HOA LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE BY ON TIME LANDSCAPING
Transforming Your Outdoor Space with On Time Landscaping
On Time Landscapings’ first customer was an HOA in 2008. There are a few things that differentiate us from our competitors and one of the largest differences is the level of customization to landscape maintenance contracts we provide so we can accommodate your Las Vegas HOA landscaping needs and wants.
Mature and healthy landscaping can provide a lot of benefits to Homeowner Associations, their residents and the environment. Sometimes doing landscape enhancement work can add value to an HOAs landscaping and it can be phased in when the funds are available.
Time and time again we have noticed that other landscapers have better results than as their relationship progresses with their customers and that some charge for extras that do not always make sense. We wonder how much of this decline in service can be attributed to generic / boiler plate landscaping bids and contracts as they rarely get into specifics about the services that will be performed. Have you ever looked at the sections of bids/ contracts that cover hedge trimming? Many times they say something like “neat and trim appearance” or “natural look”. What do both of these phrases mean to each person that is involved in the relationship? Does this mean two, four, six hedge trimmings per year or something else? Hedge trimmed bushes typically do not look natural. Each time bushes get hedge trimmed there is a cost associated with it. How can a landscaping company know what to charge customers if they do not know what their weekly / annual costs will be? If the contract does not specify how many hedge trimmings your HOA gets per year, have you considered telling landscapers you want your bushes hedge trimmed weekly just to see how they respond?
Steve Jobs - CEO and co-founder of Apple Computers said “You can't look at the competition and say you're going to do it better. You have to look at the competition and say you're going to do it differently.”
At On Time Landscaping,
· We and work with our customers to try and save properties money, that is often quieter and more environmentally friendly than hedge trimming.
· We are one of only a few landscaping companies in southern Nevada that is licensed to spray for weed control. It is a standalone license from the Nevada Department of Agriculture. Most times it is a c6 license that the company and each person spraying needs. Many large landscaping companies either do not have the license or have very few license applicators. We wonder if many have enough applicators to properly service the number of customers they have.
· We ask the questions others often do not so we can customize bids/contracts to each property.
· Tree trimming is another “hot topic” at On Time Landscaping. According to the USDA Forest Service “Healthy, mature trees add an average of 10 percent to a property's value.”
The more conservative spatially adjusted model indicated that a 10% increase in tree canopy was associated with a roughly 12% decrease in crime. University of Vermont and USDA Forest Service Northern Research
Many landscape maintenance contracts “include” tree trimming below a certain height, usually around 10 feet give or take. Mature and healthy trees can add significant value to properties and the environment and why we prefer to look at a tree as a total organism rather than below or above a set height. Many times, doing it this way will result in healthier trees that are less expensive to take care of than splitting them up.
Have you ever asked for a bid to do tree work at your HOA from companies that do not provide the maintenance at your community? You might consider it and then divide it by 12 (months) and compare it to how much you pay for landscape maintenance at your association. Then ask your landscape maintenance company to break out how much they are budgeted for to do tree trimming. The numbers might shock you. Many times the cost for full tree work / management vs partial tree trimming and maintenance do not jive.
Attractive, healthy and well maintained landscaping does not have to come at the expense of your budget. We understand the need to balance plant health, costs and the amount of maintenance / noise landscaping needs. On Time Landscaping is a SNWA Water Smart Contractor.
We offer landscape maintenance and landscape management services for properties communities of all sizes and types including.
Subdivisions
Townhomes
Condominiums
Multiplex
Multifamily
Apartment complexes
Commercial
Industrial
Education
Retail
We work in
Clark County Nevada
The city of Las Vegas
The city of North Las Vegas
The city of Henderson
We are open to discussing doing work in Laughlin, Mesquite, Pahrump and Moapa.
Nevada Contractors Board license c10 0070688 Bid limit $50,000
C6 herbicide license through the Nevada Department of Agriculture
Business licenses include the state of Nevada, Clark county and the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson with the possibility of adding additional ones.
702-348-8399
Change is inevitable, and the disruption it causes often brings both inconvenience and opportunity.
Robert Scoble, blogger and author
SPECIFICS CREATE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
Many landscape maintenance contracts use phrases like "neat and trimmed", “pruned as necessary”, “performed as needed” when talking about hedge trimming. If we ask five people we would get five different answers on what this means. How much growth is an acceptable / unacceptable amount of growth. It could mean weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually. In order to know what costs are it is important that maintenance contracts specify how many hedge trimmings are "included" so everyone is on the same page.
It might be interesting to see how other landscapers would respond if you told them they need to hedge trim every week based on your definition of "neat and trim". How would they pay for extra trimmings? Directly charge? As addons? Reduce other services?
Items to consider
Weeds
Water and cost savings
Water and cost savings
Per Nevada law; companies and each individual spraying for weed control need a special license through the Nevada Department of Agriculture. It is not included in any other license, not even a landscaping license!
Very few landscapers are licensed to do this in the Vegas valley. It is interesting that even staff needs to pass exams and be licensed.
Are your landscapers properly licensed and staffed?
On Time Landscaping is properly licensed.
Water and cost savings
Water and cost savings
Water and cost savings
A lot of landscape maintenance contracts call for checking irrigation systems for leaks once a month. If it is checked today and a leak starts tomorrow there can be a lot of wasted water; possibly costing the property hundreds or thousands of dollars.
There are devices that detect excess / not normal water usage. When the device detects this it sends us emails and texts. We then dispatch staff to assess the situation and possibly make repairs. This can save properties a lot of money in reduced water bills.
“Don't wait, the time will never be just right.”
Napoleon Hill, Author
RFP and Budget
When people look at cars to buy they typically know what their budget is and will go to a place that has cars within that budget. If their budget is for a used Toyota Camry they probably wont go to a Rolls Royce dealership. It is similar with landscape maintenance. By providing landscapers with a detailed RFP and or a budget you will offer them the chance to provide you with a bid or suggestions that works for that specific property. Sharing "hot topics" for properties allows us to address them in our proposal.
Tree trimming
Limited tree trimming is "included" in many maintenance contracts. Many times up to a certain height. Many people do not know why a height is chosen. In many cases it is related to insurance policies. Many times maintenance contracts just include removing the lowest branches and is often times not enough to have healthy trees with good canopy structure. Healthy (and especially larger) trees provide many benefits to properties including financial so healthy trees are important. Have you noticed that a lot of times trees or branches come down when it is windy. This could possibly be minimized with proper a tree trimming program that includes the upper branches.
- Just to see what tree trimming really costs; have you ever asked a tree company just to bid on tree trimming? Many times it is more expensive than many months of landscape maintenance costs so how are the maintenance companies doing proper trimming? Some customers might say that they do not care as long as it gets done. But what is the true cost of it being done? Something else either has to give or higher prices charged somewhere else to get this partial work included.
- If lower branches are large, lets say 8inches or greater diameter. Will they really be cut at no additional cost? Will costs be hidden in other line items? We have seen that many times removing tree trimming from maintenance contracts and having a separate tree trimming contract / program works out better for the trees and the properties that own them and the cost difference is not much considering the benefits.
Like with hedge trimming if properties current landscapers have not brought items up like this; their silence has and will cost properties a significant amount of money at the risk of the trees health.