Building Vendor Relationships: Part One: Does your landscaper know where the model is?
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Building a relationship, not only with the business, but with the people that perform these tasks is of the utmost importance to your community’s success. In this, the first of a two part series about building vendor relationships, we’ll discuss the relationship between a community and its landscaping company.
Does your landscaper know where your model is? Does the supervisor of the team know where you take your prospects each day and keep the "golden path" looking...golden? This should be one of the first questions your new landscaper asks, or something that your current landscaper can point to with his eyes closed. What about you? Do you know who is in charge of your weekly visit? Knowing the name and phone number of your landscaping team supervisor will help you make sure that your property is always looking good. As a business that depends a great deal on curb appeal, one of your main objectives should be to tend to that curb! And that’s where a great landscaping team can come in.
Create a great landscaping team in the same way you nurture an onsite team: be clear about expectations and inspect work performed.
Read your contract carefully and ask questions until you understand it. Know which services you should get and when you should expect them to be done. Is your sidewalk edged weekly or every other week? What about the flower beds? Do they clear around the A/C’s on every visit? When are your shrubs and trees scheduled to be trimmed? When is leaf removal? And perhaps the most debated of all questions, what constitutes a standard "trim" on a bush verses something that might cost more? As managers, we usually want more than the new growth trimmed off, but your contract may stipulate a separate fee for bringing overgrown bushes back down to size. Check to make sure these tasks are performed on time and to your satisfaction.
Teach the landscaping team about issues that are important to you: bushes hiding the windows, holes in the ground that residents might trip in, missing irrigation sprinklers heads or clean out covers, etc. You also want dead trees and any water or drainage issues should be brought to your attention on the weekly visit.
Irrigation is often a big issue, and your landscaping team can help you monitor this. They will be the first to notice problems with over wet or over dry turf. Make sure the crew knows the on site contact for these issues (either the manager or maintenance supervisor) and that they can bring things to your attention during their weekly visit.
Ask them to notify you when your property is getting a turf or plant application and provide you with information on what is going to be sprayed. Our state requires us to notify our residents of these applications, so if your landscaping vendor doesn't do that, you have to.
The landscaping team should be familiar with your individual or company expectations like how high you want the grass cut in the summer and what you expect in terms of blowing curbs and gutters.
Walk your community with your landscaping team's supervisor and show them the areas that you feel need attention. This should be done on a fairly regular basis. In our company our managers and landscaping team supervisors are required to walk the property once a month and provide a written report to the regional managers of both our community and the landscaping company.
Assessment areas include the turf, plant health, weediness, neatness of trim and curb as well as the irrigation (is the turf too dry or wet). Notes are made on bugs or disease on the bushes and grass, and the issues are documented so that both parties know what needs addressed. At our company, the regional managers walk the communities quarterly or bi-annually to make sure that the staff is paying attention to details and also to address recurring issues and potential for capital improvement.
Your landscaper should work with you on how you would like to communicate. If you hate email, then ask them to drop by each week when they are onsite. If you have a busy property and prefer email, they should be able to meet your needs. Discuss your communication plan and expectations with your landscaper. Keep in mind the first year will be full of kinks, but if you can hang on, the second and third year, your property will really shine (or you will need to switch landscapers).
Perhaps no other vendor relationship in the life of the property manager takes as much time and coordination as the landscaping company, but seeing your property mature and grow is very rewarding.
