Local landscaping business Clark Landscaping and Lawn Care has taken on a new market — fraternities. IU chapters such as Phi Gamma Delta have reached out to the company to help with post-party clean up, said Andy Clark, Clark Landscaping and Lawn Care owner.
Fiji is leading this trend of fraternity outsourcing, said Joe Clifford, Interfraternity Council risk management chair.
“I think it is a great idea to hire a company to clean up sand,” Clifford said in an email. “Before IFC’s big push to end hazing on campus, it would have been pledges cleaning up sand, so I’m glad to see former pledge duties being outsourced.”
Clark Landscaping arrived at the Fiji house at 8 a.m. the Sunday after Fiji’s beach party to begin cleaning up the aftermath of the fraternity’s party.
What they found was a man-made paradise.
The Fiji house members constructed several tiki huts, a stained wooden pirate ship and a 40-foot by 40-foot pool with a functional hot tub in the middle, Clark said.
Clark estimates Fiji spends more than $20,000 to host an event of this size.
The cleanup process took more than 16 hours of labor between eight workers. This included the deconstruction of wooden structures, the transportation of 180 tons of sand and the removal of 40,000 gallons of water, Clark said.
Third Street was lined with Clark’s dump trucks, trailers and Bobcats from 8 a.m. to midnight, and then a smaller cleanup crew came the following day, Clark said.
All of this ran up a bill from Clark Landscaping of $3,000, Clark said.
“They don’t care to pay, and they know it’s a big job,” Clark said. “I’m making good money on it, so it’s worth it for me.”
After the cost of labor, Clark estimates that the after-party cleanup profit for his company totals about $2,000.
“If I can go and make $2,000 in one day, I’m pretty happy about that,” Clark said. “It’s really just like any other job. It’s a long day, but if I can make a couple thousand off it, I’m happy.”
Clark Landscaping cashed in by reselling the wood and sand left over from the party, Clark said.
This year, Clark hauled off eight dump truck loads of sand and resold it to a local excavator for sewage construction.
This added up to an extra $800 of profit, Clark said.
This was Clark Landscaping’s second year on cleanup duty.
Last year, Fiji hired the company for the same job but with more complications, Clark said.
Last fall, Fiji hadn’t drained the pool and hot tub when Clark Landscaping arrived.
As a result, Third Street was flooded in roughly knee-deep water, Clark said.
The second time around, Clark warned the fraternity brothers to let the water drain from the pool beforehand.
Fiji’s beach party this year outdid previous years with roughly 40 tons more sand and more man-made structures than in the past, Clark said.
Fraternity parties can continue to become more elaborate and expensive as long as they stay within their property, IU Police Department Lt. Craig Munroe said.
“They’re in their house, so that’s up to them and their chapter,” Munroe said.
Each chapter has party rules and regulations mandated by the Fraternal Information and Programming Group, which is then administered by the IFC, Clifford said.
“I think these themes foster an environment that allows people to enjoy themselves without having to resort to binge drinking to have a good time,” Clifford said.
