9 Tips for getting crews out early & efficiently

Are you frustrated by how long it takes crews to get out of the yard in the morning? If yes, you’re not alone.

Every spring I hear owners talk about how long it takes to get everyone out of the yard each day. There is a certain frustration that goes along with getting crews out in the morning that landscape business owner, Tim Groenewold, has worked to remove from his business.

Below are Tim’s 9 tips for getting your crews out quickly. An added bonus to these tips is that they will also be helpful in doing your part with social distancing while maintaining business as usual as much as you can.

1. Give crews their own space - this way they aren’t tripping over each other while they are getting ready to head out in the morning.
2. Give crews their own tools - this stops the “that’s my mower!” type of conversations. 
3. Hire a mechanic - it’s their responsibility to keep the crews running. It saves money, because it’s more expensive to send stuff off-site and wait for repairs or have your staff not completing jobs as they try to fix it themselves.
4. Set an example of urgency - it’s important that managers are not sitting down while crews are running around getting ready for the day. “You need to set an example from the top down,” Groenewold says. “You need to create the sense of urgency.”
5. Start measuring the time it takes each crew to leave the yard in the morning and post the times in the shop. The crews will start to improve their times on their own. "What gets measured, gets managed."
6. Prep the night before - Crews are staggered when they arrive back at the end of the day. It’s more efficient and safer to do prep at night rather than in the morning when the yard is full.
7. Explain why efficiency matters - We explained to our staff, “If you can be more efficient, then that will raise your efficiency rating, which will directly affect your raises’”
8. Track your numbers - You can’t measure what you don’t track.
9. Open your books - We’ve talked about this one a lot recently so it probably doesn’t surprise you!

To read Tim Groenewold’s full article in the Lawn & Landscape magazine, click HERE.