{"id":34829,"date":"2020-05-07T18:06:51","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T22:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=34829"},"modified":"2020-05-08T11:04:55","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T15:04:55","slug":"landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_34830\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34830\" style=\"width: 902px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-34830\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"902\" height=\"666\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg 902w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc-768x567.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 902px) 100vw, 902px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34830\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richard Kessinger\u2019s Saratoga Lawn Maintenance LLC has been busy with lawn mowing jobs this spring. He says he may try to hire another employee later in the season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Jill Nagy<br \/>\nPandemic or no pandemic, the grass keeps growing and people are in need of landscaping services this time of year. But landscapers are not immune to problems brought about by the COVID-19 crisis.<br \/>\nGovernment guidelines allow them to do routine maintenance work, but no major undertakings like landscaping and hardscaping (patios, walks, and the like) or anything purely cosmetic. They can clean things up, but not install mulch and no new planting is allowed.<br \/>\nFor Brian Phillips and his company, The Lawn Guy Landscape Management LLC in Saratoga Springs, landscaping and hardscaping is usually the bulk of his business.<br \/>\n\u201cI\u2019m losing time and time is money,\u201d he said.<br \/>\nHe is holding deposits from customers from last February and has projects booked into July. He estimates that he had lost some $50,000-60,000 worth of work over a six-week period.<br \/>\nAside from that, Phillips said, \u201cWe are busy. We\u2019re doing rather well\u201d with the basic work. But, \u201cThings are certainly different.\u201d<!--more--><br \/>\nRichard Kessinger\u2019s Saratoga Lawn Maintenance LLC, a smaller, relatively new, company, doesn\u2019t rely much on heavy construction jobs. He is busy enough that he may try to hire another employee later in the season, he said.<br \/>\nBut there have been major adjustments for both companies.<br \/>\nNo more than two people can ride in a truck to a job site. Some have to come along by car. Workers wear masks and maintain the requisite six-foot spacing. That may mean fewer people on a worksite, Kessinger said. As a result, the work goes more slowly. At the end of the day, he cleans and sanitizes the trucks and equipment.<br \/>\nPhillips said \u201ceverybody has a mask with his name on it\u201d and they all bring their lunch now instead of stopping to buy lunch.<br \/>\nA few of Kessinger\u2019s customers have had to cut back on services, but \u201cwe are not having a lot of that. We can hold off on billing or cut back on services\u201d for those short on cash.<br \/>\nPhillips has fewer people working for him than usual\u2014three or four at a time instead of the usual six, working in two shifts. He is worried about \u201cthe trouble we will have getting those guys back,\u201d when they now receive unemployment benefits that exceed the entry level of $15 an hour he offers.<br \/>\nPhillips has been in the lawn maintenance business for 23 years, beginning as a 16-year-old with a single lawnmower and trailer. After college, he was doing landscaping and hardscaping work. He still has his first account, a family in Malta.<br \/>\nKessinger\u2019s story is different. \u201cIt\u2019s a second career for me,\u201d he said.<br \/>\nHe moved to Saratoga after retiring as a New York City police officer and started his company five years ago.<br \/>\nBoth of them, however, are confident.<br \/>\n\u201cWe\u2019ll get through it,\u201d Kessinger\u2019s said.<br \/>\n\u201cWe all gotta be safe and we all gotta be smart,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cA lot of things can be done safely.\u201d<br \/>\nPhillips can be reached at lawnguylandscape,com or 518-581-2655. Kessinger is at saratogalawnmaintenance,com of 518 944-0359.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jill Nagy Pandemic or no pandemic, the grass keeps growing and people are in need of landscaping services this time of year. But landscapers are not immune to problems brought about by the COVID-19 crisis. Government guidelines allow them to do routine maintenance work, but no major undertakings like landscaping and hardscaping (patios, walks, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":34830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-construction"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jill Nagy Pandemic or no pandemic, the grass keeps growing and people are in need of landscaping services this time of year. But landscapers are not immune to problems brought about by the COVID-19 crisis. Government guidelines allow them to do routine maintenance work, but no major undertakings like landscaping and hardscaping (patios, walks, [&hellip;]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-07T22:06:51+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-08T15:04:55+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"902\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/\",\"name\":\"Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now - Saratoga Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-07T22:06:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-08T15:04:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg\",\"width\":902,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"Richard Kessinger\u2019s Saratoga Lawn Maintenance LLC has been busy with lawn mowing jobs this spring. He says he may try to hire another employee later in the season.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Saratoga Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae\",\"name\":\"jessewinters\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jessewinters\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/author\/jessewinters\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now - Saratoga Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now - Saratoga Business Journal","og_description":"By Jill Nagy Pandemic or no pandemic, the grass keeps growing and people are in need of landscaping services this time of year. But landscapers are not immune to problems brought about by the COVID-19 crisis. Government guidelines allow them to do routine maintenance work, but no major undertakings like landscaping and hardscaping (patios, walks, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/","og_site_name":"Saratoga Business Journal","article_published_time":"2020-05-07T22:06:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-08T15:04:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":902,"height":666,"url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jessewinters","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jessewinters","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/","name":"Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now - Saratoga Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-07T22:06:51+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-08T15:04:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2020\/05\/landscape-2-saratoga-lawn-care-hc.jpg","width":902,"height":666,"caption":"Richard Kessinger\u2019s Saratoga Lawn Maintenance LLC has been busy with lawn mowing jobs this spring. He says he may try to hire another employee later in the season."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2020\/05\/landscaping-companies-keep-busy-while-banned-from-new-larger-projects-for-now\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Landscaping Companies Keep Busy While Banned From New, Larger Projects For Now"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/","name":"Saratoga Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae","name":"jessewinters","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jessewinters"},"url":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/author\/jessewinters\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34831,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34829\/revisions\/34831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}