Residential design/build firm McHale Landscape Design, Inc., based in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, has earned more than 450 awards for their projects. However, they don’t enter to stroke their ego. They use it as a way to recognize their talented team and attract new clients through marketing.
This was just one of the insights attendees learned about the company during the NALP Field Trip to their headquarters on Sept. 23-24.
McHale has a staff of 375 employees spread across six locations. They have an annual revenue of over $48 million and have been in business for 44 years.
Host Marty Grunder with The Grow Group explored McHale’s commitment to customer service, their awards entry process, and how they maintain a family feel as they continue to grow.
Customer-Centric Services
Principal Steve McHale says they didn’t set out to be a $48 million company. It was how they chose to respond to their clients’ wants and demands that allowed them to grow.
“We responded to the needs of our clients,” says Kevin McHale, principal and Steve’s brother. “If we could do it well, then we would do it. Clients don’t want to call four companies. They want a one-stop shop.”
One instance of how they’ve evolved to meet their clients’ needs is when they added on a seasonal color division 12 years ago. It started out generating $100,000 in revenue and now it’s up to $2 million.
The company has also built out their own in-house masonry and carpentry teams as they never want to tell a client ‘No, we don’t do that.’ McHale has built everything from bathrooms to entire homes for the right clients.
“We never say no to an opportunity to show off our guys’ talent,” Steve says.
Because McHale serves high-end clientele, Keith Bowman, president of horticultural services & business development for McHale, says their customers don’t measure by dollars; they measure by value.
One of the ways McHale provides value to their client base is by always having their account managers available to take customers’ calls. Their account managers have a brand within a brand as they work to maintain strong relationships with clients.
They also make a point to treat all their clients with the same level of intentionality, rather than prioritizing only those at a certain revenue level.
It is a combination of many little customer-centric touches that help McHale stand out and keep many of their clients for life.
Controlling Their Costs and Quality
McHale’s in-house crews not only allow them to showcase their craftsmanship, but it also lets them control their costs and timelines by not being at the mercy of subcontractors.
Another major aspect they brought in-house is growing larger plant material at their 35-acre private nursery. They use this farm to hold a wide selection of shrubs and plants that thrive in their region. They have a dedicated staff caring for these plants at the nursery.
Additionally, McHale invested in soil screening equipment to make their own topsoil from landscape debris and fill soil. This provides dual savings as landscape waste is repurposed and the company has a reliable source of high-quality topsoil.
Deliveries of plant material to the nursery and jobsites are handled by one of McHale’s seven CDL drivers. The company has a tractor trailer and a tow truck for transporting everything from trees to heavy machinery to jobsites. These drivers are responsible for getting any required materials or machines to crews out on the job to boost efficiency.
The company also has seven mechanics on staff across their different locations. They are able to perform 99% of their fleet maintenance and equipment repairs in-house.
McHale also handles all their graphic design for their marketing needs internally. To celebrate their 40th anniversary, the company produced their own pictorial book. They use a mixture of professionals and staff when it comes to their project photography.
Marketing Their Work
McHale is a firm believer that your work is the best form of marketing, which is why they have invested so much in entering their projects for various awards.
They make a point to enter jobs that show off their attention to detail and have had the time to reach maturity. The company is also strategic about capturing photos of the project when the plant material is in peak bloom.
Steve McHale says they don’t start designing a project with the hopes of winning an award. Their first priority is always making the client happy.
However, they do recommend when entering for awards to follow the directions of the application, be strategic about what categories you enter for and to tell the story of the project in the application so judges don’t assume things.
When it comes to creating quality photos, look at the property with a critical eye for signs of clutter, unhealthy plant material or an immature landscape. All these minor elements can make a difference when it comes to winning an award.
The company also invests in print advertising and has forged a relationship with their local home and garden magazine. Some of the benefits they’ve experienced by focusing on print media includes paid promotionals, inclusion in articles, networking parties, social media spotlights and preferential placement.
Treat Employees Like Family
Another notable aspect of McHale is their employee retention. Their average employee tenure is 6.5 years and they have a turnover rate of 16.8%. This is thanks to their people first mindset. The company’s culture is based on the McHale brothers’ own family values and they treat their team like an extended part of their family.
“When your small, you can do a lot for your employees, but when you get bigger, that gets harder, but everyone understands that we care,” Kevin says.
Kevin McHale has an open door policy where any employee can come and voice concerns and their HR team will go above and beyond to assist their Spanish-speaking employees by calling teachers or doctors.
“Make sure you don’t lose sight of what’s in front of you,” Steve says. “Talk to the stone mason about his family. Be a resource to your team. Instead of always looking forward, look at the people in front of you.”
Bowman says he will often plant the seed with crew members letting them know they have the potential to move up in the company. Many of their current leaders started out as field employees years ago.
Coming back to their customer-centric focus, McHale understands that a happy team equals happy clients.
Thank you to our partners, Heritage Landscape Supply, John Deere and IncludeGo, for helping support this event.
