Meet Brandy Salinas, Services Assistant at Bonick Landscaping
Lee: “So I’m going to jump right in with the same wildly creative question I ask everyone first. What exactly do you do?”
Brandy: “I am the direct assistant to both the Service Manager, Jeff Jennings, and the Garden Account Managers. I oversee the pool, irrigation, garden, and enhancement departments’ daily administration. I do the scheduling for all those areas, handling billing, and procure materials (plantings, sod, etc.) that are needed. I also handle client relations for these areas. People call me if they have a service request for pool cleaning, irrigation repairs, seasonal color, those sorts of things.”
Lee: “Are all the requests pretty ho hum or do different things pop up from time to time?”
Brandy: (Laughs.) “Most of them are what you’d expect but every now and then we get asked for something different and I love it when that happens.”
Lee: “Can you give me an example?”
Brandy: “Well, there’s this one client who I really love and she sometimes makes interesting requests, which make my day. One time she was having challenges with ducks in her pool. She didn’t mind having them around the property, but understandably, she really didn’t want them in the pool all the time. She had read somewhere that if you fill your pool with beach balls it helps deter the ducks from swimming there and she wanted to try it. So we got to blow up 50 beach balls and put them in her pool. I loved it!”
Lee: “Did it work?”
Brandy: “Well, yes and no. It did deter the adult ducks but the little ducklings weren’t phased at all. They just swam around between the beach balls.”
Lee: “What do you like most about your job?”
Brandy: “The people I work with and the atmosphere. Generally, everyone likes each other and we’re all friends so that makes us a better team.”
Lee: “It’s amazing how I keep getting that same answer in each of the interviews. So what else?”
Brandy: “I like our clients. I go with Jeff on site visits when I can, and I love that. I like meeting our clients face-to-face, really getting to know them and seeing their yards and landscaping. It makes for better client relations. That way, when they call with a request or an issue, I can picture who they are and what their yard or pool looks like. I can envision what we are talking about exactly.”
Lee: “How long have you been with Bonick Landscaping?”
Brandy: “Eight years. Wow. It doesn’t seem like that long. I guess time goes fast when you’re having fun.”
Lee: “So why Bonick Landscaping? What’s different about it?”
Brandy: “We’re constantly exploring ways to make things better. Even if what we are doing today is working fine, we want to find a way to do it better. It’s an innovative environment. I think most places feel if something is working, there’s no reason to change it. They aren’t asking if there is an even better way.”
Lee: “Last questions. What about family? What do you do for fun?”
Brandy: “I married my high school sweetheart, Jason, and we’ve been happily married for 19 years. We have a son in high school, a 5-month-old Boston terrier puppy named Oscar, and two sugar gliders, Beasley and Bratton (characters from The Office). For fun I like to do DIY projects, date nights with my husband, gardening, hiking, going to the gun range…I could go on and on!
This is the fourth post in a series spotlighting Dallas-based landscape design firm Bonick Landscaping’s most valuable asset – its employees.
You may also like:
Meet Landscape Designer Todd Piasczyk
Meet Jeff Jennings, Services Manager at Bonick Landscaping
Exceeding Client Expectations: An Interview with Glenn Bonick, founder of Dallas-Based Bonick Landscaping
For over 30 years, Bonick Landscaping has served Dallas area clients with the highest standards looking for out-of-the-ordinary luxury landscape design and pools by offering the best in service, workmanship, and plantings. Services include hardscape and landscape design, pool designs, pool construction and installation, lawn care services and garden maintenance, pool maintenance, and more. For discerning clients in Dallas who want to express their own distinctive style through their landscaping, Bonick Landscaping can help you realize your dream. For more information, call us at 972-243-9673 or email us. Visit our website at www.bonicklandscaping.com.