Landscaping Hiring Toolkit

1. The job ad (template)

Write the ad like a short commercial for your company. The person reading it is deciding whether you're worth working for, so tell them. Don't use it to screen people out; that's what the application and interview are for. A line like “don't apply if...” puts off the good applicants along with the bad ones.

• Put the pay in. It's the first thing every applicant wants to know.
• Say when they'll hear back, and then do it.
• Don't add a season or a deadline unless the job really is seasonal. An ad that's always open keeps new applicants coming in, so you're not starting from zero every spring.

2. Ten interview questions

Ask every candidate the same questions, in the same order, and write down what they say. It's the easiest way to compare people fairly.

1. What's the last outdoor or physical job you did, and what did a normal day look like?
2. Tell me about a day at work that went wrong. What happened, and what did you do?
3. How do you get to work, and how early can you start?
4. What equipment have you run? What would you need to be shown?
5. It's 90 degrees and the job isn't done at quitting time. What do you do?
6. Tell me about a time you noticed a mistake someone else made. What did you do about it?
7. What would a crew leader you've worked for say you're best at, and what they'd want you to work on?
8. What makes you want to stay at a job, and what has made you leave one?
9. A customer walks out and complains about the work while you're on site. What do you do?
10. Where would you like to be in two years, and how could this job help you get there?

Listen for specifics. “I'm a hard worker” tells you nothing; “I ran the mower for two seasons and trained the new hire” tells you something.

3. Pay-rate worksheet

Before you set a rate, write down what the job is worth to you and what it takes to fill it where you are. This worksheet puts both in one place, and it also gives you the burdened labor cost you need for the job pricing calculator.

Part A: what the market pays

• Role: ______
• What other companies near you advertise for this role: $____ to $____ an hour (from job boards and ads you can see)
• What people in this role could earn in other local jobs (warehouse, construction, retail): $____ an hour
• What we'll offer: $____ an hour, plus [bonus / raises / benefits]

Part B: what one hour really costs us

• Hourly wage: $____
• Payroll taxes (%): ____ = $____
• Workers' comp (per hour): $____
• Benefits and paid time off (per hour): $____
• Other (uniforms, phone, training) per hour: $____
• Burdened labor cost per hour: $____ (use this in the pricing calculator)

Part C: does the job still price out?

• At this burdened cost, run a typical job through the pricing calculator. Price: $____ Margin: ____%
• If the margin is too thin, the choice is to raise prices, change the crew mix, or rethink the offer. Don't underpay and hope the person stays.

The Lucrative Landscaping Book includes a hiring and retention playbook: the Hiring Blueprint, in three parts: a recruiting video script template, a fill-in-the-blank careers page outline, and an application screening questionnaire.