For over 40 years, McHale Landscape Design, Inc., based in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, has been known for their craftsmanship and creativity. Recently, this $48 million firm was featured on Marty Grunder’s The Grow Show, where they shared some of their keys to their long-term clients and growth.
They are also opening their doors on Sept. 23-24, 2025, for an NALP Field Trip where attendees will be able to learn even more about their operations.
Learn from Your Mistakes
Keith Bowman, president of horticultural services & business development for McHale, says one of their competitive advantages is how they empower their people.
“The McHales and our executive team have given people the ability to go out and make mistakes,” Bowman says. “We’ve all learned from mistakes and they back us up and it shows with the client. If we make a mistake, we’re going to own up to it and that leads to referrals, that leads to more work with the client base.”
Bowman also advises finding value in the mistakes you made that causes you to have lower margins on a specific job. The key is to learn and get better.
Take Control of Your Outcomes
Rather than being at the mercy of outside factors, McHale has brought a number of elements in-house so they have more control over their quality and timelines.
This includes having a dedicated nursery farm in Maryland that they use to store plant material that is favorable in their region. Bowman says they have a wide variety of shrubs and trees available for any of their jobs and they have a dedicated staff maintaining these plants.
McHale has a tractor trailer they use to deliver these plants directly to the job site.
“As much as possible as we can do with design-build, we like to direct ship it to the job, so it’s only touched once,” Bowman says.
He notes this has helped with their warranty numbers as well.
The company also has designers, masons, carpenters, and horticultural experts on staff, so they aren’t limited by subcontractors’ schedules. Bowman says they will still work with subcontractors for irrigation and tree work, but this mostly because it is hard to find skilled workers in these fields.
Don’t Overlook Customer Service
McHale’s goal is to create clients for life, so they always stress the importance of customer service to their team.
“What we tell our people is customer service doesn’t add overhead,” Bowman says. “If you want to build up your team’s customer service, you’re not adding a truck payment.”
McHale’s client base measures value over dollars so how they go about servicing them is critical. They achieve this superior customer service by assisting their clients even if they’re calling about a service the company doesn’t offer.
For instance, if a client calls about getting their driveway sealed, McHale will act almost as a concierge service and either subcontract the service out or provide a referral for the project. This helps build the relationship with the client and shows they care.
Prospect Every Day
Bowman says a lot of their marketing is driven by their employees’ network.
“We encourage our people who are client-facing to interface with arborists or irrigation companies or architects or people who need work,” Bowman says.
McHale will also auction off some of their designs as well for different charity work. The goal is to prospect every day and nurture relationships that may one day turn into future work.
“You never know the person that you’re meeting with the network that they have, if they’re a connector, if you go out and do a good job for them, if they’re going to refer people to you,” Bowman says.
Maximize Your Efficiency
McHale has six locations and 130 trucks leave from their main branch. Because they service the D.C. area, they are very strategic about their morning rollouts. Bowman says in some cases their employees are sitting in traffic for an hour and a half.
They choose to have a staggered start with their Northern Virginia crews leaving at 6:15 a.m. Then their D.C. and Montgomery County crews depart. Some employees directly report to their jobsites.
“Every 15 minutes matters,” Bowman says. “These national brands say, ‘Your technician will be there between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.’ We want to give them a half hour when they’re going to be there.”
Another way McHale maximizes their efficiency while dealing with the traffic in their market is by having dedicated truck drivers who deliver needed pieces of equipment to jobsites.
“If you need a skid steer, you need this or that, they’re running it,” Bowman says. “They’re running back and forth to the yards all day long just to circumvent some of this. If you’re a landscape company and you don’t have issues with logistics every once in a while, you’re doing something wrong. It’s just going to happen; it’s how you handle the problems that come up.”
If you want to take an even deeper dive into McHale’s operations, make sure to secure your spot for the NALP Field Trip. Hosted by the National Association of Landscape Professionals and Marty Grunder’s Grow Group, Field Trip combines fun, inspiration and practical education.
The discounted hotel room rate for this event expires on Monday, Sept. 1.
