SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/113699
maintain equipment, and no regularly scheduled maintenance, your costs, downtime, crew moral and ability to meet customer expectations will be greatly diminished. Be as specific as possible as to condition, cost, and long-term consequences for continuing to use these items. Remember that you are building a case to ask for funding from stakeholders who must make difficult but sound decisions. EVALUATE The next important step is to gather information from the people who know your equipment needs best, your crew. Ask them for feedback. Observe their work habits and assess their knowledge, skills and use of equipment. This is particularly important if you are new to the organization. Observe current cultural and maintenance practices as well. Establish rapport with the people you work with and supervise. This demonstrates that you value their opinions and experience, and that you respect their input in making important decisions about equipment purchases. Whenever possible, operate the equipment yourself for an accurate assessment of how things work. At times there is no substitute for a hands-on assessment. KEY QUESTIONS Ask yourself and your crew the following questions. You will be asked these same questions when you make your sales pitch for new equipment: Will repairs solve the problem? Are maintenance, personnel, tools and shop facilities adequate? Will used equipment do the job? Is service and parts available? Would leasing be more cost-effective? If purchased, can the equipment be used to benefit other areas or groups in your organization? Those who will be asking you these questions need to justify approval of capital expenditures and need to have clear answers before making financial decisions. Another important point to consider is one that many groundskeepers and turf professionals are truly gifted at: Can you innovate and create in a way that will reduce cost and still achieve your goals? For example, at Marietta College we were fortunate to be able to purchase much needed equipment using these steps, but we still wanted to stripe our baseball field and did not have a reel mower we could dedicate to the job. However, by purchasing simple stripping kit attachments at little cost, which we attached to our rotary mowers, we were able to creatively pattern our field. BUDGET AND COST Grounds and turf manages are also budget managers. Although you may not make the final decision on purchasing equipment, it's vital to have an understanding of your role in the budget process. This begins with tracking and recording maintenance costs, especially deferred maintenance. Good records can show that pouring money into old equipment is less cost-effective than purchasing new or good-quality used equipment. This is one of the most effective tools you have. Be sure you under- www.stma.org SportsTurf 21