Crown Partners
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Tough Economy, Greater Environmental Awareness Are Changing Who Is Willing to Spray – and How They Do It
By Rebecca Fater
With decades of experience designing and selling spray equipment for tall trees, the rough ride of today’s economy is impacting Georgia-based Durand Wayland in more ways than one.
Not only is the company taking the brunt of the economy in terms of how many John Bean Sprayers and equipment it sells these days, says Rick Cordero, director of sales, it is also being forced to rethink what it sells.
“We have fewer and fewer people who want to spray 100-foot-tall trees,” he says, noting the typically high cost of necessary equipment, along with the liability and safety issues that come with it. “The smaller guy doesn’t have any interest in getting involved there. The marketplace has changed for us.”
Durand Wayland is far from alone. Many companies that sell spray equipment are looking for new ways to attract business, from redesigning equipment for increased efficiency and lower cost, to performing more repairs, and to encouraging tree and lawn care companies that have never before picked up a spray gun to consider offering the service.
“We try to provide the marketplace with what it’s looking for,” Cordero adds. “It’s forced us to come up with some new products and new product configurations.”
Until recently, Durand Wayland most frequently sold spray tanks whose capacity ran around 1,000 to 1,500 gallons and required larger trucks. These days, customers – trying to swallow the rising price of fuel, and possibly the fees that go along with specialized commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) – are now looking for smaller, lighter chassis.
“Now it’s a truck with an 800-gallon tank and three, four or even five different types of solution on the truck,” Cordero says. “So when an applicator comes to your house he can treat all the requirements on the property. It saves (the applicator) mileage, fuel, labor, repeat trips to the site and the dead time driving back and forth. It just adds efficiency.”
The company has also developed the new John Bean DM Series of polyethylene sprayer tanks designed to last longer by withstanding tough weather conditions and inhibiting mold and algae growth, saving the user money in the long run. The tanks also feature mechanical agitation – which Cordero says most competitors’ tanks don’t have – that keeps a mixture in suspension.
“We’ve adapted to the economical conditions we’re in, and we realize that big tall-tree sprayers of yea rs past may not be our answer long term,” he adds.
While the big spray jobs may be left to the big companies, some say the smaller companies are starting to offer spray services to help themselves stay afloat financially.
“What it’s making my clients do is look at their own clients a lot more, and try to get more business in the plant health care sector from their customers,” says Tom Duffy, spray equipment sales manager for SherrillTree, based in North Carolina. “(Spraying) might be a way to expand what they do in their own business. You’re getting tree companies that did nothing but prune trees and take them down. They never cared for them. And the caring for is the most profitable part of the tree care business at the end of the day. You get a lot of repeat business that way.”
Such is the case with one of SherrillTree’s longtime national accounts, which had never been involved in lawn spraying. That company recently purchased another company – and 90 percent of that acquisition’s business happens to consist of lawn spraying, says Duffy. SherrillTree has since built spray trucks for the company for that purpose. “(Spray equipment)” is a very strong area of our business right now,” Duffy adds.
It would seem that a down economy and the trend of greening the industry complement each other nicely. Just as tree and lawn care professionals are looking to cut costs wherever possible, some so-called “green” equipment can help them save money and sometimes energy while protecting and nourishing the natural environment at the same time. One of SherrillTree’s products achieves both: an aeration system designed to extend the life of mixed, but unused, compost tea.
“Let’s say you put in 300 gallons of compost tea and you’re off for the day,” says Duffy. “You finish, and all of a sudden you have 150 gallons of compost tea left over. We oxygenate the water so the bubbles keep the spores alive all night long. You just add more water in the morning.”
And in response to last summer’s soaring price of gas, SherrillTree began retrofitting smaller diesel trucks with a 5.5 Honda engine to allow applicators to use less gas when idling during a spray job.
“When a truck sits at an idle, that diesel truck burns about four gallons (of gas) an hour,” Duffy says.
Tom Wanner, president of Minnesota Wanner, notes similar trends when it comes to companies expanding their service to include spraying.
“We are seeing our customers using their own customer base to develop new services,” he says. His region of the state has seen its share of cases of West Nile virus – a virus transmitted to humans via mosquito bite – and Lyme disease, carried by ticks and also a threat to humans. Spraying is one method that has been used to combat both, and is another potential source of business for tree and lawn companies looking for extra revenue, he says.
Feeding plant life is another attractive option, especially in an economy that may convince more homeowners to omit traveling and enjoy the natural beauty of home instead, he adds.
“People are not taking as many vacations. They’re staying at home and enjoying their yard,” Wanner says. “They’re saying, ‘I don’t want to lose that valuable oak tree.’”
Whether a company is already involved in spraying or not, the economy has likely impacted how much a company may be willing to spend on new equipment – and what kind.
