How to Leverage the Benefits of Scale and Gain Market Share Through Landscaping

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

What property and facility owners and managers need to know.

It’s no secret that maintaining a healthy commercial landscape is a big job. And although it may seem that all commercial landscape contractors do the same thing, thanks to smart technologies and automation, there is a stark difference in the way commercial landscape and grounds services are delivered and the value landscaping brings to the bottom line.

The most obvious difference is impact landscaping has on property value. Landscapes need to look good all year-round; they need to be safe for people and the environment, reduce risk and liability, and deliver higher returns all while making a lasting impression.

This is where ELM comes in to help property and facility owners and managers capitalize on the benefits of scale.

ELM is a single-source provider. This means that all landscape and grounds services are integrated and strategically delivered across all seasons, including snow and ice. A single-source provider not only simplifies the process of managing your landscape and reducing the number of companies you need to contact, it’s the best way to reap consistent cost savings through economies of scale.

If you’re looking to contract with a professional commercial landscape services firm, here are five questions to ask:

  1. How long have they been in business?
  2. What is their client retention rate?
  3. Do they offer year-round maintenance, including snow and ice services?
  4. What value-added benefits are included? Do they use low-noise equipment, electric or autonomous equipment, clean energy and options that help earn LEED credits?
  5. Will they make your landscape as technologically smart and as digitally-advanced as your building?

Here’s what you can expect from ELM in the day-to-day:

  1. Meticulous about clean and complete. No task left undone.
  2. No drama.
  3. Proactive about little things before they become big things.
  4. Make suggestions that make you look good.
  5. Willing to go above and beyond.
  6. Prepared, trained, and experienced emergency response.
  7. Highly responsive and easy to reach.

ELM commercial landscape maintenance services include expertise in the following:

  • Commercial property and facility landscape and grounds services
  • Landscape maintenance and horticultural services
  • Enhancements and renovations
  • Irrigation and water management
  • Hardscape projects, corporate terraces, plazas and patios
  • Parking lot and median maintenance
  • Snow and ice control, and winter management
  • Site safety
  • Spring plantings
  • Fall clean-up

If you’re a commercial property and facility manager seeking quality, excellence and cost-efficient contracting services for your landscape and grounds, working toward LEED accreditation and greater sustainability, ELM is your partner of choice.

ELM is a proud member of BOMA Southern Connecticut and BOMA Westchester County, and actively supports the greater multi-sector commercial real estate community in Connecticut and New York.

ELM Expands into Westchester County NY, Opens Third Branch in Armonk

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Eastern Land Management is pleased to announce the opening of a new service facility in Armonk, New York.

The facility will serve as a hub to more effectively allocate resources for landscape and snow services across Westchester County’s commercial sectors, including office, retail, industrial hospitality, health care, and education. “By continually evolving our business and transforming how we engage with our commercial real estate clients, we’re creating opportunities to significantly improve how we create value in the decades ahead,” said Bruce Moore Jr., ELM president.

“Landscape firms have a huge role to play in improving the environment. We understand that with the growing demand to be more climate-positive, we need to work with business leaders who are  also looking for ways to translate sustainability into action. This means working together to find better ways to reduce risk, improve water conservation, and use technology to achieve greener outcomes.” ~ Bruce Moore Jr., President

ELM was founded in Stamford, Connecticut and has helped maximize portfolio value for the property and facility community of Connecticut and the greater New York metro area, including Manhattan and Westchester County, since 1976.

ELM is an active member of the Westchester County BOMA, Southern Connecticut BOMA, Bridgeport Regional Economic Development Task Force, and in 2019, received a ChangeMaker Award from Fairfield County for its efforts in conservation.

Bruce Moore Jr. is a recognized impact partner in his community and active on boards and non-profits. ELM received an Industry Leadership Award from Lawn & Landscape magazine in 2018, and multiple awards over the years from the National Association of Landscape Professionals for its excellence in commercial landscaping.

To learn more, contact Bruce Moore, Jr. at (203) 316-5433.

Create a Sustainability Framework for Your University Landscape

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Campus landscapes are advancing higher education’s sustainability mission.  As universities adopt and improve on energy efficiency, green infrastructure and water conservation initiatives, landscape performance is becoming essential to generate best-in-class environmental metrics.

