Jack Jostes [00:00:00]:
How did everything fare during the great freeze?
Donna Kauffman [00:00:03]:
People ask us that all the time. And at the end of the day, we lost as much as we do in the heat of the summer. We knew it was coming, and so what we did is we took all the trees, the smaller, more the smaller containers and the more sensitive varieties, and we put them in the center. So we did what's called healed in in the horticulture industry. But this is what we do in horticulture. We get ahead of the weather, we think like the plants.
Jack Jostes [00:00:24]:
Tell me about your kind of employee scorecard.
Kurt Kauffman [00:00:27]:
You have your two areas, you have your landscape installation crew, and you'll have your maintenance crew. There's a list of equipment that then you can categorize. You've got this one knocked out. You've got the Toro. You understand the line tremor, and then you were able to put a number on it. Are you a one or a 10, 10, being the best, so that you can then categorize the employee, and then you can rank them on a pay, you know, and you give them goals like, hey, work on this area so it lets you really visualize it.
00:55 - Introducing Donna & Kurt Kauffman from Unique Landscaping
Jack Jostes [00:00:55]:
All right, everyone, welcome back to The Landscaper’s Guide Podcast. Today I'm excited to interview a longtime Ramblin Jackson client, Unique Landscaping. They are a high end residential design and service company in the Dallas Fort Worth area, and they're here in the studio in Lyons, Colorado. Thank you guys, for coming out here. So excited to have you with me here.
Kurt Kauffman [00:01:17]:
It's good to be here. Good to be here. It's a nice place.
Jack Jostes [00:01:20]:
So what have you done while you've been here so far?
Kurt Kauffman [00:01:23]:
The weather's been great. We've seen Boulder. We've seen The Botanical Garden in Denver, and we were able to catch up with a friend and real important and see you and be part of this together.
Jack Jostes [00:01:36]:
So, for folks watching or listening, what is Unique Landscaping? What do you all do?
Donna Kauffman [00:01:42]:
So we're a 30 year old company, and we started right out of college where we had met as two horticulturists, and we learned what our niche was, and that was connecting with the client, learning about the plants and then establishing them nice outdoor living areas where they could learn what we learned.
Jack Jostes [00:01:59]:
I love it. You've been in business over 30 years. What actually makes Unique Landscaping unique?
02:07 - What Makes Unique Landscaping…Unique?
Donna Kauffman [00:02:07]:
It starts with our horticulture and what horticulture means. A lot of people don't know the definition of horticulture, but horticulture is the use of plants and inanimate objects for people's use, consumption, and enjoyment. So we've taken that literally, and we've combined the art and science of horticulture and turned it into a masterpiece that people can live in their backyards or their front yards. It's all high end residential estate type situations. And once you understand the environment and the effects on the environment, you can solve problems, introduce the plant material, and let it naturally take care of itself to live for generations to come.
Kurt Kauffman [00:02:44]:
We've been able to really develop the designs around the plants that we know are proven winners. We know they succeed. They can live in the Texas environment. So that area, the Dallas Fort Worth area, the cross timbers, these areas that we've learned to work with, native and adaptive plants that really bring them in a lot of joy and color every year, every month.
03:08 - How to Choose the Right Plants for Long Term Client Satisfaction
Jack Jostes [00:03:08]:
How does that make your life easier, you know, long term, with clients? By selecting the right plants out of the gate.
Donna Kauffman [00:03:16]:
Often clients come from another region, and they want to grow something that is memorable to them. And they'll say, I came from Georgia, and I want some southeast plants. And so as long as we put them on the southeast facing slope where they're exposed to some of the sun in the little more natural rain and buffered from the hot southwest sun, we can sometimes make it work. If it's not going to be adaptive or we failed at it, we'll tell them it's not really here, but we have another similar color flower, similar shaped flower, maybe a plume flower or a low evergreen ground cover that we can introduce so that they replicate and get that feeling of the garden that they want. But we're using plants that when we're gone or they're not home to take care of them, they're ready for the next season in the ever changing weather.
Jack Jostes [00:03:58]:
So, Kurt, we've worked on a lot of things over the years, including creating three reasons to buy from Unique Landscaping. What's the first one?
04:05 - Unique Landscaping’s Three Reasons to Buy
Kurt Kauffman [00:04:05]:
It's we know the Texas soil and the Texas climate like no one else.
Jack Jostes [00:04:09]:
I like that. What's the second one?
Donna Kauffman [00:04:11]:
We're a true partner. We partner with the customer.
Jack Jostes [00:04:13]:
And what's the third reason? People work with Unique Landscaping?
Kurt Kauffman [00:04:17]:
Because of our true integrity and guarantee.
Jack Jostes [00:04:20]:
So tell me about the soil part. What goes wrong in landscaping in the Dallas Fort Worth area when people don't know the soil well?
