When Ryan Dittes decided the time was right to turn his passion for landscaping into his profession, he knew that outfitting his team with the right tools to get the job done would be a key to his success.
It was eight years ago when Dittes started RD’s Total Lawn in Langhorne, Pa., as a side gig to his full-time job with a local Coca-Cola distributor. The business grew gradually over the years to the point that, a year ago, Dittes decided to dump the soda business to focus all his professional attention on lawn care.
“Our primary services have been lawn mowing, landscaping, and we recently added fertilizer (applications) and weed control. And with fall almost here, we’re coming up on our seeding and aeration season,” Dittes says. “We have a team of about 10 guys and run about four or five crews. We’ve just focused on taking slow, steady steps forward.”
Among those steps was a desire to supercharge RD’s fall maintenance efforts, which was why Dittes perked up considerably when he received a call from Dustin McGehee with Stinger Equipment to discuss an offer from the company, in partnership with Landscape Management, that seemed like a perfect fit for RD’s Total Lawn.
“It sounded a little too good to be true, honestly,” Dittes says about McGehee’s idea to provide him with a complimentary GT30 riding aerator. “I knew about Stinger Equipment and the efficiency that their equipment can bring to your operations, so I was super curious. But until you actually see it at your yard, it seems like a dream.”
McGehee, Stinger’s vice president, insists the program is very much real, confirmed in mid-August when the company — with the help of their local distributor, CADCo — donated a brand-new GT30 to Dittes and RD’s, making it the first riding aerator in the company’s arsenal (in previous seasons, most aeration was done with walk-behind units).
McGehee describes the origins of the program this way: “We’ve always thought that (aeration) was a natural next step for companies who are doing mowing, landscaping, chemical work, that sort of thing. Some people find the prospect of adding (aeration) a little intimidating … so we were looking for a way to build awareness that it’s a service that provides a lot of value and can be a real profit center for a company like RD’s.
“Ryan is definitely not new to aeration, but he has aggressive goals to scale his business, and now that he’s moving from walk-behinds to the efficiency of a ride-on, we’re excited to follow him this fall, see how it grows his business and share his stories with Landscape Management readers.”
As noted, RD’s Total Lawn are not complete newcomers to offering aeration and overseeding (the Stinger GT30 delivered to RD’s did come with a hopper for seeding) to its customers. Last fall, Dittes says the company did about 200 aerations and overseedings, which marked a significant boost over previous years. And he has his sights set even higher this fall.
“We’re really excited about the prospects for this year … and we’re looking to grow that business by 40 percent from last year, which would be close to 300 services this fall,” Dittes says. “That would be a very big accomplishment for us, and we feel like (the Stinger GT30) is really going to help grow and scale that business.”
“We just want Ryan and his team to be satisfied, to have a trouble-free fall,” McGehee adds. “He has lofty goals, but we think he has a machine that is going to help him achieve those goals, and we hope his story shows others the impacts that aeration can have on a growing business.”
