Landscape and Irrigation is read by decision makers throughout the landscape and irrigation markets — including contractors, landscape architects, professional grounds managers, and irrigation and water mgmt companies and reaches the entire spetrum.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/108761
Special Feature State of the Industry Leaders discuss the outlook for the landscape and irrigation markets Landscape and Irrigation: What were the biggest challenges in 2012, and how were those challenges met? Norman Goldenberg, PLANET president and Landscape Industry Certified Technician: One of the biggest challenges I believe we faced in 2012 was the economy and the pullback effect from consumers and purchasing from within our industry. Water issues have also been a problem, not only from legislation and pollution issues, but also from shortages of water across the country. In many of the drought-affected areas, people have been dismayed about not seeing green in their landscapes so they did not want to spend the money. Glenn Jacobsen, PLANET president-elect and Landscape Industry Certified Manager: The economic uncertainty has definitely been worrisome, so discretionary spending has been watched and evaluated, especially on landscape needs. There was also the distraction and uncertainty of the election as people followed that through the fall of last year, wondering who the president was going to be, which perhaps swayed some of the 2012 landscape spending decisions. 8 Landscape and Irrigation February 2013 Deborah Hamlin, executive director, Irrigation Association: Drought conditions have bred a customer focus on short-term cost savings, which come at the expense of long-term solutions aimed at saving both money and water. We at the Irrigation Association [IA] want to show that water-use efficiency can be more than a stop-gap, but rather an everyday practice. Additionally, we will continue to ensure our members are prepared to adapt to the technological curve through proper training and certification programs. Leveraging technical training, along with an approach that shows tangible cost savings to customers should lead to a brighter 2013 for landscape irrigation professionals. We also saw landscape water restrictions as a serious issue in 2012. Partnering with our members, the Irrigation Association saw an opportunity through the drought to provide industry-specific knowledge to policy makers advocating for the interests of the landscape irrigation industry, avoiding harmful water-use bans. We will remain engaged as we move into 2013. Charles A. McGrath, CAE, executive director, Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute: Similar to last year, the biggest challenge we have seen for the hardscape/landscape industry in 2012 is the economy. The slow economy has pushed many companies to become extremely competitive, often times lowering their price so low that it is difficult to cover overhead costs. This causes underbidding and cutting corners on installation to recoup costs. Many of the contractors that underbid projects often do not have the proper knowledge or training to install concrete pavers according to ICPI [Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute]-established guidelines. This ultimately results in costly call-backs www.landscapeirrigation.com Landscaper Image ©istockphoto.com/WoodenDinosaur. Sprinkler Image ©istockphoto.com/Pgiam. F or our annual State of the Industry report, we asked industry leaders to provide a look back at 2012 and their thoughts about what 2013 has in store.