We have waited to put something together for our valued clients, friends, and followers. Since The 16th, the situation around Coronavirus 🦠(COVID-19) has continued to quickly change within our local communities. More states and local governments have begun to implement stringent regulations to limit the spread of this virus — including closing of schools, nonessential businesses, and work from home requirements. Governor Inslee finally sealed the deal yesterday with a "shelter at home" mandate, which w
e feel is for the best until this all blows over.
Rewind back to last week, we began to have our office staff working remotely to process invoices, collect receivables, and had a couple of crews working safely distanced apart on some projects we knew we could work on as long
as the weather stayed good. Our team also worked to continue prepping our equipment for Spring startup. Our office was closed to the general public, so thankfully, our exposure has remained limited and low risk.
March and early April are usually prep months for our staff as we get ready for Spring startup. Our normal Spring Cleanup and Fertilization schedule
doesn't commence until the first week of April and with still cooler temps, and spring rains, we usually don't have all of our crews in full force back until after the middle of April. With all of the rain last spring, we weren't really doing much until May. While that hurt, we managed to pull through and had one of our busiest years since our inception.
As a business working in the community, we understand
concerns locally and globally. Our paramount goal has been for the health and safety of our Customers and Team Members, as we continue to monitor the situation closely.
There is so much grey area as to whether or not we can continue to operate as an essential business. But first and foremost we want to be as responsible as possible in preventing the spread of this disease. We have been in direct contact with the local and National Association of Landscape Professionals. These associations have been working closely with the legislative offices and government officials to make sure they can bring our industry (85 billion a year) the most up-to-date and accurate information available regarding health and safety, as well as classification of essential versus nonessential businesses.
During these extraordinarily challenging times, we would like to address the following areas... While this is not a complete list, here are some of the updates we are implementing across our business.
Our office and administrative staff will continue to work remotely and can schedule future landscape appointments, answer questions about your account, sign clients up for new services, and process account payments.
Our HR Team is doing phone and virtual interviews to onboard new Team members.
Our landscape design and sales team are scheduled for minimal consultations, which will only take place outdoors and at a safe distance from clients.
Our division managers are working remotely to get our spring schedules ready, crew formation prepped, and promoting self growth of leadership and industry knowledge through various online resources and direction.
The economic impact of the 🦠 has been fast and hard in many industries throughout the country, with businesses already having no choice but shutting down. As a company, we pride ourselves on being fiscally responsible, and upholding our financial commitments to our employees and vendors. We are focused on mitigating a negative financial impact for as long as possible. At some point, there will be a financial impact on all of us, but the severity of that will depend on if, and for how long, we cannot startup services after mid April.
Prior to this pandemic, the economy was vibrant and booming, and we want to do whatever we can to ensure its protection during this crisis. I feel strongly that if we all do our part to stop the spread of this virus, we can work past these trying times and continue to prosper in our professions!
As more information becomes available, we will continue to make adjustments to support the safety and well-being of our Team Members and Clients! Thank you for your patience and understanding, particularly during these challenging times. We wish you and your family continued good health and well being and will be praying for all of us for a full recovery soon!
Sincerely,
TK Landscape and Lawn Service Team