ELM is working with colleges and universities across Connecticut and New York metro to address both landscape construction and maintenance objectives, as well as innovative water and resource conservation, watershed and stormwater management, responsible approaches to pest and disease management, meeting zero waste to landfill, and reducing carbon footprints in the following ways:

  • Modifying our production processes to meet resource reduction targets.
  • Using less toxic or non-toxic substances.
  • Implementing conservation techniques through water management and smart water technology.
  • Improving water governance.
  • Providing solutions in stormwater management, flood control and drainage systems, bioswales and rain gardens to enhance water quality, filter runoff, and recharge local aquifers.
  • Reducing heat island effect by replacing surface space, and implementing and maintaining green roofs and vertical gardens and outdoor spaces to address heat absorption and filter water.
  • Using strategic planting and plant health care and maintenance strategies to improve air quality, and provide attractive, cohesive park-like settings that serve as both healthy respite and multi-purpose outdoor learning space.
  • Protecting wildlife corridors and habitats, watersheds, and riparian zones by reducing pollutants.
  • Reusing and recycling materials rather than putting them into the waste/landfill stream.
  • Using renewable energy, flexible fuel or low emissions vehicles, and autonomous equipment.
  • Upgrading equipment and approaches to better deliver on goals for safety, efficiency, service and innovation.
  • Training our team for sustainability engagement and greener mindsets.
  • Using lean approaches to minimize waste without sacrificing productivity.
  • Embracing responsible consumption by minimizing fuel consumption, mapping routes, production and logistics for optimum efficiency.
  • Supporting LEED and green building goals to reduce environmental impacts and overall exposure to water, waste, and weather events.
  • Including SMART goals in our planning to take landscape planning and higher education green objectives to the next level.
  • Investing in continuous green improvements.
  • Receiving the ChangeMakers Award from Fairfield County for sustainable water conservation program.

About Us

ELM is recognized as a leader in campus landscape sustainability planning and implementation and offers five ways in which our specialists can customize a working relationship with campus facility managers to improve sustainability:

  1. Full service outsource partner – landscape construction and renovation; green infrastructure; site improvements; landscape maintenance; plant health care; water management; and snow and ice/winter management.
  2. Specialty landscape contractor for grounds maintenance and management, snow and ice, irrigation and water management, performance turf and athletic fields.
  3. Specialty landscape contractor for broad site improvements and green infrastructure, stormwater and drainage systems, and site amenities.
  4. Full-service landscape maintenance.
  5. Team partner with general contractors, design-build teams, or onsite horticultural and/or grounds professionals.

Whether refreshing iconic campus footprints, innovating for a next generation of students and  faculty, or to lead capital improvement for conservation and development, ELM is shaping campus green spaces to connect people to nature, to each other and to the future they serve.

ELM is Driving the “E” in ESG. Here’s Why That Matters.

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

Environmental. Social. Governance. In the community of businesses across our portfolio – giants in commercial real estate, banking, the consumer services sector or institutions of higher learning, growth is increasingly contingent on how well captains of industry capitalize on ways to improve the world we all live, work and play in. And that includes us.

In a nutshell, ESG is a set of standards, reporting and benchmarking around issues seen by shareholders as drivers of the future.  And where ELM is placing its future is in the hands of how our business can drive your business through sustainable and environmentally-responsible practices.  That’s the “E” in ESG.

Here’s how E works to drive value.

A wide spectrum of ELM’s landscaping business practices, such as how good we are with water management, how well we protect against accidents and manage risk (especially in winter), how well we treat our workers, and how our corporate culture builds and fosters trust and innovation is key.

Whether we are helping you meet LEED or WELL criteria, enhance your environmental stewardship, be more energy efficient or streamline your carbon footprint, our end game is exactly like yours: to advance smarter, safer and better ways to be better at who we are and what we do.

Embracing a culture of sustainability delivers opportunities for everyone. We look forward to furthering our commitment to be a greener practice, take action on alternate fuels, and simply be better stewards to ensure that our growth – your growth – and our shared future is strategic, impactful and aligned with purpose.

For more information on ELM’s green goals, contact President Bruce Moore Jr. at 203-315-5433.

