First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers — Tasks

Task statements

• Establish and enforce operating procedures and work standards that will ensure adequate performance and personnel safety.
• Schedule work for crews, depending on work priorities, crew or equipment availability, or weather conditions.
• Tour grounds, such as parks, botanical gardens, cemeteries, or golf courses, to inspect conditions of plants and soil.
• Monitor project activities to ensure that instructions are followed, deadlines are met, and schedules are maintained.
• Answer inquiries from current or prospective customers regarding methods, materials, or price ranges.
• Direct activities of workers who perform duties, such as landscaping, cultivating lawns, or pruning trees and shrubs.
• Inspect completed work to ensure conformance to specifications, standards, and contract requirements.
• Plant or maintain vegetation through activities such as mulching, fertilizing, watering, mowing, or pruning.
• Direct or perform mixing or application of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
• Train workers in tasks such as transplanting or pruning trees or shrubs, finishing cement, using equipment, or caring for turf.
• Prepare service estimates based on labor, material, and machine costs and maintain budgets for individual projects.
• Identify diseases or pests affecting landscaping and order appropriate treatments.
• Inventory supplies of tools, equipment, or materials to ensure that sufficient supplies are available and items are in usable condition.
• Maintain required records, such as personnel information or project records.
• Perform personnel-related activities, such as hiring workers, evaluating staff performance, or taking disciplinary actions when performance problems occur.
• Provide workers with assistance in performing duties as necessary to meet deadlines.
• Prepare or maintain required records, such as work activity or personnel reports.
• Investigate work-related complaints to verify problems and to determine responses.
• Perform administrative duties, such as authorizing leaves or processing time sheets.
• Confer with other supervisors to coordinate work activities with those of other departments or units.
• Direct or assist workers engaged in the maintenance or repair of equipment, such as power tools or motorized equipment.
• Review contracts or work assignments to determine service, machine, or workforce requirements for jobs.
• Order the performance of corrective work when problems occur and recommend procedural changes to avoid such problems.
• Confer with managers or landscape architects to develop plans or schedules for landscaping maintenance or improvement.
• Recommend changes in working conditions or equipment used to increase crew efficiency.
• Install or maintain landscaped areas, performing tasks such as removing snow, pouring cement curbs, or repairing sidewalks.
• Design or supervise the installation of sprinkler systems, calculating water pressure, or valve and pipe coverage needs.
• Negotiate with customers regarding fees for landscaping, lawn service, or groundskeeping work.