Labor-Based Contracts versus Performance Based Contracts will always be different based on the community, landscape needs, and contract details. You may wonder how our labor force is derived.
In the 1980s, the common way of managing landscapes was what’s called a “labor based contract”. It basically meant instead of being landscapers, we were labor brokers. For example, we would put one person at the job for 40 hours and get paid based on those hours, not what the person knew or performed but just the fact that there was a person present in the community for 40 hours.
Today, most landscape companies propose what is called a “performance based contract”. Because there are varying cycles throughout the year and the plants perform differently, we can adjust for that. For example, plants and turf grow very little in the winter, so we would lighten our staff on for that time of year. In the summer and fall, when plants are growing fast and the leaves are falling, we have additional labor that we can use to keep up with the increased landscape needs. Also, with the extensive training we do, the staff can accomplish the same tasks in 32 hours rather than the 40 as before.
These changes from labor based to performance based contracts have allowed Pacific Green Landscape to keep our pricing affordable and services honed and specific. Overall, varying the labor force size allows us to be more consistent in the level of landcape care we provide throughout the year!
The graph below shows an example of a community with Straight Labor compared to Performance Labor. Hours are based on weekly used hours.