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B&L Landscaping has been around for a long time – more than three decades. The company, based in suburban Detroit, started like many in the industry, with a couple of push mowers and a truck. Today the company pulls in $6 million a year and employs more than 100 people in season, with divisions for landscape construction, maintenance and snow and ice management. It’s no surprise that the economic downturn hit Detroit and its suburbs hard, and B&L’s margins on landscape installations took a hit, too. To adjust, the company shifted its focus to more commercial and sustainable work – installing live roofs, rain gardens and bioswales – and reevaluated its relationships with nurseries, growers and other suppliers to save money and enter niche markets. Dick Angell, director of landscape construction, and Larry Yaffa, vice president, say those relationships not only helped them enter those niche markets, they allowed them to. If B&L didn’t have great rapport with places like Christensen’s Plant Center – which let them hold more material longer – and Reed Perennials – which custom grows plants for rain gardens and bioswales – the company wouldn’t be in the markets it is today. Every business in the green industry relies on its suppliers to succeed; you can’t sell landscaping, mow turf or push snow without quality plant materials, mowers and plows. But in a tight economy, those relationships can become strained. Part of B&L’s success is that it kept open lines of communication when payments from its customers slowed down. And, more importantly, Angell and Yaffa realized that they weren’t alone – that their suppliers were partners in their business, not just folks who grew plants. “We try to use the word ‘team.’ We’re all in this thing together. People are starting to understand that. If we all want to stay in business, and move forward and have positive results, we need to work together,” says Angell. B&L is the subject of this month’s cover story, “Business Breakthrough,” on page 34. That story is the first installment of 2010 Breakthrough, an ongoing series of success stories from the green industry. Each month, Lawn & Landscape and its sister publications serving the horticulture industry – Nursery Management and Production, Greenhouse Management and Production, Garden Center and Golf Course Industry – will profile businesses that have found success by working across the industry. How are you working across the green industry to succeed in 2010? Send me your story at cbowen@gie.net or call 330-523-5330 and you could be featured in an upcoming issue of Lawn & Landscape. |
Explore the March 2010 Issue
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