The Seascape
Newsletter of the CLCA
Central Coast Chapter
July/August 2021
Events Calendar
Firescaping Workshop—Free to All!
Here is a link to the video of the event. It can be viewed by anyone at anytime. Join Phil Dundas, and other industry leaders in this workshop about wildfire mitigation in the wildland urban interface, a topic we are all concerned about. Here’s a chance to learn ways to help reduce risks related to low intensity wildfires.
August 26, Thursday
2021 Beautification Awards BBQ/Banquet
Outdoor Awards Ceremony and BBQ-style Banquet at the Dream Inn, Santa Cruz. Mark your calendars and join us for a wonderful evening! We’ll be meeting outdoors with a view overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We’ll be showcasing outstanding local work in the green industry, and celebrating CLCA Central Coast Winners of 2021. This will be a casual event. Our theme this year honors the “Native California Cypress.” Good food, live band, and awards ceremony!
For information about how sign up for the Awards Ceremony/BBQ-style banquet at the Dream Inn: REGISTER TO ATTEND!
July & August 2021 Central Coast President’s Message
by Justin White, Chapter President, K&D Landscaping Company
Big Event of the Year—Central Coast Beautification Awards Banquet/BBQ
I am excited for our second big event of the year, the Central Coast Awards Banquet! The judges are busy reviewing properties this week and deciding who will be the 2021 winners. It’s a great chance for our local community to come together and celebrate the success of our members. This year we have limited capacity due to Covid restrictions and the event being held outside at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, so sign up quickly to ensure you have a seat at the table as the action unfolds.
Our board has been working hard to bring you educational events all year, and July and August are no exception. I am delighted to announce more training events will be offered. Our very own Phil Dundas will be putting on a fire-safety event with many local agencies and professionals to teach about fire-safe landscaping and fire prevention tactics you can offer to your clients. We will also have a great irrigation webinar offered by Katia Velasquez of Netifim to help your team install smart, better irrigation systems. All the info is inside of this great newsletter!
As many of you know, prices for everything from lumber to plants have skyrocketed this year and there are no downward trends in sight. Many contractors are left wondering how to recover these higher prices and some who locked in contracts six months ago are worried they will lose money on their construction projects. The other challenge C-27 members are balancing is the sharp increase in labor cost and the lack of applicants for open positions. Many landscape companies have struggled to keep employees as other trades and industries come roaring back from the pandemic. Some of the worst offenders are concrete and building companies offering $25+/hour for starting labor. While restaurants and kitchens are offering high wages for chefs and staffers, hotels and resorts are also hiring back all positions in mass amounts which is putting a strain on the job market. To top all this off, the government is continuing to pay $300-$450/week in additional unemployment for those who choose to not go back to work, along with many other potential benefits depending on their situation. Thankfully, that is due to sunset on September 4th, however it is uncertain whether or not the government will continue some type of additional compensation for unemployed workers.
Here are a few strategies to help counteract these unusual challenges:
1. For projects you have under contract, identify your estimated material costs. Before you start, get updated quotes for all material from your suppliers and calculate how much of an increase it will be in material costs due to updated prices. Sit down with your client prior to starting the project and review this difference in costs, and request that the client covers the difference as part of this project. If you use a CLCA contract, there is language that helps protect you from this type of material cost escalation. Most clients will understand and offer to at least split the difference with you. In many cases, we have been successful in getting the entire increase covered. It also helps if you have material quotes from when you bid the project as backup.
2. Talk about prices during your initial meeting with the client, explain what is happening in the industry and that there is a good chance material costs will continue to escalate. CLCA members tend to be more professional and on top of their numbers than your average landscaper and for this reason, your bid may be higher. You want to educate the client about these recent developments and make sure they are aware that you are doing your due diligence in providing them with an accurate proposal.
3. Include a material contingency in your proposal. It has now become standard for K&D Landscaping to include a 10-15% allowance for potential material cost overruns. This would mean if you have a contract for $50,000 you would budget $5,000-$7,500 in material cost increases. This amount is part of the contract and would be credited back to the client if material prices do not increase between when you bid on the job and when you completed the job. Be sure that you are transparent with your clients and include backup for any change orders resulting in a price increase.
4. Stop using plug numbers or unit pricing. If you are the type of contractor that bids projects based on sq ft or unit costs, (such as $60 for a 5-gallon plant and $150 for a yard of mulch), you should probably do one of two things; stop or update your unit prices based on new material and labor costs. Once upon a time we used unit pricing for everything and it was an easy way to estimate, but when prices started climbing after the ’08 crash we realized this was no longer a viable option. Make sure you aren’t losing money right off the bat with poor estimating tactics.
