Our Vision

Billy Butterfield, FCLC
AmeriScapes Landscape Management Services, Inc.
Orlando, Florida

At AmeriScapes our Vision Statement emphasizes creating a partnership
between our customers, our employees, and our vendors, and with them, we will strive to create a landscape management company that is capable of continuously exceeding expectations.

We created this vision statement for our company nearly 12 years ago with the idea of emphasizing the importance of each of these how our company couldn’t grow and succeed without all of them working together. Although it‘s a very simple sounding statement it requires deliberate effort to make it a reality.

Take employees for instance. Good employees are hard to find. They always have been and always will be, especially for the labor-intensive jobs we offer. Yet we have many good employees who have been with us for years. First we try to get the right people in the right job. Once we know they are a good fit, we provide them with a good and fair work environment, with appropriate training and with the equipment they need to properly do their assigned tasks. We pay them a wage equal to the value they bring to the company. With these factors in place we can build long term employees. Benefits, health insurance, certifications and outside training, and recognition programs all contribute to building long term partnerships with all of our employees.

Back in the early 1980’s I was complaining to one of my mentors, Wayne Griffith, about the way customers always take the low bid, and mine wasn’t always that low. He told me that in the 1950’s when he started in business, he had the same complaint. There will always be companies that are willing to bid lower than others, companies that see things differently from an operational standpoint, and companies that simply mess up on a bid and may fail on doing the job. We’ve always bid our numbers, tried to be as efficient as we can, and tried to provide the customer with the type of job they asked for in their specifications. Many jobs we get are by being second or third bidder and we are asked to come in and clean up what the low bidder couldn’t do and left. We also get many of our jobs from existing customers that haven’t bid a job out in years and just keep growing with us as their partner.

We couldn’t get by without our vendors. We have many of our vendors on our radios so that we can call directly to them when we have a problem or need advice on a chemical or a piece of equipment. With 30 plus trucks and hundreds of pieces of small equipment in our fleet, we have no in house mechanic or shop. We decided not to take on that overhead expense and instead created a partnership with one of our vendors. To show our appreciation for the work they do for us, we catered lunch to their shop this summer feeding their 30 or so employees along with 4 or 5 of our managers. They know they are an important part of our company’s future and success.

If I were rewriting the AmeriScapes Vision Statement, I would add one more partner – trade associations. It seems that the regulatory environment is changing over the last couple of years and the trend is not looking good for us as part of the green industry. It is no longer an option to just be left alone to do our job the way we see fit. We have water restrictions, landscape ordinances, landscape inspectors, pest control regulations, licenses, etc. While many of these are helpful and continue to provide us with the opportunity to be part of the green industry, we need to have somebody with knowledge of what we do and how we do it representing us with the regulators and law makers passing these new laws. If we are not properly represented, we may be regulated to the point where we don’t have much landscape left to manage. FNGLA is and always has been a very strong advocate for all our green industries in both Tallahassee and Washington as well on many local issues.
In addition to the help FNGLA provides for us with lawmakers, it also provides us with an opportunity to network with our peers in a non competitive environment. I have gotten many questions answered by landscape professionals and others from around the state that have had to deal with my dilemmas in the past and had great suggestions for solutions. That is worth as much and more as the highest caliber consultants you can bring in to help you with your business.

As with many other things in life and business, we need to look to the future and to learn from the past. Employees are always going to be a challenge and it doesn’t look like it is going to get easier. We need to concentrate on developing the ones we have through training and certifications to build long term and mutually beneficial relationships with our employees. Customers are going to choose their vendors based on the criteria they have chosen and we can try to educate them as much as possible and maybe sell them on us as being the best choice. Then we need to be as efficient and professional as possible and try to exceed their expectations while still remaining a viable business. We need to take care of our vendors, pay them on time, and let them know they are an integral part of our operations. And just as important as everything else, we need to get involved with our trade associations so that we can do what we do best and continue to provide pleasing green spaces for our clients.

