“To Buckle down” had resonance for successful landscaper

It was 17 years ago when Tim Buckle, armed only with an education in horticulture and stonemasonry, a shovel and a can-do attitude, first registered the name
But the phrase “buckle down,” that is to apply oneself with determination, could not be more appropriate to Buckle and his company’s performance since. Every year the company has recorded profits and expanded, and today has offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, and employee numbers approaching 200.
Tim Buckle said, “We started off quite conservatively and slowly developed our reputation as a quality provider of landscape works in the commercial market. Nevertheless, we always had the ambition to be a major provider of external works, from plants and turf to earthworks and roads.”
The building industry boom in the late 1990s, was a key period for the company. Landscape Solutions refocused its resources, stepped up a gear when it came to scale of works, and was targeting substantially bigger projects.
Multi-residential developments were dotting the Sydney skyline and it was one of these developments that became the major stepping stone for the company.
Degrees of complexity
“Cape Cabarita was a project we took on in the late 1990s for Rosecorp. It was director Bob Rose’s faith in us that gave Landscape Solutions the confidence and the necessary experience to tackle similar projects with ever higher degrees of complexity,” Buckle said.
As the company’s ability to provide complex landscapes grew, so too did its reputation for delivering quality results on time and on budget. The Rose Group, Brookfield Multiplex, Baulderstone, AW Edwards, Stockland and Bovis/Delfin Lend Lease all found themselves on the client list.
Buckle said, “Good client relationships are vital for every company’s future. Over the years we’ve had both positive and negative experiences which are to be expected in any business. However, the important aspect is to take something away from every experience.
“We focus strongly on doing things right, and if we do err, it’s imperative that we identify the problem, address it and learn from it so that it doesn’t happen again. I think that our reputation with our clients and our repeat business proves that we’re on the right track.”
Ballast Point Park
Landscape Solutions recently completed Ballast Point Park for The Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, (see Earthmover and Civil Contractor, August 2009, page 24). Built in collaboration with landscape architects McGregor and Coxall, it lies on the Birchgrove Peninsula, in the historical Sydney suburb of Balmain. Originally a natural, wooded headland occupied by Aborigines, the site was largely occupied by Caltex storage tanks for 74 years until 2002 and was transformed by LS into a markedly different public open space.
At the 2009 Landscape Contractors’ Association Awards, the company received 3 awards for its work. One was Best Maintenance award (for outstanding maintenance of The New Rouse Hill), Best Landscape Features and the evening’s most coveted, Landscape Construction of the Year.
Buckle said, “At $10m it was our biggest single project to date. It was a difficult and complex project with much of the work not before attempted in this manner and scale. It was a real case of client, landscape architect and LS, all being on the same page.”
Another demographic
In 2004, Landscape Solutions ventured into Queensland. The successful landscaping formula that had served the company so well in New South Wales, was to be applied to another thriving demographic north of the border.
“But introducing our operation into Queensland was tougher than I’d first expected,” Buckle said. “Although we had many of the same national clients there, the Queensland market worked differently and incumbent contractors were strong and doing a reasonable job. There is no shortcut to a good reputation. It’s taken time to establish a strong foothold but we are now achieving some great results there.”
He said one thing that gradually became apparent to him, was the increasing scope of work the company could tender for, and deliver. “It now involves the entire landscape, from roads to detailed planting features, or as our marketing manager puts it, from pretty to pretty tough.”
The Brisbane Correctional Facility project in Gatton, Queensland, propelled LS onto another level. Its enormous 3km by 2km site west of Brisbane, run overall by Baulderstone, involved LS screening and ameliorating 68,000m3 of site topsoil, loading, carting, spreading and levelling 500,000m2, laying 290,000m2 of turf, planting 40,000m2 of gardens and laying 10km of irrigation mainlines.
Client cooperation
Construction manager Nigel McEwen said, “Remote projects present their challenges immediately, whether complex or not, and this one was no exception. Our client Baulderstone was terrific and really partnered in the project: I believe this was the key to the project’s success.”
With offices in three capital cities Landscape Solutions has also had to tackle the administrative nightmare that comes with operating under three different state legislations, in particular relating to OH&S.
Buckle said, “Our clients often interpret OH&S requirements differently, and this interpretation is again effected by state laws. Therefore the administrative burden needs to be nationalised and a uniform acceptance of what is a safety system needs to be put in place. The focus must be on making our men on the ground safe, not which coloured form was filled in.”