The landscape world is fully awake and off to the field. The long cold snowy winter meant work that typically gets done throughout the winter has stacked up undone. A whole bunch of cleanup and preseason work will now have to get done in a short period time.
But the season appears to be starting off with strong demand.
The Statistics
Nationally, 73% of the Green Industry firms report they grew revenues in 2013 and 93% of a recent survey said they expect to grow again in 2014. Work loads are good and customer inquiries are robust.
Residential jobs continue to be strong. A peculiar aspect about our economy is the recovery is focused in the top 20% of wage earners. The good news is the residential customers most landscapers target are members of that group. The bad news is everyone else is not seeing the improvements.
The upper 20% have ready money. They are locked into their house for now and want to improve their living environment. And they want to increase their property value. Landscaping is a great way to do both. Curb appeal is a very important criterion for home buyers. Some landscape investments return over 200% on the investment at time of sale.
The Market
Houses are selling! Housing prices creeped up again in 2013 and experts say we’ll see another increase this year. Some neighborhoods are almost back to pre recession levels while just about all are growing. This is positive news for our industry.
Commercially private sector investment has grown. Even though public projects have fallen off, private jobs are picking up the slack. Where the jobs are happening is uneven with some cities are seeing more than others. Expectations are for more growth in private property investment.
Another area with potential is commercial property renovation. Building owners are looking to dress up their assets, which mean investment into landscaping.
A recent survey of landscapers cited that irrigation and snow removal were the top two net profit generators. An interesting result!
A couple landscaper surveys show most intend to raise their prices. They have to, every cost has been rising. However, most are scared to try being concerned their competition won’t follow suit. Raise your prices.
The Green Industry people have been working on marketing abilities and the results are starting to show. Contractors with decent web site and social media presence are reaping the rewards with increased leads and prospect opinions. Majorities of surveyed landscapers say they are investing more time and money into marketing.
Landscaper Concerns
What worries landscapers? Weather is still the big one. Followed by the economy and competition. Of course finding decent employees is still there just as it always is.
Keeping good staff has become a problem. As other sectors of the economy improve, people are being lured into those jobs because of higher wages. Most landscapers have already adapted to remain competitive for valuable labor.
Trends of service offering revolve back and forth between being specialized and being a total service provider. The total service provider trend continues. Landscapers are attempting to add services in-house instead of sub-contracting. Leaders warn to add services slowly and make sure you can make money doing the work.
Millennials in the Green Industry
And then there’s the young-uns. Much has been written about the millennial generation and I’ve heard many a contractor complaining about them. I have found there are differences of course, but for the most part young folks are the same as every other generation. They want to succeed and are willing to do what it takes.
Each generation develops its own style of communication and social behavior based on what they grew up with. Youngsters now days grew up with the internet being a central focus, social media, not so hot economic times, smart devices, and the online world having all the answers. They also did less outside stuff and much less dirty hands-on work.
They value and expect flexibility. In their mind it doesn’t matter when the work gets done as long as it is done. Us Boomers have a hard time with that.
Millennials will need education to fill in their lack of knowledge about our world. Unlikely they have much training on how to use tools, build anything, or how mechanical systems work. They did not receive such knowledge from the schools or their parents.
They will also need taught how to communicate as a professional. Very casual conversational styles are what they grew up with and practice. Just read their first professional letter to see how bad many of them are! Well, my first professional letter was an abomination too, part of it’s just being inexperienced.
Millennials are people just like us oldsters. We share 98% of the same dreams and concerns. Give the young generation what every generation needs; education and coaching, and watch them flourish.