Sustainable Sustainability

Bob Dolobois
Executive Director

American Nursery &

Landscape Association (ANLA)

There’s a lot buzz associated with the concept of sustainability. The term is applied haphazardly as a marketing tool, a standard of manufacturing, even a consumer mindset. As the creator and sustainer of managed landscapes, this term—at least for now—is unavoidably linked to us, and it’s important for the nursery and landscape industry to take a close look at what sustainability is (and is not) when applied to our businesses. Enter: the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA).

ANLA has officially adopted sustainability in our industry as one of its five major strategic objectives. It is the association’s intention to assist our member businesses and the surrounding industry in defining what constitutes sustainability for us and how this old-fashioned, but suddenly contemporary concept, affects what and how we do business.

(True confession; this blog is a teaser to encourage its readers to attend a more extensive presentation on this subject at the upcoming FNATS Show.)

Let’s start with a generic definition of sustainability: Sustainability is the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely. If we were living in an era prior to the industrial revolution, the notion of sustainability in agriculture or manufacturing (such it was) would be considered as obvious as breathing—something that’s done without even thinking about it. The industrial revolution, as its names implies, was significant and shifted our thinking from learning how to harness nature, to learning how to conquer it. It’s the conquering part that can cause problems.

For example, modern chemistry creates compounds that do not occur naturally and we now co-mingle those compounds in the natural environment. Some of these activities can fit the definition of sustainability. Other such activities result in substances that injure the natural environment over time and cannot be continued indefinitely (see definition above) without causing irreparable damage or loss.

Many industry practices fit into the definition of sustainable; some of our practices do not. As the marketplace and the regulators of that marketplace focus more on the “don’ts,” we need to identify and tell the positive story about the ones that do. If this is a topic of interest to you, please attend the FNATS presentation...and bring your opinions and ideas to this lively session.

Just Say NO! It will set you free

Harold Jenkins, FCLC
Jenkins Landscape Co.
Hobe Sound, Florida

I’ve heard so many fellow landscape contractors complain about the unreasonable demands that are in some General Contractors and or Architects contracts. How about “Just Say NO!” I’ve heard everything from cleaning up trash on the site for a year after completion to the guarantee of winter annuals through the summer.

Let me get this straight. You want me to install this landscape job per your specifications. But, looking over your previous jobs it seems you have accepted substandard work and material. I’m being forced to work with an irrigation sub contractor who is a “low bidder special” not under my control. You have Billy Bob’s lawn service to do the maintenance and pest control. You want me to warrantee the plant material for 2 years, re-mulch when necessary, and replace any material that may be damaged by others and clean up any trash that accumulates on this commercial parking lot job? And I must bid with little or no built-in profit while having to include all these extra demands at no extra charge. ARE YOU NUTS?

If you want to be treated like the professional you are, maybe acting like one would be a good start. Doctors or lawyers are professionals. Would you expect them to make unreasonable concessions to keep you as a client? I DON’T THINK SO. So, why do we tolerate this type of treatment?

Here’s my definition of a professional landscape contracting firm: a properly insured company with competent, uniformed and Certified employees. Clean, well maintained, modern equipment. A contractor who goes above any client’s expectation. A contractor who deals with only the best subcontractors, suppliers, general contractors, architects and clients. This contractor also has a great reputation and, as a result, is able to pick and choose every job. This contractor also expects to be paid a reasonable fee (including some profit) for the services rendered. This is attainable by anyone who wishes to be a landscape professional.

My point to all this is that we all waste so much time and effort with clients who are duds, and, as a result, make little or no profit. If we were to measure who gives us the most stress in our lives, it would be those same people. Our time can be better spent servicing clients who appreciate our work and, most of all, can afford to pay the bill at the end of the job. How about letting all the substandard, non-professional, fly-by-night guys out there take all of those difficult clients? Let them get bogged down in low-profit, frustrating work while you’re working on rewarding projects. If every Landscape Professional did so, the only landscape installers available to these bad clients would be the bottom feeding non-professionals of the world. Who knows, maybe they would have to change their ways. (It sure sounds good on paper).

