Careers in Landscaping

Landscaping: Here is one place where the American Dream is still alive and well. The job market for landscape professionals continues to be strong in Colorado. Most professionals work for companies with busy, often seasonal, schedules. Advancement is based on commitment and effort. Entrepreneurs with minimal capital investment (a couple of mowers and a pick-up truck, for example) combined with hard work and decent business sense can still build a business that can support a family or employ several hundred workers.

Attractively designed, healthy, and well-maintained landscapes create a positive impression, establish a peaceful mood, and increase property values. Here in Colorado, achieving that effect often requires professional assistance. Workers in landscaping occupations are responsible for the variety of tasks necessary to achieve a pleasant and functional outdoor environment. Some 26,000 men and women are employed in Colorado to keep homes, businesses, and government facilities looking good.

Landscaping laborers physically install and maintain landscaped areas. In addition to initially transporting and planting new vegetation, they also transplant, mulch, fertilize, water, and prune flowering plats, trees, and shrubs, and mow and water lawns. Laborers who demonstrate a willingness to work hard and quickly, have good communication skills, and take an interest in the business may advance to crew leader or other supervisory positions.

Supervisors generally perform the same work, but are also responsible for directing the landscaping crew's activities, adhering to schedules, and keeping track of labor costs. Landscape contractors and those in managerial positions increasingly use computers to develop plans and blueprints, to estimate and track project costs, and to maintain payroll and personnel information.

Advancement to a supervisory or management position usually requires some formal education beyond high school, and several years of progressively responsible experience. Prospective landscape contractors should be knowledgeable about turf care, horticulture, ornamental plants, soils, and erosion prevention and irrigation techniques. Those in managerial positions must also be aware of local or Federal environmental regulations and building codes.

Several years of hands-on experience plus a 4-year bachelor's degree, a 2-year associate's degree, or a 1-year vocational-technical degree in a "green" discipline usually provide a good background for those who wish to deal with the full range of landscaping responsibilities. Increasingly, the landscape industry is attracting individuals whose management and leadership skills have been proven in other settings but who are drawn to the green industry for a subsequent career.

ALCC administers the Certified Landscape Technician (CLT) designation here in Colorado. Certification is a hands-on testing program administered by 20 states and provinces that recognizes proficiency in the landscape workforce, upgrades the status of the landscape professional, and provides the public with a means of identifying qualified landscape professionals. Having a CLT on staff or on site is becoming more and more a requirement for many commercial and municipal jobs. And, increasingly, the buying public looks for a CLT on staff as an important element in distinguishing one landscaping firm from another.

For more information about a career as a landscape professional, consult the following:

* Find out more about ALCC's Certified Landscape Technician Program.

* If you're interested in studying horticulture, several programs exist in Colorado. Visit our Links to explore.

* Learn more about landscaping and turf management at this national online Vocational Information Center.

* For an expanded occupational description, review the Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

* Check ALCC's online classified ads for current job listings.

* The Associated Landscape Contractors of America maintains a student chapter at Colorado State University, Horticulture Department. The faculty advisor is Elizabeth Mogen, who can be contacted by e-mail at e.mogan@colostate.edu, by telephone at 970 491-7089, or by fax at 970 491-7745.

* If you want to volunteer in horticulture, a number of opportunities can be found at botanic gardens and horticulture institutions.

* To learn more about other green industry occupations, check other associations listed at the GreenCO website.