Example Career: First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service and Groundskeeping Workers

Career Description

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in landscaping or groundskeeping activities. Work may involve reviewing contracts to ascertain service, machine, and workforce requirements; answering inquiries from potential customers regarding methods, material, and price ranges; and preparing estimates according to labor, material, and machine costs.

What Job Titles First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service and Groundskeeping Workers Might Have

• Golf Course Superintendent
• Grounds Supervisor
• Landscape Manager
• Landscape Supervisor

What First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service and Groundskeeping Workers Do

• Monitor project activities to ensure that instructions are followed, deadlines are met, and schedules are maintained.
• Establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety.
• Inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements.
• Provide workers with assistance in performing duties as necessary to meet deadlines.
• Direct activities of workers who perform duties, such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs.
• Confer with other supervisors to coordinate work activities with those of other departments or units.
• Schedule work for crews, depending on work priorities, crew or equipment availability, or weather conditions.
• Direct or perform mixing or application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
• Direct or assist workers engaged in the maintenance or repair of equipment, such as power tools or motorized equipment.
• Perform administrative duties, such as authorizing leaves or processing time sheets.
• Answer inquiries from current or prospective customers regarding methods, materials, or price ranges.
• Inventory supplies of tools, equipment, or materials to ensure that sufficient supplies are available and items are in usable condition.
• Investigate work-related complaints to verify problems and to determine responses.
• Perform personnel-related activities, such as hiring workers, evaluating staff performance, or taking disciplinary actions when performance problems occur.
• Review contracts or work assignments to determine service, machine, or workforce requirements for jobs.
• Prepare service estimates based on labor, material, and machine costs and maintain budgets for individual projects.
• Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
• Order the performance of corrective work when problems occur and recommend procedural changes to avoid such problems.
• Maintain required records, such as personnel information or project records.
• Train workers in tasks such as transplanting or pruning trees or shrubs, finishing cement, using equipment, or caring for turf.
• Prepare or maintain required records, such as work activity or personnel reports.
• Negotiate with customers regarding fees for landscaping, lawn service, or groundskeeping work.
• Identify diseases or pests affecting landscaping and order appropriate treatments.
• Recommend changes in working conditions or equipment use to increase crew efficiency.
• Confer with managers or landscape architects to develop plans or schedules for landscaping maintenance or improvement.
• Tour grounds, such as parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, or golf courses, to inspect conditions of plants and soil.
• Design or supervise the installation of sprinkler systems, calculating water pressure, or valve and pipe coverage needs.
• Install or maintain landscaped areas, performing tasks such as removing snow, pouring cement curbs, or repairing sidewalks.

What First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service and Groundskeeping Workers Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

What First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service and Groundskeeping Workers Should Be Interested In

• Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
• Conventional - Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

What First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service and Groundskeeping Workers Need to Learn

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.