Give a free start-up for your future.
March 2010 Update

There is no doubt that the summer of 2009 will go down as one of the most difficult for Michigan’s irrigation contractors. Finding new projects and keeping existing customers has been and will continue to be difficult at best. Some of our colleagues have suffered more than just the loss of revenues, but the loss of their business.

While this is tragic, it should not have been unexpected. Contractors have been saying that starting an irrigation contracting business is too easy for inexperienced people. In strong economic times anyone can do well; we’ve proved that throughout the nineties.

Today, cost-cutting measures have beat everyone down and forced us to make difficult decisions about work we contract, who we trust to pay us, and letting go of good employees, some with families, that we just can’t afford to keep on anymore.

Our future as a strong viable industry depends on what we do now. Past success is not a guarantee of anyone’s future. We have only to look at our suppliers who have left the state, or fractionalized their presence in Michigan. They are a reflection of the business we are doing, and none of us should like what we see in the mirror.

Anyone who believes the economic condition is the hardest battle we will have to fight needs to see the bigger picture. Water is going to be more important than ever and our future as a trade will be at stake. The posturing is happening within government and Wall Street as we speak. We have to be unified to have a chance to succeed. If you think the auto companies have had to fight to survive, wait until the water debate erupts and we are standing outside of the room, without a seat at the table.

This is, as they say, where the rubber meets the road. ICLI has been working on behalf of the irrigation contractors, suppliers, consultants, landscapers, and vendors to bring licensing. In the almost four years since we began, our workgroup has given their time and money to make this a success. We need your help to continue moving forward.

In the upcoming weeks there will be opportunity to meet with local leaders that can help our effort advance. To make an impact and get our message out, we need to show support to those that can make a difference to all of our futures. We need your commitment to this effort by making a donation on behalf of ICLI to the Michigan Green Industry Association and the Michigan Nursery & Landscape Association. This money will be earmarked for the ICLI only and will not be used for any other purpose.

I know how hard we have been hit these past few years, and I am feeling it as much as anyone. That is why I am asking you to donate the cost of one basic start-up this spring. Whatever you charge for an eight zone residential start-up, send to MGIA or MNLA on behalf of ICLI. This is only one free start-up, no more than what you would give to a new installation in most cases. Your donation will go a long way in getting our message to the lawmakers. We need your help.

ICLI needs the support of the contractors we have been dedicated to helping. You can show that support by committing just one start-up for your future.