Job Description
Landscape Supervisor — Multifamily Portfolio
Gaines Investment Trust | Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas | Full-Time, Salaried | Field-Based with Multi-State Travel
Gaines Investment Trust is a private real estate investment and management company founded in 1966. We own and self-manage roughly 8,000 apartment units across 31 properties in six states, along with a growing commercial office and industrial portfolio. We own everything we manage, and we manage nothing we don’t own.
We have never had a Landscape Supervisor before. We’re creating the position because landscaping is the first thing a prospect sees, the last thing a resident complains about being ignored, and one of the easiest line items in this business to overpay for and under-receive. We want one person who owns it.
The Role
You will be the owner’s expert on irrigation and landscaping. Your first job is Dallas: 14 assets you will drive weekly until the standard is set and holding on its own.
As Dallas stabilizes, the role widens to every other market we own — Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, Nevada, and California. That means flying to each market and staying a few nights at a time, meeting every landscape service company GIT works with, walking every property with them, and making sure the standard holds after you leave.
You will not be cutting grass, and you will not be managing employees. This is an individual contributor role: your authority is over the contractors we pay, not over headcount. You make sure the companies we hire are doing the work right, charging us correctly, and keeping our properties green.
What You’ll Own
- Irrigation — the primary function. Controllers, valves, wiring, heads, nozzles, backflow, mainlines, pressure, and coverage. You find the problems before the brown spots do.
- Water coverage on every site. Zone-by-zone audits, run-time and seasonal programming, coverage verification, and leak detection — balancing healthy turf against a water bill we can defend.
- Curb appeal and green grass. Written standards, scheduled inspections, punch lists with deadlines, and follow-through until the work is actually done.
- Vendor accountability. Our monthly service is performed by third-party landscape companies. You hold them to the contract — scope, frequency, quality, crew size, and response time — and you document it.
- Pricing. Review, scope-check, and negotiate irrigation repair and enhancement bids so they are low and accurate. You will know when a $2,400 proposal is a $600 job.
- Plant survival. When we install material, we expect it to live. You’ll own take rate — water, fertility, weed control, soil, and putting the right plant in the right sun/shade exposure.
- Portfolio standardization. The same written expectations at every asset we own — Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, Nevada, and California.
What We’re Looking For
- 5+ years in the commercial or multifamily landscape industry, including hands-on supervision of field crews — ideally at a landscape contractor, where you learned how bids get built and where the margin hides.
- Deep, demonstrable irrigation expertise. This is the core of the job, not a bonus skill.
- Preferred: TCEQ Landscape Irrigator (LI) or Irrigation Technician (IT) license — held, or willing to obtain within an agreed period at company expense.
- Working knowledge of North Texas turf and ornamental horticulture: warm-season turf, seasonal color, weed and pest pressure, fertility timing, and sun/shade exposure.
- Bilingual English/Spanish strongly preferred — you will be giving direction on site to landscape company crews every week.
- Comfortable reading a proposal, challenging a line item, and negotiating a number.
- Valid driver’s license, clean record, and genuine willingness to travel — daily around DFW now, and air travel with multi-night stays in our other markets as the role expands.
- Organized enough to leave a paper trail: photos, punch lists, and written follow-up.
Why This One Is Different
- You sit on the owner’s side of the table. You represent the owners of the property.
- It’s a blank page. First person in the seat, creating the standard the company will use for years.
- Direct line to ownership. Private company, easy decisions, real authority.
- Visible results. You will be able to drive past your work and see it.
Ready to Take the Next Step? Tell Us More Than a Résumé Can.
This is a highly specialized role, and we want to learn more than what can fit on a résumé. We want to hear directly from you about your irrigation knowledge, landscape experience, vendor management approach, and how you evaluate problems in the field.
As part of our hiring process, we invite you to complete a brief one-way video interview through Spark Hire You can complete it on your own time using your phone, tablet, or computer.
Please plan to complete your video interview within 72 hours of applying This is your opportunity to go beyond your résumé and show us how your experience could translate into this new and highly visible role at Gaines Investment Trust.
Compensation & Benefits
- Base salary: $75,000–$85,000
- Performance bonus: Targeted at 20% of base salary, paid twice a year. It is tied to how the properties actually look and perform — curb appeal, plant survival on everything we install, mulch and bed condition, and irrigation audit results. Not to cutting spend, and not to saving water.
- Vehicle: Mileage reimbursement at the current IRS rate. A company vehicle with a gas card may be provided at a later date as the role expands.
- Cell phone stipend: Monthly, for business use of your phone.
- Laptop stipend: Monthly, so you are equipped to document and report from the field.
- Travel: Airfare, lodging, and travel expenses covered by the Company for all out-of-market trips.
- Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, and 401(k).
Gaines Investment Trust is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
