I've often been accused of dumbing down the landscape industry because of Landscape Juice's open policy - we do not vet or inspect businesses, instead opting for encouraging members to be open and honest about themselves and their abilities.
Our peer mentoring and information sharing has quite simply added a unique dimension that was never available before. It's still unique in its concept and remains totally independent of landscape trade groups and industry media.
I am proud of Landscape Juice's achievement and I'm buoyed daily by the feedback I get from industry practitioners telling how their business life has been transformed because of Landscape Juice.
My constant monitoring and analysis of the landscape industry since late 2005 (coupled with my previous +20 years trading within it) has cemented my belief that our open policy is the right one.
Leaving the landscape industry's stewardship to the exhausted trade organisations is quite simply anti-competitive and backward. After all these years the trade groups still appear to imply that non-members of their groups are potentially rogue traders.
I know there is a rogue element in life who will try to fleece unsuspecting clients. The problem I have is that these so called rogues cannot be called landscapers or gardeners at all...they are quite simply criminals.
We should embrace all new blood into the industry and we have a duty and a responsibility to help them become the best they can possibly be. We then have the same responsibility, just as the trader has, to ensure that they remain honest about their skills and experience and sell themselves accordingly.
Installer schemes versus landscape trade associations
I often hear conversations and read forum topics which blur the lines between installer schemes and trade associations.
Referring to an installer scheme as a trade body or association is wrong. Installer schemes have neither been set up to, or try to replicate, a trade association.
Installer schemes' sole purpose is so manufacturers can confidently recommend an installers to the consumers of their products. By ensuring that any recommendation is backed up by a strict vetting process maintains a manufacturers' reputation. In my view it's a totally acceptable way forward and should be embraced.
Installer schemes are very much a three-way transaction between the manufacturer, its approved installer and the consumer. If anything goes wrong it means the consumer is covered by the manufacturers support system.
The membership standard for installer schemes is set by the company which runs it.
However not all installer schemes are run to the same standard and this issue has caused some concern within the landscape industry of late.
In contrast a trade association is made up of paid-up members and run by its members. They are essentially closed private members' groups and are not regulated by a governing body.
Much of a trade association's dealings go on behind closed doors and there is often very little public information by which outsiders can derive informed analysis.
There was even a suggestion - which I have seen in writing - by one trade association that its committee members should be elevated into a Super Group status and therefore be omitted from the same inspection process applied to its members.
The lack of regulation is also a concern and I suspect that it's because of this that trade association's membership numbers hover at just 1% as a representative value of the landscape industry.
Landscape Juice's roadmap
One question I am constantly asked is what ambitions and aspirations do I have for Landscape Juice?
Well Landscape Juice has evolved in a truly social sense. Its path has been governed by its members; it's been passive and we've sometimes been forced to turn but essentially its strength is in what it has already become.
If Landscape Juice continues to provide exactly what it has for the last five years then I'd be happy.
However there are some exciting additions coming.
I will be adding a new 'find a landscaper' website and job-board shortly. Development has taken longer than hoped but we are getting close to final testing and it should be signed off by the developer on or around 17 July. After this we will tidy up the user interface and start promoting it.
Which brings me to my final thought.
Landscape practitioners are ultimately in the industry to make a living. Education and knowledge is nothing without work and income which ultimately puts food on the table.
Landscape Juice has been a constant source of work for many members but because of the restrictions within the Ning platform the network is built on we've been unable to reasonable quantify or audit what opportunities we've historically provided for members.
I hope with our new purpose-built stand-alone site we can create that audit trail and demonstrate LJN's true all-round value.
Visit the Landscape Juice Network here
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