Looking to Grow Your Landscape Construction Company? Find Good Employees
—
The Content Team,
HALSTEAD.
Originally published on December 9 2014. Updated on August 2, 2022.
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There comes a time in the life of every landscape construction business owner when he or she realizes that in order to grow, change is necessary. While this is an important realization to have, what’s even more important is what they do after having it. If growth is the goal, acquiring and retaining top talent is key.
In order to grow a landscape construction firm to the $1m-$5m revenue mark and beyond, talent management has to become a major priority for the leadership. Because a large number of landscape contractors hire unskilled, inexpensive labor in the early developmental years, it can be hard for owners to adjust to the necessary compensation packages and ongoing effort it takes to attract and keep good help. Often times, the owner looks at the necessary compensation packages for a qualified project manager for instance, and decides that the company simply can’t afford to pay that much money to one person. So the de facto decision is that existing leadership will just have to take on more responsibilities to make it work. This thinking is exactly what prevents continued success and growth in so many landscape construction companies today.
The best companies today put talent management at the top of their priority list. At some point, the leadership of these successful companies realized that the staggering cost of employee turnover is far greater than attracting and retaining top talent in the key positions. Without a great staff in place with minimized churn, every company in every industry will hit a wall.
Many landscape contractors will proudly tell you about the crazy hours they and their key staff regularly work. It’s like a right of passage in this often seasonal business to work oneself into the ground and leave behind all semblance of a proper work-life balance. This style of resource management is not sustainable, nor is it aligned to proven practices that result in growth.
Is it time to rethink your hiring strategy? Perhaps it’s time to take the opportunity to secure that talented project manager that was “too expensive” before another company in your area does.