Back to work for lawn and landscape companies after latest pandemic order

(FOX 2) -
"I've got lots of work and phones ringing off the hook," said Sherry Lavin.

Landscapers across the Metro Detroit area brought out their shovels and wheelbarrows for the first time since the stay at home order last month. 

Since then, business was mostly at a standstill. But the CEO of Lavins Lawn Care in Southfield still looked at the glass half full.

"It wasn't fun but I got a lot of stuff done at my home, I got my honey do list done and now it's back to work," she said. 

Workers at Lavins Lawn Care in Southfield and Grasshopper Lawn Maintenance in Roseville are swamped. They are also taking extra safety precautions on the job. 

"My employees have masks, gloves, one person to a truck, sanitizer in all the trucks and wiping the trucks down at the end of the day and in the morning when we get in," she said.

Landscapers are behind a couple weeks. now it’s a rush to get business caught up. 

"If it would've been any longer it would have been a problem," said Pat Stross, owner of Grasshopper. "But it takes time to switch over from snow removal to lawn and landscaping, so we were going through that transition at that time." 

And for customers seeing landscapers working at their home and outside their business, is a welcome change. 

"Some customers were very upset that we couldn't come out we came out and cut grass anyway because some mayors said we could," Stross said.

"As a business owner we always have pressure so no I’m not to panicked one day at a time and it's all going to get done," Lavin said.

Both Lavins Lawn Care and Grasshopper Lawn Maintenance say they didn’t have to lay off employees. They switched them to different jobs in different areas.