 

 

Summer 2020 Outdoor Watering Schedule Returns for Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Newtown, Stamford and Westport Connecticut

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

With summer’s high water demands and another year of below average rainfall, large portions of Connecticut are experiencing and extended dry conditions and near record water demands, and Southwest Fairfield County has been classified as drought sensitive.

As a result, Aquarion Water Company has placed a mandatory irrigation schedule for its customers in Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Newtown, Stamford and Westport, Connecticut. The schedule limits landscape irrigation systems to a maximum of twice weekly.

Here’s how it works:

  • Twice-weekly restrictions will apply to both in-ground systems and above-ground sprinklers. 
  • Drip irrigation systems, soaker hoses and manual watering are exempt.
  • Aquarion Water Company customers can file for a variance to allow for additional watering time if the property is: 1) larger than two acres or 2) qualifies as an irrigation-efficient by utilizing smart weather-based irrigation controller technology.

ELM’s water technology meets exemption criteria:

ELM’s water and resource conservation program includes a strategic partnership with Weathermatic®, a global leader in digital water technologies. This means ELM has the water conservation tools commercial property managers need to advance irrigation efficiency, collect real time water data (quantity and quality), and use that data to save water and cost.

Eight ways to conserve water outdoors:

  • Create a drought-tolerant landscape plant palette.
  • Enhance soil hydration through mulching, amendments and hydrogels
  • Convert underperforming turf to meadows with perennials and ornamental grasses.
  • Adopt digital innovation technologies to improve water use performance.
  • Make sure that your irrigation system is part of your building operation’s financial dashboard system.
  • Install smart water technology, to manage water distribution, gauge irrigation requirements, and save on water costs.
  • Use proper irrigation methods to improve system efficiencies. 
  • Install pressure-regulating devices, which apply water directly to plants, and high-efficiency nozzles or other devices, such as drip system alternatives, as conservation measures.

ELM’s commitment to conserve water is a corporate strategy to manage your water better and manage environmental resources better. Learn how your journey toward intelligent water use can be expedited through smart water technologies and what steps you can take to be in compliance with water mandates.

Contact Jamie Gorton,ELM’s resource conservation expert at 203-316-5433. 

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. 

ELM Partners with Weathermatic® to Promote Water Conservation and Irrigation Efficiency

Posted by Eastern Land Management on

As a key component of its broader sustainability initiative, ELM announced that the company had partnered with Weathermatic®, a global leader in smart water technology.

As a Weathermatic® Premier Partner, ELM will be offering Weathermatic technologies as part of its water conservation platform, including sustainability metrics that will improve irrigation water use on commercial properties through sensor-based analysis and intelligent reporting. 

“Highly connected irrigation management systems are one of many ways smart tech is transforming commercial real estate,” said ELM President Bruce Moore Jr.  “We are focused on working more closely to advance tech-enabled solutions and work with property owners and managers to meet their sustainability and financial goals, especially when water use restrictions apply.”

Certified irrigation professional and ELM program manager, James (Jamie) Gorton, is an authoritative voice for landscape water efficiency and planning. “Effectively managing water consumption, means looking at outdoor as well as indoor water use. Landscaping can account for as much as 70 percent of water use on some properties and we’re looking at multiple ways our clients can save water. Creative approaches to landscape planning, including the use of a less thirsty plant palette, permeable paving, and mulch and soil mixes that maximize water retention and encourage deep-rooted plants, go hand-in-hand with our comprehensive approach to water management and monitoring,” added Jamie.

For comprehensive information about water-efficient products, practices and planning, contact Bruce Moore Jr. at 203-316-5433.

About Eastern Land

Eastern Land Management is a full-service legacy landscaping firm serving commercial and institutional property managers and owners throughout Fairfield County, Connecticut. As one of the region’s leading providers of all-season landscape and grounds services, ELM promotes energy-efficient approaches that create long-term value and have a positive effect on the communities in which people live, work and play. www.easternland.comA

About Weathermatic®

Weathermatic® is the world’s leader in smart water technology and innovative landscape irrigation products, working with professionals, public agencies and consumers to advance water and resource conservation practices, programs and policies. Its products are in use on high profile properties the world over, including the U.S. Capitol Building and Buckingham Palace.  www.weathermatic.com