Those of you who have had experience dealing directly with property owners / managers have probably experienced some of the same situations that I am going to outline in this narrative.

The property manager is a strange bird of sorts. They come in various shapes / sizes, with a broad range of personality traits and of course Pet Peeves. Believe me when I say that learning about their pet peeves will make your job much easier and the manager that much happier.

This does not mean of course, that you can forget about everything else by taking care of what you know catches their eye. But what it does mean is that if you are in a pinch, some essential items such as these are not on the list to be skipped. Some of the items listed below may seem like common sense items to most of you, but I promise, these are generally the only calls we get from customers. Also, sometimes the obvious is still worth mentioning.

Please take a moment to read the list below and think for a few moments about the times crunch situations you find yourself in during the course of the work week.

Suckers on Crapes and other trees – Wow, this is probably the biggest complaint we receive from the customers.

Curbline appeal – Is your job site spotless, well manicured, but you have 6 inches of gravel and dirt in your curb line? Where only leaves and grass clippings may have included in the agreement, how about suggesting a lot sweep. We can do this you know, and this equals more $$$$ for the company and you!!!!

1^st impressions are golden – If you don’t have time for anything else, you should always check the entrances to parking lots, buildings and main sign areas. This is crucial. Everything can be perfect except (1) tall weed at the main entrance and that’s all they see.

Roadway Travel – How many of our customers only have time to view the property from the convenience of their car? Take a moment to drive through the lot, what do you see?

Walkways – After driving the property, do you park your truck only to find that it’s been hit by a tree branch or you’ve been knocked unconscious by a limb hanging over sidewalks / walking paths? Sound ridiculous I know but this is something to note.

Dead plant material – This is a biggie. There is only (1) situation that gives reason to leave dead or mostly dead plants on a property: Warranty Discrepancy. For no other reason should a customer call about dead plants. If it is less than 1/3 dead, pull it. If (60) shrubs are dead and there are (3) left sporadically that are healthy, can they be moved somewhere else where they will look better? Chances are, if it looks ad to you, it looks bad to the customer. Is there dead wood? When in doubt, ask. New shrub installation makes up a very large part of our landscape enhancement sales. Again, this is $$$$ for the company and for you.

Safety – Are there shrubs blocking signs / oncoming traffic. Is your property safe? Are there holes in the turf where someone could break their leg? Are your crews being safe? The property manager is constantly in fear of the almighty law suit. This is major brownie points if someone can assist them in this endeavor. How about this, do you work on a bank site and notice that there is a 10 ft. Holly just inches away from ATM? Think about it.

Learning what areas to skimp on – Are you pressed for time? Always, right? So, do you spend time cleaning up the far back island? Or do you pull the 3-ft. weeds by the front doors? It only take one tall weed to cloud all of the managers impressions. I know it sounds obvious but sometimes when you are there every week you may miss things that are obvious. Try not to get too comfortable on your job site.

Trash – I know that no one does this, but I’ll mention it anyway. Mowing over trash: big, big no no. Did you know that we have customers that actually plant a specific piece of trash on a job site, just t see how long it will be before it is picked up. It’s true.

Blurry Vision – When you are done, have you ever stepped back to take an overall look at your job site? How does it look as a whole? Are all the Bradford’s limbed to a consistent height? You see the details, sometimes the manager only gets / or cares about this view.

Educate – Take every opportunity available to educate the property manager on horticultural practices. It’s very easy to criticize someone’s performance when you don’t understand the depth of the service.

Most importantly – Do you train your crew members to see these properties as you see them? If you don’t you are creating work for yourself, this I promise. Make them proud of the job they are doing. Show them the before and the after and make sure they understand that they are an important part of the picture. It will pay off.

I hope this narrative is helpful. I do appreciate your time in reading this and would certainly like to get your point of view as the picture is always different depending upon our position in the company even though our end goals are the same. So let’s work together and help each other out.