Industry Quality & Performance

Using Metrics to Recognize and Invest in Quality Landscaping Work

Accountability is often discussed within landscape companies, teams and even individual professionals. It is something that fosters ownership in performance, trust in peers, quality customer service and a property’s appearance. The benefits of an accountable workplace and workforce are widely understood and prioritized, but can tend to be constrained within various organizations. Prioritizing accountability across the entire industry could be key to raising the standards of landscapers, their clientele and anyone else who interacts with the green industry.

Many trade fields utilize various tools to reassure their clients that they offer quality service or products. This helps clients trust the company and often inspires repeat business. A health inspector in the restaurant industry, for example, offers hungry customers peace of mind when they choose where to eat. A restaurant with a positive inspection rating is more likely to serve people than a restaurant with a poor rating. Landscape customers do not have the same luxuries. This leads to an uneducated clientele base and a sense of distrust between clients and their landscape service providers. 

OLM Inc. in Kennesaw, Georgia, fills this gap. The group is a third-party management company that specializes in the preparation of standards and specifications for properties. OLM works on behalf of commercial real estate owners and property managers, including high-rise buildings, office/industrial, multi-family, business improvement districts and resorts. Ed Jensen helps lead the team. 

“I earned a degree in Ornamental Horticulture from Clemson, then put in five years with a small  landscape company as an operations manager,” Ed says. “From there, I morphed into a role with a commercial real estate developer, helping manage landscapes from an in-house position. I interfaced with the landscape architects, the development team, all the way through the handoff to the property management and long-term maintenance team. During this time, I learned how quality workmanship helps owners lease space. In 1989, I joined OLM Inc. where I could have an impact on improving quality for property owners and, along the way, help teach and show landscapers how they could do better work. 

OLM compiles the information necessary to create the performance payment-based specifications for the client and helps conduct the bid process.This helps clients identify their true operations budget and determine whether their price point is too low, too high or just right. Once the contract is in place, they inspect the landscaper's work to be sure it is following the specifications and industry standards. Their measurements of various contracts and companies are fully performance payment-based and deliver results. If the contractor does not pass the monthly site inspection with a score of 87 percent or greater, they lose 25 percent of their monthly invoice.

“When people experience bad service, they look down on the industry as a whole and aren’t as willing to invest in quality work,” Ed says.

"People who understand the meaning of quality landscape maintenance & its purpose are more confident in their service providers. They are
willing to pay what is necessary to get the job
done right on the first try. In essence, we enable companies to charge more." 

Ed says quality landscaping is about far more than just aesthetics. 

“It isn’t about clean stripes left by a mower or the t-shirts and advertising logos,” he explains. “While these things have a place and a purpose, the real value is found in small details … things like the bedlines and the weed control, the space between a shrub and a building, the sunlight access to plant material and a consistent maintenance schedule.

"Quality landscaping is understanding how to keep plant materials healthy, build installations that
last & educate the workforce and clientele on
what is necessary for a thriving ecology."

Regardless of the scope and type of a property, OLM  focuses on the fine details. They’ve used this technique during the last 35 years in business and have yet to see others develop a formula as successful as what OLM Inc. created. 

“It is like a McDonald’s and Burger King sitting next to each other on a street corner,” says Ed. “Quality competition is important to drive pricing, innovation and quality of  service. We want to see others doing what we do because our service helps our industry. Our team inspects an incredible amount of properties each month, which proves how necessary this is.”

Accountability may look different for various areas of the industry when considering aspects like company size, project value, time of year and even location. Regardless of the logistics, though, it is about consistency, education and quality performance. OLM’s work promotes positive change for landscape maintenance businesses and truly raises the bar for quality landscape maintenance.

Get In Touch With...

Ed Jensen
Vice President of OLM Inc.
Email: ejensen@olminc.com

www.olminc.com