Branching Out: Balancing Autonomy and Oversight While Expanding

From increased purchasing power to providing growth opportunities to team members, scaling via branches can be a powerful tool for your business.

However, branches can also be a double-edged sword if you fail to sustain your quality levels and company culture.

Centralizing Overhead Tasks

One of the benefits of a branch structure is being able to centralize certain administrative tasks. Allen Sweeney, president and CEO of APHIX, based in Frankfort, Kentucky, says their local branches have an office where the management and operations team report, but they have streamlined a lot of the corporate functions by rolling those up to their corporate office.

Mark Hopkins, COO of LandCare, based in Frederick, Maryland, says they like to give their branches autonomy but it is more efficient to centralize specific functions.

“Core areas like HR, accounting, marketing, and legal support are better managed from headquarters to ensure consistency, compliance, and efficiency across the organization,” Hopkins says. “This setup allows our branches to stay focused on operations and client service, while still having strong support behind them.”

As for material purchasing, landscape companies with a branch structure prefer a hybrid approach.

“Part of the benefit of scale is the benefit of the buying power as we centralize any of our purchases,” Sweeney says. “However, we do keep local business where that it is important and necessary to the branch.”

Sweeney says all their capital expenditures like trucks and mowers are centralized. In many instances, they will purchase plants and chemicals from regional and national supply partners.

“We allow the branch to keep local vendors as needed for office items, local subcontractor relations, and specialty products related to the market,” Sweeney says.

Similarly, LandCare handles fleet purchase at the corporate level so they can leverage national pricing.

“For day-to-day materials and job-specific needs, we give branches the autonomy to make purchasing decisions based on what works best for their local operations,” Hopkins says. “It’s a balance that ensures cost efficiency while keeping our teams agile and responsive in the field.” 

Brian DuMont, CEO of Yardnique, based in Morrisville, North Carolina, says whether a branch leans on their corporate or local relationships depends on the market.

“It’s really crucial for us to not overpay for a product or for a piece of equipment,” DuMont says. “But what’s more important is our relationships with those local vendors. I can get a corporate price for whatever mower, but there might not be a local presence in one of these branches.”

Maintaining Quality and Company Culture

A major concern that may prevent some from being willing to grow via branches is the risk of declining quality and company culture.

“This is the number one concern for us as we scale,” Sweeney says. “Our leadership team spends countless hours leading mission vision and values to ensure the culture maintains consistent across all branches as we scale.”

Hopkins says it starts with building a strong foundation of core values and standardizing operational processes. He says one of their keys to success is having intentionally smaller branches so leaders can stay close to their teams.

“This proximity fosters stronger relationships, better communication, and a more consistent company culture,” Hopkins says. “Our MVPs oversee smaller amounts of business, which enables them to stay hands-on and maintain the culture and quality we value. This approach is by design to ensure that growth doesn’t dilute what makes us successful.”

DuMont says they are incredibly intentional about preserving their culture and quality.  

“As far as quality goes, it definitely helps when you’re bringing folks from within the company to a new location,” DuMont says. “They understand the Yardnique way. Also, just making sure that the regional managers connect with the branch managers. Our COO, director of ops, they’re making site visits, even myself. Just check in on the quality. Let’s hop in a truck and let’s go ride around. Let’s look at some of these branches, making sure everybody knows what the standard of excellence and greatness looks like.”

All three companies’ branches operate with individualized profit and loss statements that roll up into the overall company’s financials.

“This structure allows for accountability at the branch level while still providing the broader view needed to manage the business at a national scale,” Hopkins says.

While oversight is necessary to ensure branches are performing to your standards, you also have to strike a balance to avoid micromanaging.

Hopkins and Sweeney both say this starts during the hiring phase by bringing on individuals who have the attitude and aptitude to operate efficiently with autonomy.

“Once they’re on board, we create a strong structure that sets them up for success, with clear expectations and metrics to measure performance,” Hopkins says. “By empowering our leaders and teams with the right tools and support, we provide oversight without micromanaging, allowing them to thrive while staying aligned with the company’s goals and values.”  

Sweeney says that everyone is held accountable to their standards, but they give managers the freedom to operate the branch.

“One key component is that we also provide equity opportunities for our branch managers, which really aligns incentives,” Sweeney says.

DuMont says they teach each of their branch managers to think like a business owner.

“We literally leave it up to the branch, so they know here are the options but it’s really your P&L that you need to manage,” DuMont says. “They’re able to manage and pull levers knowing they’re going to hit the budget that they create.”

Advice for Others

Hopkins stresses the need for clear, standardized systems that can be easily implemented at each new branch.

“This includes having consistent performance measurement tools in place to ensure accountability and alignment with company goals,” Hopkins says. “Planning and preparation are key to scaling effectively.”

DuMont notes one of the pros of opening branches organically is that it is a cheaper way to grow, but it takes more time because you’re starting from scratch.

“Another mistake is growing with the wrong clients, which can create long-term difficulties, especially if the client base doesn’t align with the company’s strengths,” Hopkins says. “Additionally, expanding too rapidly into specific market segments can be risky — some segments are more volatile, and certain customers may be impacted by external factors that affect their business.”

Hopkins says that growth can only be successful if you have strong leadership and teams to support it.

“It is a way to attract talent – when you’ve got these young folks, or even folks that are in the middle of their careers, where they want to end their career –  it’s an opportunity that you’re creating that gives them a roadmap that says, ‘I can have a career here, and I’m not just stuck in this one location,’” DuMont says. “So I think it’s a roadmap for acquiring incredible talent.”