5. Know your costs. When you know your costs you are able to build up from there to arrive at your price. If you are using unit prices it is much harder to understand the real costs of performing the project. Once you are able to calculate how much material, equipment, labor, labor burden, and subcontractors it will take to complete the project, you can build your profit margins on top of that. At K&D we shoot for a 48%-55% gross profit margin on all projects. For maintenance it should be closer to 55% and if you are doing construction with subs it will be closer to 48%. We found that 45% is the true breakeven for most landscape companies and anything below that will lead to a loss.
6. Know your HAW (“hourly average wage”). This is all of your direct field employees’ wages averaged out (add all hourly wages together and divide by the number of employees). If you are like most landscapers and are finding it hard to find and hold onto your employees, you may be offering raises and increased starting wages which will push your HAW up. At K&D we have seen our HAW increase by 15% since the beginning of 2021, which is higher than any year in history. You should be measuring your HAW at least every three months and updating your estimating pricing accordingly. Remember, if your profit margin is 10% and your HAW goes up by 15%, you are now losing money... and no one likes to lose money.
7. Don’t get too busy that you end up ignoring the idea of pricing strategy. I can relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed and defaulting to doing the things I know well, and for most of us that does not include diving into the numbers. But you must set time aside to review the pricing and financial performance of your company. Sometimes we contractors get so busy we end up just adding 10% to our old pricing and figure, “that should cover it,” when we talk about materials and labor going up. You may feel great about landing jobs with these new higher prices, but are you sure you are recovering all the added costs of running your business and performing the job?
8. I focused primarily on the installation contractor with these tips but here is one for the maintenance contractor. In the past you may be the company who adds 5% to your contracts every year and you're sure that should cover any increase in wages. Well, things are changing in 2021 and the truth of the story is 5% will probably not even cover half of the wage increase you will experience this year, if you're like most contractors, it may be closer to a 15% increase in direct labor. For maintenance contractors where labor is really your only direct job cost, that means you need to increase your pricing by 15% to just recover the extra cost of labor, not to mention fuel, truck, and equipment expenses that all seem to be on the rise. Make sure before any contract renewal you are reviewing your HAW and any other metrics you can get your hands on and know that the new 5% is 15%.
I appreciate everyone who made it this far in my letter, I know I threw a lot of information at you very quickly. I have a passion for helping others succeed and it brings me great joy when I can help a struggling owner turn their company around to better profits and employee engagement. If you ever find yourself in a place where the next steps aren’t clear or you just want to talk shop, I am just an email away.
Sincerely,
Justin White
CEO, K&D Landscaping Inc.
justin@kndkandscaping.com
C: (831) 331-3476 │ O: (831) 728-4018
2021 Central Coast Chapter Partners for Success Program
There has never been a better time to support Central Coast’s Partners for Success Program. Joining provides an opportunity to increase your visibility in the community, to be seen as a leader in the green industry by helping sustain the many educational and enrichment offerings of our association. For more information, contact Justin White justin@kndkandscaping.com. Or, better still, go directly to our online registration! Join us!
WE love our partners!
We would like to welcome new partners Rain Bird & West Coast Turf!
With much appreciation Our Partners in Success 2021.
PaRTNERS CORNER
Ryan K. Gamboa of Jet Mulch Inc.
This month Ryan Gamboa is featured in our “Partner’s Corner.” Read more here.
Mark your calendars! Register to attend!
CLCA Central Coast Beautifications Awards 2021
Beautification Awards EVENT 2021—Honoring the native California Cypress
On August 26, 2021 we’re pleased to announce that the California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA) Central Coast Chapter will unite at The Dream Inn in Santa Cruz to honor our peers in the local green industry with awards in various landscape catagories.
This year’s theme is “Honoring the Native California Cypress.” The event will take place outdoors, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It just doesn’t get much nicer than this venue. There’ll be a cocktail hour with a no host bar, and early in the evening you’ll be entertained by a live bluegrass/Americana band called “Apple City Slough.” The mood this year is casual, so come and relax, enjoy a delicious BBQ-style banquet. This year’s awards will be announced. Thank you to all who entered! We look forward to seeing you, your guests, and friends at the Dream Inn!
This is the big event of the year. For more information or to register.
Note the wonderful artwork on our materials this year, graciously shared by Peter Loftus. Peter is known throughout the world for his large and realistic landscape paintings of the Central Coast of California, and other California locations. To learn more about Peter’s work visit www.artsy.net/artist/peter-loftus
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EDUCATION CORNER
Presented by the Central Coast Chapter of the California Landscape Contractor’s Association (CLCA)
Workshop: Firescaping II
FREE to all
Industry leaders will share what they know about wildfire mitigation in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), an important topic for those of us who live in the rural parts of Santa Cruz County.
