Success is contagious. Read and learn about other LMN Members who have used the LMN system to turn their businesses around.
Raymar Landscaping South Inc., April 2011
Mark Wanders of Raymar Landscaping South Inc. says he always knew that budgeting was important. What he didn’t know, until he attended the LMN Plan for Profit Workshop, was that budgeting was the “key to his operations.”
Mark first started his landscaping business with his brother in 1987. In 1996, he decided to branch off on his own with Raymar Landscaping South Inc., a full-service landscaping company based in Grimsby, Ontario, with a client base that stretches across the Niagara-Toronto Golden Horseshoe. The company specializes in landscape and waterscape design and construction, as well as grounds maintenance, lawn care, & snow removal. With two construction crews, one maintenance crew, & one lawn care, Raymar Landscaping has grown steadily from its early days starting out – and is set to continue its expansion well into the future…..
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Strathmar Trenching Limited, April 2011
Carter Cullen started his business, Strathmar Trenching Limited out of Ottawa, Ontario, in 1996, right when the golf craze was taking off. With the ever-growing trend and the consequential growth of golf courses, especially in the Ottawa area, Carter knew this particular niche carried a lot of promise for his business. So, at the time, the company concentrated primarily on golf course irrigation and drainage, as well as smaller renovation work on golf courses. According to Carter, it was a “good gig” until 3 – 5 years ago when the golf trend gradually started to die out in Ottawa. Without much work or future opportunities for growth, Carter knew it was time to switch gears and work on establishing the company as a reputable business in another niche. His solution was to switch to construction landscaping. Today, his company specializes in sports field construction and large landscaping projects, mainly commercial and estate landscaping. “Now we bid a lot of tender work for the city and we’re more involved in estate lots where there’s a lot of dirt to move and a need for bigger equipment,” Carter explains, adding, “We do excavation, seeding and sodding on a large scale.”….
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Hidden Creek Landscaping Inc., February 2011
When Jason Cromley and his business partner, Matt Seiler, met at Ohio State University, they knew they were destined to embark on a joint business venture together – so much so that they refused to wait for their graduation to get the ball rolling.
The two first met as students while enrolled in the school’s Landscape Architecture program. After discovering their mutual respect for hard work, dedication and creativity, their entrepreneurial juices started flowing and the two found themselves contemplating the possibility of starting up shop together.
They soon realized they had all the makings for a great partnership and the foundation for an even greater business. To coincide with their new plans, Jason and Matt switched into the Landscape Horticultural program and compiled their talents to create Hidden Creek Landscaping Inc. in 1998 – all before graduating with a major in Landscape Horticulture and a minor in Construction Management in 1999….
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Escape Outdoor Living Designs, February 2011
Like all start-up business owners, when Grant Harrison set out to develop his own landscaping business four years ago, there were a lot of uncertainties in the air. But despite all the ‘unknowns,’ Grant was certain about one thing – in order to run his crew optimally and grow his business strategically, he’d need to have the right systems in place.
After graduating from Humber College and working for a few big companies, Grant had seen the benefits of operating under good systems. Although he had an excellent understanding of the work and the day-to-day operations required to run a landscaping company, on the business side of things, he felt he came up short. Grant knew he needed to find a way to bridge the gap between his understanding of the daily operations and his understanding of running a business; he just needed the right resource to help him “connect the dots.”…
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Hyatt Landscaping, February 2011
The story of how Hyatt Landscaping began is not unlike most business ‘wise tales’ you hear in the landscaping industry. “It started out just a guy and a tractor,” Josh Hyatt, president of Hyatt Landscaping, says with a laugh. “My dad liked being outside and he liked being on tractors.” It was back in 1980, Josh explains, his father turned his favorite pastime into a business and started Hyatt Landscaping and, fortunately, the business took off along with the growth of the home builders’ industry. But as most wise tales go, the journey wasn’t always smooth sailing. You have to jump a few hurdles along the way and, for Josh and his father (and many other contractors for that matter) that hurdle was the recession. “Once the recession hit, the builder’s weren’t producing enough and we started to slow down,” Josh recalls. “We had to find our way … we knew we had to spread our wings.”…
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M&S Architectural, February 2011
The idea of using incentive programs to boost productivity is hardly groundbreaking in the business world. What is often referred to as the “dangling carrot” technique has been employed in some way, shape or form to propel productivity, efficiency and profitability in most businesses. Some experts even go as far as to describe the concept as an “ancient art,” insisting that its long-term effectiveness lies in the fact that it is in our human nature to respond to rewards.
