By Jeff Book

What: State and professional certifications are intended to protect your business and the consumer.

Why: The work of unregulated and unlicensed contractors leads to millions of dollars in losses for consumers.

Bottom Line: State requirements aim to level the playing field for contractors, but often lack enforcement.

In the June issue of TLC, outgoing editor Glenn DiNella really touched a nerve with his final editor’s letter. In it, he argued against the escalating amount and cost of red tape for green industry professionals. He complained that, except where public safety is involved as with pesticide application, the array of licenses and permits required for even a small landscaping business is often excessive.

Readers were quick to respond, both pro and con. An “appalled” Wes Gauthier of Greenlife Landscape in Lafayette, Louisiana, wrote, “I have a college degree in my profession and numerous industry certifications and courses under my belt. I am confident that having a license separates the qualified contractors from the unqualified.  In my area, we have a serious problem with unlicensed contractors who think it is as simple as buying a rake and shovel at the nearest box store and throwing some plants in the ground.  You can be assured the homeowner will soon realize they’ve been had and will have to hire someone else to complete it, but in the meantime, our industry earns a bad name.”

Sunleaf Nursery, near Lake Erie in Madison, Ohio, maintains nursery dealer’s and pesticide licenses. Before he was a grower, general manager Jay Daley spent years working in garden centers and for landscape contractors. “I agree that we don’t need any more fees or taxes, and we certainly don’t need the local, state or federal governments micromanaging our businesses,” he wrote. “But certification means professionalism to those of us who grow, sell and install landscape materials.  We as an industry need to raise standards so that green industry employers and employees are accepted as the professionals we are instead of uneducated laborers who provide a necessary service at a high price.

"All those fees add up when you’re a small business. That’s money I could spend on something that's going to help my business in these tough economic times." Glenn DiNella

“Why should the scraper with a truck tear down the credibility of the educated contractor who has a legitimate business, pays income and payroll taxes and worker compensation insurance to protect the employee and the customer, carries liability insurance, and does everything else that a legitimate business contributes to the community?”

Money Better Spent Other Ways?

While the industry’s relatively low cost of entry may attract some dodgy operators, it also allows serious ones to boot-strap a start-up into a successful company. Having left TLC to launch an eco-friendly landscaping business, DiNella is experiencing first-hand what he editorialized about. Most irritating, he finds, are the business licenses he has to obtain across his service area, including two counties and numerous municipalities. “All of those small ($75 or so) fees add up when you’re a small business,” he says. “That’s money I could be spending on new equipment or advertising or something that is going to help my business during these tough economic times.” And, of course, tough times are leading cash-strapped governments to increase fees wherever possible (I’m talking about you, New York).

Still, licensing is as inevitable as lawn mowing. But compared to those in other industries, requirements for the landscaping trade are generally pretty simple. The most widespread one also is the most sensible: a license for applying pesticides. State pesticide control dates back to 1947, when Congress enacted the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Few would debate the need for nurseries to have dealer’s licenses—not just to protect consumers but to prevent the spread of pests and pathogens.