Rich Veenhuis Joins ELM as Area Manager

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Eastern Land Management is pleased to announce Rich Veenhuis has joined its team as Area Manager. Rich will be based out of ELM’s facility in Monroe, CT.  

Rich brings a solid combination of business and snow industry experience to his new role, ranging from project management to operations.

“I am delighted to be part of the ELM team. I got the ‘landscape bug’ at a very young age and have enjoyed working in this industry my whole life. I look forward to sharing my enthusiasm for smart technologies and high performing landscape systems, and working with our regional team, customers, partners and community to deliver great and safe service, and perfect the experience people have with us,” said Rich.

“Rich is an exceptionally motivated professional, whose genuine passion will bring out the best in his team,” said ELM President, Bruce Moore, Jr. “He has a great blend of technical and people skills and will play an important role is driving consistent, year-round quality.”

A Chicago native and a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Rich’s professional certifications includes Six Sigma, CNLP (certified nursey and landscape professional) and a lifetime safety ranking from OSHA.

He holds a pesticide applicators license in the states of Illinois and Wisconsin, is a graduate of the New England Tractor Trailer Training School and a veteran of the Illinois Army National Guard.  He attended College of Lake Country in Grayslake, Illinois and was a member of the famed Chicago Second City improvisational theatre group.

Please join us in welcoming Rich to the ELM team.

ELM Team Logs 55,000 Hours Incident Free

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

This year redefined expectations for the better. With return to work strategies, shifting mindsets, and attention to health and hygiene, ELM’s integrated health and safety system became mission critical.

“For as long as I can remember,” said Bruce Moore, Jr., ELM president, “we’ve focused on customers first. But Covid made us realize that if we don’t care of our team first, they won’t be as effective in running a smooth service operation or serving our customers. So, we’re doing all we can to protect our team, and their families, from risk of infection and contribute to flattening the curve in our region.”

Updated health and safety procedures at ELM’s facilities in Monroe and Stamford, Connecticut, include increased sanitation technologies, adequate PPE, hygiene and communications protocols, protective dividers between workstations and in truck cabs, and physical distancing to reduce risk of contagion.

This month, the team at ELM’s Monroe facility is celebrating a major milestone: 365 days incident free.  “That’s 55,000 hours, if we count seasonal crews,” said Branch Manager, Greg Gross. “In any year, it’s an impressive safety metric. In a year with as many disruptions as this one, it’s an achievement worthy of a special celebration,” he added.

So, what’s ELM’s secret to safety success?  “We empower our employees by bringing their ideas to the conversation.  They’re out there every day often under demanding circumstances and they know what’s needed to perform, how to determine and assess the best approaches and work practices, and how to keep their teams and their worksites safe,” said Greg.ELM promotes a proactive approach to safety through awareness, teamwork and training as a job requirement. 

To learn more about ELM’s culture of safety and performance, contact Bruce Moore Jr., at 203-316-5433, or bmoorejr@easternland.com

How Landscape Infrastructure Projects Can Reboot Our Economy

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

As commerce re-engages post Covid-19, the demand for resilient and more technologically advanced and sustainable sites are giving builders, place-makers and collaborative teams opportunities to close the gap on long over-due landscape improvements.

What does this mean for general contractors and building project teams? And for budgets where improvements are under review? 

As experienced sub-contractors active in the bid-build arena, ELM can help steer sustainable outcomes on projects of diverse scale, and compete where it counts on logistics, delivery and cost. We get our bid in early, we concentrate on value, and run a lean, productive and highly-skilled operation.

Our areas of expertise include, but are not limited to:

ELM Landscape Construction

  • Advanced irrigation systems 
  • Bioswales and drainage
  • Built architectural elements & features
  • Custom health & safety upgrades
  • Emergency site infrastructure
  • Emergency response
  • Erosion Control
  • Fencing, stonework & signage
  • Green roofs and vertical gardens
  • Ground stabilization
  • Hardscape & pavements  
  • Habitat rehabilitation
  • Seasonal repairs/storm damage
  • Site improvements and renovation
  • Stormwater systems
  • Tenant recreational amenities
  • Terraces, courtyards & walkways

ELM Landscape Maintenance

  • Annual color rotation, container plantings
  • Amenities, recreational areas, sports fields, public spaces
  • Automated lawn mowing
  • Automated irrigation and water conservation systems 
  • Budgeting, strategic landscape planning 
  • Buffer & riparian zone management
  • Drought-tolerant landscapes
  • Enhancements
  • Environmental services
  • Fertilization
  • Habitat management
  • Grounds disinfecting & sanitizing services
  • Insect, mosquito, tick and plant disease control
  • Integrated pest management
  • Plant health care & non-toxic alternatives
  • ROI budgeting, strategic planning 
  • Turf-meadow transformation
  • Water audits
  • Weed control

For an experienced, forward-thinking partner who makes each and every landscape project more efficient, contact ELM President, Bruce Moore, Jr., at 203-316-5433, or bmoorejr@easternland.com

ELM is licensed and bonded in the States of Connecticut and New York. ELM is a member of the National Association of Landscape Contractors and the Snow and Ice Management Association.

