The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Established landscaping companies are increasingly having to clean-up behind rogue new market entrants who have emerged amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it was argued yesterday.

Conray Rolle, the Bahamas Landscaping Association’s chairman, told Tribune Business that his members were frequently having to rectify shoddy work performed by sector newcomers that has cost consumers hundreds of dollars to make right.

“Everybody is out there now trying to start their own business. Who isn’t out there looking for government contracts are just watering down the industry,” he said.

“This is a big problem because you’ve got every Tom, Dick and Harry thinking they can come into the industry. We’re not trying to stop anybody from making money, but they just can’t see the industry as one where anybody can come in and start working.”

The number of new landscaping enterprises entering the industry has soared in the last 24 months, Mr Rolle said, while acknowledging that dealing with poorly-trained operators that do more harm than good for Bahamian consumers has “always been a problem”.

He added: “If you’re not taking the time to educate yourself, to train and develop yourself........ For example, you have a firm going out there against an established company that has invested time and money in training and education, not only in themselves, but also in their people, and then you have a guy who just comes in with his business license and doesn’t invest the time and training into his work and gets a job and undercuts someone with the training and capability.”

Mr Rolle said some newcomers have tried to undercut established landscaping companies by close to two-thirds, offering $40 for a job costing. Mr Rolle explained that this often only ends up hurting the client.

“I have people come to me after they have tried the cheap route and, instead of having to pay $100 initially, they end up spending $120 trying to correct the shoddy job that was done by the first guy in addition to the $40 they originally paid him,” he added.

“All of this creates this negative stigma about the business. So, what we want is a process by which anyone who wants to come into the industry must undergo training from the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) and, once they have undergone training, then they can apply for their license as a part of that process.”

Bahamian landscapers also have to deal with foreign companies that enter this nation to perform a specific job but never leave. “We have to contend with all of these foreign companies coming in, and there’s no one policing or putting any control measures in to make sure that these things aren’t happening,” Mr Rolle said.

“When these guys come in they bring in their own landscape crew, and do work that Bahamians can be doing. That creates another problem, because I’m no longer just competing now with my local guys; I’m competing against foreigners.”