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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.