Like father, like daughter

Most days, for many years, Brad Rose’s mornings began with a school bus route. After he dropped off the children, he spent the day mowing lawns, a business he started during high school in 1972, until he had to bus the kids back home. After he finished his route, he finally reported to his real job – working on the railroad – until midnight.

His busy schedule allowed his wife to stay home raising their two daughters. But when landscaping work picked up, she worked alongside him on job sites, often bringing the girls. As for work-life balance in the family, says daughter Stephanie Leonard, “there were not necessarily huge boundaries.”

“My sister and I were always on jobsites, playing in the playpen or running around while our parents worked,” Leonard says. “The business is in my DNA, and I really started showing an interest for it during college. I started poking around my dad’s office and offered to help with billing.”

The company grew slowly as customers asked for landscaping and hardscaping services beyond mowing. Demand was so high, and Rose was so busy, the company turned down work regularly. People even stood by on waiting lists.

“Wait a minute,” Leonard finally said. “The phone is ringing off the hook, and we’re turning down business because we don’t have the manpower. Why don’t I do this for real?” In 2005, she joined the company, which incorporated that year as Brad Rose Landscaping.

The company started hiring employees, beyond the friends and family who helped during the 90s. By 2008, Leonard quit her full-time retail job to focus on the family business, moving it out of her parents’ house to ignite its growth. Growing 10-15 percent annually since then and nearing $1 million of business in 2015, the father/daughter operation stands apart in its family commitment to serve customers.

“Doing something and not charging the customer for it comes back to you tenfold. That customer will remember those things and refer you to their family, friends and neighbors. I’m not doing it to gain more business; I’m doing it because good customer service comes back around.” Stephanie Leonard, vice president

A family trait.

Although Leonard grew up in the landscaping business, her first job was washing dishes at her aunt and uncle’s restaurant. That’s where she learned about the friendly customer service that ran in the family. “My aunt and uncle had a huge following with a line out the door because of their customer service,” Leonard says. “When people walked in, they’d say, ‘How are the kids?’ or, ‘How is the new house?’ They knew their customers like friends.”

Likewise, customers waited for her father’s landscaping services because they knew him and his quality of work. Leonard, who loved to talk and ask questions, sustained those relationships through the generations.

“Something that sets us apart is that I take the time to talk to people,” says Leonard, now vice president. “I know if their spouse is sick, if their kids went to college, if they got a new job.”

After each job, Leonard sends thank you cards to new customers and emails to repeat customers. A few weeks later, customers get another follow-up call or email to check in. At the end of the season, they get postcards or emails asking if their landscape needs to be put to bed for the year, and another in the spring asking if it needs waking up.

None of those follow-ups is automated. They’re prompted manually by notes in Leonard’s calendar. When customers mention future ideas, or when she makes suggestions during project walk-throughs, she jots down reminders.

Leonard also responds if she sees fallen branches in a customer’s yard. She might call, or even clean up the branches without charge.

“To the people who say they don’t have time for that, I get it. I understand,” Leonard says.

“But doing something and not charging the customer for it comes back to you tenfold. That customer will remember those things and refer you to their family, friends and neighbors. I’m not doing it to gain more business; I’m doing it because good customer service comes back around.”

Loyal to the local market.

By the time Brad Rose Landscaping opens in April, it’s mostly booked through July, but Leonard leaves room for last-minute requests. “Things come up,” she says.

“When the customer that’s been with you 20 years asks, ‘Can you fit us in?’ of course, you make time and room for those people, even if you have to pay your employees overtime to work nights or weekends.”

As business picks up in the spring, customers see Brad Rose Landscaping trucks, trailers and advertisements throughout the residential neighborhoods, where 85 percent of its work is concentrated. With 18 employees, the company runs one hardscaping crew, one lawn maintenance crew and one landscaping crew that splits into two at the peak of the season.

Leonard schedules 20-30 free, 30-minute consultations a week during May and June, which books the company through September. If the consultation exceeds 30 minutes or requires a second meeting, and the prospect seems serious, Leonard makes herself available.

If they request a drawing of a landscape design, she may charge between $175 and $350, but that charge is refunded after project completion.

“I’m very particular about where I go,” she says. “I do not venture farther than 20 miles from our home base. I don’t need to drive an hour for a landscaping job because there’s a great landscaper in that area.

“I stay really close to where we are, so I’m able to be visible on job sites, and my father can still pop up on job sites, because we’re not traveling here, there and everywhere.”

Through the generations.

Rose used to think that his landscaping business would just close when he stopped working, and he’d sell off the few pieces of equipment he owned.

“Now we see our fleet rolling down the road with brand new trucks with his name on the side, and it’s such a proud feeling,” Leonard says. “It’s really an honor to carry on my father’s legacy.”

Keeping the family tradition, Leonard’s two young daughters often accompany her, now, too. Most of the company’s employees have known them since birth, and her older daughter already says she wants to work at Brad Rose Landscaping.

As president, Rose is still involved in the company, even in the field. He shares ownership with his daughter, and “there are very few decisions we make without consulting each other.”

As for the timing of the official transition into second generation leadership, it will be a family decision. Leonard’s parents will determine when she’s ready to take over the business. But even after that point, she predicts, her father will continue to play a pivotal role in the company.

“I work the way I work now because of what my parents have instilled in me,” Leonard says. “There’s a great deal of knowledge I still need to extract from my dad before I become 100 percent owner – lots of lessons to still be learned.”