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| How did you go about getting your current job? |
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When I came out of the Botanic Gardens, I went to work in Holland for the summer and when I came back, I joined a Landscaping firm. This was in the early 1979/80 when the economy was not as buoyant as it is now. We were working on dusty sites, doing landscaping and lawns.
When the weather got bad, you were let go and got a pound an hour "wet time". I remember standing in out of very heavy rain one day in an industrial unit, reading the paper. I saw a job for a Sales Rep to sell horticultural machinery, chainsaws, lawnmowers, golf course equipment etc. I applied for and got the job as an indoors Sales Rep.
It was a great learning curve, I got training in sales, and I was selling equipment related to the industry I was in. That was one of the reasons I got the job as a result of my background in horticulture. That was great training, and I really enjoyed it. I was getting on very well with that job, but when the weather was good (around March/April) I really missed being out in the fresh air.
Within a short period of time it turned out that the company ran into bad financial difficulties, and they let about eight people go and as I was one of the last in, I was also let go. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it gave me the impetus to set up on my own.
I went out and started working for myself then. It was a big decision for me. I was lucky to get onto a Start your Own Business course, run by the Irish Productivity Centre and FAS. The course was excellent, it ran over sixteen weeks - eight weeks of lectures and practicals, and the second eight was about getting it off the ground.
It was great doing that, and I had a job I used to do on a Saturday. I managed to get another contract for a couple of days a week shortly afterwards, and I just built it up from there. That's really how my own Landscaping Business got off the ground.
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| Describe a typical day? |
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My average day starts at about 7.30am, as does that of my employees. Our workforce is organised in three crews of two or, sometimes, three men. On a Monday, we would normally go on a run of maintenance contracts, maybe seven or eight sites and I would work with one of the crews during that run. On Tuesdays, we tend to concentrate on new landscaping jobs. I would organise the materials for the job and any deliveries of materials. I'd then set out the planting and allocate various tasks to my helpers, make sure that everything is going smoothly and that the job is finished well. Our work days finish at four in the afternoon.
On Wednesdays, after allocating the various tasks to the staff and ensuring that everyone is on site, I spend the rest of the day in the office. This is a vitally important part of my work, although the least enjoyable. Accounts and credit control have to examined , bills paid, lodgement of cheques received and wages for the week prepared. There is usually correspondence to be dealt with as well as quotations and tenders for future work prepared. A lot of time is spent on business calls not only on Wednesdays but throughout the week.
The other days are taken up in much the same way as Mondays and Tuesdays. Contact has to maintained with the clients on a regular basis to ensure that they are satisfied with the service we are providing. Also regular contact with suppliers, such as Nuserymen, is very important to make sure that we know which plants or other materials can be sourced at any one time.
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| What are the main tasks and responsibilities? |
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We're doing a lot of maintenance contracting. The range of contracts could be anything from a private garden to an industrial site, or an apartment block or whatever. Many of our maintenace contracts follow on from landscaping jobs which we completed satisfactorily. When the client is pleased with the work, we are likely to be invited to give them a price to maintain the garden or the grounds for a year. We have to be reliable, so we stick to a schedule which is laid down in the specifications of the contract. For instance, on Mondays, at a certain time, we arrive at a specific job and move on from there. It's routine and our clients know when to expect us. It can be challenging sometimes, sticking to that. In order that it does not become too much of a bore for our staff, we change the crews around from time to time. It's nice to have the newer jobs coming on, particularly landscaping projects, so you can be a bit more creative. About 70% of our time would be on maintenance contracts now; we have accumulated so many over the years. We do most of the landscaping and planting from November to March. Then in the summer it's mostly maintenance, although we still do landscaping in the summer but mostly grass cutting, hedge trimming, weeding, and pruning.
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| What are the main challenges? |
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They vary, and it changes over the years. About five years ago there seemed to a shortage of skilled people in the landscaping sector, as the economy was booming and there was a big demand for skilled people in the landscape and construction sector. That seems to have sorted itself out over time, but that was a challenge, getting good, reliable, experienced people.
Among the more challenging aspects of a Landscape Contractor's job would be
1. Identifying and making contact with possible new clients.
2. Organizing and co-ordinating new projects.
3. Time management. Managing my own time and ensuring that all members of my
staff are gainfully employed throughout each working day.
4. Vigilance to ensure that our work is kept to a high standard.
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| What's cool? |
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I'm self employed, so to an extent I'm my own boss. You feel you are in control. You get to do projects from the start, and bring them to completion, you get to see something for the work you've done. You're outside, in the fresh air, in the summer, and thats an added bonus.
The fact of seeing a job through to completion can be very satisfying.
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| What's not so cool? |
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The downside would be when you get bad, wet days, and you have still got to get on with the job. You have to keep it moving, you've got to get out there in all weathers. Also, when suppliers let you down with late deliveries, and you have staff hanging around, waiting for deliveries with consequent loss of productivity. It doesn't happen that often, there is normally plenty to do on the sites before deliveries get there but it can hold you up. When you're running a business, you have to do the bookwork as well as the things you enjoy doing, you have to do the nitty gritty things. Tax returns, VAT, PRSI, PAYE, etc. It's not all the glamour stuff like planting or designing new gardens! You have got to be a Multi Tasker.
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| What particular skills do you bring to your workplace? |
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Having studied Horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens I have a knowledge of plants and experience in design and planting. I have also done a small number of business courses, which have given me the basics of running a business. As in any business, ongoing skills updating is necessary to keep up to date with trends and changes in the industry. Inter-personal skills are also an important thing to have and I think that I have a facility to get on well with people and understand their needs.
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