Contracts Manager

Location  |  Hastings/Work from Home

Salary  |  £38 – £45k DOE per annum

Benefits

• Flexi, output focused working
• 28 days holiday inc. public holidays
• Company pension scheme
• Company bonus scheme
• Opportunities for training and development

Job Summary

The Garden Landscapers is a design-led landscaping company with a reputation for quality workmanship and a conscientious service. We undertake complete garden transformations working collaboratively with Garden Designers and private clients throughout the South East. Having recently acquired significant new contracts, we are looking for a positive and dynamic Contracts Manager to lead the company’s estimating and project management functions. You will work closely with the Company Director and be the main point of contact for site supervisors, designers, clients, and suppliers.

Core Responsibilities

Using the company’s management software to manage multiple projects simultaneously through phases of initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and closure including:

• Filtering inbound enquiries and logging valuable leads
• Leading on job estimating
•  Agreeing contracts and timelines with clients
•  Managing health and safety documentation including Risk Assessments and Method Statements
•  Managing job schedules and keeping client’s/designers abreast of developments
•  Working with Site Supervisors to ensure the timely delivery of materials and hire machinery
• Working with Site Supervisors to schedule Sub-Contractors
• Tracking job expenses and providing frequent reports to the Company Director on actual vs.
  estimated cost (i.e. profitability)
• Submit invoices and ensure adequate cash flow
• Manage follow-ups after completion

Qualifications and Skills

• Minimum 5 years experience in Landscaping or similar trades with transferrable skills
• 3 years’ experience as a Project Manager/Foreman
• Experience of digital, cloud-based systems covering accounting, take-offs, estimating and project management software
• Ability to read and set out from plans on site
• Full UK driving license

Key Attributes

You will be joining a motivated, hardworking, and ambitious team and so the ability to communicate
well and put your personal needs aside for a common purpose are a must.

We will expect to respond to problems positively, adapting quickly to find solutions in an organised and methodical way.

With an emotional understanding of the physical demands and often challenging conditions faced on site; we will look to you to lead with a smile and have fun along the way.

How to Apply

On application, please send your CV, and covering letter showing how you meet the essential and/or desirable criteria for the role.

 

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Landscape Foreman

Job Summary

We are looking for a Landscape Foreman to add to our full-time team, driving high standards of work on a range of project sizes.

The successful candidate will become part of a motivated, hard-working and supportive group, driven by a desire to do meaningful work that enhances the landscape and enriches the lives of our clients. Although this is a skilled position, you will be working within a budding company; willingness to make a positive contribution to all aspects of the work is a must. Our yard and studio are based in St. Leonards on sea, East Sussex and we currently work within a 40-mile radius.

Responsibilities and Duties

We will be looking to your skill and experience to drive the company’s values and standards, strongly influencing its progress going forwards. In return and upon successful completion of your probation period, we will create a clear pathway for you to grow with the company and share in its future success.

Core responsibilities

•  To provide a high standard of work and leadership through all phases of the garden construction proces
•  To jointly oversee the development of trainees
• Act as a point of contact on site for clients and designers, communicating matters clearly to the company director or contracts manager
• To record and detail daily work progress using the company’s operation management tools
• To use your experience to work closely with the director and contracts manager both on and off site to help inform decision making around design, estimating and delivery
• To provide administrative support, including estimating, design, operations management and development the company’s method statement resources.

Qualifications and Skills

          Essential

• Experience of working in a highly professional environment, producing high-end finish work across a full range of landscaping tasks
• Machinery driving experience, executing groundworks phases of projects including ground clearance; reading from plans; setting out; working to levels by cutting, filling and grading; excavations for and installation of foundations
• High-end finishing experience covering paving/surfacing and fencing
• A strong work ethic
• The ability to manage workflow on site, planning tasks around variables such as weather
• Strong communication skills both internally with colleagues and externally with clients and designers
• A track record of performing within a team with capacity to put your own needs aside for a common cause
• A desire to learn and fill gaps in skills and knowledge
• The ability to embrace innovation by improving and adapting to new processes and methods both on and off site
• Full, clean driving license

         Desirable

• A proven track record of additional high end finishing skills covering carpentry and/or rmasonry
• Knowledge and understanding of irrigation and water feature installations
• A proven ability to lead a team and develop colleagues at a more junior level
• Traditional skills such as dry-stone walling
• Chainsaw and spraying certificates

Working Hours: Monday to Friday 07.30 – 16.00

Pay: Up to £35k DOE

How to Apply: On application, please send your CV, and covering letter showing how you meet the essential and/or desirable criteria for the role.

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: Up to £35,000.00 per year

Schedule: 8 hour shift

Experience: Landscaping: Min 5 years

 

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Landscape Gardener 

Job Summary

To meet growing demand, we are looking for a Landscape Gardener to add to our full-time team, driving high standards of work on a range of project sizes.

