Business peaks during the warmer months for many service-oriented trades

Brian Ernst can almost feel it in the air.

While spring means picnics or Easter egg hunts to the average person, for Ernst, the owner of Bloomfield Road Lawn and Landscape in Cape Girardeau, spring means business.

"It's typically the first really pretty Saturday or Sunday," he says. "That following Monday, the phones will just melt down and then you're just trying to keep your head above the water."

Linda McKinnis, event planner at Design Exclusive LLC in Cape Girardeau, can feel it, too.

"The true peak season is during the warmer months," she says. "When the trees begin to blossom, so does my calendar."

Riding out the warm weather rush can be a challenge for some business owners, but veteran landscapers like Ernst have learned how to take advantage of the seasonal demand without being overwhelmed.

"We usually have two or three job sites running at any given time, but you still have to explain to people that it might not be possible right now," Ernst says. "Right now, we're booking jobs in September."

McKinnis learned the importance of planning the hard way. She once booked two weddings in the same weekend -- one in St. Louis and the other in Cape Girardeau.

"I was faced with jumping into my car and driving to Cape Girardeau at 3 a.m." she says. "After unloading my car, I had to pick up fresh flowers and start on the Saturday wedding by 7 a.m."

It's a feat she has avoided since. She says that now, it's not uncommon to have events scheduled more than a year in advance.

David Jones of Auburn Landscaping in Cape Girardeau avoids the pitfalls of overscheduling by being realistic about how much work to take on.

"It all has to start with honesty. You only have a few people," he says. "You don't want to over-promise yourself and not get any work done."

For many of the small operations, it can be hard to refuse an eager customer, but for Jones, it's important to maintain a good reputation.

"Sometimes the waiting list turns people away, but you have to be upfront about your timeline," he says.

Instead of hiring seasonal employees to help out his three-man crew, Jones prefers to focus on doing a few jobs well.

"We try to stick to the larger scale jobs," he says, adding that they are elbows deep in an 11-week project at the moment. "I don't hire on a lot of part-time people because then the quality usually goes down," he says.

A reputation for quality is often the difference between a customer who is willing to wait for a service and one who isn't.

McKinnis says she "would be lost without my dependable assistants and especially my extra sets of hands," but she adds that she's particular when acquiring help.

"I'm pretty picky about presentation, so it is important to have people who share my vision, passion and work ethic," she says.

Hunter Givens runs a two-man landscaping operation called Cape's Go-To Guys and says even though a wait may be inconvenient for the customer, one advantage of being a small business is the personal interaction that goes into his customer service.

"The rush is huge. It goes from just a little bit of business to working from sunup to sundown," he says. "Most people will understand that you might not be able to do it right this second."

It can be a juggling act at times, but small business owners smell the freshly mowed grass or a budding floral arrangement and are ready for the busy season.

Spring: bring it on.