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An apprentice walks up to me to tell me we have a request from one of our strata residents. When backing up out of her garage her expensive car gets scratched. He wants to show me the unit. That entails a long walk and I’m busy doing other things. This is one of my pet peeves. For two reasons.
- Nobody knows the unit number, resident’s name or contact information. Now we have two workers taking a long walk instead of being productive.
- Nobody knows the plant species. Sometimes it’s easy to decide on a course of action if I know the plant species. A second year apprentice should be eager to find out what the plant in question is. Or at least ask. I guess Hebe odora wasn’t covered in the first two years of his apprenticeship.
Solution
Training and more training. The crews have to be trained to collect basic information on client requests. Most requests can be handled on the same day. This gets them off my list. Some requests require approval from strata council and the boss. Put them on your list so you don’t forget.
“One lady in the back wants her bush pruned” is useless. I need the worker to tell me this: the lady in unit 67 wants the Buxus sempervirens under her windows sheared nicely. Much better. We squeeze it into our day and everybody is happy. Don’t forget to record the completed request.
Plant ID
This is another example where basic plant identification skills come into play. Some workers are interested in plants. So I’ve put together a new e-book. “Common strata plants: a guide for West Coast landscapers”. Hebe odora is in there because it shows up on our work sites. The e-book will be available soon. Message me to pre-order a copy.
Workers first get trained on machines and bedwork. Plant ID takes longer. Knowing the plant species you work with is a critical skill. In this example it would have saved me lots of time. I encourage all of our company staff to improve their plant ID skills. I do the same. I suspect it will never end.
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