Kurt Kauffman [00:04:30]:
Well, the main thing in our soil, it's very calcareous, and it's. It needs organic matter. And some areas, we know it because of the areas around the metroplex or where we work, some are really good and sandy. Some can be rocking some can be clay. The main thing, though, is to put organic matter in it. So our bed preparation process is very important, so we don't cut corners on that. We do till in a composted material with fertilizer four to six inches. And that's very important because you only get that one chance to do it.
Kurt Kauffman [00:05:00]:
Very important for the future and the life of those plant materials and the nutrients.
Jack Jostes [00:05:04]:
Because it can vary so much from property to property. What do you do? Do you test it first to then figure out what you need to do? Or how do you, or do you, do you just apply the same soil treatment to every property?
Kurt Kauffman [00:05:16]:
We do, because no matter what, you need the organic matter that's there. As far as what's there when you get there, depending on what their material is, previous landscaper could have put in different kinds of mulch, and we'll move that around. We can use that or we'll haul it off. But in general, the soils are pretty, pretty across the board. They need organic matter for the top area, for the roots are going to get going for the plant material.
Jack Jostes [00:05:40]:
Good. And then what about, what does being a true partner mean?
Donna Kauffman [00:05:44]:
From the first time we meet you, we have the free consultation and we learn what your needs are or what your concerns may be. And then we take those back to the office and do our magic in our design work. And every day the designer is on site to oversee the project as it's being installed. And then there's a follow up where you meet with your designer again and you learn about the plants and the care that they may take. And we have a unique guarantee.
Jack Jostes [00:06:08]:
How can you guarantee anything with plants?
Kurt Kauffman [00:06:11]:
Well, I think with integrity and the guarantee that we offer, it really has to do something real special that Unique Landscaping does is we follow up. So you're going to follow up with a six week checkup that the client gets. We're going to do a six month checkup.
Jack Jostes [00:06:28]:
Is that somebody visiting their property?
Kurt Kauffman [00:06:30]:
Yes. A horticulturist will go. One of our staff members will go. They have the plan. They have the job report, and they study the design. We'll see and we'll catch things that maybe they're overwatering in the beginning. So it's the first six weeks to have everything. We've already given them a grow out program, irrigation system set up for watering.
Jack Jostes [00:06:51]:
Do most of your projects include irrigation systems?
Kurt Kauffman [00:06:54]:
They are. We are. Most of our projects are homes that are already established. So they have an irrigation system. We run it in the very beginning when we start the project and analyze what they have and how those zones affect the new bed areas and how the new bed areas are going to be affected by the spray head layout. And then we'll make adjustments to that to help make sure the coverage is accurate, and then program the system accordingly. And at six weeks, you can see weak plants, or if there's a problem, and then we'll flag it. We go through a process of marking it.
Kurt Kauffman [00:07:27]:
And on the job, report that. Then we'll send, we'll replace it. And if there's something dead or sometimes things are doing great, you put a check mark doing great. Our client specialist will email them, say everything looked really good. If we have any recommendation for watering at that time, we'll give it. And then in six months, or if there's a plant that needs replaced, we send a miscellaneous crew that will get that planted, get that replaced. So the six. And then by the end of the year, the client gets their landscape.
Kurt Kauffman [00:07:55]:
We have established it. We've helped them, guided them along the way, and made adjustments to the irrigation or just plant material.
Jack Jostes [00:08:04]:
You know, your business has grown so much in the last five or six years, and I knew that it's because of your people, but also the processes that you've built into the business. So what would you say are some of the processes that you've established that have created some freedom for you to go travel to Colorado for the weekend and not be kind of stressed out during the spree?
Donna Kauffman [00:08:29]:
Well, I'd like to say we've always had the same values and we've identified them. I don't know that we always understood how to really appreciate them, but we apply them. Whether it's a client concern, if it's a new employee, what we want to promote about Unique Landscaping, or even if it's just a decision in how production should go. We've talked about the five values, and they are professionalism, fairness, discipline. The other one is accountability. And we take care of families, which is our last value. We treat everybody as if they were family. We know that there's a higher power than ourselves out there, and we want to leave the day a better place.
Donna Kauffman [00:09:05]:
We want to leave the project a better place. We want people to have that feeling when the landscape is done or when the employee goes home. And as long as we're being accountable for what we did, and we say what we do and we do what we say and we follow. We just follow back through as a professional. We team ourselves with the right people. We keep practicing those values and that's helped us come to this part of our business, where we can now really enjoy the fruits of the labor and understand that it will take care of itself.
Kurt Kauffman [00:09:32]:
With the staff that we have. Your question is, how can we do this? We've also say, think. What would Kurt think or what would Donna think? And with these values, they take care of them for us, and they can do it.