Let’s Get Re-Building. Tips to make your post-Covid landscape a healthier space to live, work and play.

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Making our environment healthier for everyone is likely to be an upside of post-pandemic recovery.

From oxygen-producing street trees to broader walkways and wider spaces, here are ten ways commercial property owners and managers can rehabilitate commercial sites to be more resilient and safer spaces for all.

  1. Widen pedestrian plazas to enable people to spread out.
  2. Construct and protect bicycle paths.
  3. Renovate public gather places, dining terraces, common areas.
  4. Transform underutilized hardscape into landscaped spaces.
  5. Reclaim underperforming landscape areas into broad corridors.
  6. Introduce wide walking trails and sidewalks with lighting, shade trees, and habitat and vector-control buffer zones.
  7. Eliminate redundant landscape infrastructure systems, such as old irrigation grids, and introduce automation and advanced technology to improve cost, eliminate waste and improve resource management.
  8. Optimize amenities as flexible public spaces.
  9. Integrate natural systems, riverbeds, estuaries, habitats, transit areas, medians, and parks at all scales to create a sense of community.
  10. Activate a multi-functional landscape plan that adheres to healthy living/working guidelines and new interaction and safety norms.

Our high-performing teams have been respected members of the integrated landscape design-build and landscape maintenance community for more than 40 years.

Working with general contractors and builders, and directly with building and facility owners and managers to improve project delivery and cost, our full-service framework offers a multitude of ways to get started.

Contact Bruce Moore Jr. at 203-316-5433 or email at bmoorejr@easternland.com.

ELM is licensed and bonded in the States of Connecticut and New York. 

Introducing a New Standard for Clean: Property Sanitization & Disinfecting Services Now Available

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

To help contain the spread of Covid-19, ELM is offering enhanced protective measures to help property owners and operators mount an effective, precautionary response against pathogens, infectious agents and vector-borne disease. 

I. Disinfecting & Sanitizing Treatments Tackle Infectious Agents

Our disinfecting and sanitizing applications focus on high-touch points, environmental surfaces, and fixtures and furniture found in high-traffic common areas. These include, but are not limited to, patios, dining terraces and picnic areas, railings, entries, green roofs, recreational amenities, artificial sports fields, benches and bleachers. 

II. Exterior Pressure Washing Removes Pollutants

High-pressure water jets effectively remove environmental dirt, dust, tree pollen, and bird and insect residue on walls and walkways. Our service unclogs rain gutters and downspouts and freshens non-porous surfaces without leaving corrosive residues. 

III.     Vector-borne Disease Control Inhibits Mosquitos, Ticks, Fleas

Source reduction is the key to ridding outdoor areas of fleas, ticks and breeding environments for mosquitos. ELM’s seasonal pest control program reduces the risk of virus such as West Nile, Zika, Eastern equine encephalitis, and Lyme disease. Other insect control strategies, such as bio-control agents, landscape habitat modification, pesticide and non-toxic methods of control can be applied.

ELM’s Safety & Best Practice Guidelines

ELM technical services crews and grounds cleaning protocols adhere to guidelines issued by the public health departments of the States of Connecticut and New York, the CDCP and OSHA. All treatments are applied in accordance with manufacturer’s recommendations, in consultation with property and facility owners/managers, and with ELM’s safety best practices oversight.

ELM is the leading provider of commercial and institutional landscape and grounds services in Fairfield and New Haven Counties, Connecticut and Greater New York Metro. Family-owned and operated for over 40 years, ELM tailors its services for every situation–whether an essential facility still in operation or a property currently unoccupied–to ensure that your outdoor environment and public spaces are maintained, cleaned, and protected exactly the way to need.

Contact Bruce Moore Jr. at 203-316-5433 or email bmoorejr@easternland.com to learn more.

Mission Possible. How ELM’s Readiness Culture Drives Emergency Response

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

ELM’s readiness culture is forged in a habit of vigilance, a commitment to manage risk, and a mindset that allows us to communicate and respond quickly, accurately and effectively.

