Top 10 TLC stories of August 2018

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As part of Total Landscape Care’s look back on 2018, here are the top 10 stories during the month of August.

10. How to: Creating a desert landscape

A well-maintained and beautiful landscape doesn’t always have to feature exotic and elaborate plants, especially for customers in the Southwest.

To find out more about creating a Southwestern desert landscape, check out these helpful planting and design tips.

Click here to read the full story.

9. Nearmap offers high-resolution aerial imagery solutions for landscapers

With only so many hours in a day, it can be a challenge to complete all of your work as efficiently as possible, but on many fronts, technology is helping landscaping companies find an edge.

One way technology is helping landscapers is through aerial site mapping. While Google Earth has been around for years and more companies are investing in drones, the company Nearmap offers to take the idea one step further.

Click here to read the full story.

8. 2019 Chevy Silverado gets new towing features

Chevy announced that the all-new 2019 Silverado 1500 is introducing several levels of towing features to improve trailering experiences.

All light-duty Silverado trucks have myChevrolet trailering phone app capability, plus customers can add the Advanced Trailering System, which includes access to the system in-vehicle.

Click here to read the full story.

7. Minimize downtime by having a parts management plan

When managing a packed schedule and demanding clients, the last thing a landscape contractor wants to hear is that a machine is down and the part needed to fix it is not available. Time is money in this competitive industry, and an unusable machine can result in lost revenue.

To avoid this fate, it is important for landscapers to prepare their business for machine downtime by creating a parts strategy that will improve efficiency.

Click here to read the full story. 

6. Heroes Management Services: Running a lucrative holiday lighting business

This is part one in a two-part series. Click here to read part two. The origin story of Heroes Management Services is a unique one, as this Omaha, Nebraska-based business was an idea proposed by partners Mike Marlow and Augie Roper.

In January 2014, when they met Taylor Olberding, who was working a part-time job installing Christmas lights, they asked him if he was interested in joining them in starting a lawn and landscape company that also installed holiday lighting so they could work year-round.

Click here to read the full story. 

5. CM’s A Cut Above: Setting people up for success

This is part two in a two-part series. Click here to read part one. Skilled employees are the lifeblood of any landscaping company and the same can be said for CM’s A Cut Above, based in Omaha, Nebraska.

Chuck Monico, president of CM’s, works hard to keep his employees once he’s found them and the fact that some have been with the company for 15 to 20 years says that he must be doing something right.

Click here to read the full story.

4. CM’s A Cut Above: Treating employees like owners

This is part one in a two-part series. Click here to read part two. Inside a building that used to house a roller-skating rink in Omaha, Nebraska, employees of CM’s A Cut Above gathered for their weekly huddle.

Three whiteboards covered in grids listed the income, cost of goods sold and expenses of each week for the month.

The huddle serves as a company-wide meeting updating the team on their progress toward monthly goals, as well as educating the group on why the numbers have either gone up or down.

Click here to read the full story. 

3. Landscape design ideas to help clients’ outdoor spaces work for them

Outdoor spaces provide a place for customers to connect with nature, relax and unwind or enjoy time with family and friends. It is important to design outdoor spaces to meet the needs that are most important to your clients.

If they are thinking of redesigning their outdoor getaway consider seeing if they are interested in including one of these popular, yet functional, landscape design ideas.

Click here to read the full story. 

2. Bob-Cat refreshes brand with new lineup of commercial mowers

Bob-Cat Mowers has announced its biggest product launch in brand history with a full line of new commercial mowers.

When the company was looking at what to update and improve upon, it reached out to customers to find out why they buy Bob-Cat.

According to Ron Scheffler, senior product manager for Bob-Cat, landscapers said they run Bob-Cat’s mowers due to their cut quality, durability and ease of service.

Click here to read the full story.

1.  How to avoid common snow removal mistakes

Snow and ice removal season will be here before you know it and if the Farmers’ Almanac’s predictions are correct, it will also be a profitable one thanks to an abundance of snow.

While other experts have been saying this year’s winter will be a warm and wet one, the Farmers’ Almanac disputes this.

Click here to read the full story.

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