Work-life balance for landscape professionals

Work-life balance articles and stories are everywhere. But what about landscape professionals specifically? It seems like from April to November it’s all work.  And very little life. At least on the West Coast.

Landscape slut

Since living in the Lower Mainland is expensive, it’s hard to say no to side-gigs, weekend work and extra time. I still find it hard to say no.

Working Monday to Friday and committing to Saturday work for another company was physically draining. Then there were some side-gigs ; and very little time to kick the ball with my son. Let’s not even discuss the Saturday soccer matches I had to miss. Let’s just say it, I was a complete landscape slut.

Some hope

If you find yourself in a similar situation, the message in this blog post is that there is always hope. I should know because things changed for me.

First, I left my municipal full-time temporary job ( safe but without future prospects) to go work for a growing private landscape maintenance company. Here was a boss who was willing to take a chance on a Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist with great pay and benefits; plus year-round work and education support. The key word here is growing.

This is the dirty secret nobody talks about. Once you get your Red Seal papers, companies feel like you’re too expensive. They start to think of hiring six temporary foreign workers instead. And yet, we know this is a mistake. Grant Cardone says that “your best people are free!”

Second, more luck came my way when commercial sites became available. This meant extra pay which replaced the weekly 9 hour Saturday grind for another landscape boss. And it also came with flexibility. Commercial sites can usually be maintained after hours and on weekends. This is significant. Huge!

My new work-life balance

This past weekend nicely illustrates my new work-life balance. On Saturday morning I visited my commercial sites and then, I made a quick stop at a private client’s place to help get the place ready for TV filming. Something about outdoor kitchen design trends.

By lunch I was home and then drove the family to my son’s first international soccer tournament. My son scored the very first goal in the first of four matches and I was there to see it! Yay! Balance.

On Sunday, soccer came first and then private work. My son’s development team won two matches and lost two by one goal. In both cases, the deciding goal came in the dying minutes. Unlucky.

Once I got home, I took a nap and then went to see a private client who desperately needed his ornamental grasses taken down by half. I know. It’s a long story.

Night and day

Watching my son play soccer, I was thinking how things have changed for the better. Better boss, better pay, flexible commercial sites for extra income and the odd private gig; allowing me to spend the weekend with my family without losing extra income. I was fresh enough to compose this blog post on Sunday night. I might even massage my wife’s aching back later.

I hope you too can find the right work-life balance.