Dire Scarcity of Workers in Colorado Landscaping Industry

Alicia Wallace, Denver Post, Mar. 13, 2016 - "Golden-based B&D Landscape Inc. already has work booked into July, so owner Bill Goings knows he'll need at least two three-person crews to meet his customers' demands through the busy fall. If he doesn't, his balance sheet could take a hit again this season. Last year, he had only one crew and couldn't hire more to handle accounts that wanted work ranging from mowing and edging to reinventing residential landscapes. He thinks he turned away as much as $400,000 in new business. Colorado is in the throes of the worst shortage of skilled landscaping workers since 2009, the state's landscape contractors association says. And much like the state's construction industry — in which builders expressed similar laments last year — the perceived shortages couldn't come at a worse time: Demand is booming. "For smaller companies, it's just needing labor positions," Goings said. "That's the dilemma, finding labor positions that people will fill and be happy doing. It's a job that requires a steady work ethic." But landscaping has become a job that people are less inclined toward, Goings said. The job starts at $13.64 an hour. To help fill the gaps, B&D Landscape and others have turned to foreign labor programs, notably the H-2B Visa, which allows for foreign workers to fill temporary and seasonal jobs in the United States. A limited number of H-2B Visas are available annually. Under the rules of the H-2B program, Goings and other applicants must place help-wanted ads in local publications. Those advertisements, and postings on regional workforce centers, netted zero queries for B&D, Goings said. "Not one," he said. "I haven't seen one applicant. Not even a phone call or an e-mail." Economic growth and population growth that have fueled a red-hot residential construction market in Colorado also has set off a feeding frenzy among metro-area landscaping firms."