A Little Icing With Your Cake?

Ed Palmer wants his clients to know his business can cover everything. “We want our clients to think of us as their property managers,” he says.

That’s the main reason he and his business partner Steven Klose expanded their company to include a specialized division focusing on decorative foliage. Homeowners can call Samuel Thomas Outdoor Development, a Hopkinton, Mass.-based landscape company, for their irrigation, landscape construction or lawn maintenance needs, and can use Samuel Thomas Decorative Foliage for those special added touches.

“The idea is that we can maintain the entire property,” says Palmer. “We don’t want our homeowners to ever have to call another company. If they need someone we don’t have on staff, like an arborist, our customers can still call us and we’ll find someone for them and make the arrangements.”

Adding this division has not only generated additional revenue for Samuel Thomas, which grossed $850,000 in sales last year, $100,000 of which was from the decorative foliage business, but, perhaps more importantly, it has helped retain customers.

“Adding a decorative foliage division was a natural extension of our company,” says Palmer. “Since we’re already on these properties so frequently, it just made sense to expand and offer these services.” Those services include “icing on the cake” additions like window boxes, patio containers, planting annuals and maintenance of indoor houseplants. And in addition to the company’s snowplowing service, it’s been another way to generate income during the harsh New England winters that often make it difficult for landscape companies to get by. “We also do holiday decorations – not just lights, but decorating the whole interior of a home,” Palmer says. “This could include stringing garland, hanging bows, making dry and wet wreaths and even adding fresh floral arrangements.”

Since every job is custom in decorative foliage, prices vary considerably. One customer who just wants one-time plantings in a small container he already purchased may pay $120. This includes replacements of plants, but not maintenance.

But another customer who wants the works, which can include purchasing containers for container gardens and installing window boxes, seasonal wreaths and beds, may pay $13,000 for the contract for the entire outdoor season, which includes regular maintenance.

One of the most prestigious homes that Samuel Thomas Decorative Foliage has worked on was the residence belonging to the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We maintain their annuals and interior houseplants,” says Palmer. “They do a lot of entertaining and events with alumni so they want it to look nice, even in the winter. In the past, we’ve done their holiday décor as well.”

In addition, Palmer says he tells all his clients to let him know if they’ll be hosting a party. The company will switch their lawn maintenance date so that it’s a day before the event, and may even throw in a deck power-washing for free. The company’s decorative team has added temporary container gardens, created floral arrangements or even helped set up furniture.

One of the biggest challenges for the division has been surviving the economy. In a time when so many people are cutting out the extras, decorative foliage can be cut from homeowners’ budgets.

Because of the housing market crisis, and so many people staying put in their current homes, maintaining curb appeal has remained important to Samuel Thomas’ clients. While the decorative division doesn’t project revenue growth for this season because of the economy, Palmer expects sales to remain steady – still an accomplishment in his eyes when so many others are struggling to stay afloat.

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