Landscape Management, October 2012
ThE iNDuSTry PuLSE by Marisa Palmieri editor Consumers remain cautious Many Green Industry businesses have adapted the way they sell and price residential services W hen it comes to their residential clients landscape contractors and lawn care companies say the hesitation and price consciousness prevalent during the last few postrecession years still exists What it comes down to says Rob Reindl is people are still choosing to spend less on lawn care and landscaping than they did prior to the Great Recession Until they choose to spend more again you just have to convince them to spend their discretionary dollars with you says the owner of Oasis Turf Tree a 24 million firm in Loveland Ohio Burt DeMarche president of The LaurelRock Co in Wilton Conn agrees Its not like 2007 when people were saying Just give me the price I want to get it done he says Now everyones negotiating Consumers attitudes have changed They want the same for less LaurelRock is located about 90 minutes from New York City Many of its clients work on Wall Street or for investment banking firms so their incomes are tied closely to the stock market and much of their disposable income is tied to their bonus checks which come in March Many bonus driven six figure jobs went away from 2009 through 2011 Thankfully DeMarche says some of that came back this year but its been no small feat Since 2009 LaurelRock boosted its annual LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET october 2012 S12 marketing budget from 20000 to 100000 It has paid off Through August the company is up 80 percent from the same period in 2009 Its on track to gross just over 5 million in 2012 Although Jeff Swano calls the market in Chicagos western suburbs somewhat of a bubble he says clients are still being cautious Most of our customers are really taking their time making decisions he says They want everything but they can only afford so much so they started downsizing the project or doing it in phases Swanos company Dig Right in Landscaping in Brookfield Ill is on track to hit 750000 in revenue which is an average year for his primarily design build and maintenance business Pricing problems The fact that consumers are still watching their spending doesnt make raising prices easy I feel like we should be up but we havent raised prices since 2008 DeMarche says Its hard to go to a longtime client and say Were doing a price increase Their natural response will be Are you kidding In this economy The reality is they dont want to have that conversation with you So weve just worked really hard to keep our expenses down and to gain efficiency and not lose quality Swano says he avoids discounting We
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