Skip to content

Author: Marisa Palmieri

Marisa Palmieri

Marisa Palmieri

Marisa Palmieri is an experienced Green Industry editor who's won numerous awards for her coverage of the landscape and golf course markets from the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA), the Press Club of Cleveland and the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE). In 2007, ASBPE named her a Young Leader. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism, cum laude, from Ohio University’s Scripps School of Journalism.

Handbook Q&A: Jay Long

Jay Long Vice president of human resources, Ruppert Landscape Laytonsville, Md. LM: What’s your approach to handbooks? JL: Developing our policies and procedures and getting them down in an official handbook has been, and continues to be, an ongoing process. The first few years we were in business we were focused on the basics of […]

Handbook Q&A: Tom Pilon

Tom Pilon Owner, Perfect Earth Landscape Louisville, Ky. LM: What’s your approach to an employee handbook? TP: Our employee handbook is not just a one-time use document that’s handed out to each employee upon hiring. It has been very helpful throughout the seasons when an issue comes up. We have kept it detailed, simple and […]

Photos: Todd Huston

Backstory: Todd Huston

Todd Huston Owner/President Grounds Control Phoenix, Ariz. Education Woodbridge High School Irvine, Calif. Class of 1983 Arizona State University 1983-1985 “I went to ASU to become an architect. I felt like school wasn’t my thing. I took a job at ValleyCrest in 1986. I learned a lot there.” Work Experience 1986-1990 ValleyCrest Landscape Estimator Phoenix […]

Signature, Coast LM get $7.2M investment

Central Valley Fund (CVF) invested $7.2 million in growth capital financing in two large landscape contractors, Signature Landscapes, based in Reno, Nev., and Coast Landscape Management, based in Napa, Calif. The transaction includes equity investments in both companies, which will be merged into a single entity during the fourth quarter. Signature ranks No. 122 with […]

People on the Move: Davey’s Bastian honored; US Lawns inducts Harrell into HOF; and more from AmericanHort, FMC

Rex Bastian, Ph.D., technical advisor for The Davey Tree Expert Co., recently received a 2017 Award of Distinction from The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). The Awards of Distinction were presented during the opening ceremony of the ISA’s 93rd Annual International Conference and Trade Show. Bastian was honored with ISA’s 2017 Award of Merit, the ISA’s […]

Landscapers’ labor woes net news coverage

Two companies on the LM150 list of the largest landscape companies are in the news this month, getting coverage from their local media outlets about their labor challenges. The Greenery was featured in a story on WSAV about its struggle to hire in the resort town of Hilton Head Island, S.C. Limited affordable housing in […]

Photos: Driven Landscapes

Backstory: Jonathan Orcutt

Jonathan Orcutt Founder/President Driven Landscapes Norfolk, Mass. Education Medfield High School Medfield, Mass. Class of 2003 “From the time I was in elementary school I did neighborhood lawns. By high school I was a little more serious, and while I was in college in the summers I always fell back into landscaping.” West Virginia University […]

Editor’s Note: Do rewards work?

Keep it simple seems like good advice when it comes to employee incentive programs. It’s the first of a few rules of thumb offered by a compensation expert in our cover story this month. It seems like a no-brainer to me, as someone who can barely keep up with her school-age daughters’ sticker charts. Landscape […]

Photos: Andrew wardlow, andrewwardlow.com

Peak performance: Three keys to growth for GreenEarth Landscape Services

The owners of GreenEarth Landscape Services are ‘scaling up’ by focusing on culture, communications and key metrics. Jeremy Durgan isn’t afraid of an uphill climb. Literally. His personal goal is to summit all 53 of Colorado’s Fourteeners—the mountain peaks with elevation of at least 14,000 feet. Professionally, he and his business partner Shawn Knight have […]

Consultant Guido assaulted by landscape worker, recovering at home

Longtime green industry consultant Judy Guido is recovering at home after being assaulted and seriously injured earlier this month. She underwent surgery and spent time in the intensive care unit following the July 5 attack by a man hired to do landscaping work at her home, according to a report in the Ventura County Star. […]

Editor’s Note: How not to

As we put the final edits on this issue of LM, I was struck by some of the similarities between the owners of GreenEarth Landscape Services, featured in the cover story, and Andrew Haynes, founder of Garden Design. When GreenEarth’s Jeremy Durgan told me about how he got his start, prior to merging with his […]

