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Author: Casey Payton

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Casey Payton

Payton is a freelance writer with eight years of experience writing about the landscape industry.

Add-on Biz: Mailbox installations

Mailbox installations deliver a nice profit for a New Jersey landscape and fencing firm. A spectacle of damaged mailboxes after a heavy snowfall got Chris Demato’s wheels turning toward a way to help the homeowners and his business. The owner of Rock Bottom Landscaping & Fencing had the vision of adding residential mailboxes and posts […]

Landscape firm catches on to rainwater harvesting

A Pennsylvania contractor latches on to growing interest in rainwater harvesting. Although Marrazzo’s North River Landscape, Hardscape & Rainwater Harvesting is nestled in a fairly dependable region for annual rainfall,  receiving 50 inches to 60 inches per year, the Wycombe, Pa.-based firm still faces water restrictions from townships at times. Diane Marrazzo, who heads the […]

Add-on Biz: Cleaning up athletic turf

A California firm scores new clients with synthetic sports field maintenance. With an increasing number of schools and parks installing synthetic turf fields, the leadership at Pacheco Brothers Gardening in Hayward, Calif., was looking for a way to reach those accounts and complement the sports field work it was already doing. The company knew synthetic […]

headshot: Michael Bedell

Michigan firm ‘goes dark’ after Great Recession

Michael Bedell made good on a bad situation when the Great Recession hit hard in Michigan, particularly his service area in Milford, Mich. Instead of altogether losing commercial clients who were cutting back or going idle, the owner, horticulturist and landscape designer with Bedell Property Management, developed a service for unoccupied properties or those not […]

York Landscape takes a stab at verticutting

Among the greatest nemeses of a lush lawn is thatch, a layer of dead, organic debris that develops between the blades of grass and the soil surface. While contractors commonly turn to power raking to tackle thatch, Pinellas Park, Fla.-based York Landscape takes the high road with its verticutting service, removing thatch and excessive top […]

Un-stumped: Adding on tree services

A decade ago Chris Lee went out on a limb when he decided to bring all tree services in-house for EarthWorks, located in Lillian, Texas. Now, garnering $75,000 in annual revenue from the add-on, the president of the $13 million company has no further reservations. Plus, the stump grinding facet of the service is one of […]

Learning to (yard)walk

When talking about horticulture, Tom Strangfeld is a natural at addressing crowds. The independent landscape designer and horticulturist has lectured at Boston’s Arnold Arboretum and appeared on “This Old House,” to pick a few bullet points from his resume. But a few years ago he got the urge to teach in a more intimate setting […]

Scoring with ice rinks

Being based in Blasdell, N.Y., Mike Pace could have relied on snow plowing to make up for lost revenue in the off-season. But the owner and president of Pace Landscaping & Ice Rinks chose to veer from the usual to build backyard ice rinks instead. As a former hockey player, it was the perfect fit […]

Indoor holiday decor

McHale Landscape Design, based in Upper Marlboro, Md., promotes itself as a “property management” company. As such, its crews handle a slew of services for clients in a “one-stop shop” effort—everything from gutter cleaning to fall annual installations and exterior holiday lights for clients throughout Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. A few years ago, one […]

Field work

Virginia-based J.W. Townsend specializes in wildflower meadows.  In its first year of installing wildflower meadows, J.W. Townsend, a Charlottesville, Va.-based landscape company, only did one. But the interest has grown dramatically since that first meadow installation in 1998. In fact, the service has increased by 50 percent each year. This past year alone the company […]

Off the (green) wall

Green wall and roof installations are a profitable endeavor for The LaurelRock Co. After hearing a talk about living walls and roofs, Burt DeMarche was immediately interested in adding the service to his business. The owner of The LaurelRock Co. in Wilton, Conn., knew it would appeal to certain niche clients—particularly those interested in “going […]

If you build it

Carpentry projects have led one New Jersey company to launch a new division. Doing the occasional pergola or deck project for some of his landscape clients led Simon Darlington, owner of Darlington Designs in Glassboro, N.J., to launch an entire carpentry division for his landscape company. Though he knows it’s a bit of an unusual […]