Jack Jostes [00:09:45]:
One of our core values is to be professional. So that's a value that we share. I think it's really important. And in the landscape industry, if you can be professional, you're just light years ahead of the people who maybe do a similar level of work, but they're not as professional. You're going to win. You're going to attract better customers. Same thing is true in my business. And anyone with a laptop can run a marketing company, but they may not be professional.
10:14 - Unique Landscaping’s Hiring Process and Core Values
Jack Jostes [00:10:14]:
So that's something that I hire for. How do you. How do you, when you're recruiting and interviewing people, how do you look for these things to see if somebody shares the values before they get on the boat?
Donna Kauffman [00:10:26]:
So there's a process. People can join the company, and they go through the Internet. It's called uniquelandscapingjobs.com. And there's some questions on there. They get a phone interview, and we do it in English or Spanish, and there's just several questions in there. You know, it's not for everybody. And we understand that there's other places to use talents. The importance of being on time in the morning, it just begins with your professionalism.
Donna Kauffman [00:10:49]:
We can't let you go home early or go be able to be with your family if you can't get there early to do your job.
Kurt Kauffman [00:10:55]:
And there's things to show up with. You know, if you don't show up with the things, things we ask you to show up with, then you didn't listen or you weren't capable. So, yeah, that onboarding period is very important.
Jack Jostes [00:11:05]:
Little tests when they fill out the application and how they show up, were are they late, all these little things. So you've been there over 30 years. How has the market changed and what's it like now?
11:18 - How the Landscaping Market Has Evolved Over 30 Years
Donna Kauffman [00:11:18]:
So, coming out of college with our horticulture degrees, there were some attributes that you wanted to look at if you were going to grow something or market horticulture. And one thing is you needed to be on a paved road or a county road because they keep that improved. And so we have a location that's at the intersection not only of a state highway, but a county road. So you can be found on the maps. It's improved. You're not going down a bunch of dirt roads to the end of the lane to get somewhere. And it's changed because now we have over 35,000 cars a day go by it in the area of the metroplex as people commute from the high end residential neighborhoods to where their jobs may be.
Donna Kauffman [00:11:58]:
The other thing we were taught in college, and we follow what we're taught. We learned about horticulture. We follow the rules, was a slope to the south, because that's where plants like to grow. So we were able to establish our tree farm with a slope to the south. And it gives it good drainage. It helps with the air circulation. There's all sorts of niche gardens that go into locations, but you'll see our retail location. It's designs that.
Donna Kauffman [00:12:20]:
That there's retail tree cells in the center of it, and then it's a circle driveway with designed gardens on premises.
Jack Jostes [00:12:27]:
I noticed that when I drove a rental car. We were driving around it.
Donna Kauffman [00:12:32]:
As you drive around, you see the southeast, where some of the flowers are blooming and more of the color, and then you end up with the north facing fence, where we can show you after you've purchased one of our retail trees, where it's more shady and you find the more adaptive plants to where there might be a little more damp and shady. And then we have some of the areas where the wind blows a little bit harder, and we have some of the conifers and evergreens. So when you come in to look for a tree, we ask you, what is it that you need? If your shade, oak is the way to go. So you look for the white tags. If you're looking for more of a specimen outside a window from the house or down at the end of a path, a focal point, then you would look at the flowering and ornamental, and then the other trees are the ones that don't really fall into be an oak or for maybe such a specialty tree, like a flowering ornamental. But they are truly native and adaptive. And that's one thing that we just had to learn to be in the environment in Texas. It was a frontier, and it still truly can be a frontier at times with the changing weather.
Donna Kauffman [00:13:31]:
But as long as you've got the plants that are adaptive, and again, it starts with that soil, if you can set down the good roots, you can get that plant established.
13:39 - Overcoming & Adapting to the Great Texas Freeze of 2021
Jack Jostes [00:13:39]:
So I'm curious, and this may be a source of. But how did everything fare during the great freeze? The great Texas Freeze was that 2021?
Donna Kauffman [00:13:48]:
Yeah, it was 2021, Jack. And people ask us that all the time. And at the end of the day, from our record keeping, we lost as much as we do in the heat of the summer. We lost about 10%. We knew it was coming. And so what we did is we took all the trees, the smaller, more the smaller containers and the more sensitive varieties, and we put them in the center. Then we just built a big, round circle of the trees, and we put the larger containers and the more cold tolerant trees all to the outside. So we did what's called heeled in in the horticultural, packed them tight and buffered the edges a little bit, watered it all really good.
Donna Kauffman [00:14:24]:
But this is what we do in horticulture. We get ahead of the weather, we think like the plants, and we lost a few things, but we, the majority of our stuff, we did not lose.
