Landscaping is not just for fine weather. Read this blog to find out what landscapers do in the winter.
When the ground is sodden and the sky is grey, most sensible people stay indoors. That’s not always the case for the team at Manor Landscapes. For us, landscaping is a year round job and we have a long list of tasks to keep us busy in the colder months.
Winter Landscaping Work
Yes, landscaping can be done in winter. And unless the ground is frozen solid, nothing stops the Manor Landscapes team building beautiful gardens.
We really don’t mind what it says on the calendar (unless of course it’s Christmas Day!). In fact, landscaping in winter is sometimes much easier than working in summer. Hot days, blinding sunshine and annoying insects can make physical work outdoors feel quite uncomfortable.
Machinery Maintenance
Our landscaping tools and equipment are vitally important to the smooth running of our business. And if I’m honest, a certain degree of maintenance is done on a daily basis. If we didn’t clean hand tools and mixers at the end of the afternoon, they’d be unusable by the next day. We’re also very fussy about daily safety checks on things like angle grinders and table saws. It’s part of our ethos to make sure that the site is tidy and safe at all times.
Although we do work on site throughout the winter, it’s the ideal time of year to get our vehicles MOT’d and professionally serviced.
Back in the workshop, on wet days, we review and renew our stocks of frequently used materials, service the lawnmowers and mixers and have a good old tidy up.
Staff Training
You’re never too old or too experienced to learn something new. And here at Manor Landscapes we take as many opportunities as we can to upskill ourselves. A training session may mean a trip to one of our landscaping suppliers to learn how best to install their products. It may be a day at a trade show to find out what’s new and trending in our industry. Or it may be an in-house training session where more experienced team members refresh their knowledge and help newer recruits to widen their skills sets.
Where colleagues are required to work with pesticides and herbicides, their training includes updating their PA1 certificates every 3-5 years.
At least once a year we’ll invite a specialist company to make sure that every team member has up to date health and safety training and has a good knowledge of basic first aid.
Landscaping Quotes
Autumn and winter are by far the most sensible seasons to review your garden and plan ahead for next summer. For us, that means we get to meet with garden designers and prospective clients to price up the projects they have in the pipeline.
There’s quite a lot of work involved in pricing a landscaping job. We need to estimate how long it will take us to carry out the initial groundworks and what machinery will be involved. Then we need to calculate quantities of landscaping materials and approach our suppliers for an up to date price. Finally, there’s the labour to factor in and of course our business overheads such as insurance, fuel, accountancy fees, marketing costs etc. Landscaping is a business like any other and we need to manage our finances carefully.
Holiday
I’m proud to say that all of my colleagues are hard workers. Landscaping requires brawn AND brains. There are always conundrums to cope with on site and at times the job gets really stressful. So naturally, its only fair that we get to take time off to spend with family. And there’s no better time to kick back and relax than Christmas time. Especially since our clients are all celebrating too. The last thing they (or their neighbours! ) need is the noise of a cement mixer rumbling away.
Need a quote for landscaping this winter? Get in touch with Manor Landscapes.