Growing and maintaining landscapes in Arizona is a challenge for any landscape contractor. Water is scarce, temperatures are extreme, and working conditions in mid summer are, at best, described as “brutal.”
Yet, properties in the ever-growing Phoenix area look as green, if not greener, than their counterparts in other, less arid parts of the country. How do landscapers and lawn maintenance professionals work their magic in the desert? Just ask Joe and Tracy Martoccia, owners of Top Job Landscaping in Scottsdale.
Hydration and vigilance are two key words, says Joe, who, with his parents, moved to the Phoenix area from New Jersey in 1975. All properties are irrigated, and maintaining the green look year-round requires a transition to Rye grass or Fescue in the fall, and back again to Bermuda in the spring.
But landscaping comes naturally for this operator, so his challenge revolves more around running a business than turning a desert into an oasis. How does one, for example, keep equipment and employees operating at an optimum level when temperatures climb to more than 120º during the summer months? In fact, the temperatures are so extreme, the four Top Job crew members routinely drink 30 gallons of water a day, and wrap cloths around trimmer and edger handles to avoid getting burned.
“I’ve seen grass in the Walker Mower box smolder when it sits too long,” Joe relates. “Even the box itself will bow a little on extremely hot days. The sun and heat are killers here.They degrade plastic and rubber, and put a lot of additional stress on employees who have to wear long sleeves to protect their arms, and place wet rags on the backs of their necks to keep their body temperatures down.”
Doesn’t sound much like fun, yet this owner/operator says he has nothing but fun on his job. “Most days, I can’t believe I get paid for what we do because I enjoy it so much,” he says, with a convincing smile on his face. “I was born to be a landscaper and that’s just the way it is, no matter how extreme the conditions.”
Sweet 16
Joe worked side-by-side with his father, John Martoccia, until turning 16. As a birthday present, John gave him 16 accounts, a lawn mower and a hedge clipper.That was the very beginning of Top Job. By the time Joe was 20, the figure had grown to 65 stops. Along the way he went to school for HVAC training, and earned his electrician’s license. In that same year, his father died at age 49, and the younger Martoccia was left to carry on — on his own.
“My father was so instrumental in my success,” tells Joe. “I will always remember the three things he stressed the most: ‘1) don’t grab further than you can reach, 2) stay out of debt and 3) always do a great job.’”
His father’s axioms were selfexplanatory, although during a couple of growth spurts, Joe may have overextended himself a little. As he explains, with so much work available, it sometimes is hard to leave money on the table. But one has to do just that to avoid getting into debt and to continue to provide the high level of service that is the foundation of this business.
Joe’s business took off in 1989, not coincidentally the same year he purchased his first Walker.
“I rented an 11-hp chain-drive Walker from a friend. When it took me 45 minutes to mow a property that usually took four hours, I was sold. My wife,Tracy, and I saved every penny we could and, later that year, purchased our first Walker for $7,000. When we got the machine home, a 16-hp model with a 36-inch GHS deck, we looked at each other and wondered what we had done. But I was confident the machine would make us money, and it did.”
According to the Martoccias, the new Walker paid for itself within six months, and brought in an extra $4,000 to $5,000. Several years later, they purchased a second one, a 25-hp model with a 42-inch GHS deck. Today, both mowers operate eight hours a day, five days a week. Joe claims the first mower has in excess of 13,000 hours, and the newer one has approximately 6,000 hours.
“My dealer, J.R. Crook of A & G Turf, can’t believe I still operate the 16- hp Walker. I’ve replaced the deck. And last year, just out of fear, I replaced the original engine. It still has the original hydros and works like a charm. Oh, the original seat is long gone, too.”
Making things last is not unusual for Shoestring, a nickname friends gave Joe because of his ability to do so much with so little. He says his 1970 GMC dump truck named “Old Nellie” has logged somewhere in the vicinity of 800,000 miles. Even his handheld equipment lasts years beyond its time.
He shrugs his shoulders. “The secret is preventive maintenance. We are as careful with our equipment as we are with our properties. In fact, I have a sign inside the trailer for my employees. It reads in Spanish, ‘If this equipment doesn’t work, you won’t work, either.’”
Both machines and employees are working well today, together maintaining six large commercial and 60 residential accounts. Joe and Tracy, who maintains the books, runs to the nursery, and answers customer questions to name but a few of her responsibilities, operate one “super crew” comprised of the two Walkers and three employees.
A fourth employee spends all week at the company’s largest commercial property, a 150-home residential development. The team maintains a total of 300-plus yards a week, not to mention providing a one-stop shop for customers.
In addition to maintenance, Top Job does tree work, installs outdoor lighting and irrigation systems, provides design/build services and will do just about anything else a customer asks or doesn’t ask, for that matter. For example, before leaving a property, the crew will wash the patio and drive for no charge, and Top Job’s owner will accompany customers to a nursery (again, at no charge) to help them pick out plant material.
“I tell our customers we can do just about anything, but we can’t read their minds,” says Joe. “Communication is so important in this business. If you can keep the line of communication open and do the best job you can, then you will succeed. For my part, all I want is to be remembered as an honest man who tried.” The phrase comes from Barry Goldwater, whose property he maintained for 14 years.
“The senator taught me a lot over the years. He was a fantastic person. Two things in particular I remember him saying, the first was about being honest and the second about leaving a legacy. As he put it, ‘You’re forever remembered by the footprint you leave.’”
Diamonds
The Martoccias emphasize how important their Walkers have been to their operation. “Our business truly revolves around Walker,” says Tracy. “The machines save us time and money, and they allow our customers to keep their costs down. There’s no way we would be where we are today without them.”
They feel the same way about their four employees whose names are inscribed on both sides of their enclosed trailer. Joe calls his employees, “my diamonds.”
“I’m not their boss,” he emphasizes, “but their team leader. I respect their feelings and listen to their ideas and suggestions. We’re in this business together. I let them know that if I prosper so will they and vice versa.
“Having employees you can depend on is so important today, and finding them is more difficult than ever. I know because I’ve probably hired over 100 in my lifetime. But once you have the ones you want, it pays to work hard to keep them.”
The Martoccias are working hard to grow two other employees, as well — their son Johnathen and daughter Santina. Both can drive the Walkers (no blades operating). And, as 8-yearolds, understand more about running a business than many children twice their age. Why not? That’s the same age Joe was when he started working with his father and walking in his footprints.
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