Fine Garden Maintenance Lead
Shooting Star Gardens is a LGBTQ woman owned and operated garden design, installation, and maintenance company. Our service area is centered in North Seattle/Shoreline/Edmonds/lfp.
Our focus is creating and maintaining intimate outdoor spaces to enhance the engagement of homeowners with the natural world. We do this by using primarily native and edible plants, creating habitat, naturalistic pruning methods and close relationships with clients.
And we are looking to hire another hard-working plant nerd to join our team! We seek a motivated and independent individual to lead our expanding maintenance team. The Fine Garden Lead will be in charge of setting a positive example, representing our core values and proactively managing clients and staff members, keeping tasks up to date, and consistently defining what resources they need to help them succeed. We highly value strong problem solving skills and resourcefulness, flexibility in changing schedules. We expect this position to be about 80% fieldwork and 20% administrative. There is room in this position to expand beyond its current definition.
The areas of responsibility for this position will focus on the following:
❖ Field lead: Lead maintenance crews on-site. Be available to answer any maintenance questions when not on-site.
➢ Communicate with team-members to make sure everyone knows what they are doing for the day/week and where they are going. We expect the maintenance lead to communicate with team members before each day, and after the days have wrapped up to get everyone ready and plan for the following days.
➢ Making sure all crews have tools they need, etc.
❖ Maintaining/transferring notes in Jobber: Maintenance lead is in charge of keeping all notes and records of maintenance jobs. This includes documenting on-site work as it is done, and notes for future visits. This also includes documenting relevant expenses, etc. and communicating with staff to make sure expenses are recorded in invoices.
❖ Scheduling: The PM will do all overall scheduling, while maintenance lead is expected to be in charge of checking week to week and making sure everything is according to plan/has enough people scheduled/all notes get transferred from visit to visit.
➢ Includes routinely checking to make sure no clients are being neglected/scheduled too often, check in to suggest maintenance projects
(mulching, removing dead plants, more extensive pruning projects), manage changes/cancellations, re-arrange schedules when necessary. Maintenance lead will be in charge of communicating all changes to clients and the SSG team
(longer visits for special tasks, changes in client needs, budget/time restrictions, etc).
❖ Client communication: Use Shooting Star email to communicate with maintenance clients about upcoming appointments, future needs, check-ins, questions, etc. Relevant emails will be forwarded on to you, and we expect you to set aside time each day to answer relevant emails and take initiative on checking-in with clients as-needed.
❖ Invoicing: Send out invoices for maintenance jobs every 2 weeks & stay on top of invoice reminders for all unpaid/late invoices.
❖ Consultations. For all new maintenance clients, you would be required to do a 20-min consultation (take pictures and notes to come up with notes for future visits, timeline, and budget quotes). See below.
❖ Estimates/bids. (specifically for new maintenance clients). Maintenance lead will be in charge of drafting and sending out quotes to maintenance clients & follow up with clients via Jobber. Communicate with team members on timing, materials, etc.
❖ Tools & trucks - make sure trucks have what they need for maintenance crews, and tools are organized, sharp, and we have what we need.
❖ Employee training: train new maintenance employees on basics of Jobber, scheduling.
Assign tasks to new employees and make sure everyone knows their role and what they are responsible for.
❖ Plant lists/small maintenance design requests: Manage requested plant replacements for maintenance clients. This will often include making short plant lists to review with clients and SSG management team, and then making sure plants get purchased before maintenance visits.
Desired Qualifications:
❖ Knowledge of plants and maintenance tasks: You must be familiar with a wide range of native, edible and ornamental plants, both ID common diseases and care.
Maintenance lead must have a strong base-knowledge of seasonal maintenance tasks, plant identification, general IPM, and best organic practices. Ability to identify common perennial and annual weeds, common landscape plants for the PNW region, and knowledge of selective naturalistic pruning.
❖ Comfortable leading crews: The maintenance lead needs to have the ability to lead crew members. Give instructions when needed, keep everyone on track, encouraging staff and creating a positive atmosphere.
❖ Know best practices for organic maintenance. Sheet mulching, hand weeding, naturalistic pruning, mulching, weed and plant id.
❖ Excellent driving record. Drive in town, park in busy urban areas, backing up with heavy load, load tools securely.
❖ Physical Stamina: able to repeatedly lift 50-75lbs, move heavy wheelbarrows, climb ladders, carry and secure tools. Work outside no matter the weather.
❖ Clear communication: While the owner will be your direct supervisor, you will be working very closely with the Project Manager on most projects on staffing needs, scheduling, etc. It will be your responsibility to make sure everyone is in-the-know and on the same page with all maintenance jobs.
❖ Time Management: Identify how much time is needed for each project and monitor effectively to stay on track. An example being, as soon as you see a job is going over its allotted time, communicate with the supervisor. Since you will be in charge of estimating and bidding for new maintenance clients, tracking time is a very important part of this.
Time management is very important, as it determines our budget and the budget of the client. Maintenance lead is responsible for keeping everyone on track, communicating timing to clients, and keeping track of hours.
❖ Ownership and Responsibility. There is a fair amount of problem solving and leadership in this position and we ask that the Maintenance lead be someone who is responsible and will trustfully take ownership of all things maintenance-related.
❖ Flexibility. We are a small company that is working on expanding. Because of this, we ask that every team member have some flexibility in their daily tasks and be open to changes and other tasks as assigned.
❖ Growing Mindset: Personal and professional growth is fostered at SSG. We want to support you as your career develops.
Salary depends upon experience. SSG offers paid time off, health insurance, continuing education allowance, discount on plant materials, retirement and competitive wages. A valid WSDL and clear driving record is required.
Underrepresented minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. We are a LGBTQ owned company. Please be a non-smoker. This is a deal breaker.
IF YOU SMOKE/VAPE AT ALL DO NOT APPLY.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $22.00 - $30.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Retirement plan
- Tuition reimbursement
Schedule:
- 10 hour shift
- 4x10
- 8 hour shift
- Monday to Friday
People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply
Application Question(s):
- Do you live in the Seattle Metro area?
Education:
Experience:
- Project leadership: 1 year (Preferred)
- Landscape maintenance: 1 year (Required)
- Account management: 1 year (Preferred)
License/Certification:
- Driver's License (Required)
Work Location: In person