Building readiness into our mindset and processes sets the foundation for how we cover a range of measures. 

  1. Training – ELM’s trained teams are up-to-date in storm response, safety training and certification programs. Workplace drills, state-of-the technology tools, and field exercises keep our crews mindful and ready for the unexpected.
  2. Up-to-date Contact Information– Our emergency contact information is an essential element to our 24/7, whatever-it-takes culture. As a property or building and asset manager, you can reach us at all times, with our promise to be part of a robust interconnected team to solve problems together.
  3. Logistics – Our teams are trained and ready when circumstances require immediate deployment, be it a severe weather event or a storm of uncertainty.
  4. Documentation & Contingency– Our emergency preparedness process includes having updated plans in place, managed incident reports and updated compliance and safety response protocols. When your properties are impacted by the unexpected, knowing what to do, and how to do execute in a moment’s notice, are key.
  5. Briefing – We manage risk by running scenario drills and staying mindful about what ifs. Letting you know as soon as possible, working you’re your property management team, and staying on top of the issues is part of our commitment to your safety and the safety of the communities and the people we serve.

In today’s fast-changing world, a sense of urgency is our call to action: to lead change, to know what’s at stake, and to create and deliver solutions which are useful and flexible, and fulfill every client’s needs.  

This sense of urgency is the foundation of our readiness. Readiness to help where we can, to support our clients and communities whenever we can, and, above all, to support the people who need it most. Safely, responsibly, generously and proactively. 

Contact Bruce Moore Jr. at 203-316-5433 to learn more.

Bruce Moore Jr. to Lead ELM Safe Practices Task Force

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

ELM President Bruce Moore Jr. has identified the company’s pandemic response and safety plan as critical to mission success. 

As head of the ELM’s task force on safe practices, Bruce and his executive best practice team will be developing supplemental policies and procedures that address risk factors and reduce impacts of Covid-19 on co-workers, customers, and the communities ELM serves.

“Covid has made all of us think differently about work and life, and the relationships we have with our friends and clients, who are more often one and the same. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been doing what we do best: staying focused, pacing ourselves for the future, and remembering that by caring for ourselves as we care for others, we can all make a difference,” said Bruce.

ELM’s task force is currently implementing administrative and field controls, establishing enhanced equipment maintenance standards, and personal and professional safety standards for tasks performed at customer worksites.  

ELM requires and enforces all its essential field and virtual employees to comply with Covid-19 pandemic prevention mandates from the Department of Public Health and the CDC, and OSHA regulations for PPE. 

Under Bruce’s leadership, ELM will continue to refine the company’s safety and hygiene procedures to reduce risk of exposure, and will work with the States of Connecticut and New York to comply with the extension of essential services orders, while operating and performing ELM’s essential services. 

Information on ELM’s public health and safety protocols will be provided on a rolling basis, which will be updated as circumstances change.

Contact Bruce Moore Jr. at 203.316.5433 to learn more.

Essential Services Remain Open to Support Public Health & Safety.

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

The Coronavirus is changing the way we do business and daily developments affect us all.  Here’s what we know, what we’re doing and how we expect it to impact the business of business.

I.          The State of Connecticut’s “Stay Safe Stay Home Policy”

The States of Connecticut and New York, in line with Federal rulings issued March 20 and March 23, have deemed landscape services “essential and life sustaining” and eligible to continue operations during emergency or quarantine scenarios. 

This means two things. Our team can ensure that your property’s landscape health won’t suffer during the interim, and with ELM’s strict personal and public health protocols in place, there is reduced risk of exposure.

II.         Eastern Land Management’s “Protection of Public Health” Policy

ELM will continue to protect public health in performance of essential treatments to lawns, landscapes and green spaces to 1) reduce the transmission of deadly diseases through pests like mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas; 2) keep public and private pathways free from obstruction and potential hazards; 3) maintain green spaces to reduce crime; 4) proactively manage late season snow and ice; and 5) address storm damage, weather events, and flooding.

Because we are all in this together, we stand with you and your business to stop the rapid transmission of COVID-19, while performing essential functions necessary for the health, safety and well-being of our communities and families, and the great places we live, work and play.

Our administrative offices are closed but essential field operations are open with restrictions in place. Our Area Managers will be your direct point of contact to make sure you are getting the support you need and stay connected in a way that suits your circumstances best. 

We continue to closely monitor the impact of COVID-19 across our region and we will update you in the moment.

These are truly unprecedented times. Be well. Stay safe. And don’t hesitate to reach out.

Bruce T. Moore, Jr., President, Eastern Land Management

bmoorejr@easternland.com