Come together

Photos: Borst Landscape & Design Mark Borst, president and founder of Borst Landscape & Design in Allendale, N.J., realized that he could be doing more to capitalize on his clients’ needs. He wanted his clients to think of his business as a one-stop-shop for all of their maintenance requests. So he launched the estate services division of his business in early 2008.

This new, comprehensive package combines lawn maintenance and garden services into a single unified program. Lawn crews keep grass fresh and regularly trimmed while the garden and maintenance team handles planting and care of annuals and perennials including detailed pruning, perennial cutbacks and periodic plantings, so that the landscape is maintained year round.

“We were already offering both services and it dawned on me that we should just package them as one deal,” says Borst, whose company does around 90 percent residential work. “We want to be everything to the client so they don’t have to go anywhere else for their maintenance needs.

“With this economy, we definitely expected to take a hit in the estate area. We assumed that people would cut back on the flowers or decide they didn’t want as many visits,” he says. “But amazingly, the service has stayed. It hasn’t grown, and may be down 2 or 3 percent from where we started off, but in these times that’s good. The estate division has definitely held its own.”

The way the service works is the mowing and garden crews each come out separately to the site. “It’s a comprehensive package with the full service – it’s not like our mowing crews are installing the flowers,” says Borst. “We have the mowing crew come out once a week and then send a garden crew every other week to fertilize flowers, maintain the gardens, do seasonal change-outs and more.”

Borst Landscape & Design’s new estate division combines its maintenance and garden services to provide clients with a higher level of service.Of course, the packages are customizable and Borst bases the pricing on the client’s requests. “We do leave room for flexibility so that clients can add things or take them away in the middle of the season,” he adds. “For instance, they may decide they want more summer color and upgrade their package.”

Currently, the company focuses on marketing the division internally to its existing clientele. Borst says it doesn’t really make sense for him to push the service with new customers because of the commitment involved with crews being on the property regularly.

“It’s not something you can just jump right into,” he says. “The client has to get a feel for the company and how we operate, and as they start to like our service and feel comfortable with us, we ultimately wrap them into taking the full package.”

And he keeps marketing simple, using word-of-mouth and ads included with the company’s monthly newsletter and client invoices.

To date, the reaction from clients has been positive.

“The response we’ve gotten from customers is ‘Thank goodness I don’t have to deal with four different companies to get this work done.’ They appreciate the one-stop shopping, especially in this economy,” says Borst.

And the numbers certainly demonstrate that success. Borst estimates that the estate service division brings in roughly 15 percent of the company’s $7 million annual revenue. 

“The service fills a previously underserved niche market,” Borst says. “The estate service ensures thoroughly tended, well-designed landscapes while offering owners the convenience of hiring a single company.”

The author is a freelance writer based in Royersford, Pa.