Four years ago, Gary Maurer of GreenPro Solutions redesigned the Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, company’s line of spray equipment to improve the products’ efficiency. GreenPro evolved from models that featured multiple large tanks to a delivery system with a large nurse tank and smaller application tanks, allowing an applicator to mix just the amount of a particular product needed at a particular job.
“When you put something in that tank, you know you can (use it) in a reasonably short amount of time,” Maurer says. “We also started putting in tanks that drain completely so you don’t have to lose any material. Efficiency was extraordinarily important to me.”
His other goal, similar to many so-called “combo tank” models, is to allow the applicator to mix multiple solutions at a time for various jobs all on one truck.
“If an arborist looks around and says, ‘You have this disease and that problem,’ he could do all those applications with one trip and never have to make a return trip,” Maurer says. GreenPro’s newest lines are also a more modular design, with a goal of allowing the equipment to grow with a client’s business.
“So as a (client’s) needs expand, we can take the initial design and components and reformulate them into the next generation, without them having to spend all over again to buy the equipment. You want to invest whatever you have today to keep those long-term labor costs down for the next decade or so, because that’s how long you’re going to own this piece of equipment,” he says.
GreenPro’s new line of skid sprayers, introduced this year, are multifunctional and have the ability to spray trees, lawns or apply compost tea. The same piece of equipment can also brew the compost tea, rather than having to purchase a separate piece of equipment for brewing.
“I try to design into every piece of equipment the ability to be dual functioning or at least be able to do a number of different functions. We are trying to conserve dollars and be as cost-effective as possible,” Maurer says. “We say (to customers), ‘What’s your company going to be doing in five years?’ I want to design a piece of equipment that’s going to last.”
The company will also build new equipment on a pre-owned chassis, saving the client as much as half – or more – of the price of a new truck.
“We will even help them find a chassis,” Maurer says. “That can add up to tens of thousands of dollars. They really like that.”
GreenPro’s Titan truck, a completely enclosed unit, will also help companies reduce their maintenance costs, thanks to a roof that prevents rain from falling onto the electrical components and hides them from the sun’s heat and UV rays. And it allows the applicator to mix multiple solutions for a single trip.
“With this truck, you just drive up and boom, boom, boom. Three or four applications and it’s done,” says Herb Lupien, president of long-time TCIA member Lupien Tree and Landscape of Newton, Mass., which purchased a Titan truck from GreenPro. “It saves fuel. It saves everything. You mix up just what you need. There are many, many advantages to that.”
Vince and Karen Dujets of Northeastern Arborist Supply in West Paterson, New Jersey, and are doing their part to encourage customers to consider expanding their services to include spraying.
“It’s an expense to get started with, but there’s good money in it,” says Karen Dujets. “There are so many customers that still do not spray.”
Getting started in the spray business can be done with equipment purchases of around $5,000, says Vince Dujets. Those who already own equipment are choosing to repair their rigs rather than buy or update with new. “What’s keeping my doors open right now is the service,” he says. “That’s all they’re doing – piecing together what they own so they can keep working.”
“It’s like the auto industry,” adds Karen Dujets. “They’re not buying new. They’re just trying to get through with what they have this year.”
The Dujets sell a variety of spray equipment and emphasize their customer service – listening to the client’s needs and recommending the best, most efficient options. While they sell mostly equipment and products manufactured and  designed by other companies, Northeastern features its own deluxe needle.
“You’re pumping liquid fertilizer into the ground to the root system,” says Vince Dujets. “That’s the only way you can get fertilizer into the ground. If you just spray it on the lawn, the lawn is going to grab it before it ever gets to the roots.”
Not every manufacturer and distributor has felt the same effects from the economy. Customers are still buying new from Gregson-Clark Spraying Equipment, based in New York, says Rhett Clark, president of the Caledonia, New York, company.
“It would seem logical that our industry would suffer greatly in a bad economy. Historically, for us, this has not been the case and this year so far has been very good,” he says. “Many customers are delaying their buying decisions to the last possible minute, but they are buying. For customers financing their purchases, most are still getting approved; however, the process is taking a little longer.”
The economy has not curbed the demand for greener products, Clark adds.
“Although the technology behind compost tea and other organic products is literally as old as dirt, green industry professionals have only recently embraced methods of effectively producing, storing and applying these products,” he says. “The benefits of compost tea for turf and ornamentals have long been known. The challenge has been in the handling and applying of compost tea to ensure the viability of sprayers and liquid handling equipment, and we re excited to be a part of this movement.”
It seems Gregson-Clark and the rest of the spray equipment manufacturers, with compost tea equipment and other green products and equipment accommodations, are ready to lead, not follow, the tree care industry into a green future. |
