Upcoming Events Calendar

May 14, Wednesday, 10:00 am
Predictable Profit—Free to members/$10 non-members

Justin White, Central Coast’s favorite president of 2021 and CEO of K&D Landscaping is giving a presentation on “preditable profitability.” He will discuss business vision, roapmaps, “unstoppable culture,” sales and estimating, marketing and innovation, and more. Workshop delivered via zoom. Contact Justin White for details at justin@kndlandscaping.com You can sign up here.

May 17-June 18
2021 Central Coast CLCA Beautification Award Entry

Yes, it’s happening! Register for the main event of the year, showcasing outstanding local work in the green industry. Our deadline for entries is June 18th, 2021. Here’s your link for the entry form.

May 28, Friday, 10:00 am
Landscape Irrigation Training—Free to members/$10 non-members

zoom URL will be sent to all registrants

Cabrillo College instructor, and long-time Central Coast member, Michael Johnson will hold a virtual seminar on irrigation management. The course will be delivered via zoom. You can sign up here.

June 10, Thursday
Central Coast “Liar’s Club” Golf Event at Spring Hill!

Yes, Central Coast is holding a golf tournament! Tee time is 8:30 a.m and the fun will continue most of the day. More information and registration here or contact Justin White for details at justin@kndlandscaping.com

August 26, Thursday
2021 Beautification Awards BBQ

Dream Inn, Santa Cruz, outdoor venue

Yes, it’s happening! Mark your calendars and join us for a wonderful day of fun at our Beautification Awards BBQ! We’ll be meeting outdoors at the Dream Inn, and be showcasing outstanding local work in the green industry and celebrating 2021’s Central Coast Winners. We’ll get information to you soon about how sign up for the Awards Event.

May 2021 Central Coast President’s Message

by Justin White, Chapter President, K&D Landscaping Company

“And we’re off!”

May 1st is the unofficial beginning of what many call “100 days of hell” in the landscape industry. Most of us have been slammed over this winter due to an increase in demand from Covid and higher home prices. Reports show that 70% of the industry profit will be made in the next three months by most landscape companies. Here are some ways you can ensure a successful summer.

Identify your ideal client—if you’re a CLCA member you’re sure to be overrun by project leads at this time of the year. By identifying your ideal client you can prioritize those leads that fit your model and move them to the top of the list. This will allow you to fill your backlog with projects your crew will be successful at and you enjoy managing. If you chase every lead down you will end up being overwhelmed with non-ideal projects and those ideal clients will end up getting your voicemail.

Charge the right price—Now is the time to ensure you are recovering your overhead and direct costs with your pricing model. Much of our cost of doing business has increased over the last 12 months and if you don’t pass on those increases in your pricing strategy, you may end up with less profit at the end of the year even though you worked harder and completed more jobs. I recommend reviewing your costs on a quarterly basis and adjusting your prices as needed. Adding language to your contracts that give you flexibility for change orders if certain material increases by more than ~15% can also help reduce losses; lumber is a prime example of that right now.

Avoid burnout—Your crews and staff can also be pushed extra hard during this time. Check in regularly to make sure they are doing well and have enough support. It can seem impossible to offer vacation days during this time of year but giving a Friday to Monday paid time off around July 4th might be just the reset your team needs. Make sure to also give yourself and your family the attention they need. We can quickly be consumed with work over the summer and end up ignoring indicators of an unbalanced life.

Answer your phone—I will be the first to admit this mistake: you get caught up in a busy day and forget to call someone back and before you know it a week has gone by. If you’re not able to monitor your phone as diligently as you’d like, have a backup contact that you can provide in your voicemail. Even if this is just someone to take down information, your clients will appreciate talking to a live human being. A full voicemail box sends a bad message to current or future clients—if you aren’t able to manage a voicemail inbox, how will you manage their landscape project?

Don't ignore your maintenance clients—Many of us manage both new installations and maintenance clients. If you are in this position it can be easy to pull your maintenance crews into the construction projects and skip a few weeks of maintenance... they won’t notice, right? Wrong, people are home more than ever and businesses are watching their expenses closer than ever. If you don't show up for a few weeks you will be sure to get a call. Take care of your long-term bill payers!

Be positive in front of your team—No matter how bad it gets, don't take it out on your team. As a leader you need to show positivity and optimism. It’s easy to get frustrated when something goes wrong and fly off the handle, but remember everyone is working hard to keep things going. How you treat your employees is how they will treat your clients, so always show appreciation and gratitude. If there is an HR issue that can be a different story, so be sure to reach out to our on-call HR attorney anytime you need advice!

Now back to CLCA business!
We have a great summer of events planned for you this year. Our first will be our annual golf tournament that has been moved up to June! See below to sign up your foursome. Can't make it? Sponsor a hole to show your support.

We are doing a beautification event this year. I have received a lot of questions about this and the sign-ups will be opening very soon. It’s going to be a quick process, so enter your projects on time so we can dispatch our judges and gather all of the required information. Here’s your link to the entry form.

We have many other events in the works so check back regularly on our website for the most recent information. Also, don’t forget to add the CLCA to your “safe-senders” list so we don’t end up in your spam folder.

