Landscaping the Incredible, Profile: John Vlay, President, Jensen Corporation Landscape Contractors

Interview by Leslie McGuire, managing editor

''After the installation phase, we usually maintain the jobs we install.'' Vlay continues, ''Most of our contracts have a 90-day maintenance period. Then, because they're pleased with our work, we send them to our division that focuses on landscape maintenance. This is an example of a commercial property where we do the maintenance.?EUR??,,????'?????<

Jensen Corporation Landscape Contractors was founded by Fred Jensen, a Danish stonemason, who arrived in Northern California in March 1962, seeking a climate where he could work year around. Says John Vlay, President, ''This year is our 40th Anniversary and we now have a total of 424 year-round employees across all our companies and locations.''

''Originally, our biggest challenge was moving from a Mom and Pop shop management into a more cohesive, organized entity that encompassed many professional aspects while still retaining the highest customer service,'' Vlay points out. ''We now have a staff count for all companies/locations of 424, and all are year-round employees.''

''Jensen did the installation for this 25-acre private residence site, and it won Best in Show from the CLCA in 2008,'' remembers John Vlay, President. ''The formal English garden includes the fountain in the foreground, with a runnel flowing to the swimming pool and pool house at the back. Jensen also does the ongoing maintenance. All the irrigation, landscape, masonry and flat work took two and a half years to complete. Although there were quite a few changes, we basically stuck to the original design with only minor modifications.''

How the Company Began

Fred Jensen incorporated in 1969 making this year the 40th Anniversary of the company. In 1982, he sold the company to his Estimator, Duane Wasson and his Superintendent, Scott McGilvray. The new management grew the company and established a working environment focusing on customer service and employee development. In 1988, McGilvray and Wasson formed Jensen Landscape Services (JLS), a landscape maintenance company, in partnership with Don DeFever who ran the operations as the General Manager.

''Jensen did the entire Oracle campus in 1988 and as the company grew, the campus grew, too.'' According to Vlay, ''The final stage was completed, after 10 years, in 1998. We did all the masonry and rockwork throughout the entire campus using Arkansas table rock, but subcontracted out the pump work. Jensen did not do the design. Early on, we made a conscious decision not to get into design work. We prefer to partner with landscape architects rather than compete with them. That way we can focus on what we do best, which is installation and maintenance.''

Evolving as a Family

An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) was formed in 1994 to transfer ownership from Duane and Scott to all eligible employees.

''What does it mean to be an ESOP?'' explains Vlay. ''It means you have a great way to better the company. Each person's strengths lead to the overall strength of the company. That, in turn, leads to a stronger employee base. We empower our employees by providing them with tools, training and authority so they can do their best. We are now the 3rd generation of employee owners, which has been a comfortable transition from the company we were when Duane and Scott were here. It took 10 years of building, developing and growing it before transferring it over.''

''The California Academy of Sciences actually presented one of the biggest challenges because we needed to install soil and plants on domes with slopes steeper than 45 degrees. The design called for gabions 21 feet on center to act as soil retainers and create access for maintenance work,'' remembers Vlay. ''We came up with a solution to put some additional gabions on that 21-foot grid - rather like a Tic-Tac-Toe grid - and even then, gravity caused some of them to slip, so in addition to the bio trays we put plants with established roots on the slopes to make sure they held.''

Our Overarching Philosophy

''Jensen's success is exemplified by our core values,'' states Vlay. ''These include safety: ensuring a safe work environment. Integrity: doing what we say we will do; Excellence: professionalism and getting it right the first time; Integrity: doing what we say we will do; Ingenuity: creativity in finding ways to improve our methods to better serve our customers; Community Involvement: giving back to our environment and community.''

''From a safety standpoint,'' he continues, ''we've ramped up employee safety and our worker's comp modifier index. 100 is the industry standard and we're now at 75 which is better than most. It's the gauge of how safe a company is. We require all staff to wear a hard hat and safety vest with branding, on construction sites. They have goggles and hearing protection as well, provided by the company.''

?EUR??,,????'?????<

Expansion and Development

Jensen's headquarters and main yard are located in San Jose. ''We have branch offices in Roseville and Santa Rosa and eleven satellite yards to service our clients throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Region,'' says Vlay. ''Construction remains the largest division, but with acquisitions and organic growth in maintenance, we anticipate the maintenance division to surpass construction next year. We have a large inventory of equipment between all of our companies and locations. We have set up our equipment on an internal rental program in an effort to keep costs down and to track usage and availability.''

Favorite Projects

''Of course, for myself and all the employees, our favorites are those projects where we are brought in early to work with the developer, landscape architect and general contractor,'' Vlay points out. ''We can help budget, value-engineer, build and then maintain. But, my all time favorite was the greenroof atop the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.''

''The California Academy of Sciences presented the biggest challenge because we had to install soil and plants on the mountainous terrain of two large domes,'' he continues. ''If it had just been a pitched roof, that would have been manageable. Since these were domes, we had trouble putting on the jute mesh. In addition, the variation between the south side and the north side presented us with all kinds of micro-climates. Add on to that getting all the material up on to the roof, distributing it to its final location and finally, getting the material to stay on the slopes. We cut the bio trays as if they were sod to get 100 percent coverage. We learned a lot. Jensen installed one of the first and largest greenroofs in California at the GAP in 1995. We surpassed this with the California Academy of Sciences in 2007, which has a 2.5 acre greenroof (70,000 square feet). The Academy roof was not the first, but it was definitely the most challenging.''

''We recently gave a tour to the CLCA and the roof is holding well and looking good,'' says Vlay. ''Recently we added more gabions to give maintenance workers access to the skylights, as we are currently maintaining the site as well.''

''At the end of March we get all our field people and set up stations where people can go from one to the next,'' explains Vlay. ''This station teaches on how to back up a maintenance truck. We also have stations on how to raise and lower a crane, mower safety, heat precautions, as well as our employee ownership and what it means to be an ESOP.''

Challenges for the Future

''Currently, our biggest challenge is the economy'' Vlay declares. ''What with projects slipping or being cancelled entirely, competitors taking jobs at or below cost, fewer enhancements with our maintenance clients and cost concession requests, we are facing a challenge.''

''But we're using the time to better train employees and institute cost cutting measures, while at the same time looking for ways to better service our customers.'' Vlay continues, ''My advice is, plan for the worst and hope for the best.''