Organic Land Care Program

Last week, I met with Tom Tavella, the current ASLA President, to discuss his keynote address at the Annual Gathering on December 11th. We talked about SITES and trends in the industry, which Tom will speak about in detail at the event, so I don't want to spoil the surprise! But, I would like to share some information about how Tom, as a landscape architect, finds jobs to bid on and where you, too could locate work as a sub-contractor.

Tom works in CT, and he goes to the CT Procurement Portal at das.ct.gov/portal and he reads the daily notices which are sent automatically after signing up.  He looks under "landscape, marine, maintenance services, professional services" as a category. ( I will admit, I have spent 30 minutes trying to navigate this wonderful website, so you have to learn the system before using it effectively.)

The next step as a sub-contractor, would be to go contact the town purchasing agent and ask who are the bidders on projects which you are interested in sub-contracting. Then contact those larger firms and pitch yourself and your business as the ideal provider of rain gardens, landscape maintenance services, irrigation, etc!

Tom also suggested building your network of contractors, large firms such as Cherry Hill and Turner in CT. Get on their bid list so they will contact you, when a project of your expertise comes up.

Thanks Tom for these great recommendations, and we look forward to hearing more from you at the Annual Gathering on December 11th in Southbury CT!

Jenna Messier, NOFA Organic Land Care Program Director