Parts & Labour

Some of you may have heard of the new restaurant/bar/music venue called Parts & Labour. What you may not know is that the owner of the building is a landscape architect (hint see testimonials). We had many discussions this spring regarding plans for a rooftop garden using a container system pictured here. This rooftop garden provided veggies for the restaurant all summer, featuring heirloom veggies capably grown by Katie Mathieu. According to Katie "The radishes were nice and chubby in the spring". Our involvement was to facilitate the installation of access, supplying labour for installation of soil, container placement and winterizing at the end of the season. Apparently the engineers had a change of heart regarding large amounts of soil sitting on the middle of the roof over winter.

Community

This past spring Ecoman supplied the herbs and veggies for the Samba Kids rooftop garden at Drum Artz. We planted basil, rosemary, cherry tomatoes and much more. You can also see the Xeroflor green roof that we help maintain.

2011 Newsletter

Well it is late February and we have had warm and cold snaps, snow in abundance and now as I look out my window rain. Although the official opening day for Ecoman is April 1st, we may be starting earlier weather dependent of course. So be sure to book early for your spring cleanups. I am writing to update the changes for 2011 including personnel, pricing and technology.We are very happy to announce that Rohan, Rachel, Mike and John are all coming back this year. We are sad to announce that Tinka will be leaving to pursue a managerial position at an upscale flower shop.Last year we rolled out our new timekeeping technology on the gardening side and were very happy with the result. This year we plan to expand the use of electronic timekeeping on the landscaping side. Although the use of electronic timekeeping resulted in savings for our clients we are aware that in spring and fall the addition of a third crewmember did add substantially to the bottom line.That is why we are adopting a small change in our pricing on the gardening side to help alleviate this concern. The new pricing system will be $45 for the crew leader and $25 for each member of the crew. This will result in no change to your hourly cost (since we always work as a two person crew therefore the hourly rate stays the same at $70). The savings will accrue when a third crew member charged out at $25 is added for large jobs and fall cleanups. The savings amounts to $10/hr compared to last year pricing for every hour we charge at the 3 person crew level. If you are wondering about our services and would like to see pictures of our work please follow the link provided here: http://bit.ly/9HeceO. This site is updated often so feel free to visit again soon. You can also search on the right hand side by category for specific topics such as landscaping or green roofs. Look out for a new feature that will show video footage of exterior home and garden inspections showing what we look for and recommendations.So there you have it, our core crew has returned for another season, electronic timekeeping has helped to improve service, our new pricing system will ensure cost savings on larger gardening jobs and our blog will keep you up to date on new projects, pictures and stories. I am looking forward to spring and hope to hear from you soon.Cheers,Jonas

Badscape Stairs

We often get called into a project after a large component of the work has been completed. In this case a pressure treated wood walkout with steps has been installed. Our job was to supply and install the pathway to the garage. Typically steps are installed with a consistent height to facilitate safe and efficient pathways to and from the home. Having large differences in heights of stairs can be awkward and annoying at best and can cause serious injury at worst. At times your landscape contractor can cheat the height of the path without throwing off the rest of the grading of your property. In this case we have already cheated at least an inch and the steps are still off by at least three inches!

Wholesale Nursery

One of my favourite parts of working in this business is going to the wholesale nurseries. Pictured here are shots of the perennial greenhouse at Connon NVK. Working with Mark (head of perennials) and the rest of the team at Connon is great because they value our business and are setup to work with landscape contractors. Typically a list is sent ahead so the nursery can start picking your order, however, in spring we often are purchasing small quantities for multiple clients. Therefore it is not unusual to show up with a partial list and hand pick some special items for a last minute project.

Kingslea continued

Here is a great shot of how the crumbling steps were replaced and tied into the retaining wall.

kingslea coninued

This shot shows how we tied our patio into the curvy edge of the pool.