The inaugural Lawn & Landscape Business Builders Summit took place May 22-23 in Nashville. The event included panels on everything from preparing to sell your business, Private Equity 101, growing organically and more. Here is just a snapshot of some of the discussions. We’ll see you for Year 2 in Nashville — May 7-8, 2025.

It may hit you from the moment you sell. It might take six months down the road. But at some point, the personal aspect of selling your company — the one you likely spent years building up — is going to hit you.

Allen Sweeney was one of four panelists to tell Business Builders Summit attendees that there’s a real emotional aspect to selling your company. Sweeney sold to private equity in 2022, and he advises anyone looking to sell to strongly consider how they’ll process that sale. Will it affect how you interact with your family, friends or colleagues?

Tom Heaviland, with Verde Property Services, remembers how surprisingly emotional the process was for him. It was a Friday morning at the start of November, and he was surrounded by attorneys and family members. When he heard, “Congratulations, Tom, you’re part of the BrightView family now,” it resonated with him. He had run the business with his dad for over 13 years prior to the sale.

“It was truly a family business,” Heaviland says. “You build this thing up, it’s your baby. You nurture it from infancy to adolescence to adulthood. You hand it over…and it’s not yours anymore. That hit me pretty hard.”

Of course, that’s not to suggest there are regrets. Not all sales are created the same way, but understanding the why of the sale is critical. Heaviland says the reasons can range from a business owner feeling like they’ve reached the ceiling of their opportunity to it being a seller’s market.

“Try to determine, ‘What’s motivating me at this time?’” Heaviland says.

Know your why

Sweeney says he knew he wanted to offer his employees things he couldn’t do without private equity backing, and today, he’s writing bigger checks and has given away more than seven figures in additional money to his team.

“We wanted to create something in the landscape industry where we can make a big difference for people,” he says. “There’s life-changing moments that will continue to come for those people that are generational.”

J.T. Price, the CEO at Landscape Workshop, adds that it’s important for an owner to know what problems they’re trying to solve. Are they trying to retire in a year, or are they hoping to run the business but need more private equity backing? Price says the companies looking to buy can’t answer those existential, more personal questions — only the owners and their families can do that.

“If you can’t have a boss, you need to be self-actualized with yourself,” he says. When Landscape Workshop has acquired companies, he’s seen owners do anything from leave entirely to adopting and becoming the platform. “You kind of meet the sellers where they are in terms of what they’re trying to achieve,” he adds.

Jeff Mullen, the director of M&A finance at Ruppert Landscape, says there is a lot of value in staying on and operating post-transaction. “A great way to think through it is to just have conversations,” Mullen says. “Think about your time horizon.”

Getting started

Mullen’s on the other side of the table during M&A discussions, as he’s the one navigating acquisitions. His goal is to help companies understand the process and come to a handshake deal before the letter of intent to help establish the framework for a potential partnership.

“My role is to limit surprises,” Mullen says.

Price recommends lining up an M&A lawyer before even testing the market. While folks like Mullen help landscapers digest the process, it’s important to have another set of eyes on fundamental deal terms and non-competes, which Price adds are getting really hairy. Landscape Workshop has seen two or three deals of their 30 result in mid-level employees leaving and stealing clients.

Knowing key terminology like “platform” or “strategic” is also vital. Mullen says becoming part of a platform means you’re still fully in charge, but you need to report to your partners now. Joining a strategic means you’re responsible for a region. Either way, back-office burdens like payroll and hiring responsibilities are lightened, but you’re still tasked with driving the business.

“Our partners are responsible for managing the customers and managing the service,” he says.

Sweeney says that not every business — and not every owner — is meant to be a platform.

“I think when people think about the acquisition side, they don’t understand the language that’s being spoken,” he says. He encourages sellers to ask potential partner questions to see what life may look like once the deal’s done. Aligning with missions and personalities that fit your own is key. “You’re going to ask yourself,” he says, “‘What does that look like post-close?’”

Heaviland also suggests surrounding yourself with good counsel. In some cases, if you plan on exiting the business entirely, identifying the right person, or people, as next-in-command could be crucial. They may be leading the business you built once you sell. Are they prepared for that task?

“Knowing what’s going to be left over is critical because when you do transact and you close, there’s no un-ringing that bell,” Heaviland says. “When you make a decision of this magnitude, you want it to be the right decision for you at that time.”

Keep the culture

Mario Hernandez likened a company to the human body, suggesting that the people are at the heart of the business and the team’s finances are the brain.

If all of that’s true, then Hernandez says the culture is the blood, flowing through all parts of the business.

“It sets the precedent for which way you’re going,” says Hernandez, the president of Royal Landscaping. Hernandez joined Charlene Chacon, Brent Moore, Zack Stratton and moderator Brad Stephenson during a panel discussion on culture at the event.

Moore says everyone has different definitions of culture, but he aligned with the other panelists in saying that it largely comes down to core values. If folks can’t get in line with that, they’re unlikely to last at his company, Outdoor Living Southeast. Chacon, who is residential team manager at DesignScapes Colorado, says the core values also help define what quality of work they’re doing for the clients.

Stratton, the CEO of Elite Grounds + Stratton and Bratt, says anyone can mow the grass pretty well, but “generally, the differentiator is our culture,” he says. “We hire, fire and promote based on that.”

Culture mistakes

But as companies grow, maintaining a consistent culture becomes more difficult. Stratton says he would often promote people for spots they weren’t ready to manage, which was detrimental to the employee and the company alike.

Meanwhile, Chacon says hiring the wrong employees in the first place is a problem. Often, she prefers finding employees who have “bright eyes,” who appear to be motivated and driven.

“That’s more valuable than looking at a resume with all these bullet points,” Chacon says.

Moore admits that one of his biggest mistakes is not getting rid of “culture killer” employees fast enough.

Hernandez adds that this leadership is vital. As he’s tried improving his team’s culture around safety, he’s noticed it was much easier when there were just a handful of employees. Now that Royal Landscaping’s exceeded 60, it’s tougher.

So, when the employees see Hernandez riding around on mowers without safety glasses, they think it’s okay to do that, too.

“When you’re a leader, you have to lead by example,” he says. “That’s something you really have to embody every day.”

Culture building blocks

The panelists all pointed out things they’ve noticed have helped bolster their company’s’ respective cultures.

Chacon says finding ways to celebrate business awards like on team safety is important.

Moore says quarterly, offsite meetings have lifted team morale. In one instance, Outdoor Living Southeast paid everyone for eight hours and took them out in Jacksonville to play airsoft and eat at a Brazilian steakhouse. He says some of the restaurant meals that leadership takes for granted are opportunities rarely afforded to all of their employees.

Hernandez says he’s also found talking to his employees in their native language is important. Stratton adds that everyone on his leadership team is bilingual. They list everything on signage around the office in both languages but list Spanish first.

“Meeting the people where they are is really key,” he says. “That really resonates with a lot of our guys. We’re stewards of our business...It’s just created a really good atmosphere.”