Landscape Growth Heightens Specialization and Diversity

MARIETTA, GA

Across the nation, Landscape Contractors are working hard to keep up with a booming landscape industry. Companies are training crews in more specialized fields, hoping to attract and keep clients in a healthy-- but competitive-- green industry.

According to a recent study released by the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA), the landscape industry is "very healthy-- which translates into a great deal of work, clients with bigger budgets, and more competition for labor." Pressure of the marketplace can push more companies into specialization and diversification of installation and maintenance services. Across the nation, according to PLCAA, Landscape Contractors are attending classes and seminars at a growing rate on different methods and specialty skills, including landscape design, agronomics, pesticides and fertilizers, turf disease control, safety classes, landscape irrigation certification, athletic field maintenance and equipment operation. Some companies have found lucrative niches in golf course work-- rebuilding bunkers, tees and providing maintenance, reconstruction and modification. Tree care work and water feature construction/maintenance are other areas surging across the nation, particularly in the southwestern states.