In store

With seasonal containers, a Virginia-based landscape firm finds work styling the exterior of a boutique. When a high-end clothier showed interest in a new storefront plant display, it led to a new account for Kane Landscapes, a Potomac Falls, Va.-based landscape company. While it was the company’s first seasonal color change-out job for a commercial […]

Protecting equipment

Pro Care Horticultural Services minimizes equipment loss with a financial incentive.  There’s no doubt that landscape equipment experiences a lot of wear and tear and many pieces break down over time. But improper maintenance and carelessness can lead to earlier breakdowns, loss or even theft. Lowell Rolsky, president of Pro Care Horticultural Services in Carmel, […]

Honest work

PLANET Community Stewardship Award Winner Category: Supplier American Profit Recovery strives to include employees in its service efforts. Although they’re doing honest work, it’s easy for a debt collection agency to get a bad rap. But American Profit Recovery (APR), with corporate locations in Massachusetts and Michigan, developed the tagline “You’ll profit from our difference,” […]

Jumping at the opportunity

PLANET Community Stewardship Award Winner Category: State Association Chapter Volunteer efforts are ingrained in ALCC’s culture.  In its 50 years, the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado (ALCC) has established a long history of supporting communities, sponsoring and leading projects throughout the state. “Giving back to the community is one of the things we were founded […]

Selling safety

A Virginia-based company profits from safety and damage control services. Safety sells. That’s why the crews at Professional Grounds in Lorton, Va., pay extra attention on their property walkthroughs. Though they may be there simply to access the turf and shrubs, pointing out hazards such as a hanging limb or a failing retaining wall can […]

Far East design

Offering Japanese gardens has been both profitable and fun for this Wyoming landscape company. When Aaron Rodolph, president of Rodolph Brothers, based in Casper, Wyo., first started reading about Japanese garden design, he was amazed how much of the elements he’d already been incorporating into his projects. It’s all about natural flow and placing boulders […]

Custom growth

A Tucson-based landscape company finds a unique niche in the maintenance market. Given Arizona’s desert landscape, xeriscaping is often a necessity. As a result, many landscape companies here don’t have a strong focus on traditional landscape maintenance. Instead, they drive much of their revenue from design/build projects with hardscaping. Still, when clients kept asking Sonoran […]

Well worth it

PLANET Community Stewardship Award Winner Category: Large Green Industry Service Provider ($5 million or more in annual revenue) Acres Group invests in its community with an array of service work.  The list of community service activities the Acres Group in Wauconda, Ill., participates in is more than 20 items long. The involvement in most of […]

Stormwater woes

Twin Oaks Landscape differentiates itself by fixing clients’ stormwater problems. Chris Speen, general manager of Twin Oaks Landscape, in Ann Arbor, Mich., was looking for a differentiator. There were a lot of landscape businesses in his area and they all offered the same services. He wanted to not only stand out from the crowd but […]

A good habit

PLANET Community Stewardship Award Winner Category: Medium Green Industry Service Provider ($1 million to $5 million in annual revenue) Knowing there’s always someone in need has driven a Florida company to participate in an array of service efforts. Katy Harrell, vice president of Southeastern Outdoor Management, believes you don’t have to look far to find […]

Add-On Biz: Swept away

Parking lot sweeping can boost commercial maintenance work. When Wixom, Mich.-based Bell’s Landscape Services started handling the maintenance work for shopping centers that also needed regular parking lot sweeping, it decided to look into offering the service itself. A hefty investment later, the company is doing regular sweeping jobs and has found it to be […]

My Biggest Mistake: Michael Thackrey

Rapid growth without a clear business plan has been a difficult road to navigate for one Florida company. Fast growth sounds more like a blessing than a curse, but the truth is, growing too quickly can sink a business. That’s why Michael Thackrey and his business partner, Chris Eastman, have strived to control their company’s […]

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