Lawn Check - Lawn Treatment Service Providers Evaluation Scheme

The Grass Clipping Team came upon this new web site and concept that is trying to pull together a Lawn Treatment Service Providers Evaluation Scheme.

The 'Lawn Check' scheme provides a central register of regularly assessed, approved companies that meet nationally applied standards of competence. Ones the lawn owner and customer you can trust.

It is being set up and designed by a long standing member of the, we can only presume turf industry with over 15 years of domestic lawn treatment experience; as a lawn application crewman, a lawn surveyor, a manager and a former company owner. This experience from the 'grass roots' upwards you might say means they have a thorough understanding of not only what good companies will be doing, but also the short-cuts, poor training, and sometimes illegal practices that some lawn treatment services may try to use! Their goal is that lawn treatment company customers everywhere should be able to receive quality service from caring, professional companies with trained, knowledgeable staff.

My thoughts on this are initially a good one but the scheme is voluntary and may not have a lot of mileage in it. A lawn treatment or care company should not need to belong to a voluntary industry approved scheme to prove that they have the technical knowledge, business know how and business monitoring in place to provide honest, best practice and a reliable service that follows the core principals of sound turf culture knowledge and practices. The underlying trend is that I think this individual has lost his rag with some Lawn Treatment Companies. The sentences and words and comments on the web site are a bit 'angry'.

We for one have over 28 years hands on, practical, technical and commercial knowledge of turf culture and the business acumen to support it. We are ISO 9001 quality assured and give our advice freely to help lawn owners on this Blog. Turf Care is a science and the core science has not changed since my Great Great Great Grandfather was tending to his lawn and his Father before him. The advice we give is what we follow because that is exactly how it is and year on year, there are only a few adjustments for weather and new technology, products and equipment to aid us.

My personal thought is that there are a lot of lawn treatment companies that need to look at their seasonal services and change them so that they adhere to a Professional Turf Managers work calendar but most importantly follow the science and practice of turf culture as per the many technical publications that have been written on the subject. Our Lawn Care Calendar is a mirror of these technical guides.

We agree that too many lawn customers are being totally hood winked into having treatments and mechanical work performed on their lawns when they technically should not at that particular time of year and too many of us are picking up on the problems associated with these errors and being called in to correct the situation and get the lawn back to being a lawn as it should be. Coupled to this is the fact that NPTC legislation and guidelines on the safe use of pesticides are not being adhered to - we see it all the time by Lawn Treatment Companies and Operatives.

We will be keeping our eye on the development of the Lawn Check Scheme as it evolves next year. All we are aware of so far is that is has been set up by a Gary Lawton and we welcome his contact and comments via this site or to our standard email address. Sadly, it is all about training staff….

In the meantime, should you wish to receive sound technical advice and a regional lawn treatment service, take a look here

Comments

[Mike Seaton]

We received this comment via email today in response to the above post featuring Lawn Check -

Hello,

Having tried to post a comment via the 'grass clippings' website ( but it not accepting it for some reason?), please find below a copy of the 'post' we tried to make yesterday.

Thanks

Hello Mike,

Thank you for taking the time to mention the 'Lawn Check' website to your members.
(it's nice to know that such a new scheme is already getting noticed!)

Having ran a franchised lawn service for many years (although I left the industry in mid 2008 for personal reasons) it used to frustrate me that whilst I would be spending time and money trying hard to make sure that my staff were properly qualified, trained, equipped,monitored, insured and looked after our customers personal data other firms didn't have to bother (as their disgruntled former customers would tell me).

Each year, homeowners get dozens of leaflets, all making similar claims: "All our staff are qualified" or "We only use professional materials" etc.

Home owners (like your members) are expected to have to choose one service above another simply because of the leaflet -or the website- the company has, the comments from just 1 or 2 people, or perhaps because of the person who initially calls to see the lawn (who they might not see again afterwards!)

I didn't think this was fair - either to the public or the good company owners out there!

I hope the public will see 'lawn Check' as a way of narrowing down the choices they face- knowing that each members has had it's claims checked!

And I also hope that companies will see 'Lawn Check' as a way to let customers know that ...

"Hey!! We REALLY DO make all this effort behind the scenes- this independent company can confirm it - and our customers think we're good too"

... without sounding like they are simply 'blowing their own trumpet'.

That brings me to a point I don't think is mentioned in your article- the customer satisfaction survey.

We do not think it is our place to say that one company's methods or products are better than anothers:- some customers may prefer organic systems, some don't care! Others may want an all inclusive service- some may only want a basic program.

Instead, we simply ask a large, representative group of customers what they think about the service and the staff, and let the results speak for themselves!

I think that kind of recommendation is more important- and worth more- than the glossiest leaflet, and we include the results on each members listing!

I hope your readers agree and (if you'll excuse the plug!) ask their lawn treatment company..."Have you been 'Lawn Check' approved?" :-)

Regards,
Gary Lawton
LawnCheck