Behind the Scenes With Our Garden Care Team
A Day in the Lives of our Bonick Landscaping Garden Care Team Members
It’s 6 AM on this balmy summer morning and Orlando, Debbie, Byron, Trevor, and Carlos caffeinate at their desks just before the sun emerges from behind the trees. Today, just like every day, they sift through emails, texts, voicemails, and irrigation logs to check in on their clients and their properties. Before the maintenance and enhancement crews head out to job sites for the day, our garden care team assembles the necessary paperwork for each project and ensures their crews have the proper tools and materials. On this particular day, before they made their rounds on property walk-thrus, I had the opportunity to chat with them to learn more about their scope of work and life at Bonick. Listen in as our garden care team discusses communication, challenges, color, and the culture at Bonick Landscaping.
Communication
While it’s no secret that communication is key to success, our garden care team prioritizes this on a daily basis with both clients and co-workers. From in-person interfacing and phone calls to texts or emails, clear communication is an instrumental tool to ensure that everyone involved is consistently on the same page.
Client Communication
Whether it be age, lifestyle, or personal preference, we all tend to have a preferred method of communication. Our garden managers find that it’s most effective to assess each client’s preferences early in the game. Our clients appreciate their mindfulness, as well as their personal property newsletters that summarize what’s been worked on that month, what’s next on their to-do list, and any weather topics or property-specific needs. We receive positive client feedback from this consistent communication.
Orlando Madrid considers himself his client’s advocate. They entrust him to care for their property and in turn, it’s important that we catch issues before they do.
Debbie Carpenter further emphasizes addressing concerns before a client has to ask. “It gives them a sense of “security” knowing that we are on top of things and have a sense of urgency when needed.”
Byron Long confirms that this “shows the client we care and we’re being proactive.”
Carlos Chaves likes to make his presence known when he’s on a property and build personal relationships with his clients. He feels he gains better insight into personalities and preferences which allows him to do the best job possible. The more he gets to know his clients, the more he understands what they are paying attention to. For instance, he might see that one corner of the landscape is struggling in the sun, but the client’s main concern is actually a sprinkler hitting the window. Without adequate client communication, we’re walking in the dark.
Internal Team Communication
In order to loop in an entire garden care team on a project, we utilize various methods of internal communication as well. Whether it be a quick text or a meeting in the field or office, it’s crucial that every member stay informed to keep the process seamless, the directions accurate, and the tasks on schedule.
One small miscommunication can cost a job numerous hours or thousands of dollars in plant material. To avoid this, each department checks in with one another to ensure that every detail is spot on. For example, our garden managers converse with our procurement manager to be sure the plant quality is top notch before we pass the baton to our production and installation teams. Communication every step of the way is crucial to be sure that every material involved is of impeccable quality prior to moving onto the next step.
Another method we utilize to keep each other informed is a productivity software, CompanyCam, that allows us to assign users to a project, track its progress, and update it with images, notes, and reports. Byron and Carlos speak highly of the effectiveness of Bonick’s project management app, which allows high-level interdepartmental project-based communication. (It also allows me to pull up the projects they reference during our chat to enable visual storytelling for our fellow readers.)
“Company Cam reports are very helpful. We take photos and put notes next to them with arrows, diagrams, instructions, etc. That way if someone is out, another person can continue the work seamlessly.” – Carlos
Challenges, Victories, & Unique Situations
From challenges to rewarding projects and unusual on-the-job events, our garden care team dishes on them all…
Challenges & Creative Solutions
Despite our best efforts, challenges always arise. Whether it be related to weather, soil, drainage, plant or personnel availability, or unexpected surprises, we are ready to pivot when it’s required. We play musical chairs when someone is out sick and make adjustments based on the project load of each of the crews to see how we can most effectively complete that days routes. When we lost trees and dropped limbs during the recent storms, we were able to triage the ones most important from pools, driveways, etc. to make life a little more comfortable for our clients.
When I called Trevor, he was in the midst of helping his crew install a 30-foot tree to replace one that was lost during last month’s storms. “We didn’t anticipate taking a gate off to install a tree—so we were able to get a couple of guys and a dolly to make it happen.”