Kurt Kauffman [00:14:32]:
We had two Texas sables palms, and they were big. They were in 36 inch boxes, standalone. They were, they were very large. And they survived it. They went through it, they leafed out, and we sold them the next season.
14:45 - Donna & Kurt Share the Origins of Their Landscaping Passion
Jack Jostes [00:14:45]:
So tell me a little bit about how did you two meet?
Kurt Kauffman [00:14:50]:
Well, we met in entomology. We met studying bugs together. And our joke is she's been bugging me ever since, or I've been bugging her. So that comes up all the time. And, you know, I didn't know, but, yeah, the horticulture really grew, and, like plants, it grows on you.
Jack Jostes [00:15:11]:
So did you, did you both grow up with agriculture, horticulture, landscape, people in your family, or how did you kind of develop this bug?
Kurt Kauffman [00:15:23]:
Playing in the dirt?
Jack Jostes [00:15:25]:
So, no. So, yeah, I'm curious, like, how did you get into this?
Kurt Kauffman [00:15:28]:
Well, me being around my grandparents, I think that was a big influence. And they had one set of grandparents in Arkansas always had a garden, and it seemed like I was always there cracking pecans or going out and getting corn out of the rows, shucking peas, and really growing things. And I found I was growing things in my backyard, and then later, as time came on, just being outside and then getting influenced to work in a garden, so I applied, and I worked at a botanical garden. Donna comes from rich soil. Yeah. Tell us your story.
Donna Kauffman [00:16:07]:
I grew up in the garbage industry, and my parents owned a garbage company in the landfill, and I always liked being outside and getting dirty. It sounds kind of silly, but I enjoyed being outside with the plants, and I was always finding a plant, wanted to know what its name was and figuring out how I could grow it from. My parents had a cabin on a river and take it home and grow it at their house. So I start planting it on a hill and looking at the sun and putting it near the water and learning what its name was.
Kurt Kauffman [00:16:36]:
There was a class when we were in a horticulture class, design, landscape design with our professor and he teamed up groups of two to draw design. He had connections in the city of Stephenville that we would do our own presentation. So it was our first work together. Drew a design for a doctor in town and then they said, hey, what will it take to do it? And then all of a sudden we installed our first landscape design. And that was in college. Had no clue that we would do it later. We always worked for other companies coming out of college. That was our deal.
Kurt Kauffman [00:17:12]:
Graduate and then go to work for other companies. And we did and we learned till we got to the point where, hey, we can do this ourselves.
17:17 - Unique Landscaping's Design Process
Jack Jostes [00:17:17]:
That's cool. So tell me a little bit about your design process. You know, you guys love plants and it's one of the things your comprehension of the soil, what plants are going to a lot of people, they want a design. They want their yard to look great. Where do you start with people and what are some of the. I know that you have employees and there's a balance of having the right structure and processes and flexibility. What are the steps maybe of the design process? That is the unique design.
Donna Kauffman [00:17:47]:
So it's a simple process test and you'll see our big flower, the logo, and there's five steps to the process. And as long as we're putting them in the order, it works. The first thing is the free consultation. And we go within 10 miles of our radius and make these free 1 hour consultations. And we get to know the client and what their needs are, troubleshoot problems they're having, identify plant material, cultural practices, give them ideas on design. And then the next step is to hire to draw a landscape design. The design is the footprint for what that first initial consultation was. To know that everybody's on the same page.
Donna Kauffman [00:18:23]:
It's met your needs. And it's also something that can go then back to the office and streamline through the software and through the process of the different divisions of the office. That initial design and consultation, everything's at a scale drawing. It becomes a numbers game. It's a square foot, how much things are per square foot or the size of a plant material. So once you adopt the design, and it's your choice, it's your yard. We want it to be your yard. You adopt the design before any work is done.
Donna Kauffman [00:18:51]:
Once you've adopted the design and you sign off. Then it goes to the production, where they get a list of the plant materials that are needed for each project we have coming up. And we only do one design at a time, one installation at a time, and things fall into place from there. When the team gets there to install the project is not the time to start asking questions or changing your mind. That all happens at the initial consultation. And if we've done a good job of listening to you, and we've been able to communicate with you, and then we've done a good job at presenting your design, and you've made the revisions that you need to make, then it's easier for the guys in the field because nobody wants to move a boulder twice. When the production is all done, we do a final walk through, where we walk the yard, and we talk about these different environments. This is, you know, where the wind blows, we put the grill so the smoke doesn't go in the back door.
Donna Kauffman [00:19:41]:
And this is how this is all going to fall into place year after year. This is the shade tree you had asked for. Then it's an estate maintenance process where there's a limited number of clients we take on a year. It's first come, first serve. And what will happen is we make twice a month visits. A horticulturist goes by and writes your maintenance work order, and we perform that service. But again, this all has the initial design that was drawn.
