Despite dark clouds of recession looming over the horizon, the sun still shines on the landscape contractors industry.
Many landscape contractors do not feel any side-effects from a slowing economy, but merely intense competition from each other.
“The economy is still serving us very well,” said Larry Rohlfes, assistant executive director of California Landscape Contractors Association in Sacramento. “If the economy is slowing down, then it hasn’t affected the landscapers yet.”
Rohlfes said the landscape contractors industry mirrors the construction industry and has a six-month lag time from the effects of a booming or slowing economy. It would be difficult to predict at this point the effect of the economy on local landscape contractors.
– List Ranks By Revenues
The San Diego Business Journal’s List of the Landscape Contractors ranked the local landscapers by its 2000 gross revenues from San Diego landscape operations.
On The List, 10 landscape contractors combined for $163.03 million in gross revenues from San Diego landscape operations in 2000, an increase of 46.6 percent from the previous year. The contractors employ more than 2,700 employees in San Diego County.
With all the landscape work that needs to be done, the demand for labor has increased among landscape contractors to meet job demands.
Rohlfes said many young people would prefer to work in other industries rather than be a landscaper. Sometimes many landscape contractors would even try to lure employees from each other.
“Landscaping is a lot of dedication and hard work,” said Rohlfes. “Most young people rather work in a McDonalds with air conditioning.”
Tom Heaviland, president of Heaviland Enterprises, Inc., No. 10 on The List, agreed labor is difficult to recruit for the landscape industry.
– No Problem Recruiting Workers
Heaviland’s company reported $2.68 million in gross revenues from local landscape operations in 2000, an increase of 18 percent from the previous year. The company has 88 full-time employees in San Diego County.
Heaviland said the turnover rate for landscape contractors’ employees with less than one year experience is around 50 percent. However, the retention rate for employees with more than one year experience climbs to 90 percent.
“Many of the entry-level landscape industry jobs hover around $7 per hour,” said Heaviland. “We’re losing out to other industries like construction at higher entry-level wages of at least $8 per hour.”
However, he said his company hasn’t had problems recruiting new employees like previous years. In July, he received 49 applications for jobs in his company, and he considers the high number of applicants to be a healthy sign that local landscapers are not having a lot of difficulties in recruitment.
Heaviland is also the president of the San Diego chapter of the CLCA.
Heaviland is concerned about larger non-San Diego landscape contractors encroaching into local operations.
– Increased Competition
Although there have been no major acquisitions of local landscapers by non-San Diego contractors, Heaviland said, Orange County landscapers are expanding their activities in San Diego County.
According to Heaviland, companies like Gothic Landscape Inc. in Valencia, Calif., have increased their presence in North County in recent months.
Gothic Landscape was ranked No. 12 with more than $52 million in 1999 revenues in Lawn and Landscape Magazine’s Top 100 list of landscape contractors in America. It was published in the October 2000 issue.
Nissho of California, Inc. was the only other San Diego company ranked on this list. It ranked No. 58 on the list with $12 million in 1999 revenues. Nissho is ranked in the Business Journal’s List as No. 3 with $16.7 million in gross revenues from local landscape operations in 2000, an increase of 36 percent from the previous year.
Brookwood Landscape Inc. and Wrisley Landscape, formerly San Diego companies, were ranked No. 33 and No. 47, respectively, on the magazine’s list. Last year, the companies were both acquired by Langhorn, Pa.-based The Brickman Group, Ltd. and the operations were consolidated.
Brookwood Landscape is ranked No. 2 on the Business Journal’s List with $31.21 million in gross revenues from San Diego landscape operations in 2000.
He said these larger companies are very agressive in their sales effort and have increased the level of competition with local landscapers.
Local landscapers still have the advantages of being independent and providing personal attention to their customers.
“Our biggest difference to these competitors is the fact we’re not part of a national or a regional company,” said Heaviland. “Local landscapers don’t have to report to a bunch of shareholders.”
