Spring is here, and that means it's time to dust off your heavy equipment and prepare for the busy season ahead!

After sitting idle during the winter months, your machines may need a bit of TLC to ensure they're in top shape for another season of hard work. By following these five essential tips for readying your heavy equipment for renewed projects in spring, you'll be able to eliminate downtime, protect your investments, repair any damage, and improve job site safety.

01.  Perform Maintenance Tasks

The first step in preparing your equipment is to perform thorough maintenance tasks before putting your machine back to work. This includes:

• Changing filters.
  Clogged or dirty filters can reduce efficiency and increase contaminants in your equipment’s system. Be sure to change or clean your filters as needed.
• Replacing hydraulic and engine oils.
  To ensure clean and efficient system operation, replace both hydraulic and engine oils in the spring. Check with your manual to ensure you're using the right type.
• Checking the coolant.
  Run the engine and inspect the appearance of your machine’s coolant to ensure it is free of impurities and reflects its as-new colour. Make sure you get the appropriate grade of coolant for the weather in your area.
• Lubricating machine components.
  After a season in storage, your machine’s moving parts may be a little stiff. Apply lubricant to any major components to ensure that every part of your engine and equipment is capable of performing its full range of motion.

Always update your maintenance logs as you go so that you have a record of which tasks were performed and when.

02.  Clean Your Equipment

After bringing your equipment out of storage, make sure to give it a thorough wash, inside and out, so that you remove any dust, dirt, and grime that has gathered over the winter. Dirt and grime buildup can also contaminate fluids and damage parts, making it essential to clean the equipment. A simple wash creates a safer, more comfortable environment for machine operators and goes a long way to ensuring your machine performs the way it should.

Cleaning your equipment's interior and exterior will also make your fleet look professional and reassure clients that you have quality machinery to execute the job.

03.  Review Your Paperwork

It’s good practice to review your machine’s paperwork during the spring season. Your owner’s manual will have information specific to the make and model of your equipment, including seasonal maintenance recommendations and the types of products you should use.

If you haven’t done so already, make sure to keep the owner’s manual somewhere that you can easily locate. You should also consider making a binder for all owner manuals or downloading digital copies to a folder on your computer. You can even use your owner’s manual as the place where you keep notes on the maintenance performed and repairs done on each piece of equipment you own.

Check your machine’s warranty requirements and complete all the necessary tasks before use to secure warranty coverage. It's also a good idea to check your insurance policy to make sure it covers the machine's scope of work and accessories.

To read the full article, click here.

Finning Blog

On March 30, we celebrated the winners of the 2022 Landscape Alberta Landscape Awards in Banff. Each year, we see beautiful, well-designed landscapes that truly showcase the best this industry has to offer. This year, stemming from 26 entries, there were 15 winners in the Merit category and 6 winners in the Excellence category.

We congratulate 2022 winners: Alpha Better Landscaping Inc., Delta Valley Landscaping Services Ltd., Jenron Creative Landscapes, JVR Landscape (2006) Inc., MaisonScapes, OnGrowing Works Ltd., Planta Landscape Inc., Salisbury Landscaping, Seasonal Impact Contracting Ltd., Terra Landscaping Ltd.

We would like to thank this year’s volunteer judges for taking their assignment seriously and giving so generously of their time and expertise: Andrew MacDonald, Lucas Steeves, Jeff Wilson, Chris Chetcuti, Bill Hardy, Christian Houle, Nathan Gill, Andrew Heighton, Mark Janzen and Wade McArthur.

National Award of Landscape Excellence Nominees
The National Awards of Landscape Excellence (NALE) recognize Canadian companies that have actively participated in significantly raising the level of professionalism in the landscape industry. Each province nominates members from the provincial awards of excellence competition that are then entered into the national awards.

This years nominees are: 

• Terra Landscaping Inc. - Schiffner Residence
• Alpha Better Landscaping Inc. – 4^th avenue Flyover Park & Livingston Hub
• Delta Valley Landscaping Services Ltd. - Devon Paragon Ballpark
• Planta Landscape Inc. – Britannia Ridge Residence

Good luck to this year's nominees!  See the award winning projects by clicking here.

The 2023 Awards Package is now available for download. New this year; all active members of Landscape Alberta get their first entry for free! If you have any questions on the awards program, contact Kyla at kyla.hardon@landscape-alberta.com.

This is a reminder that the temporary measures to make Employment Insurance (EI) more accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic will end on September 24^th.  After September 24^th, EI regular and special benefits (like maternity, parental, compassionate leave, and sickness) will continue to be available to workers, just as they were before the pandemic, as will other supports such as the Canada Workers Benefit. 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada has been there to support workers who experienced job loss or temporary job stoppage because of the pandemic. When the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) ended, the government transitioned eligible Canadians to Employment Insurance benefits or the Canada Recovery Benefits. A set of temporary measures were put in place on September 27, 2020 to support this transition and facilitate access to the EI program for a one-year period. The Government also froze EI insurance premium rates for two years so Canadian workers and businesses would not face increases to payroll deductions when unemployment was at a historic highs.

Budget 2021 announced a suite of new EI temporary measures to support workers when the labour market was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and work was scarce or sporadic. This new suite of temporary measures took effect on September 26, 2021 for a period of one year:

·         a 420-hour common entrance requirement for EI regular and special benefits, with a corresponding common earnings threshold for fishing benefits and a lower earnings threshold for self-employed workers registered for special benefit coverage

·         all insurable hours and earnings counting towards a claimant’s EI regular benefit eligibility and entitlement, as long as their last job separation in their qualifying period was found to be valid. This supported workers, including multiple job holders, as the recovery firmed up

·         allowing claimants to start receiving EI benefits sooner by simplifying rules around the treatment of severance, vacation pay, and other monies paid following a job separation

·         enhancements to the Work-Sharing Program that were introduced during the pandemic to ensure they remained available to support affected employers and workers

These temporary measures will end on September 24, 2022 and the EI program will return to regular rules.

The Government recognizes that Canada’s EI system needs to be fairer, more flexible, and more responsive to the needs of workers. Work is ongoing to modernize the EI program. This plan must be directly informed by the Canadians who use EI and are invested in its modernization, and that’s why the Government consulted with Unions, employers, workers and other partners. Budget 2021 also provided $5 million over two years to support these consultations. These consultations recently concluded on July 29, 2022. The Government is analyzing the input received from stakeholders and Canadians, along with lessons learned from the pandemic and the temporary measures, to inform a comprehensive plan for a modernized EI that meets the current and future needs of Canadian workers and employers.

More details on the regular rules for the EI program that will be in effect as of September 25, 2022 can be found at the following webpages. We encourage you to share with your networks:

·         EI Regular Benefits - What these benefits offer - Canada.ca

·         EI sickness benefits: What these benefits offer - Canada.ca

·         Caregiving benefits and leave - Canada.ca

·         EI Fishing benefits - Overview - Canada.ca

·         EI maternity and parental benefits: What these benefits offer - Canada.ca

It is that time of year again – spring has sprung, and homeowners are excited to get working on their outdoor projects. Each year, we get many requests from homeowners looking for contractors who can help them with their projects, many who come to us at the advice of garden centres or contractors just like you.

Landscape Alberta is happy to assist homeowners in helping them find a member using the “Find A Pro” feature on our website. We ask that you direct homeowners to the Landscape Alberta website (www.landscape-alberta.com) and click on “Find A Pro” to search our database. Or they can simply scan the QR code on the attached templates and be taken right to the search.

Attached are some marketing templates to share this information to your customers or potential customers that aren't a good fit for your services.

Find A Pro Templates