Photo: David Livingston

Top outdoor design elements homeowners want

The 2017 Residential Landscape Architecture Trends Survey conducted by the American Society of Landscape Architects sheds light on what homeowners want. The top five elements in the outdoor design category are illustrated above. Consumers prefer sustainable—yet tech-friendly—design elements for their outdoor living spaces, according to the 2017 Residential Landscape Architecture Trends Survey conducted by the […]

Prescription Landscape buys Arteka maintenance business

St. Paul, Minn.-based Prescription Landscape, a commercial landscape services and snow removal provider, acquired Arteka Outdoor Services from Arteka Cos. Terms of the deal, which closed June 1, were not disclosed. Arteka Outdoor Services is a specialty landscape service provider for select home owner association and premium sites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul markets. “This addition […]

RCI acquires Louisiana firm

Slidell, La.-based Rotolo Consultants Inc. (RCI) acquired Greenscape Grounds Management, a commercial landscape maintenance company with operations in Lafayette and Lake Charles, La. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “The acquisition of Greenscape is in line with our goal of expanding RCI via not only organic growth but also through the selective acquisition of […]

Editor’s Note: Crisis mode

There’s always a corporate crisis du jour in the headlines, whether it’s a social media gaffe (#McDStories), physical altercation (United Airlines) or unpopular decision (Mylan EpiPen). When we hear about these public relations nightmares, we might be inclined to think large companies are more prone to them than the small and midsize businesses that make […]

LM150: Big numbers

This year’s list has a first—two companies topping the billion-dollar mark. For the first time ever, there were two landscape industry companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Topping the LM150 list are BrightView at $2.2 billion and TruGreen at $1.3 billion. There has been significant consolidation over the past few years. Four […]

Cappsure It app provides landscape maintenance reporting options

Proper reporting and client communications in the commercial landscape maintenance arena are lacking, says Mike Martinez, and it’s costing companies business. The owner of Newtex Landscape, based in Henderson, Nev., shares an anecdote about a dead tree on a client’s property that sat there for six weeks before the property manager noticed it and fired […]

Risk vs. reward

Lawn Butler leverages its conservative, debt-free philosophy for steady growth. Zero-debt disciples say your home’s grass feels better under your feet once your mortgage is paid off. There is something to the emotional and psychological effects of having no debt—or in Seth Kehne’s case—running a debt-free company. You sleep easier at night. You make better […]

Editor’s Note: Get Curious

An employee slumps over in a meeting, unwilling to participate, seemingly disgruntled. An irate client calls, accusing your crews of leaving grass clipping all over the driveway. Your spouse points out you’ve been distracted by email lately and asks you to leave work at the shop. When you experience negative feedback like any of these […]

NALP offers tips to avoid improper parking accidents

A host of serious incidents can happen when landscape trucks and trailers are improperly parked in or near roadways, the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) says. In light of a recent wrongful death judgement against BrightView, LM reached out to the association for safety tips. Here is some guidance offered by the NALP, which […]

BrightView will appeal $39 million wrongful death verdict

Last week, a Texas jury awarded $39 million in damages to the family of a Houston firefighter who was killed when his bike collided with a landscape trailer owned by The Brickman Group, now BrightView. The company plans to appeal the decision. Michelle Braswell, the widow of Capt. W. Mark Braswell, filed a wrongful death […]

Government funding bill addresses H-2B, NALP says

Congressional negotiators reached an agreement late Sunday on a spending bill that contains “limited H-2B cap relief,” according to an email alert from the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP). If approved by the House and Senate and signed by President Trump before May 5, the bill will fund the government through the end of […]

Landscape workers. Photo: ©istock.com/WoodenDinosaur

Why some companies are turning to Puerto Rico for labor

Why—and how—some landscape companies are recruiting workers from Puerto Rico. Late last year, William Merkler was on vacation in Puerto Rico, thinking about how he would reconcile his landscape firm’s contracts with the new prevailing wage the Department of Labor told him he must pay his H-2B guest workers this year—a 17 percent increase. “We […]

H-2B users, advocates urge action for relief

It’s a pivotal juncture for the H-2B guest-worker visa program—for 2017 and beyond. “April is a critical month for H-2B,” said Paul Mendelsohn, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), in a blog post. To improve the H-2B process, NALP and other advocates of the program are targeting a […]

To top