Here’s a chance to learn ways to help reduce risks related to low-intensity wildfires. Concepts to be presented include maintenance of vegetation, awareness, and management of combustible materials, thoughtful design, layout, and incorporation of fire and ember-resistant construction materials and plants, fire breaks, firescape designs, and the importance of neighborhood and community involvement. We held a second Firescaping Event in July.
Here is a link to previous the workshop:
https://youtu.be/IYkQrTro8ng
Coming soon…
Employee Culture and Recruitment Workshop: Justin White, Central Coast’s favorite president of 2021 and CEO of K&D Landscaping will be giving a presentation on “employee culture” and recruitment. Workshop delivered via zoom, date TBA.
ARTICLE BY Karrie Reid, UC environmental HorticulturE Advisor
UC Davis Arboretum
Expanding Your Landscape Plant Choices Beyond WUCOLS
Navigating the combined alphabet soup of MWELO, CIMIS, and WUCOLS can be daunting. This is the first in a series of articles on the UC Landscape Plant Irrigation Trials (UCLPIT) and the lessons we’ve learned in 16 years of research to help the industry understand and use plant factors (PF) in ways that benefit them, their clients, and the environment.
What is UCLPIT?
UCLPIT is a 2-year in-ground research trial program evaluating perennial landscape shrubs, groundcovers, grasses, succulents, and herbaceous plants on irrigation levels corresponding to the Water Use Classification of Landscape of Species (WUCOLS) categories of Low, Moderate, and High (https://ucanr.edu/WUCOLS). If you have ever filled out a Landscape Documentation Package for compliance with the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (MWELO), you know that you have to demonstrate that your estimated total water use (ETWU) will not exceed your Maximum Applied Water Allowance (MAWA). To do that calculation you need to know the plant factor (PF), a percentage of reference evapotranspiration (ETo), for the specified plants in each irrigation zone. According to MWELO, the PF must come from WUCOLS or, according to the 2015 revision, from “horticultural researchers with academic institutions or professional associations as approved by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR)”. UCLPIT is the only ongoing DWR-approved research trial adding to the current static list of plants found in the WUCOLS database.
Selecting Trial Plants
We began our trials working to establish water-use levels for California natives, UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars, and other species already in the nursery trade. In some cases we provided WUCOLS with new information or amended the published category with one more accurately determined by the research. Then we saw the potential to provide an even more important service for both the producers and end-users of landscape plants by focusing on new and recently introduced plants. Without a published WUCOLS category, these plants could not feasibly be used in MWELO landscape package calculations. So, in 2009, we began working with growers, breeders, and brokers to evaluate new plant material suitable for our summer-dry state. To date, we have worked with over 25 companies, not just from California, but national and international companies as well.
How does UCLPIT work?
The trial fields at UC Davis and in Irvine at the UC South Coast Research and Extension Center, have the capacity for up to 21 species in full sun and 4 under 50% shade cloth each year. In the fall, we plant 24 plants of each cultivar we are evaluating. Bare root roses are planted the following winter, with any late entries planted in spring. The planted area is covered with 2-3” of organic mulch. All plants are irrigated regularly via drip through the summer in order to develop a healthy and deep root system and prevent stress during the critical establishment period. The second spring the field enters the deficit irrigation period with 8 plants of each species assigned to each of 3 treatments corresponding to the WUCOLS categories of Low (20% of ETo), Moderate (50% of ETo), or High (80% of ETo).
How are the plants irrigated?
We apply the same amount of water at each irrigation, varying the frequency using a real-time, weather-based, water budget model in much the same way farmers do when precision irrigating crops (See https://cimis.water.ca.gov/Resources.aspx; Resources >Irrigation Overview > Irrigation Scheduling). We aim to allow half of the plant available water to be used up before re-applying it. This method conserves water while simultaneously minimizing plant stress. For example, if a plant is a true low-water user, it will only use 20% of the daily ETo, taking it four times as long to use up the same amount of water needed by a high-water user at the 80% rate. More detailed information on our methods can be found on our website: https://ucanr.edu/sites/UCLPIT/.
Determining the water use category
Growth measurements and ratings for each plant are collected monthly during the deficit irrigation season. Ratings evaluate foliage quality, flowering abundance, pest tolerance, disease resistance, vigor, and overall landscape appearance. The combined factors of growth and plant appearance are used to determine the irrigation category. If a plant shows no differences between treatments, we report this, but recommend that it be placed in the WUCOLS Low category. Plants that score well on low water are awarded our Blue Ribbon™ for excellence.
We have added results on plants evaluated through 2019 to the WUCOLS database, with our most current results, which may be used in MWELO packages, found in the Plant Indexes on our website. Currently, we have completed water-use evaluations on 200 plants in sun and shade, allowing these to now be used in MWELO-compliant landscapes.