“One day I had 2 projects going simultaneously about 8 mins from each other. Project B had a rock delivered that wasn’t small enough for the drainage. Project A had the right size and color rock leftover from a gravel bed installation, so I made some calls and had a foreman pick up the rock from project A to extend the garden bed and solve the drainage issue at project B. I asked questions to figure out how to solve the problem and the solution didn’t cause any frustrations or cost anyone extra money, so it was a win, win.” – Carlos
Meaningful Projects & Victories
“My clients wanted a simpler, lower maintenance front landscape to reflect the Texas hill country style of their home. I worked with Glenn and other members of the garden management team to create a beautiful meadow design. Our clients loved it and expressed their deepest appreciation.” – Byron
“Overall, I think for any Garden manager, it is always a victory when you know you have made a challenging client happy or have turned them around. That is always very rewarding”. – Debbie
To Orlando, as a new employee, a personal victory is gaining the trust of his clients and teammates. “When you have gained that trust, your job becomes a hundred times easier.”
“I recently completed a relatively large enhancement with plant material, concrete removal, gravel, sod, and large crepe myrtle installation and they were very happy how it went. It was quite an accomplishment considering all the rain. Anytime I get a seasonal color installation completed and I get an unprompted ‘Wow, that looks great, it’s a victory.'” – Byron
“I was caring for a property that had tons of irrigation issues from last year’s flooding that caused them to lose numerous plants. I hopped on the project this spring and assessed the issues with the system. After I didn’t find anything, I listened for leaks and drips (not a routine check). I was able to resolve the issue for the client and everything suddenly started looking better. The clients have reached out to Glenn to express their gratitude and commended me for mitigating the issues and appreciated how I stayed on top of things to help them. Pots and beds all look great now!” – Carlos
Unique Situations
From being attacked by bluebirds, herding ducks, embarrassed by unfazed sunbathers, receiving words of affection, and becoming a borderline marriage counselor, our garden care team has seen and done it all and lived to tell about it!
Color
When it comes to seasonal summer color, everyone leans towards flowers that will thrive during our crazy summers. Some of their current favorites include: cordyline, variegated ginger, SunPatiens, distylium, lantana, pentas, vincas, bougainvillea, leopard plants, and Gregg’s mistflower.
To get their ideas, our garden managers talk to their clients to learn about their vision and favorite colors. Then they collaborate with others on the garden care and design teams to create a plan. Byron volunteers at the Dallas Arboretum and also gets much of his inspiration from regular trips there.
Since Carlos focuses mostly on plant science, he leans on a friend at a local nursery who provided him with a comprehensive folder of spillers, thrillers, and fillers for creativity. Then he utilizes an AI image generator to create mock-ups of pot combinations to test them before implementation.
Trevor confirms that about a third of his clients are happy repeating the same color they had the prior year, but he still offers his ideas. Others provide more creative freedom. “I try to look at what type of plant will work in the space. What does the surrounding palette look like? House color, trim color, surrounding foliage, plants, etc. and I use pops of color to accent, client preferences. For pots, I try to use something of good height that will pop and fill the pot and then something that cascades over the side so we have a 3 dimensional pot that flows.”
Culture
At the end of his day, Carlos stops by the office before he heads home to make sure everything is on track with his crews. At 25, he’s already learned the significance of building rapport with his veteran peers. “Getting my hands dirty, being out in the field, in the heat, helping them feel understood and appreciated as humans and not just labor is so important.”
Trevor loves to leave each project better than when he arrived. “I’m proud to represent each property and everything on it is a reflection of all of us. One home features a large arch form and I noticed it was dirty. So, I spent extra time polishing the leuder stone because to me, it’s important to make sure every aspect of the property looks good.”
The team at Bonick delivers professional results with service and leadership in the industry. It’s our #1 core value and we carry it through all we do, whether it’s a plant health care application or seeing a high end design-build project to completion and following it up with garden management/maintenance.
Our client-centric focus puts their satisfaction at the forefront. In return, our reward is knowing that our clients feel at home in their space and that we were a integral part of creating that vibe. The fruits of our labor are evident in their smiles and their property reflects our efforts.
Our garden care experts would love to assist you with your space and take the worry out of maintaining your estate grounds. Contact us today to learn more about our services.
— by Tammara Dalke
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