Donna Kauffman [00:20:06]:
Your design is revised because of what you adopted. Your square footage is there if you need mulch, but it just seamlessly carries through the process.
Jack Jostes [00:20:14]:
So we talked earlier about integrity with the guarantee, and you were, I think it was, you know, six weeks and then six months and then the year. So is that included with every project? And then the estate maintenance is a separate contract, correct?
Kurt Kauffman [00:20:28]:
Yes.
Jack Jostes [00:20:29]:
Okay, so is it an annual agreement? Sign up for it.
Kurt Kauffman [00:20:34]:
And the good thing about having. Having. We're doing a job that we designed is we know the plant material, we know the design. We can send one of our employees out to do the service there. We know square footage, you know how much mulch, you know how much fertilizer.
Jack Jostes [00:20:47]:
And when you say first come, first serve, is that. Is there a limit to how many you can take on each year?
Donna Kauffman [00:20:52]:
There is, because we run a landscape maintenance crew. There's so many hours that they can physically work, and so we know what that is. The yards are basically small, medium, or large yards. And how long does it take to do spread the fertilizer or whatever the cultural practice at that time is. So we fill up. We fill up pretty quick. It's first come, first serve. Everybody gets the contract at the same time.
Donna Kauffman [00:21:18]:
And they'll call in to either renew or to sign up new. And we tell them, you know, ask your questions right away. When you get that, we'll be happy to answer them. And then once we're full, we're full. The maintenances fill up fast because the client knows they're going to get the same service they got with the free horticulture consultant. We show up, we do what we say. We say what we do. We're there to start the job and finish the job like we told them.
Donna Kauffman [00:21:41]:
And that's what they, that's all they want. They want their yard to look nice when they come home and not have to worry about it. You don't have to be a horticulturist to take care of the yard. You have to be a horticulturist to plan the yard. And that's where you hire that service. You can learn from us. It's all basic, it's all information that you can take from us at a homeowner's level.
22:04 - The Importance of Asking the Right Questions to Qualify Prospects
Jack Jostes [00:22:04]:
You've mentioned listening a few times, and I'm curious, what questions do you always ask? Because I think part of the listening is asking the right questions. Are there any questions that you've written into this, either first phone call or first in person visit that your crews are out asking people right now?
Donna Kauffman [00:22:24]:
Oh, I always ask them how they heard about us. And, you know, it was a big number to us. And when we decided to update our website and we knew we needed, we needed to, but it was something that we knew we had to do because again, we're professional and when we look back and what are our values? And we knew we were going to get what we paid for. And most people find us through that initial Google search and the website gives the facts. We're not promising something on the website. We don't deliver that to me.
Jack Jostes [00:23:00]:
So one of our core values, it's something that you share in your Three Reasons to Buy, is integrity with a guarantee. One of ours is Create Profit and Results with Integrity. To me, it's kind of simple, but it's also a lot of people really get this wrong. You basically need to tell people what you're going to do and then go do it. That's kind of business.
Kurt Kauffman [00:23:21]:
Like you said about listening. Yeah, it's real important. I think the designer going in and meeting the potential client and listening to what their needs are first and being able to deliver that, write it down and we have a proper sheet that, that comes back to the office. So when they move forward, those are the bullet points. That's where you're going to pick up on. The question is, are you looking for more entertainment area? They're going to tell you these things. I just don't like that view. I have an erosion problem here.
Kurt Kauffman [00:23:51]:
Those are the things and that you're going to design around so that when you go back with the design presentation, you start with those points and they know you listen. Our goal, because you have to set a timeline so that you get it completed, is two weeks. We tell the client we're going to get back with you in two weeks.
Jack Jostes [00:24:06]:
I think telling the client that it's going to be two weeks is so important because if it's two weeks, it's two weeks. But if they don't know, then they're feeling really anxious in day four through twelve. Oh, and now, wow. I actually already contacted somebody else.
Kurt Kauffman [00:24:20]:
Sure. You know, commitment. It's commitment. And then in that, in that two week period, our drafter, our staff, the designer is going to go back out there and we film, we take real recordings, we measure where trees exist, what plants are there. So in the recording, then you can go back to the office and at the desk, the designer and the drafter put that in the system. And then, you know what plants you can transplant, what plants you need to remove. And we try to save a lot of things. And depending on the time of year, that's important.
Kurt Kauffman [00:24:53]:
And it takes it all into point right there. So that takes that period of time and the designer then completes the design. When something to take into account is the construction part and meeting and seeing sites by the designer and knowing the drainage and elevation changes, all that comes in important. And then two week, you make the presentation. Like Donna mentioned, the design's broken down in sections, so the way it's drawn is really neat because the title of the area will have lines to each plant, the plant material and description, and then that, that transfers to your proposal. So it's real easy to read.
