. (site supervisor) meets with the onsite facility manager and property manager to review any concerns that residents may have brought up during the previous week and to discuss the upcoming service schedules. He puts out fires for us weekly, keeping the residents feeling their concerns are not only heard but actions were taken to resolve the issues while not incurring any extra expense. He truly looks out for our property and residents.”
From Carrie, the manager of a west suburban property: “Every week J.P
Occasionally, it is the speed at which we make a problem disappear. At one of our south suburban properties, I had an unusual complaint come in this summer. The report was that a resident’s American flag flying in his yard was damaged. I drove out to inspect the complaint myself and was joined by the site Supervisor, Jose R. It appeared that while mowing the lawn, the movable flag stand was accidentally cracked and had later broken after the crew had left. We met with the homeowner, a veteran, and assured him we would repair it as soon as possible. Jose woke up first thing in the morning and drove to pick up parts and he repaired the stand on the way to work that next morning. The homeowner called our office to thank us for the quick reply as it meant quite a bit for him to have Old Glory flying in his front yard.
As we service quite a few municipalities and schools, we are frequently asked to modify our schedules to accommodate softball/baseball/soccer tournaments, special events, holiday celebrations, etc. As the clients may often leave this scheduling request until the last minute, the Semmer crews need to react and mobilize quickly as soon as the request comes in.
While this can be a little stressful for the staff, our clients greatly appreciate the effort, and we are usually rewarded with a long-term relationship.
[FIREFIGHTERS]
Similar to our respected first responder heroes, Semmer on occasion is called into emergency action to put out a metaphorical landscape fire; something unexpected that just cannot wait for tomorrow. At one of our south loop high-rises, the property manager Abbey called in a panic. Apparently, someone pulled out all of the flowers on the parkway beds along Michigan Avenue. As this is a high visibility account and NASCAR was coming into town that weekend, the building needed to look top-notch. One of our account managers, Sean, sprang into action and immediately headed over to the building. Within two hours
of the call being received, Sean repaired the beds to prior condition and saved all of the annuals, saving the building considerable money.
In another instance, we saved our client thousands of dollars in lost summer annuals thanks to our proactive foreman, Mauricio. While on site on a very hot early July day, Mauricio noticed that the summer flowers at the entrance of a southwest suburban property that we service were wilting and struggling. He immediately took pictures and sent them to the salesman and his supervisor. While Semmer installed the flowers, we do not manage the irrigation (the board had already been using a company when we took over). The system had apparently malfunctioned, so the flowers were on the verge of being relocated to the compost heap, certainly not going to make it another day. The client’s irrigation contractor was not responding. Once again, our supervisor Jose sprung into action and immediately headed to the site. Within one hour, Jose had the system back online and watering and saving the annual flowers. Semmer was immediately awarded the service contract, which we still have today.
While certainly no company is flawless, I was extremely proud to write this article and share some of our proudest moments at Semmer Landscape and highlight some of our heroes. When you see your friendly neighborhood landscaper working around the association, think about the superhero who might be under those coveralls. This is an expression of gratitude and sincere praise for a team of landscaping professionals who always rise to the occasion in heroic fashion.
42 | COMMON INTEREST®
• Spring 2024 • A Publication of CAI-Illinois Chapter
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