Author: Sarah Pfledderer

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Sarah Pfledderer

Former Associate Editor Sarah Pfledderer is a West Coast-based contributing editor for Landscape Management.

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Jonathan Katz

Katz is a freelance writer based in Cleveland.

If you can’t beat ’em: Third-party management services

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On a regional level, Giant Landscaping joins the third-party management game. Tim Boyle still gets a sour taste in his mouth when swallowing the concept of third-party management in the landscape maintenance industry. It stems from his personal experience as the co-owner of Giant Landscaping in Manchester, N.H. At times he’s had to walk away […]

MOSQUITO JOE/ Southern Lawn & Pest

Money in mosquitoes

Adding a mosquito-control service proves to be a business booster for Memphis, Tenn.-based Southern Lawn & Pest. The Great Recession nearly brought Steve Clark’s lawn mowers to a halt. At the time, he owned a Memphis, Tenn., commercial lawn maintenance business called Southern Lawn Care. The business, which he started in 2005, grew quickly. But […]

How to sell a landscape ‘experience’

Jim O’Brien encourages his customers to be active participants in the development of their landscapes. The owner of Wilmette, Ill.-based O’Brien & Co. Landscape, believes property owners are willing to invest more in their properties if he sells them as an experience rather than a landscape. For example, O’Brien has been known to purposefully leave […]

Photos: GreenScape Lawns

Incentive to grow

Barely out of high school, Drew Standfuss pounded the pavement with a John Deere riding mower looking for work. At 19, Standfuss decided his father’s concrete business was not his calling. Now 25, he has a 4-year-old commercial mowing and landscape maintenance business called GreenScape Lawns, located in Whitehall, Mich., with 2014 revenue projected at […]

Photo: Liquid Technologies.

The secret to selling water management

Liquid Technologies uses everything from drones to detailed irrigation audits to sell its water management services. Chris Husband wanted a new toy. And not just any toy—a drone. His friend had used a drone to film his Southern California fishing adventures, and this spring the video caught Husband’s attention at just the right time. Husband, […]

No Ka Oi Landscape Services grows with maintenance services

How one family-owned business keeps pace with change on a fast-growing Hawaiian island. No Ka Oi Landscape Services has come a long way since it was founded in the 1970s as a side project for husband-and-wife team Frank and Abby Santos. The Hanapepe, Hawaii-based business, whose name means “the best” in Hawaiian, got its start […]

HighGrove aims higher with new marketing tool

A firm develops a research report to spur new customer leads. In the years following the Great Recession, many building managers have kept a tight grip on their landscape design budgets. The belt-tightening trend has given way to stale, boring landscapes, says Gib Durden, vice president of business development for HighGrove Partners. In 2013, leaders […]

headshot: Tony Conley

Big contracts pay off for Lawn Patrol

A Texas company takes a measured approach to growth as it targets muni contracts. Tony Conley found a niche for his landscaping business after several years in the industry. When he first transitioned his business, Lawn Patrol Service, to commercial landscaping he tried to do it all. The company grew too fast and took on unprofitable […]

More than mowing grass: 3 keys to building client relationships

Relationship building: The driving force behind Michael Lancaster’s success as a businessman in the Green Industry. “Everybody can mow grass,” says Michael Lancaster, president of Florida Landscape Consultants (FLC). That’s why he stresses the importance of building relationships. Lancaster, 54, has worked as a sales representative, business owner and consultant for nearly 30 years in […]

Testing a new strategy

How one lawn care company formed an R&D business unit to improve customer retention. Joshua Anderson’s residential lawn care business, Team Green Lawn, grew almost as fast as his customers’ turf. Anderson started the business in 2004 with about 30 accounts. By 2008, the Xenia, Ohio-based company had 800 clients. But the fast-paced growth came […]

Fields of green

A contractor uses crop-sensing technology to save money and improve athletic turf conditions. The athletic fields Pat Hester’s Clintar Landscape Management franchise maintains near Barrie, Ontario, have never looked greener, thanks to technology commonly used in agriculture. Last spring, the company began using GPS and crop-sensing equipment to record data about turf health each time […]

3 keys to a ‘smarter’ business model

EPA WaterSense Partner of the Year shares tips on how to successfully sell efficient irrigation systems. In October, Taylor Irrigation Service became the first Texas-based irrigation designer/contractor to win the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) WaterSense Partner of the Year Award. The EPA recognized the company for changing its business model by designing and installing irrigation systems that […]

Fuel savings

John Shorb Landscaping backs its sustainable mission with diesel-electric hybrid vehicles. Some of the latest blog entries on John Shorb Landscaping’s website focus on sustainable landscaping practices, such as beneficial insects, rooftop gardens, conservation and stormwater management.  The company, based in Kensington, Md., also promotes its sustainability message on its Facebook page. The efforts all […]

Harvesting savings: How a Calif. company reduces clients’ water use

Steven Schinhofen speaks with the business acumen of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. His company, Harvest Landscape Enterprises, is actually located about 400 miles down the coast in Anaheim, Calif., and the business is a far cry from the high-tech world of microprocessors. Still, the 34-year-old business-school graduate says his maintenance and design firm is beating […]

A ‘fair’ shot at a second chance

How Fairhaven Lawn Care, a social enterprise business, turns the homeless into skilled, productive employees. In 2008, Fairhaven Lawn Care began operating in central Ohio with a modest goal to serve about a dozen customers. Today, the company provides landscape maintenance services to approximately 45 customers. But Fairhaven isn’t your typical landscape success story. Based […]

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