work. Paul and I both bid job projects, and whoever bids the project develops the plan for it and walks it through to competition. If it’s your bid; it’s your project.” Tat system is a big part of building long-lasting customer relationships, a key to the company’s success. It also takes a great deal of internal coordination to keep multiple projects flowing smoothly.
Te company is a true family business. Paul says, “Katie, Willard’s daughter, was in charge of the design and landscaping, and handled much of that internal coordination, but she’s opted to ‘retire’ for a while and focus more on her four kids. Chelsey, Norb’s daughter, now serves as executive assistant, working with me in the office. We currently have two other office personnel to help with orders and organizing and following through with our projects. We also have a one-person service department to ensure equipment repairs and maintenance are followed through.”
Norb adds, “Nick, Paul’s son, began working with us at a young age. He now drives semis, as well as the other trucks, and can operate the loaders. Our brother-in-law Dave is my right-hand-man, helping schedule and oversee the grading operations and stepping in to assist on the landscaping side, when we need help there. Zach, one of our nephews, is a grading machine operator. Another nephew, Troy, works in our landscaping department.” And then, there are the family friends that have become company employees and the long-term employees that have become friends—all of whom the Wagner brothers consider part of the family.
In fact, that family atmosphere is so strong, that several employees who had moved on to other companies end up coming back to Wagner Sod. In the humble way so typical of all three Wagner brothers, Norb says, “It’s kind of surprising, actually.”
Te reason those employees come back? “You acknowledge me; you let me know I count as a person; not just a body doing a job.” “You understand what it takes to do the work. If there’s a problem, you work with me to figure it out.” “You listen if I have ideas on how to do something quicker or more efficiently.” “You care about me when I have a personal problem and are willing to work with me throughout the process.” Which all comes back to family—and feeling like a valued family member.
Beyond the positions listed above, the staff is divided into specific crews, some overseen by Norb and some by Paul. Norb has a grading crew, with one foreman and three operators; two sod installation crews that each consist of from eight to ten employees; one plant installation crew of three; and two mowing crews. Paul has an irrigation service manager, three irrigation service technicians, and an irrigation installation crew of four.
Norb and Paul work together to coordinate the irrigation and the landscape planting segments of the projects. Ten Norb and Willard coordinate the grading and the sod installation.
Norb says, “Everything is prescheduled two to three weeks in advance, working around that master calendar to coordinate the scheduling with the different contractors. Making sure everything goes as scheduled is already kind of crazy and the weather can make it even more so.” Of course, they also need to work in the small sod installations and deliveries; the sod pickup orders; and the walk-in customers at the retail store.
Adjusting After the Crash Te 2008 housing market crash hit the Minneapolis area as hard as most regions. Te Wagner brothers looked at diversification beyond the sod, again tapping into their understanding of the service needs of their customers. Norb says, “Te crash made us simplify things and isolate our operations to the point where we made money in a smaller format rather than the larger one. We concentrated more on the full package, rather than the individual segments of it, developing the primary landscaper concept. Tat gave us the flexibility to work in more areas. We also found the reputation for reliability that we had been building since 1960 was a strong selling point across all markets. We could do the landscape design and installation; or the irrigation design and installation; and we could do the maintenance.”
Paul adds, “Tey might not have been building or buying new homes, but those that already had homes were more willing to stick with what they had and make it better with renovations and upgrades.”
Katie, Willard Wagner’s daughter, works the company’s booth at the Minneapolis Home & Garden Show. Tey participate in this “show and sell” event each year.
TPI Turf News May/June 2019
Teir strategy has worked so well that, a few years after the crash, they were able to upgrade much of their equipment, everything from dump trucks and Bobcats to semis and
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