Donna Kauffman [00:25:30]:
I was originally using India Ink, drawing all the designs by hand, still line item, the proposals, and they followed with a job report for the field to do. So, it's always been the thought process of Unique Landscaping to present the professional landscape design that way. Technology has been on our side and it's been favorable. Revisions are a lot easier with drawing software than they are with India Ink. And as long as you listen to that client, when you first go in and you're presenting them with what they like, they may say, I don't want any red flowers and I want to be able to see it out my back window. If you go in there and put a whole bunch of red flowers at their front door, you've made a mistake right off. And so we close 90% of our sales. And it's not just one designer, it's across the board.
Donna Kauffman [00:26:19]:
It's whoever gets the appointment can close 90% of the sale by following that process.
Kurt Kauffman [00:26:24]:
You know, and we ask, is there a special date you need it completed by, because we already know our schedule, so that's important too.
Jack Jostes [00:26:31]:
Communicating that up front before you go and meet with people is the main thing that I try and get my clients to do, because that's that you can lose a lot of profit and time and morale running around doing in person meetings with people who are not in the budget. They don't need what you do and they are not in your timeline. So one of the things that I've heard you mention is, I think, and you may need to re say this, but first it sleeps, then it creeps. Or the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, and the third year it leaps. Is that. Did I get it right?
Donna Kauffman [00:27:03]:
That's right. Jack, you're turning into a plant. You're starting to understand, because we all see these beautiful things and we want them to work. And when I present a design, or you see a design, we see it in full bloom year round. But what we're teaching you is the plant has to get established and it goes back to, you know, what makes us unique is that soil preparation and letting it, its roots get established. You've got to take care of the roots. If they can't get rooted in, they can't grow leaves. And so the first year it's just rooting itself in and it sleeps.
Donna Kauffman [00:27:35]:
The next year you'll start to see a little bit of growth, but it's not going to be the picture of the plant that you remember from back home or that you just saw at the botanic garden or the neighbors across the street that's been established for five years and you're trying to replicate. So it creeps, but you're still letting the plant take care of itself, get used to its environment, and then after that, it literally can grow by leaps and bounds.
Jack Jostes [00:27:56]:
There's a lot of crossover with what we do in marketing and business with our clients and with plants growing. And that's why we created our Tree of Good Fortune graphic. It starts with a seedling, and then it's a sprout, and then years later, it's a mature tree bearing fruit. Because similarly, people can be frustrated, like, hey, why isn't this working now? And it just takes time.
Kurt Kauffman [00:28:18]:
Yeah. And you can tell them. I'm sure you tell them. You watch. You watch. You're gonna get. You're gonna get the results. You're gonna see.
Kurt Kauffman [00:28:23]:
We're gonna show you how people are clicking on your website. With us, I've told many, and I said, remember, it's fun to say, remember, you're gonna. You call me back when this is really big and you want me to come trim it.
Jack Jostes [00:28:36]:
Okay.
Kurt Kauffman [00:28:36]:
And then they listen, and it's true. It happens, and it develops, and, wow, you were so right. These just took off, and they're growing out everywhere.
28:45 - How to Evaluate & Motivate Employees with a Pay Scale System
Jack Jostes [00:28:45]:
So, Kurt, one thing over dinner last night that you mentioned that I want to kind of my last thing, unless you had anything else for me, feel free to ask, but tell me about your kind of employee scorecard. You were telling me that you have, I think you call it pay scale, and it has a way of grading employees and coaching them and helping figure out, like, hey, you're doing well in this area, and you need to grow these skills. And when you do, here's the corresponding pay.
Kurt Kauffman [00:29:13]:
Yeah. So, at Unique Landscaping, you have your two areas. You have your landscape installation crew, and you'll have your maintenance crew, and then you'll have your irrigation as far as those skill sets that you'll have to have. So think about the maintenance crew, the equipment that you use in maintenance is different than you use in landscape installation. And so there's a list of equipment that then you can categorize.
Kurt Kauffman [00:29:39]:
Your supervisor can say, Jack, hey, you've got this one knocked out. You've got the Toro. You understand the line trimmer, and then you were able to put a number on it. Are you a one or a 10, 10 being the best? So, in these different parts of equipment, learning how to prune, fertilizer application, have you read, have you used an aerator? And how good are you at it are going to get you to where your form, you're moving up, and you're an apprentice at first, and you move on up, and then eventually, you'll be a master at some of these things. And sometimes some areas, they're just not. It's as simple as even raking or, you know, organization. So that you can then categorize the employee, and then you can rank them on a pay, you know, and you give them goals like, hey, work on this area so it lets you really visualize it. The landscape crew too, different areas on how good you are, what you need to know how to do.
