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Author: Ron Hall

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Ron Hall

Ron Hall is the former editor in chief of Landscape Management magazine.

Lawncare pro: Alan White

Alan White will soon begin his third decade in business. As the founder and owner of Ontario, Canada-based Turf Systems he’s learned a few important lessons. “Be a part of and participate in your industry,” White says. “It will keep you prepared. You have to know what’s going on around you. You’re never too small […]

Lessons from Silas and Lona

Several years ago when it became apparent that my mom was failing I went through a shoebox of photographs she had accumulated over a lifetime that began with a Depression-era childhood in the Appalachian Mountains and will almost certainly end under the loving care of my older sister. I sorted, labeled and burned the photos […]

Lawncare pro: Andre J. “Frenchy” Rheault

Andre J. “Frenchy” Rheault is the only landscaper we know who has had a frozen dessert named in his honor. During a 20-year career as a U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant air traffic controller, and after taking over a landscape business from a friend who got orders to go to Germany, Frenchy began a lifelong […]

Surviving in this Wal-Mart economy

Everybody in my economically challenged city in northwest Ohio is becoming a contractor of one ilk or another, or so it seems. Many are suddenly landscape maintenance contractors. This is one reason, although not the largest, why you should be moving to become a lower-priced service provider in your market. Of course, that means finding […]

Lawncare pro: Wayne Volz

In 1979 Wayne Volz wanted a 10-speed bicycle. “My Dad told me that if I wanted it, I would need to earn the money to pay for it,” says Volz, president of Wayne’s Lawn Service. Volz started mowing nine lawns that summer and the rest is history. He continued mowing through high school, and college. […]

Keep SITES in your sight

The Sustainable Sites Initiative’s (SITES) two-year pilot program runs from June 2010 to June 2012. Feedback from the more than 150 participating projects will be used to revise the SITES final rating system. At this stage of its development, it’s difficult to gauge the impact of SITES on the professional landscape/lawn service industry. It’s likely […]

Synthetic turf: Threat or opportunity?

From the state that gave us skateboards, the Beach Boys and many of the trends we associate with modern landscaping comes an outdoor living innovation that is figuring larger in our industry: Synthetic turf. No, artificial turf wasn’t invented in California and it’s not manufactured there, but it has become one of the hottest landscape […]

It’s a great time to build client loyalty

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Everybody wants a deal these days. Let me rephrase that. Everybody expects a deal these days. A discount. An introductory coupon. An extra perk. A free service. That’s the new price of attracting customers and buying loyalty in this new normal economy. Can you remember another holiday season like this past one in which every […]

Young talent is eager to bring sustainability into the industry

Many of us in the landscape industry are grappling with the concept of sustainability, something that I’ve been researching and attempting to understand for more than a year. The more I learn about sustainability as it relates to the landscape/lawn service trade the more I’m convinced that we have to embrace it from an environmentally […]

Select the right business model

To be successful (and balanced) one expert says you have to create a business model that reflects your personality

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