Little drips of inefficiency in your business, especially within your production team, can add up to big problems for landscaping companies. Profitable companies are efficient and effective companies, no matter the type of work they specialize in. 

There are many places to look for drips: in your morning roll-out, the way you procure materials, how your team prepares for the day ahead, the way your team is trained, and in the notes your team is provided with as they tackle the day's work.

This week I wanted to share one very small thing that we do at Grunder Landscaping Co. that saves our production team time while loading equipment onto trailers: we have lines painted on the trailers to show where the bucket of our skid steers should be placed so that they're balanced on the trailers. The spot is marked where the weight of the machine will be balanced and it'll be easy for the team to strap it down for safe transport. 

This allows our Team Leaders to quickly pull a skid steer, or a mini skid steer, onto the trailer and get the placement of the equipment right on the first try. I've even seen companies take this a step further: at GROW! 2023 in San Antonio, TX, we saw ACE Peer Group member and GROW! host Summit Landscape & Design's system for helping the team know what each trailer can carry. They placed stickers on each trailer in their fleet to show which equipment can go on a trailer, how many pallets of pavers or sod could go on it, and how much mulch or other materials could fit in the dump trailers.

Both of these simple tricks save time as crews load up to leave in the morning, resulting in a more efficient morning roll-out. 

If you want to see more ways that we teach our teams at Grunder Landscaping Co., join us for our final Grunder Landscaping Co. Field Trip of the year on December 4-5. This is your last chance to come see our operation in 2024, and a great opportunity to gather intel that will help you kick off 2025 strong. I hope to see you there!