Kurt Kauffman [00:30:35]:
Can you put in stone with mortar? How good are you at putting in the edging? Are you efficient? Are you quick? You might not be quick, but you're very good at it. That's a quality that helps us categorize that. So our system electronically, you do a peer review. So I'm going to do Jack comes to you online, you go there and you fill it out for your employee. So each person, each lead is going. So there can be several leads that are going to review this employee in these areas. And then what it does automatically puts it all in a system that categorizes them together. You don't know who ranked who it comes in as a group.
Jack Jostes [00:31:15]:
So you've mentioned a couple times counting on professionals. I was talking to somebody recently, like, I think you can get to a million dollars in revenue. I don't want to say it's easy, but it's also like you can do it and you can kind of just muscle through it and hard work to it. And then there's a certain point after a million. And I definitely found this in my business where I realized I needed to hire people like the professionals that I needed. Well, I needed a new accountant, I needed a new bookkeeper because the people who got me there, once I there one about how bookkeeping and accounting worked, I was like, I don't actually like the way this is being done. And I picked new people and I picked, I actually hired some people to help me with my own marketing quite a bit. So I think that's just a good mindset to have about, you can't do it all yourself.
Jack Jostes [00:32:07]:
You can't do it all yourself. And by employing these systems and these different companies, you guys have really grown a thriving business. And I'm hearing just kind of recap, some of the key systems that you have is like a really good sales process. You have a really good design process, you have a production process, you have a warranty process, you have a recruiting process, you have like a retention and promotion process. That's pretty cool that those are some key things that make your business very structured and solid and enjoyable to run.
Kurt Kauffman [00:32:47]:
Like you said, reaching out and seeking help that can guide you and consultants and taking the time to do that. It's easy for us to say I don't have the time. I don't really need it, but you need to take the time and you need to listen to other people.
Jack Jostes [00:33:01]:
Well, and I think there's also a part of the ego that says, I don't need this. I can do all of it. And at a certain point, there's that kind of stubbornness that you need to have to get to the point then where you can afford to hire other people. I don't know. That's what I look back on. Growing my own business. There was a lot of stuff that I just did. I did it all myself.
Jack Jostes [00:33:26]:
Did it myself. At a certain point, I was drowning in work and not making enough money and realizing I needed to spend money and hire people to get to that next level.
Donna Kauffman [00:33:38]:
Yeah, we're truly always growing. And, you know, you have to learn to listen and you have to learn to learn, you know, what is your style to learn? If there's a new trend coming up in landscaping, what does mid century modern mean? What do the people really want? And so you educate yourself, or what is the newest equipment on the market? What do you have to learn about electrical equipment versus small engine? I recently took a leadership class and thought I was too busy, thought I didn't have the time. But what motivated me is I wanted to know what my employees were thinking, and also if I was going to send my employees to leadership class. I had to experience it first to know what to expect. And right out the gate, the first thing I learned, I was the oldest one in the class by 20 years. And then the rest of the people were between an average of about 30 years younger than I was. And it was a great experience. They were all in the leadership class to change the old guard and make them new and innovative.
Donna Kauffman [00:34:41]:
New and innovative. I was in the leadership class to better understand the different generations. And so it was really fun and dynamic to learn. I kept wanting to say, give us a break. The wheel's not broken. The system works.
Kurt Kauffman [00:34:55]:
Learn our way.
Donna Kauffman [00:34:56]:
They kept wanting to say, they don't listen. They don't hear me. They won't let me do what I want. So I grew as an employer and as a business owner by understanding the process of this leadership class, and it was truly a win-win situation.
Kurt Kauffman [00:35:15]:
And she brought a lot to the table, right to our meetings that encouraged our employees to, you know, allow them to do things, too. And also, I think you putting the burden or the result or the how on me, looking at ourselves internally to change and open up to encourage the younger generation. They have ideas. They have good points that they can help us. Yes. Move out of the way. Which has been important for Unique Landscaping. To get to a point where they're operating, they're thinking, they're doing it, the process.
Kurt Kauffman [00:35:50]:
And if they do it six times, then they got it. They have to go through it. They have to stumble. They have to fall. They have to fix it. Can't fix them all the time. But then you know how to repair it, and you learned it. It's what you have to do.
Jack Jostes [00:36:02]:
So, Kurt, I'm working on a new book, and part of it, there's a. People often ask me, well, how long does it take to see results? And what I've realized is that there's a certain component of the client having their act together, and what you're describing is having your act together. So I just think that kids, and it takes time, it takes years, and that you have to work to maintain having your act together. You're never really done right. So I'm just enjoying hearing these systems that you've developed and working with you guys, because you have your act together. You have a good business.
