Employee safety and satisfaction are priorities at Enhanced Landscape Management. These core principles were key considerations when the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based landscape firm chose a partner for its transition from gas- to battery-powered equipment.
As the founder and executive vice president of Enhanced Landscape Management, Greg Epstein leads a large landscaping firm with multiple offices and more than 650 employees in the field serving clients in California and Southern Nevada. Transitioning his company to battery-powered landscape maintenance equipment was not a hasty decision but a deliberate, calculated undertaking. He conducted rigorous due diligence on the available professional-grade commercial equipment, ensuring the investment would accommodate his company’s operational demands and its employees’ expectations for safety, well-being and productivity.
Greenworks has dedicated the last decade to engineering the Optimus line — a comprehensive, battery-powered, commercial-grade landscaping equipment solution. Anchored by an industry-leading advanced battery and charging infrastructure, the Optimus system delivers critical benefits: It reduces noise and eliminates noxious exhaust fumes, provides cost savings, boosts crew efficiency and improves productivity through smart fleet management capabilities.
Greenworks’ Optimus line of equipment solutions fulfilled every critical requirement Epstein established for transitioning Enhanced Landscape Management to a battery-powered equipment platform.
“I knew this was going to be a big change to our management style and our culture,” he says of abandoning gas for battery-powered equipment. “The biggest hurdle was finding an equipment line that wouldn’t generate complaints with our crews.”
According to Epstein, the average Enhanced Landscape Management crew is equipped with two Optimus blowers, two string trimmers, two hedge trimmers, a 48-inch or 60-inch zero-turn mower, and a 22-inch walk-behind mower. The company has three branches that are already operating at nearly 100 percent electric capacity, and Epstein aims to expand that number to five by the end of 2025. The remaining branches are scheduled for conversion in the coming year, with the goal of being fully electric across the board by the close of 2026.
“Our crews love the Greenworks Optimus products, and there have been no complaints whatsoever,” Epstein says. “That’s what really motivated us to drive full force with Greenworks and commit to the Optimus brand.”
In January, Enhanced Landscape Management achieved a significant milestone by becoming the inaugural recipient of the Greenworks Commercial Performance Landscaper Award. This honor was established to recognize landscaping firms that demonstrate both innovative and sustainable practices in their pursuit of industry excellence, and to recognize companies that are actively driving the landscape industry’s transition toward a greener future.
Epstein reports his crews consistently give the Optimus line high marks for in-field performance compared to traditional two-cycle combustion equipment. For example, crews like the fact that electric power is cleaner, quieter and more powerful, offering the immediate benefit of instant start-up. Furthermore, the Greenworks portfolio of tools requires substantially less upkeep, eliminating the typical delays associated with routine maintenance and replacement of belts, filters and other wearable parts. This combination of high performance and low maintenance has fundamentally changed the employee experience, with team members professing no desire to return to gas-powered equipment.
“And it’s attractive to our management teams, as well,” he says with a laugh. “If someone needs to transport a piece of equipment in their car, it doesn’t reek of gas and oil.”
Epstein says his employees’ positive feedback only reinforces his conviction that he’s made the right decision in entrusting Greenworks with his transition to battery-powered equipment. Greenworks has a reputation for innovation, he adds, and the Optimus line is a testament to providing pros with the practical solutions they need in the field to work efficiently, safely, cleanly and sustainably.
“Frankly, I’m excited to see what Greenworks has planned for future equipment,” he says. “All I know is it’s going to be good, and I’ll probably need 50 of them.”
Mike Zawacki is a Cleveland-based journalist and frequent contributor who has covered various aspects of the green, horticultural, sports turf, and irrigation industries for the last 20 years.
