes discussions on equipment conditions in conjunction with its weekly safety meetings We go over basic maintenance tasks on how to protect the equipment they use based on whatever problems the mechanics are seeing frequently says Lee Cleaning fi lters checking oil and properly greasing fi ttings are commonly stressed to all our crews Maintaining longstanding positive relationships with dealers and contractors is also stressed to encourage them to provide great deals and terms especially during these diffi cult economic times The author has been a freelance journalist and contributor to B2B publications including many in the Green Industry for more than 20 years Contact him at Tom Crain tecrain@ goingreenguy com THE CAGWIN DORWARD TEAM USES TRACKING SOFTWARE TO DETERMINE THE REMAINING LIFE OF ITS VEHICLES