I would like to welcome Davey Tree and Travis Evans back onto the 2021 CLCA Partners Team! Travis and his team signed up as Oak Partners this year and have always been a great support for the CLCA chapter. If you are in need of an arborist or tree work Travis’s team is very qualified and provides great service. Their safety program is top-notch and they go above and beyond all OSHA requirements.

To our success,
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!

PaRTNERS CORNER

Travis Evans of Davey Tree Services

This month Travis Evans is featured in our “Partner’s Corner.” Read more here.

Mark your calendars! Coming soon…

COMMUNITY PROJECT

Vai Campbell Memorial Garden

The CENTRAL COAST chapter of the CLCA joined with other volunteers, to create this garden in honor of Vaidehi Campbell Williams, Soquel Creek Water District's "Water Princess."

Soquel, CA (April 28, 2021) – In September of 2019, the District lost a beloved member of their work-family in the tragic fire aboard the diving boat Conception off the Channel Islands, which also took 33 other lives. Vaidehi Campbell Williams, who had been with the District for over 18 years, continues to be immensely missed by her colleagues, by the community she served, and most of all by her family. In honor of Vai's memory, the District, Ecology Action, and the Water Conservation Coalition of Santa Cruz County created a memorial garden. It is a tribute to Vai's sparkling energy, her exuberance for the District's mission to protect local water resources, her passion for all things environmental, and her kind soul.

The Vaidehi Campbell Williams Memorial Garden, located at the District's offices at 5180 Soquel Drive and the corner of Rosedale Ave., was officially planted and landscaped by Vai's friends, family, and colleagues on Earth Day, April 22, 2021 – a fitting tribute in itself, as Vai was a strong believer in living her life every day as Earth Day. A bench for the garden (built by co-workers) and a memorial plaque honoring Vaidehi will be installed soon.

The District partnered with local nonprofit Ecology Action to design and install the garden through the Climate Victory Garden grant program, sponsored by the Water Conservation Coalition of Santa Cruz County, comprised of local public water agencies from San Lorenzo Valley to Watsonville. The Grant paid for the design, installation, project coordination, plants, cardboard, mulch, and gopher baskets. The landscape was beautifully designed by Sherry Bryan of Ecology Action and the District’s project coordinator was Shelley Flock, both who were close colleagues of Vaidehi. The installation labor and many of the materials costs have been donated by members of the Central Coast Chapter of the California Landscape Contractors Association and others who worked with Vaidehi on landscape water conservation throughout her career: Hunter Irrigation (valves and timer), Ewing Irrigation-Soquel branch (pressure regulator, filters and fittings), Netafim (drip irrigation), Terra Bella Landscaping, Chris Elliot - Aqua Green Landscape Irrigation (redwood slabs for bench and installation of donated irrigation valves), A Growing Concern, California H2orticulture Services, Marathon Landscape, Prime Landscape, Far West Landscaping, Green and Growing Landscape, Vision Recycling (discounted mulch), Tish O‘Reilly - Pacific Mountain Horticulture (donation of Crape Myrtle trees); Soquel Creek Nursery Growers (discounted plants); Sherry Bryan (coordination with CLCA, landscape design, project management, labor); and Michael Johnson, irrigation instructor at Cabrillo College, and Cabrillo irrigation students.

The garden is designed to serve as a Monterey Bay-Friendly, water-wise demonstration garden for all of Santa Cruz County, and the community is invited to visit.

As Communications Specialist at the District, Vai shared her passion for water and the environment with countless community members at local, county, and statewide educational and special events. She loved working with teachers and kids and eagerly provided fun, interactive presentations in local classrooms from preschool to college - and wherever else there was an opportunity to share her enthusiasm. She was known as the "Water Princess" to many of the delighted elementary school students with whom she often interacted as part of her job. In everything she did, she set a tone of gracious and collegial collaboration with fellow employees, District customers, and the community.

The Vaidehi Campbell Williams Memorial Garden will serve as a remembrance of this unique and wonderful person, whose giving spirit, inspiration, and positive impact on the District and on the entire community will be felt for generations to come.

About Soquel Creek Water District
The Soquel Creek Water District is a local government agency that provides water resource management within its service area to deliver a safe and reliable supply of high-quality water to meet present and future needs in an environmentally sensitive and economically responsible way. The District's website is www.soquelcreekwater.org

About Ecology Action
Ecology Action is passionately driven to empower individuals, businesses, and communities to take actions today that achieve environmental and economic sustainability. Learn more at www.ecoact.org

About The Central Coast Chapter of the CLCA (California Landscape Contractors Association) is a non-profit trade organization of state-licensed landscape and landscape-related limited specialty contractors. CLCA’s membership totals approximately 2,500 individuals statewide. To learn more about our non-profit organization,find a local CLCA landscape professional, or join us: www.clca-cc.org

Thanks to the CLCA’s help and generosity, the garden turned out beautifully and will serve as both a tribute to Vai and as a water-wise demonstration garden for our community.  Please share our gratitude with your members. 

This press release and link to video were graciously shared with us here for viewing in The Seascape.
Copyright © 2021 Soquel Creek Water District, All rights reserved.

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