I've noticed that the landscaping service that handles many (if not
most) of the large apartment complexes in the Portland, OR sets up their
sprinkler systems to water for 15 minutes a night, every night. Of
course their incentive is to create a situation that requires the
complex to contract them to provide even more "service" to the lawn.
(They also mow weekly, even in the downpours in spring and fall, leaving
ruts and piles of slime that they then convince the complex to pay them
to fix. They have some of the management companies convinced that they
need to resod every five years or so.

(I think they share methods with the driveway contractor that's
convinced the complexes that spraying a thin layer of liquid asphalt on
the driveway each year will make it last longer.)

Perhaps this document is meant to be something crappy landscaping
services can point to for "proof" that their destructive methods are the
right way to do things, and continue to sell more services to the
complexes.

They also only apply a thin layer of bark mulch so the crews can spend
extra time pulling weeds each week. If I wasn't a basically honest
person, I'd say they've got one great self-sustaining business there --
but only as long as they can continue to convince the apartment
management companies that their methods are actually sound.

This is why I tend to not use contractors any longer. It's just become too
difficult weeding out the ones worthy of trust and those that will scam you.
I have a good example here from my book of irritants -- Last year I was
having health issues and did not get out to cut my yard before it very much
got out of hand. I hired a landscape/grass cutting service to cut the grass
for me. I told them specifically to be careful around my rose bushes and
trees -- they collared EVERY SINGLE rose bush I had as well as my trees.
The owner's response -- you shouldn't have let the grass get that high! He
went on to tell me that he didn't know what a rose bush looked like and that
he didn't care about the damage as that was what they carried insurance for.

James