The successful candidate will become part of a motivated, hard-working and supportive group, driven by a desire to do meaningful work that enhances the landscape and enriches the lives of our clients. Although this is a skilled position; willingness to make a positive contribution to all aspects of the work is a must. Our yard and studio are based in St. Leonards on sea, East Sussex and we currently work within a 40-mile radius.

Responsibilities and Duties

We will be looking to your skill and experience to drive the company’s values and standards, strongly influencing its progress going forwards. In return and upon successful completion of your probation period, we will create a clear pathway for you to grow with the company and share in its future success.

Core Responsibilities

• To provide a high standard of work through all phases of the garden construction process
• To jointly oversee the development of one apprentice
• To use your experience to work closely with the Landscape Foreman to help inform decision making on site
• To be able to lead on certain skilled tasks, working independently and without supervision
• To use downtime to provide administrative support, including estimating, design, operations management and development the company’s method statement resources.

Qualifications and Skills

          Essential

• Experience of working in a highly professional environment, producing high-end finish work across a full range of landscaping tasks
• Machinery driving experience, executing groundworks phases of projects including ground clearance; reading from plans; setting out; working to levels by cutting, filling and grading; excavations for and installation of foundations
• High-end finishing experience covering paving/surfacing and fencing
• Strong work ethic
• The ability to manage workflow on site, planning tasks around variables such as weather
• Strong communication skills both internally with colleagues and externally with clients and designers
• A track record of performing within a team with capacity to put your own needs aside for a common cause
• A desire to learn and fill gaps in skills and knowledge
• The ability to embrace innovation by improving and adapting to new processes and methods both on and off site
• Full, clean driving license

         Desirable

• A proven track record of additional high end finishing skills covering carpentry, walling and/or rendering
• Knowledge and understanding of irrigation and water feature installations
• A proven ability to lead a team and develop colleagues at a more junior level
• Traditional skills such as dry-stone walling
• Chainsaw and spraying certificates

Working Hours: Monday to Friday 07.30 – 16.00

Pay: Up to £30k DOE

How to Apply: On application, please send your CV, and covering letter showing how you meet the essential and/or desirable criteria for the role.

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: Up to £30,000.00 per year

Schedule: 8 hour shift

Experience: Landscaping: Min 3 years

 

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Trainee Landscaper

We’re looking for hardworking individuals, who enjoy being part of a team and working outside.

Job Summary

The Garden Landscapers is a young and ambitious company, working with designers and architects to create gardens inspired by nature. To meet growing demand among our private clients, we are looking for a motivated and hardworking Trainee Landscaper to help drive our company forwards.

The successful candidate will become part of a supportive team, driven by a desire to do meaningful work that enhances the landscape and enriches the lives of our clients. 

You will display a strong willingness to learn, making a positive contribution to all aspects of the work we do. 

The company is based in St. Leonards on sea, East Sussex and currently works within a 30-mile radius. 

The successful candidate must be able to arrive on site for 07.30, or earlier at a convenient collection point (times will vary depending on job location).

Responsibilities and Duties

– Organising and setting up the site each morning ready for work

– Supplying skilled workers with the necessary tools and fixings throughout tasks

– Moving building and soft landscaping materials from delivery point to point of use

– Mixing mortar, screed and concrete

– Using hand and power tools to move, prepare and fix materials

– Keeping the site tidy and organised

– Adhering to health and safety protocol

– Taking full responsibility for the care of tools ensuring they are kept clean and stored appropriately

– Taking full responsibility for the ongoing organisation and tidiness of the company’s yard and storage unit

– Providing administrative support at the company’s studio during downtime

Qualifications and Skills

Essential

– Be motivated, pro-active, energetic, physically fit, hardworking, reliable and punctual

– Be able to work as part of a team and communicate with clients politely and respectfully

– Have a strong desire to work outdoors regardless of weather

Desirable

– Have some experience of hard landscaping such as brick work, paving or carpentry

– Have some experience of soft landscaping such as planting and laying turf

– Understand the importance of producing work of the highest quality

– Have excellent written English skills

– Have a full clean driving license

Most of the work takes place in residential gardens within an hour’s drive from the company’s yard in Battle East Sussex. You will need to be able to arrive on site for an 8am start, or at our yard no earlier than 7am. Collection at a convenient location may be an option. Our day on site finishes at 4pm. Work may also take place at Stuart’s own small workshop and permaculture-inspired garden project in St. Leonards on sea.

Salary

Up to £11.50 per hour depending on experience.

My time as a trainee with The Garden Landscapers by Ben Ellis

The implications of the Covid-19 pandemic were vast and varied. I was lucky; I didn’t lose a loved one, endure ongoing health issues or suffer the severe isolation so many did. However, for me (and for many others), the lockdowns prompted a reflection on my career and the desire for a complete change.

