Help choose The ELITE Awards

ALCC is looking for 10-15 members to serve as judges for The ELITE Awards submissions. Each judge will be assigned to review about five submissions in one of the award categories: Design/Build, Landscape Construction, Plant Design, Maintenance, or Sustainability.

If you have 5-10 hours to volunteer in late August-early September and have five or more years of experience in the landscape industry, we would love to have you review and evaluate submissions. Contact Melissa Emdin at 720 307-5092 for more information or to express interest in volunteering.

Excessive heat and poor air quality from wildfire smoke both pose hazards to landscape workers. Be sure that your team’s safety program includes education on recognizing these hazards and taking steps to prevent injury or illness.

To prevent heat illness, OSHA recommends that employers:

On August 4, 2021, ALCC hosted its annual golf tournament with 144 golfers and 20 sponsoring companies. The tournament, held at Arrowhead Golf Course in Littleton, was sold out well in advance of the event date. Landscape professionals were eager to gather in person and enjoy some social and networking time with peers.

Last week, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released guidance on accommodating those with “long COVID.” The guidance states “that long COVID can be a disability under Titles II (state and local government) and III (public accommodations) of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), and Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Section 1557).”

“There are better places to start a landscape business than Buena Vista,” says Josh Bearss who founded Bearss Landscaping in 2005. He admits the high mountain desert climate is challenging. “It’s windy and there are lots of deer and plenty of giant boulders in the ground. It’s tough for plants. It takes a lot of learning to create landscapes that work here.”  

Consumer spending on home services recovered faster than all other categories and has exceeded pre-pandemic levels from June 2020 onwards, finds a mid-year report from home services website Jobber.

There have been a lot of moving pieces and shifting strategies around legislation affecting the H-2B visa program. At times, there has been legislation aimed at eliminating the H-2B program altogether—all in the last 30 days or so. But the Colorado landscape industry has worked together and participated in lobbying strategy.

When it comes to the H-2B visa program, the landscape industry is the biggest user of H-2B visas in Colorado. Ongoing labor shortages plague the industry, and business leaders are exploring many options for H-2B reform to help bridge the labor gap and increase the availability of seasonal foreign workers to fill jobs that are unable to be filled locally.

UPDATE: SBA has announced the opening of the PPP forgiveness portal: https://www.sba.gov/article/2021/jul/28/sba-announces-opening-paycheck-protection-program-direct-forgiveness-portal. Borrowers with PPP loans of $150,000 or less can apply directly to SBA for forgiveness through the portal, which opens August 4th.

US Small Business Association (SBA) is launching a PPP loan forgiveness portal that is expected to expedite some forgiveness applications. Borrowers may be able to apply for forgiveness directly with the SBA with this new platform.

What motivates consumers when shopping for landscape services? Lawn & Landscape asked homeowners in a recent survey. The results, available in their Grow the Market report, demonstrate that the importance of and desire for professional landscape and lawn care services has grown in the last five years.