Our Level Up series shares the strategies that help landscape and lawn care companies get to the next level.
Midwest Landscape Industries, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, takes pride in the industry expertise and knowledge they bring to every job. They currently budget over $75,000 for training and certification for their team.
“You are not growing if you are not learning!” says Steve Hastings, founder and president of landscape development for Midwest Landscape Industries. “You will be left behind – we want to be in the driver’s seat!”
Hastings and Adam Bossung founded the company in 2016 out of a love for the industry and a desire to build something bigger and better than themselves. After previously working for another company, the pair decided to take their experience and create a business of their own.
The company currently has an annual revenue of $18.5 million and has their sights set on reaching $100 million for an ideal company size. Hastings says success for his company looks like being well-balanced, informed, professional, thought partners.
“I think we are doing the right things,” Hastings says. “There’s no doubt about it. We can see it in our final results. We can see it in our growth. There are things that we can improve on, absolutely. We’ve identified those, but we can’t change everything all at once. It has to be a tweak here and a tweak there, but we’re really focused and driven on employee advancement training opportunities.”
Keys to Success
Midwest Landscape Industries serves commercial and high-end estates, with horticulture landscape management being their most popular service. They also offer commercial landscape development and construction, outdoor lighting and irrigation installation.
The company has grown steadily for the past eight years, and Hastings says they’ve actively been working to grow their horticulture landscape management and snow management services. They moved away from the residential side of the business as they honed their focus.
Hastings says if he had to start the business from scratch, he’d prioritize commercial maintenance from the start.
“Your company becomes more and more predictable over time,” Hastings says.
He credits the company’s growth to being able to do a common thing uncommonly well. Part of the way they achieve this is by hiring the right people.
“We have weeded out and will continue to weed out those who don’t share the same vision and core values that make us successful,” Hastings says.
Hastings says this has become easier as they’ve simplified their core values and are managing based on those. One of their values is a “will to win” and employees have to show a desire to win.
He says the ability to attend events through NALP has also helped them, as it allows them to network with other leaders in the industry who have the same issues and passions.
“We would be ½ of the size we are with no direction if it were not for NALP,” Hastings says.
Recruiting and Retention
Midwest Landscape Industries currently employs 175 team members and also takes advantage of the H-2B program during the peak season.
Hastings says they recruit employees by being active in NALP and through universities. They also offer a robust internship program that has resulted in full-time hires.
They retain their team members by showing them all the opportunities they have within the company, providing a solid company culture and committing to employee training.
“We train our crews to be irrigators, hardscapers, plantsmen and horticulturists,” Hastings says.
Some of the training that the company invests in includes their in-house Green Industry Trade School, nighttime classes, OSHA 30- and 10-hour training, first aid/CPR, backflow certifications, applicator’s license, driver’s education, as well as sending employees to NALP-hosted and other green industry events.
Midwest Landscape Industries offers a number of unique benefits to their employees, including personal financial consulting, a schoolbook scholarship fund for employees’ families, continuing education and their smoking cessation program.
“We hear that those who smoke want to give up, but they can’t – that said we felt that if MLI can assist with the health and well-being of our employees, why not,” Hastings says. “Again, we are trying to build something bigger and better than ourselves.”
Hastings says as they’ve grown, they’ve maintained their company culture by being humble, understanding their own capabilities and trusting those who can help.
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