Softscapes & Enhancements Crew Manager - Conestoga Contracting Group Inc
Lead crews that deliver clean, healthy, high-quality softscape and enhancement work across Waterloo Region.
Location: Elmira, ON, with work across Waterloo Region and surrounding Ontario jobsites.
Role type: Field leadership in softscapes, enhancements, and landscape operations.
Is this you?
If you can take a crew, a work order, a truckload of material, and turn it into a clean, finished property improvement, this role is worth a conversation.
You likely fit if you:
- Take pride in healthy plants, clean beds, sharp edges, proper spacing, and professional site finishes.
- Can lead a crew with clear direction, steady pace, and respect.
- Know how to keep people, tools, plants, soil, mulch, sod, and materials moving efficiently.
- Notice quality misses before the client does.
- Speak up early when safety, scope, budget, schedule, or quality is at risk.
- Care about coaching people and building a stronger crew.
- Understand that enhancements are not just “extra work” — they are opportunities to improve the property and create raving fans.
The work
You will lead a crew completing softscape and enhancement work on residential, commercial, and maintenance properties. This may include planting, bed preparation, mulch, sod, turf repair, seasonal colour, plant replacements, pruning support, garden refreshes, property cleanups, and small landscape improvement projects.
This is a working leadership role. You will lead from the field, assign tasks, set the pace, train crew members, protect quality, manage site cleanup, and communicate issues early. You are not expected to solve every problem alone, but you are expected to lead with ownership and keep the work moving safely and professionally.
What you’ll lead
- Tree, shrub, perennial, annual, and seasonal colour installation
- Garden bed preparation, edging, shaping, weeding, and cleanup
- Mulch installation, soil preparation, topsoil, amendments, and sod
- Fine grading and bed shaping to support drainage and plant establishment
- Turf repair, overseeding, topdressing, and lawn repair support
- Plant replacements, site refreshes, entrance improvements, and enhancement work
- Daily crew planning, task assignments, productivity, and quality checks
- Plant material handling, staging, watering, staking, and protection
- Jobsite cleanliness, safety, tools, equipment, and client-ready finishes
- Communication with Production Leads, Project Managers, Operations, or client-facing teams
What success looks like
- Work is done right: beds are clean, plants are installed properly, mulch is even, sod is tight, and the site looks professionally finished.
- Jobs stay productive: labour, materials, tools, and equipment are organized before they slow the crew down.
- Quality is protected: issues are corrected during the work, not discovered after the crew leaves.
- Plants are protected: plant handling, watering, depth, spacing, soil preparation, and aftercare are taken seriously.
- Enhancement opportunities are noticed: property issues, improvement opportunities, and client requests are documented and passed along.
- The crew gets better: team members are coached in safety, pace, quality, plant care, and the Conestoga way of working.
- Problems are raised early: missing materials, unclear scope, client requests, damaged plants, drainage concerns, equipment issues, and delays are communicated same day.
Key responsibilities
- Lead daily softscape and enhancement crew execution from start to finish.
- Review the day’s scope, work order, drawings, site notes, safety risks, and production expectations.
- Assign crew members to clear tasks with timing, safety, and quality expectations.
- Train crew members on planting standards, bed prep, mulching, sod, cleanup, pruning basics, and safe tool use.
- Monitor productivity and adjust the crew plan when site conditions change.
- Inspect plant layout, spacing, depth, soil conditions, mulch finish, sod seams, bed edges, and final cleanup.
- Load, unload, stage, and protect plants, soil, mulch, sod, tools, and equipment.
- Track and communicate material shortages, damaged plants, client requests, scope changes, and site issues.
- Identify enhancement opportunities such as mulch refreshes, plant replacements, bed rejuvenation, turf repair, drainage concerns, seasonal colour, or small site improvements.
- Keep trucks, trailers, tools, and equipment organized, clean, fueled, and job-ready.
- Enforce PPE, safe lifting, safe equipment use, safe driving habits, and jobsite awareness.
- Represent Conestoga professionally with clients, property managers, teammates, and the public.
You may be a strong fit if you have
- Experience leading softscape, enhancement, horticulture, gardening, maintenance, or landscape installation crews.
- Strong working knowledge of planting, soil preparation, mulching, sod, bed work, pruning basics, turf repair, and plant health.
- Ability to read work orders, site notes, planting layouts, scope notes, or landscape plans.
- Experience managing crew pace, quality, safety, and daily production.
- Clear communication with crews, managers, clients, and internal support teams.
- Valid driver’s licence with an insurable driving record.
- Comfort driving trucks, handling trailers, and using landscape tools and small equipment.
- Horticulture education, apprenticeship, certification, nursery experience, or plant health training is an asset.
Physical and work expectations
This is outdoor field leadership. You should be comfortable:
- Working in changing weather.
- Lifting, carrying, digging, bending, kneeling, and standing for long periods.
- Handling soil, mulch, sod, plants, tools, and equipment.
- Starting early and working full days during busy seasons.
- Leading by example when the work is physically demanding.
- Supporting seasonal work, cleanup work, or snow-related work if assigned.
Why Conestoga
Conestoga Contracting Group exists to provide quality lifestyles for our people, strengthen our community, and build and maintain exceptional projects at scale with precision.
We care about reliability, work ethic, quality, efficiency, adaptability, teamwork, empathy, and pride in the work. The standard is clear here: talent does not override attitude, reliability, safety, quality, or respect.
What we provide
- A growing company with year-round employment in maintenance, hardscape, pool, and snow divisions.
- Good benefits, boot allowance and company clothing allowance.
- Bonuses and profit sharing.
- Clear standards for quality, safety, production, and culture.
- Work orders, schedules, manager support, and systems to help crews execute.
- Tools, trucks, equipment, and materials appropriate to the work.
- Training and development through field mentoring and assigned learning systems.
- A leadership path for people who can run clean work, build people, protect production, and create raving fans.
Pay: $26.00-$35.45 per hour
Work Location: In person