Karrie Reid, Environmental Horticulture Advisor
University of California Cooperative Extension,
San Joaquin County
recent events
Annual Liar’s Cup Golf Event—2021
SPRING HILL, watsonville
Nigel Berry (with the backwards cap) won the longest drive. Right of Nigel is Regan Berry, and Jeff Calhoun. To the left of Nigel is Andy Grunes.
Liar’s Cup 2021 WINNING TEAM: Scott Long, Bill Thompson, Billy Waddell and Greg Bailey, who also won last year! Niles Barry WON Longest Drive. Bill Thompson WON Closest to the Pin.
As Jerry Allison put it “good to be together again!” It was a beautiful day to play the course, teams formed, carts rolled, and irons swung. If you were there you might have seen some of these folks:
Christopher Smuda, of Belgard, with Don Givens and guests from Oldcastle. Hunter foursome with Amy Bailey, Justin White, Matt Gomez and Steve Veltri. Jeremy Smith with Shane White, Eddie DeLuna, and Jim Salvador. Scott Long, Bill Thompson, Billy Waddell and Greg Bailey formed this year’s winning team. Pete Gluhaich, Chris Houle and Erin Gil. Jerry Allison, Josh Tavelli, Nick Manfre and Larry Musgrave were a team. David and Pete Gluhaich joined Travis Evans and Mitch Lake. Jeff Henninger signed in with Carlos Valencia, Gabe Katich, and K.C. Coverdale. Ken Naber, from Ewing, paired with Jeremy Yearton from Hunter Industries... Niles (Nigel) Barry, Coastal Evergreen hit the course with Jeff Calhoun, Regan Barry, and Andy Grunes. Niles Barry won the longest drive. Phil Dundas, Scott Robinson, Jimmy Harwood and Jimmy Fitzgerald teamed up.
At the end of the day everyone met on the shaded patio and had pizza and beverages. Justin White and Matt Gomez announced the winners. It was good to be together again.
Congratulations to Everyone Who Played!
A big thank you to the tee sponsors for 2021:
Jerry Allison of Precision Pools Inc., Christopher Smuda of Belgard, Justin White of K&D Landscaping, Katia Velasquez of Netafim, Steve Veltri of Hunter/FX Lumninaire
especially for CLCA Members
Board Meeting Minutes
Central Coast Chapter CLCA Board Meeting June 3, 2021
Craig Stenehjem, Elise Huffman, Katia Velasquez, Justin White, Gregory Miller, Phil Dundas, Ki Bowman attended.
Justin called the zoom meeting to order at 12:00 PM.
May minutes were not approved at this time. Not all members were able to read them before the meeting.
Events Schedule
● Golf - Matt is reported to be ready, with 39 registrants so far. Logistics about how the event will run were discussed. Sponsors are lined up. Gregory and Katia will anchor the check-in table. Event should be profitable due to the number of participants and the good price offered by Spring Hills Golf Course.
● Beautification Event - Thursday, Aug 26th.
—Elise brought promotional posters and postcards. Posters were distributed to all board members in attendance to post at local businesses. It was agreed that the postcards should be mailed asap. Ki offered to do that. No Beautification entries yet, but several verbal commitments have been made. Board members will reach out to past participants. Katia will contact Laura Leuer and ask her to do phone reminders.
● September Golf Co-Event - SFBA & CC will join up to golf at Coyote Creek. Date TBA.
Education
● The three zoom educational events recently completed, Predictable Profitability (Justin White), Irrigation (Michael Johnson) and Firescaping (Phil Dundas) were all successful. Justin offered to do a future workshop on recruitment and retainment in August. Katia offered to host one on drip irrigation and the date of Friday, June 18th at 10 am was selected. A second Firescaping event was proposed for Thursday, July 29th at 10 am.
Membership Updates
● Julia Holbert is the newest member. Katia suggested that a brochure be developed for new chapter members to give to their clients that describes and promotes the CLCA.
● Davey Tree is a new Associate Member.
Newsletter and Website Updates
● Elise updated board members about the status of the June newsletter and listed the articles still outstanding. Ki said that she will post the new workshop dates on the web.
Treasurer Report
● The chapter’s cash flow is moving in the right direction. The Beautification venue is prepaid for this year, since it was cancelled last year, and the golf event looks like it will be profitable.
Other Business
● 2022 Board Positions - Phil volunteered to run for President and Justin said he would be interested in taking the Legislation position.
● Board Meetings - No board meetings are usually scheduled over the summer but it was agreed that one should be held on August 5th to prepare for the Awards Banquet.
● Beautification Project - members were asked to come up with ideas for a new project and present them at the next meeting.
● CLCA State Convention - will be held in Lahaina, Maui. All board members were encouraged to attend.
● Meeting was adjoined at 1:25