My initial plan was to pursue arboriculture, mainly for two reasons: (1) climbing trees (brought about by my interest in rock climbing) and (2) chainsaws are pretty cool. Landscaping was the second option. I did some work experience with some tree surgeons, which I enjoyed, then worked with Stuart (of The Garden Landscapers) on a small walled garden in Hastings. Quickly, it became obvious landscaping was the preferable option for me. I was attracted to the creativity; the variation in the work; and the idea of seeing a project through from a drab lawn or overgrown mess to a glorious garden boasting a variety of shapes, colours and forms.

I had very little experience with gardening or using tools and no experience of the construction side of landscaping. I remember my first day working with The Garden Landscapers setting out a tiered sleeper wall on a site completely stripped of vegetation. I had no idea what was going on, holding string lines and knocking in road pins as instructed, creating a series of neatly ascending parallel lines. I was still none the wiser by the end of setting out!

But setting out isn’t necessarily a beginner’s skill. As a novice I quickly learned the importance of being a reliable labourer onsite. Being on hand with the appropriate tools for the job, mixing sand and cement, cutting bricks and slabs, using basic plant machinery such as a track barrow are amongst the fundamental skills of being a hard landscaper. They act as a jumping off point to more skilled work; how can you lay a slab if you can’t mix sand and cement for the bedding layer? Why struggle with the nuances of an excavator’s controls when you can get to grips with the simpler controls of a track barrow first?

Developing the fundamental skills, I became aware of how transferrable they were across different aspects of landscaping. Simply knowing what tools are needed for each job is such an underrated skill. It’s hard enough to remember every tool for a job off the top of your head even when you do know what is needed. As a landscaper you cover a wide range of disciplines from stonework to carpentry to horticulture to plant operation. This variety is one of the joys of the job despite needing everything but the kitchen sink to get the job done!

As I progressed totrying my hand at more skilled work, the work just became more interesting and enjoyable. I was able to work more independently and have more input on a task. One job, a large area of reclaimed Yorkstone paving, was the first time I properly tried slab paving. It was a challenging introduction to paving as the slabs were both irregularly sized in length and width and irregularly sized in depth. This required cuts on almost every slab and a different bedding layer depth for each slab. We also used a 2:1 sharp sand and lime mix for pointing, a traditional form of pointing, which really complemented the reclaimed paving. At the end of the project, the Yorkstone looked so smart and worked well with the house and the rest of the garden. This remains one of my favourite jobs.

There have been challenges too. I started landscaping at the age of 28. I find being a bit older can be more daunting when starting something new, rather than being fresh out of school or college when everything is new. Coupled with the fact I essentially had a lot of catching up to do, it was hard to tell whether leaving a fairly stable job was the right thing to do (it was the right move, it turns out). As for site specific challenges, a particularly challenging job installing gates on a farm during winter involved battling some horrendous weather and conditions resulting in soaked clothes, vehicles stuck in the mud and frozen digger tracks. Hats off to farmers, I’ll stick with gardens! A personal challenge for me was learning how to reverse a trailer where you wanted it to go; that took me a while to get the hang of. And on a final note, if you ever decide to build a greenhouse, accept that you might experience a little frustration along the way.

Strangely, it can be easy to forget about the horticultural side of things when reflecting on past garden builds. This is because the hard landscaping is the most time-consuming part of a project. Planting happens towards the end of the build and is done relatively quickly. Having said that, the introduction of the first bit of green, after focusing on stone or timber for several weeks, completely transforms the space. Planting trees is fun and their height and shape immediately adds a new dimension to a garden. I have recently moved into a flat with a garden and can’t wait to try out a planting design of my own. There’s so much to learn about with plants and planting design which I have only scratched the surface of so far and I look forward to implementing knowledge gained from my own garden into my landscaping career going forwards.

I’ve been landscaping for a year and 8 months now and it feels crazy the amount I have learned in this time. Stuart has been very generous in the great variety of knowledge and skills he has taught me during this time and I am grateful for these opportunities to learn. Landscaping is an industry which marries both the practical and the creative really well. I have found knowing how and why something is done increases creativity. Having a grounding in the practicalities and accepting the limitations of an area may decrease the options available to you but in turn spurs the need for a creative solution, which often results in the best outcome for the area. Complementing this with other areas of the garden can create a truly special outdoor space.

In a time when outdoor spaces are becoming more important and precious, it feels an exciting time to be starting a career in landscaping. I hope more people will make the most of their gardens, whether it be a complete transformation or small changes, like planting to attract pollinators. If more people enjoy and invest time in their garden it would be a much more wholesome world and, who knows, it might even keep me in a job!