The American Green Team

Refugee Begins New Life in the Landscaping Industry

People often relate a struggling workforce to a lack of skilled workers. They say there aren’t enough bodies to cover the many sites and projects on a daily job sheet. A Texas landscaper argues that the industry doesn’t just need an influx of people. It needs a stronger investment in the people they already have.

David Fernandez is a project manager at Wesco Grounds Company in Houston. He specializes in irrigation management and has several years experience leading company crews. David didn’t get his start in landscaping, though. In fact, he was an industrial engineer who helped manage a refinery until the 1990s, when he fled his home during the Venuzuelan rebellion.

“I grew up in a smaller town in Venezuela, and my father and grandfather worked in the oil refinery,” David says. “We grew up knowing about gas and oil pipelines, everything involved and everything related. So, I started college and made a career as an industrial engineer. I met my wife in college and when I finished school, I started working in the oil company with my father.”

When Venezuela transitioned to a socialist organization, things began to change.

“All these people would come and try to run the company,” David explains. “They pressured us to support certain rules and politices. Instead of investing in maintaining the refinery, they wanted to give the money to political parties and propeganda. They wanted us to follow orders, and we didn’t want to do it. We believed in freedom. We said, ‘This is our home, this is our our blood. This is the currency that our grandfathers gave us.’”

David’s opposition sparked violence against his family, to the point where groups broke into his home and beat him. To protect his wife and young daughter, he decided to escape.

“We left everything behind,” he recalls. “The day I left, I met my dad and said, ‘This is the last time I’m gonna see you.’ He believed that things would change, but I knew once we escaped we couldn’t go back. I had to leave my father, mother and sister.”

David, his wife and their 6-year-old daughter flew to Florida that day. They briefly stayed with family, until moving on to Texas, where they would start over completely. David got a job working as an irrigation worker and worked tirelessly to become an expert in his new field. He worked with a mentor, read manuals during his lunchtime, studied things like soils and precipitation rates and memorized industry terms.

“It doesn’t matter that I was in engineering,” he says. “I needed to start over for my daughter, and I was determined to make the best living for my family. Every day, I started working early and continued late into the afternoon. I would get to work at 4:30 a.m. and everyone else would begin at 5:30 a.m. Many people didn’t understand me. They didn’t get what the point of that was. But I was so grateful for this country and this opportunity to start over.”

During this time, he saw a need in his company for community and collaboration. After about a year, David obtained his irrigator license and was promoted on his team to field supervisor. He immediately began working to build stronger connections among his team. He designed a training program that paired younger members with the older ones. The team began stretching in the morning, going through safety procedures and even set up a soccer team to play in their free time. David built a program that rewarded team members when they did things that embodied the company’s core values. The closer the team grew, the more they learned from each other and expanded their skills. This showed in their work.

“It took time but after several months, everyone started understanding the plants and improving at their jobs,” he says. “They began to believe in the company.”

David says a key piece to success is mentorship. Those who have mentored him have largely shaped his own career, and he has seen the impact of mentorships on his team. He believes that, overall, this is something the industry is lacking.

“People have so much knowledge but they’re not sharing it,” he says. “We have people that understand the work and can see a project plan, but they have five younger guys who don’t understand and are making mistakes. I know people who have been doing this for years can measure moisture or identify stress by just looking at the soil. Many of these guys are hiding. They will tell me they’re too shy and don’t want to talk a lot, and the managers just see them as a foreman or another team member.”

"But they are like a seed. If nobody sprays it,
you miss a golden opportunity."

David says there are many in the industry with a story similar to his. They didn’t start out as landscapers and may have very different professional backgrounds. With extra teaching and patience, though, they can become experts in the field.

“We even have a lot of Venezuelans on our team with a story or a similar story,” David says. “They are fighting every day to be successful. They are so valuable and I know they can keep moving forward in their careers. That is why training is so important to me.”

David is now a project manager with Wesco. He says despite hardships he experienced, he is thankful to watch his daughter grow up in a free world. Ultimately, the opportunities provided to his family and his teammates will continue to motivate him to work hard each day.

Get In Touch With...

Westco Grounds Maintenance
Location: Houston, Texas
Phone: (713) 466–1822

www.westcogrounds.com