Citing a more competitive commercial landscape market which is driving down prices, Rocco Lagana, president and CEO of Greenway Athletic Field & Property Services, says his company wanted to move into a more specialized field — but one still associated with landscaping. That description seemed to perfectly describe their athletic field services.
meant rebranded vehicles and a new name
for the company.
“We noticed the niche four years ago and saw an opportunity. It’s a niche that’s not adequately being serviced,” Rocco says. “Each year we grew on it, and this year, we decided to commit our resources and efforts full force.”
Starting with field renovations and moving their way up to complete field reconstructions, the Stamford, Conn., company has continued to expand its athletic field services, says Rocco’s son Rocky Lagana, the company’s chief operating officer.
“It’s been part of the DNA of the company from the start,” Rocky says.
Now, this service isn’t only a part of the company — it’s their entire focus. They’re in their first year of a two-year transition period to become a company that’s completely focused on athletic field construction and maintenance.
Not only have their services shifted to one type of property, but so has the company name. What was once Greenway Property Services is now Greenway Athletic Field Services.
“We rebranded all of our trucks, which was a major investment,” Rocco says. “I wanted the company to be different physically and visually.”
Building a team
They also needed people in place with the right background to truly become a specialized company. It’s the reason why Dylan Symonette, vice president of construction, joined the team.
“We don’t want to just build your athletic field,” Symonette says. “We want to build them to spec and maintain them for the next 10 years, so they don’t lose their investment — from the grooming of the field, fertilizer, aeration, mowing, topdressing, irrigation and all of the processes that are needed to maintain.”
Since making the transition to athletic fields, Rocco says the company has grown its top line exponentially. They’ve reinvested back into the business by purchasing new specialized equipment including larger payloaders, laser graders, specialized attachments for tractors, specialized dump trucks and field groomers.
They also added autonomous satellite-driven robots to paint the fields, allowing them to become quicker and more accurate. Currently, they focus on natural turf athletic fields, though Rocky says synthetic turf isn’t out of the question.
Overcoming obstacles
Like any major company change, it hasn’t come without a few hurdles. Rocco says the main challenge they faced at the start of this transition was building up their reputation in this specific industry.
Municipality jobs require the strongest references, and in the beginning, Greenway was still establishing their name in that market space. As larger projects came their way — like a 100,000-square-foot football field in Madison, Conn., and an all-purpose field in Rye, N.Y. — so did the referrals.
Another hurdle has been the type of competition they are up against with bids. They face companies who have completed playgrounds or site work and want to apply that type of experience to an athletic field.
“There isn’t really anyone else who specializes in this service. We have the references, jobs and knowledge,” Rocky says. “When we give you that bid, we’re going to perform the job to the best possible level.”
They recently put in a $1 million bid for an athletic field where they landed in the middle, $250,000 above the lowest bid that didn’t include irrigation from a company that has never built an athletic field.
“Everything we do on an athletic field, you don’t see because it’s below grade, and that’s the most important part of the job,” Rocco says. “The sod is the icing on top.”
Personal touch
But the finished product isn’t the only thing that’s helped them earn references and bids. They also strive to create personal relationships with each of their clients.
For example, Symonette recently worked on a project where they laid 100,000 square feet of sod. He noticed a few brown patches that would most likely come back, but he felt like it was Greenway’s responsibility to change those out before signing off on the project.
“Those little things send big messages to the client. You need to remember these are recreation people in municipalities who talk to other recreation people in municipalities,” Rocco says. “When one guy says, ‘You have to use this company,’ that’s invaluable.”
Receiving buy-in from their team members has been another important part of their success. Rocco says the field workers enjoy the specialty and performing different tasks compared to their cohorts at other companies. The team members also make two to three times more with athletic field construction projects compared to commercial landscaping, which has helped the company counteract the labor force issue.
One important member of this transition team has been Chuck Wardell, chairman of the board, who brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience. One piece of advice Wardell shares with other professionals looking to make changes is to have everything in place before they go to market.
“When we got into this, we knew what we were selling and that the fabric of the company could support it,” Wardell says. “We had the financing, personnel and equipment already in place. That allowed us to be a very solid company going forward.”
What’s next
Looking ahead, they’re actively searching for golf courses projects to replace their current snow removal accounts, which they plan to eliminate in the near future.
“Small golf course innovations like bunkers, greens and other off-season projects fit in perfectly with us doing athletic fields,” Rocky says. “The irrigation, subbase and drainage are all there, just with different materials.”
Rocco says this journey has been a rewarding challenge, and his vision is to see the company continue to grow into a specialized industry for athletic fields.
“My main goal is that when an athletic field maintenance or construction job comes up, Greenway is associated with it somehow,” Rocco says.
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