Whether our innate psychology has something to do with it or not, incentive programs have stood the test of time and we can say with certainty that – if implemented correctly – they work. When rewards are placed on the line, employees possess a deeper motivation and a better appreciation for the work at-hand…
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Gelderman Landscaping, January 2011
Business owners are always on the lookout for ways to improve employee productivity. Nathan Helder of Gelderman Landscaping is no exception. When he took over the his father-in-law’s company, Gelderman Landscaping, in 2006, he was determined to find a way to make his crews more accountable and dedicated to productivity and efficiency, while still maintaining the quality workmanship the company was founded on…
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Kerr & Kerr, November 2010
It’s easy to be seduced by the idea of growth. More workers, more jobs, more equipment means more opportunities and more profit. This business strategy however, can be deceptive. Too much growth, before the right systems are in place, is likely to leave most owners scrambling to stay in control of their very own business… Such was the case for family-owned company, Kerr and Kerr Landscaping of Cambridge, Ontario [ read more ]
Oriole Landscaping, October 2010
In 1995, George Urvari started his own landscaping business as a way to pay for his university tuition. “I was knocking on doors to get business, ” he says with a laugh, fondly remembering his amateur beginnings. Now, 25 years later, ‘amateur’ is the last word to describe George and his ever-growing company. Oriole Landscaping – his once small ‘door to door’ business – has developed into one of Toronto’s leading landscaping companies. …[ read more ]
Testimonial: Andy Burgess of Natural Impressions Landscaping
“I was following a plan before but nowhere near the detail of this! It’s really the answers I’ve been looking for for years”…
Andy Burgess of Natural Impressions Landscaping insists about participating in LMN’s Plan for Profit workshop with other Ottawa contractors. After taking part in the two day business management workshop that has the whole landscape industry talking, he was amazed to uncover the opportunities ahead for his business. He was even more excited to get his hands on the tools and resources that will give his company the leverage it needs to reach its true potential…..
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Testimonial: Steve Snider of Snider Turf & Landscape Care Ltd.
For Steve Snider of Snider Turf and Landscape Care Ltd., attending LMN’s Plan for Profit workshop for the second time may not have been completely necessary, but in his opinion it was most certainly rewarding. “You thrive off of the interaction in the room and you learn from the personal attention you get,” he says….
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Testimonial: Kevin Colbert of Threadleaf Inc.
“It was like preaching to the choir,” Kevin Colbert of Threadleaf Inc, a Toronto-based design and build landscape firm, exclaims, recounting his feelings after listening to LMN President Mark Bradley speak at a budgeting seminar earlier this year. With a background in business, Kevin says he has always had a good grasp on the principles of managing and running his business or, more importantly, what he should be doing! But, as is the case with many business owners, he was uncertain as to how to follow through and implement what he knew….
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Share your story with the landscaping community!
Real stories about real contractors facing their own set of obstacles and challenges, triumphs and successes is more motivational and powerful than any business plan could ever be. At the Landscape Management Network, we are firm believers in the power of story-telling. We know that great stories stir the imagination, encourage ingenuity, ignite passion and spark the desire to act. With this in mind, we developed our “Real Contractor Stories” page as a way to share business ideas and knowledge, encourage readers to ask questions, find help and engage with others that are involved in the green industry.
We all have valuable stories to share, tell us your business story and we’ll feature it on our blog and website, which is a great way to spotlight your own business and share your own expertise with other contractors. There are no limits or rules to the types of stories that are fitting here. Your story could be about your greatest learning experience, the challenges you’ve faced in business, your best advice, your biggest mistakes in business, your best decisions in business… whatever you want to share! There’s always a story to tell.
Send us an email with your story.
