The Level Up series is a collection of articles sharing the successful strategies that help landscape and lawn care companies reach the next level. Check out some of the most-read stories in this series for 2023.
Click on each company’s name to read the full Level Up article.
5) Level Up: Expanding Services Helps Nasim Landscape Double Their Growth
Niwar Nasim was 10 years old when he moved to the U.S. along with his five siblings and parents as refugees from Kurdistan in Iraq. He was 25 years old when he bought his father’s landscaping company. Now the company’s current annual revenue is close to $10 million, and Nasim says he could see the company eventually having four or five branch locations in western Washington and possibly move into Oregon as well.
“During my upbringing, I always thought I was going to be some kind of executive somewhere with a suit and tie,” Nasim says. “I just thought that was the definition of success. Never did I imagine I was going to be a contractor.”
4) Level Up: EarthCraft Landscaping Seeks to Continually Improve and Learn
Husband and wife owners of EarthCraft, Aaron and Shanna Scordo, had previously worked for another landscape company that wanted to grow, but that owner wasn’t willing to invest in his business or his people. The couple eventually started their own business and earned $2.2 million in revenue last year. Their goals is to reach $10 million in revenue.
“For us, we’ve worked hard to build an open and collaborative culture where we give the team plenty of opportunities to share issues and help solve them,” says Shanna Scordo. “That turned out to be a bit of a silver bullet because that allows the employees to keep us honest and call it out any time we start to stray from our values.”
3) Level Up: Relationships Fuel Sunline Landscapes’ Growth
It only took Curtis Atkinson one semester in college to know he wanted to start his own company. He had been working for another landscape company since high school, mowing lawns and working his way up in the company. At age 24, he started Sunline Landscapes, based in Draper, Utah. The company finished 2022 at $13.5 million in annual revenue.
“Years ago, I would have never thought that we would be where we’re at today,” Atkinson says. “But honestly, it’s not about a size or a dollar amount we’re trying to hit. I just love the growing aspect because it’s creating opportunities for our team.”
2) Level Up: Landscapes Unlimited Has Grown 25-30 Percent Each Year
Chris Holmgren had worked in the landscape industry for 15 years before creating his own company, Landscapes Unlimited, with the goal of building the biggest and best landscape company he could that provides the highest quality of work. Currently, the company is at $15 million in annual revenue and is shifting to a 50/50 mix of recurring and construction revenue.
“Commercial, we’re trying to grow, trying to develop a little bit more of that recurring revenue model to help support and sustain our residential model as we have environmental and economic changes and that type of thing,” says Tom Hougnon, COO of Landscapes Unlimited. “Commercial is more of a growth focus while our residential, we’re growing that at about a 10 percent rate a year, if not more.”
1) Level Up: ExperiGreen Lawn Care Grows Organically and Through Mergers & Acquisitions
ExperiGreen Lawn Care, based in Mishawaka, Indiana, was founded in 2016 went from zero clients to over 60,000 customers across 18 branch locations today. The company’s current annual revenue is around $45 million. They are looking to be above $100 million in annual revenue in the next three to four years.
“We’ve got a what we call a buy and build strategy,” says Dana Irwin, vice president of ExperiGreen. “We acquire generally owner-operator companies and then try to build them from there both organically and then continue to do mergers and acquisitions.”
Do you want to share your company’s success story? Contact Jill Odom to be considered for a future Level Up feature.