As landscape professionals, we have to separate ourselves from the non-professionals with whom we think we are forced to compete. The very first step is not to swim in their pool. Act like the professionals you are. Do not sign a contract that has unfair and unreasonable demands. Insist they sign your contract or, at least, attach it as an addendum. Check out the client’s financial situation and their past records with our landscape contractor brethren. Increase your professional portfolio by getting as many professional certifications as you can. Hire only the best employees and pay them fairly. Appearance is everything: nice, clean trucks, equipment and uniformed employees will go a long way. A good appearance is one of the few true forms of advertisement that produces results.

Most of all, JUST SAY NO! It will set you free to focus on rewarding work rather than frustrating yourself with non-professionals. It feels good too. Your accountant may not agree completely, but your cardiologist and psychologist will. And, who’s more important? Lastly, enjoy your work. Don’t let anyone take that away.

So what are you passionate about?

Hannah Carter

Director of Wedgworth Leadership Institute

Gainesville, Florida

“Follow your passion, and success will follow you.” ~Arthur Buddhold

So what are you passionate about? Now before you respond with the first thing that comes to mind (my spouse, golf, fishing, shopping, etc.) let’s settle on a definition of passion. Merriam Webster defines passion as “an intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction.” With this definition in mind, let me ask you this question again, what are you passionate about? Are you passionate about your organization or working within your industry?

If that question posed the second time made you pause, think, and wonder “if I like my job does that count?” Or, “I ’m a member of my industry association, does that make me passionate?” No, no it doesn’t.

In the book Good to Great, the author, Jim Collins tells us that we will never be a part of a world class organization (or have a world class life) if we are satisfied in doing the things that we are competent in, being “competent” isn’t the basis for greatness. When Collins poses a question on passion, he asks, “You are doing work you are passionate about and absolutely love to do, enjoying the actual process for its own sake? (“I look forward to getting up and throwing myself into my daily work, and I really believe in what I'm doing.”) As E.M. Forster stated “One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested." So do you have passion about your organization or your industry, or are you merely interested in it?

If you’re merely interested, then are you in the right business, or industry for that matter? Mere interest isn’t going to make you or your organization a success. Mere interest isn’t going to keep your industry going. And mere interest isn’t going to provide the leadership necessary to navigate the issues and challenges that face you and all members of your organization.

While there are many individuals in your organization and industries that are “competent” and “interested” , I challenge you to look beyond this standard to focus on what you are passionate about within your organization and your industry. The wonderful thing about passion is that it is inspiring to those around you…your co-workers, your customers, and others within your industry. While there are countless recipes which dictate the necessary components of leadership, I contend that passion is absolutely essential, without it, we are just mediocre at best.

“I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life everything he's got." — Walter Cronkite

So are you giving your organization and your industry everything you’ve got?

Letting people know who we really are

Jim Martin, ASLA, CLP
Professional Landcare Network

When I assumed office as PLANET’s president, through a deliberate strategic planning effort, PLANET had established a broad agenda of initiatives for our association and our industry. Yes, I would like to see a majority of them advanced during the next 12 months. If time is too short to realize progress in all areas, I would be happy to settle for major progress with just one of these initiatives, the repositioning of the green industry. I want members of the green industry to start taking credit for what we all do, for “creating and maintaining the quality of life in communities across America.”

In all walks of life, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. In this instance, I’m talking about the folks in our industry losing sight of the importance we play in our communities when we design, install, and maintain beautiful landscapes. I suggest that our industry is one of the top three or four industries responsible for creating and maintaining the quality of life in our communities. Once our industry and our customers make this connection, we become more than mere service providers, more than a group of non distinct constituents to legislators, more than a source for a summer job for students, and more than a place to go to work for employees. Once that connection is made, we become the environmental stewards of the built and natural landscape, and that becomes a powerful image that will enhance our bottom line, our representation in congress, our recruiting, and our effort to motivate employees.

I’m not suggesting that PLANET take credit for being the sole creator of our quality of life. We’re in this together with all members of the green industry, other industry groups, as well as our suppliers and educators. Knowing what we do is one thing; communicating it is another. We may never be as good at communicating what we do as we are at doing what we do. But I firmly believe that if we start now and get the message across that WE CREATE AND MAINTAIN THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN COMMUNITIES ACROSS AMERICA, people will one day have appropriate respect for the impact we make on their lives, and that’s good for everyone.