Kurt Kauffman [00:36:41]:
Thank you. Yeah, it's been fun. And it's growing. It's always growing, and you're always seeing what you can improve, improve on it.
36:47 - How Donna & Kurt Support Employees & Encourage Them to Reach Goals
Jack Jostes [00:36:47]:
So, last question. Tell me a quick story about somebody who has started with you that's been there for a while that has kind of gone through this whole system and doing something incredible.
Donna Kauffman [00:36:59]:
Now, I want to start with a foreman we had, and he came to us when he was 15 years old, and he worked for us for 15 years, and he told us he wanted to start his own business. Of course, we supported it, and he literally gave us a three year resignation. And he's worked for us for three years, and he's gone out and started his own business. And we were still great family friends. And he'll call us and ask us questions. We'll call him and ask him things that are his expertise. And so that's one that was a real win, where we were able to know that Unique Landscaping wasn't just ours, but it was something we were given to take care of and grow. And we have.
Donna Kauffman [00:37:38]:
And then in our office, it's so fun to see people. First they buy a car, then they buy a house. You know, sometimes they'll have a baby, they'll have a second baby, and you know that they're happy and they're content and they can do things.
Kurt Kauffman [00:37:51]:
The fact that we encourage them to develop themselves, because just like that, that young individual, that's a good point. He was always just such a good worker. And he would, he would complain about the foreman to me, and I said, well, you, man, step up. We can do that. You can do this. No, no, no. It took years of those years until finally when he, you know, I said, you need to do this. You need to do this.
Kurt Kauffman [00:38:17]:
You can do it. And he did it. And then he grew and everybody got behind him, and he learned so much.
Jack Jostes [00:38:24]:
How did you find the strength or the mindset to be like, yeah, cool, we're going to help you go do it?
Kurt Kauffman [00:38:33]:
Yeah. It's the excitement of knowing that this individual has the courage to want to ask and then do it. And he never let us down all the way through it. He's always there. And then as we went through the process. Cause he's trying to get going, he'd say, hey, I don't have work. I'll work Tuesday, I'll work Thursday and Friday of next week. So he come in and we'd say that, you see this guy? That's who you need to be.
Kurt Kauffman [00:38:59]:
And many that, you know, we talk about him and they know, and that set the pace for our jobs.
Donna Kauffman [00:39:07]:
We're a stepping stone, and we realize that this is bigger than just Unique Landscaping or just our own personal goals. But if you go there and you can to work every day and you can understand what your job is and do a good job, then it just pays dividends.
39:24 - Donna is Selling her SAAB - How to Connect & Inquire!
Jack Jostes [00:39:24]:
Well, Kurt, Donna, thanks for coming to Colorado. Do you have any final questions for me before we wrap up?
Donna Kauffman [00:39:29]:
I have a question for you. When I first got out of college and I bought my first car, I bought a Saab. And everybody said, why did you buy a Saab? Because it was a smart car. It was ergonomically easy to drive. It was safe. It checked all the boxes I wanted in a car. Environmentally friendly.
Donna Kauffman [00:39:47]:
I've had four Saabs throughout my career, and it helped me look professional. I could get to rugged places. I could lay the back seat down and carry plants in it. And so, not many people own Saabs in our area. The car's from Sweden, but it is adaptive to the snow. Well, our fourth one, Saab, went out of business over ten years ago. Our fourth one does not have a home anymore. It needs some repair, minor repair, but it does start and it works on the road.
Donna Kauffman [00:40:14]:
Do you know anybody and you have any connections for someone who might want to Saab as we either part it out or.
Jack Jostes [00:40:22]:
I'm just going to leave this on the podcast, because if you're listening and you want a Saab, reply to me and I'll put you in touch. Or actually, so I don't know anyone who wants a Saab off the top of my head, but I had a. I worked with somebody who was a Saab owner, and they loved them, so maybe they would want it. So for folks listening who want to connect with you about landscaping or Saabs, how can they connect with you?
Kurt Kauffman [00:40:49]:
Well, through Unique Landscaping's website. It's a lot of good information. Go to Unique Landscaping. Look us up, and you will find us.
Jack Jostes [00:40:56]:
And what is the website?
Donna Kauffman [00:40:59]:
It's landscaping without the vowels.
Jack Jostes [00:41:01]:
Okay, I'll put the link in the show notes because everyone can click on that.
Kurt Kauffman [00:41:05]:
And other than that, remember, life is a garden. Dig it.
Jack Jostes [00:41:08]:
I love it. Thank you. All right, well, Donna & Kurt Kauffman from Unique Landscaping, thanks so much for coming on The Landscaper’s Guide.
Show Notes:
Watch the full episode + see the transcript at: https://landscapersguide.com/podcast/
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Check out Unique Landscaping Online: https://lndscpng.com