Consolidating landscaping and snow vendors.

By John Brocklebank, Chief Executive Officer

How a portfolio ends up with dozens of vendors

Vendors get added one site at a time. A store opens, someone finds a local landscaper, and the contract renews every year after that. Fifty sites later there are fifty scopes, fifty invoice formats and fifty phone numbers.

The cost isn’t only the rates. It’s the time your team spends managing it:

• Chasing proof that the work was done
• Collecting an insurance certificate from every vendor, every year
• Approving invoices that all look different
• Finding someone new when a vendor stops answering
• Explaining why two sites in the same city look nothing alike

When it makes sense

Consolidating pays when managing the vendors is the problem: too many of them, uneven results, and no single view of what was done and when.

It matters less if you have a handful of sites and vendors you trust. A good local crew is worth keeping. If you have one you’d hate to lose, ask any provider you talk to whether that crew can stay on your site under the new agreement.

What to gather first

Proposals are only comparable if every provider prices the same thing. Before you ask, pull together:

• A site list with addresses, property type and anything unusual about access or hours
• The current scope for each site, even if it’s one line in an email
• What you pay now, by site and by service
• Contract end dates and notice periods
• The sites that give you trouble, and why
• How requests reach vendors today: a platform like ServiceChannel, email or phone

Write one scope, then list the exceptions

The point of consolidating is one standard. Start with a single scope for each service: how often, what’s included and what counts as done. Then list the sites that differ, like the one with no irrigation or the lot that floods.

For snow and ice, four things need to be in writing:

• The trigger. What starts service: a forecast, a depth of snow or ice on the ground.
• The areas. Lot, sidewalks, entrances, loading docks.
• The deadline. Usually clear before the doors open.
• De-icing. When it’s applied, and whether it’s included or billed per visit.

Seven questions to ask a provider

1. Who does the work?

Ask how many companies sit between you and the crew. Every layer adds a markup and a handoff. Ask whether the same crew comes back to the same site.

2. How will I know it was done?

Ask for a sample completion report. Look for a check-in tied to the site’s location, time stamps and before-and-after photos. A checked box isn’t proof.

3. Who do I call?

One named person who knows your sites, or a call center that opens a ticket.

4. Who checks the insurance?

Ask who collects certificates from the crews, who reads them, and what happens the day one expires.

5. Will you work in our platform?

If your work orders run through ServiceChannel, Fexa or Corrigo, ask whether check-ins, photos and invoices post there, or whether your team has to log in somewhere else.

6. How is it priced?

By site and by service, with what’s included and what’s extra spelled out. Ask how the rate changes as you add sites.

7. What happens when a visit is missed?

Ask how a missed visit gets caught, how fast, and by whom. If the answer is “you’ll tell us,” you’re still managing the vendor.

Switch without a gap

• Time it to the season. The cleanest handoffs happen between seasons: landscaping before spring growth, snow before the first storm. If you can’t wait, move a few sites at a time.
• Start with a group of sites. One region or one district. Add the rest once it’s working.
• Give proper notice. Check each current contract for its notice period before you set a start date.
• Hand over what you know. Access, gate codes, irrigation shutoffs, problem areas. The new crew shouldn’t learn them on the first visit.
• Watch the first month closely. Read the reports every week until you trust them.

What to measure afterward

• Visits completed on schedule
• Requests answered and finished within the agreed time
• Proof on file for every visit
• Sites with repeat problems
• Total spend against what you paid before, and the hours your team gets back