Stories About the Pros Archives - The Edge from the National Association of Landscape Professionals

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Stories About the Pros

Talking with Titans: Ivan Giraldo

Ivan Giraldo founded Clean Scapes Landscaping, based in Austin, Texas, with Rex Gore in 2005. He has more than 30 years of experience in the industry and served as a branch manager with TruGreen before starting his company. In 2021, Giraldo and Gore transitioned Clean Scapes to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Did you […]

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Faces of the Industry: Mackenzie Chris

In her six years with Southern Botanical, Mackenzie Chris has been a rising star. She has gone from account manager to senior account manager and then to assistant branch manager. Now, she is in her second year as branch manager for their residential division, which earns over $6 million in annual revenue. Chris is the […]

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How I Stopped Being a Frog in a Slowly Boiling Pot

This article is written in an ā€œAs Told Toā€ format. Jeff Rossen is the visionary/CEO of Rossen Landscape, a $7 million firm specializing in high-end residential design-build, installation and maintenance in Great Falls, Virginia.In 2001 when I was just starting out, we would cut lawns 28 to 30 times in a growing season. By 2008, […]

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Growing Together: How a Father and Son Thrive in the Landscaping Business

Bob Grover and his son David, have been working together at Pacific Landscape Management, based in Hillsboro, Oregon, since David graduated from high school. While technically David had been working for the business before then, doing odds and ends, Bob was adamant his son not work for the business in earnest until he was in […]

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Business Strategies Learned from Field Trip at Landscape Workshop

Landscape Workshop has been growing rapidly through strategic M&A, but there is far more to their success that attendees discovered during the NALP Field Trip to their facilities on June 11-12. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Landscape Workshop was founded in 1984 and currently serves 30 Southeastern markets. They provide commercial landscape maintenance and installation in […]

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Skyler Westergardā€™s Path in Nurturing Talent in the Landscape Industry

Skyler Westergardā€™s journey through the landscape industry has given him multiple viewpoints including that of a student, a technician, a landscape company owner, a branch manager and a professor. Now the learning and development specialist at LandCare, LLC, based in Frederick, Maryland, Westergard says his foundation as a college professor and working as a branch manager for […]

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Level Up: Passion Powers Pleasant Places, Inc.ā€™s Growth

Our Level Up series shares the strategies that help landscape and lawn care companies get to the next level. Guy Artigues enjoys hard work. ā€œI truly enjoy the sweat on your brow type thing and just the instant gratification of this industry that it provided,ā€ Artigues says. ā€œBack then, you were just doing little things […]

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Second-Gen Owner Dean DeSantis Reflects On His Career Journey

In 1974, DeSantis Landscapes, based in Portland, Oregon, was just a landscape and irrigation start-up. Over the years, the business has steadily grown to serve the Greater Portland Metro and beyond and is now at $18 million in annual revenue. Second-generation owner Dean DeSantis took a journey of his own before coming to take the […]

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The Power of Collaboration: How Partnerships Propelled SunWorks Landscape Partners’ Rapid Growth

SunWorks Landscape Partners, based in Carrollton, Texas, was founded in 2021 and has already reached No. 55 on Lawn & Landscapeā€™s Top 100 list for 2023. ā€œWe are proud of what we have accomplished and are grateful to work with so many dedicated and talented teammates,ā€ says Nate Carlson, CEO of SunWorks Landscape Partners. ā€œOur […]

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Frederico Outdoor Living Fine-Tunes Their Focus Under New Leadership

Passing the business on to the next generation is a common hope and exit strategy for landscape company owners. Russ Frederico started his company, Frederico Landscape Management, based in Lehi, Utah, over 40 years ago. As an elementary school teacher, he was looking to supplement his income over the summers by mowing lawns. After a […]

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