Groundskeeper Job Description

The Groundskeeper takes care of lawns and gardens. In some cases they are referred to as a gardener.

The Nature of the work that a Groundskeeper handles in his/her occupation:

1. A Groundskeeper maybe referred to as a gardener, custodians, or turf grass manager.
2. A Groundskeeper work area consists of cemeteries, parks, golf courses, and other sports fields.
3. Other Groundskeepers may work for arboretums, botanical gardens, and conservatories.
4. The Groundskeepers work is dealing with lawns, trees, shrubs, and flowers.
5. These items all need professional care and that is what a Groundskeeper is able to provide.
6. A Groundskeeper may also work in schools, zoos and museums where constant care needs to be provided.

Other places that require the benefit of Groundskeepers are:

• Many factories require the service of Groundskeepers to keep the site in good condition.
• Office Buildings that cover a large area need a Groundskeeper to not only take care of the lawn and plants but to be available during the winter to maintain the parking lots etc.
• Many Shopping Centers use Groundskeepers to maintain the lawn on the outside and the inside of the buildings.
• Housing developments, apartment complexes, highways, and resort hotels often need the use of a Groundskeeper in order to keep the lawns, trees and plants in good condition.
• A Groundskeeper may work for individual families in order to help maintain their homes. Especially if the person has a large lawn to take care of our lives in an area where there are many trees and plants.
• Some Groundskeeper also works on farms that grow, harvest, and sells sod. The sod is grown as a lawn and is delivered to the buyer in pieces that are laid down as ground cover.
• Some Groundskeepers work for landscaping services that are under contract to care for the grounds of several different firms, agencies, or homeowners.
• Many Groundskeepers have their own businesses and work at several different locations. They contract out their services and provide year round service for a variety of businesses and homeowners.

Other Duties:

Many times a Groundskeeper is required to do more than take care of the plants, trees, and lawn. In some areas where there is snow and ice a Groundskeeper may do snow removal service during the winter months in order to keep the business going all year long. In northern climate summer does not last long and winter takes over making it necessary for a Groundskeeper to do winter chores like clearing driveways and sidewalks of snow. Some Groundskeeper have contracts with businesses that keep trees and plants inside the building so the Groundskeeper must take care of the inside areas.

Other Groundskeepers maintain lawn furniture by repairing or painting it for the consumer. Often after a long hard winter parks need to be cleaned and reset for the spring and summer season. The Groundskeepers bring out the benches and picnic tables. The Groundskeepers may paint them for the season or wash them down before putting them in place. Parks keep playground equipment for children and the Groundskeeper will make sure that this equipment is cleaned and maintenance is done. The Playground equipment must be made safe before the children can play again. A Groundskeeper may work in parks while others may work in schools or zoos where the ground and the equipment need attention to be kept for the season or all year long.

The Golf Courses often need a Groundskeeper to maintain the fairway. The golfers expect the lawn to be maintained in a certain manner. The Groundskeeper may need to lay new sod in order to make it good for golfing. The small ponds need to be cleaned of any debris that could have accumulated over the winter. The Golf Course needs attention all year long so during the summer Groundskeepers often take care of the lawn and the surrounding areas of the Golf Course.

Golf Courses are not the only sporting arena that a Groundskeeper attends, baseball, football, soccer and other outdoor sporting events all require the service of a Groundskeeper. Many times after the event the ground needs to be resodded in order for the sporting event to take place again. The Groundskeeper in these cases often rolls out a carpet of sod filled with grass. The Groundskeepers has a lot of work to keep the ground in prime condition for these sporting events.