Environmental Leadership Awards 1999: Tim Doppel

Tim Doppel was a junior in high school the day he realized he wanted to pursue a lawn care career.

Spending his summer employed at a local par 3 golf course, the president of Atwood Lawn Care, Sterling, Mich., said while working one perfect sunny day he stopped to look out over the rolling green hills of the course and realized he was responsible for its impressive appearance.

"I enjoyed being able to see the tangible results of my work," Doppel said, who continued working at the golf course for six years throughout high school and into college .

Although he gained some valuable golf turf maintenance experience and liked the work, Doppel really didn’t care for the golf environment. His time spent there was well worth it, however, because it gave him the chance to build a relationship with the course handyman who operated a lawn care company on the side. Doppel’s career then started to pave its own path when he realized his passion was for lawn maintenance, not golf course maintenance.

Moving On Up. Although Michigan State University’s program was geared more toward golf course maintenance, Doppel substituted courses in golf green design for business courses in accounting and marketing. Since he graduated in 1982, MSU has tailored their course work for students pursuing careers in other turf areas, such as lawn care and landscaping, Doppel said.

After redirecting his career goals in 1980, Doppel also planned to network at the Michigan Turfgrass Conference that year to get to know some people in the lawn care industry. He met Tom Bruny, president of Atwood Lawn Care, and was offered a weekend job as a service technician addressing customer questions.

By 1984, Doppel became president of Atwood Lawn Care after Bruny decided to sell it and retire to South Carolina.

Since then, the keys to his company’s growth include keeping his employees happy by giving them a fair environment to work in, providing them with the training they need to do the job and having confidence in them, Doppel pointed out. Atwood Lawn Care has continued an over 10 percent growth rate over the past several years, reaching a high point at 24 percent growth from 1997 to 1998 with $1.1 million in revenues.

The Caring Approach. Atwood Lawn Care offers two methods of treating the lawn: a low input three-to-four time application of organic-based fertilizer to spot treat weeds and a traditional five-time application approach using pesticides. Doppel prefers recommending the low-input application first.

"I don’t believe we should do what’s more than absolutely necessary to the lawn to achieve results," he explained, pointing out that his future plans include moving his customers in the direction of a more Integrated Pest Management approach to lawn care.

The first problem with his plans, according to Doppel, is that customers are focusing on perfect lawn guarantees that were made by lawn care companies in the late 1970s and early 1980s – and are sometimes still made by companies today.

"In the past, lawn care companies made unrealistic claims, guaranteeing pest-free, weed-free lawns," Doppel stated. "Realistically, we can’t prevent weeds, but we’ll take care of them when they become a problem. A good lawn care company should be recognized for how it responds to problems, not how it prevents them."

Customers, Doppel said, also don’t believe contractors are knowledgeable about the services they provide.

"Our customers don’t understand he concept of paying for an inspection, especially if we find nothing wrong with their yard," Doppel said. "Right now, we’re paid for what we bring to the yard, not for what we know. The industry won’t mature until we’re paid for our knowledge."

In the meantime, Doppel focuses on educating lawn care technicians and customers on proper lawn care. In 1996, he won the Professional Lawn Care Association’s Environmental Improvement Award as a result of a training book he wrote geared toward the industry professional on reducing yard waste through healthy lawn care practices through the Metropolitan Detroit Landscaping Association. Doppel also gives four to five presentations each year to customers about taking care of their lawns. His goal isn’t focused on educating the lazy gardener.

"I want to help the person who’s doing too much," Doppel explained. "If you sit on the porch and look out at your trees and shrubs and lawn and they look green and healthy, then that’s good. Too many of my customers spend too much time on their hands and knees looking for problems in their lawns. They put way too much fertilizer down and they cut their grass to short. All this effort when they should be entertaining the less-is-more philosophy."

Sometimes, Doppel remarked, he thinks his biggest challenge being an environmental steward is that his customers have a misunderstanding of what he does, and what his community goals involve as president of Atwood Lawn Care and a member of the local community.

"They think that because I apply pesticides, I am a bad person," Doppel commented, mentioning that in his spare time he works with the River of Life Program through the ArchDiocese of Detroit to clean up the Clinton River, which drains into Lake St. Claire. "I don’t think they know – or want to know – what I’m really about. Working in the green industry, I have an opportunity to make an impact on the way a small part of our world looks, and I take that responsibility seriously."

Doppel’s family also has had an impact on his career goals. Doppel and his wife, Alice, have three children: David, 15; Matt, 13; and Chris, 9.

"My children are still young enough to want to be like dad," Doppel enthused. "So, by continuously staying focused on my goal to take care of the environment, which is a gift to those of us living in it, I’m teaching my children to be aware of it as well."