Out on new limbs

After five years of 45-minute commutes, Dean DeSantis knew it was time for a new branch.

DeSantis watched his crews wear themselves out driving from their home base in Salem, Oregon, to cover the Portland market. The question became, what’s the difference between markets worth the longer commutes versus markets in need of another location?

For DeSantis Landscapes, which now has four offices in total, the answer is $2 million in annual maintenance revenue.

“It’s All About People. In business, in expansion, in growth — it’s about the people.”

Mark Conklin, Teamturf

“Do I feel I can get there?” DeSantis says. “I don’t have to be there today. If I felt like that was possible, that was one of the benchmarks I used. For us, the Portland market was a big opportunity to move into, and so part of it is can we reduce mobilization… We realized the opportunity and expanded from there.”

For another perspective, Mark Conklin sees it like this: Any company can just buy some new equipment and build another location on a plot of land. Expanding with new branches isn’t about any one thing — it’s about the people. Conklin co-founded TeamTurf in Pittsburgh 20 years ago; the company’s now at three different locations. The expansion started five years ago when TeamTurf acquired another local company.

Conklin admits he didn’t technically know his leadership was ready for the challenge, but he felt pretty confident in it. He also says he is always trying to improve on delegation, but once he got that down and felt he could trust his leaders to operate more independently, he was able to spend more time with all TeamTurf locations.

“It’s all about people,” he says. “In business, in expansion, in growth — it’s about the people.”

While people are the core of what drives successful branch expansion, there are more factors to consider as well. Determining when it’s a good time to expand is the first critical step in the process.

Humble beginnings

Bryan Walters with Second to None Landscape + Tree Care says expansion came a little bit organically. Many of their commercial clients in Orlando asked for extra service with their other portfolio properties in Tampa, so they built a satellite branch there.

Now they’ve got three full-service branches and have created a triangle that offers coverage throughout a good portion of the state. The branches allow them to better mobilize assets to work on properties that are all within an hour of one of the three locations. Once they picked up about $1 million in sales in each market, they hired an account manager. Their Fort Lauderdale branch has two managers, Tampa’s got one and the main building has three.

“We had to go out there and try it and do it if we had a chance to build upon our long-term goals.”

Andrew Ziehler, Ziehler Lawn Care in Centerville, Ohio

Walters says it can be tricky determining when it’s time to pounce on a new location, but he always justified it when they could reasonably estimate a half million dollars in revenue, which could support a four- or five-man mowing crew.

“It’s all conducive to the size of the opportunities that you’re coming across,” Walters says. “Going into a new market, we jumped right out the gate in hiring a new crew.”

While Walters admits he maybe took on a lot too quickly — their first location opened in 2019, and now they’re up to three — other landscapers took their time. Ziehler Lawn Care in Centerville, Ohio, knew two years before expansion that change was coming. Andrew Ziehler, the company owner and CEO, says they had calculated their strong growth percentage to mean they’d need to expand their facility or move into a new market with a second location.

The decision went beyond just mathematics — Ziehler says one of the company’s core values is to improve the lives of its employees. By offering them more opportunities to move into leadership roles, they’d have more chances to grow as individuals. Plus, Ziehler says he felt it was time to take the plunge — expansion was coming at some point, so why not then?

“At some point, we had to pull the band-aid off,” Ziehler says. “We had to go out there and try it and do it if we had a chance to build upon our long-term goals.”

(Re)setting the standard

Ziehler says his employees were energized by the decision to expand — everyone likes to be a part of a winning team, he says. But expansion also brings several considerations. How will a new location uphold the same service quality clients have experienced from a company with just one branch? And how will the company’s culture translate into new service areas?

Ziehler says it’s normal for each branch to have its own subculture, but propping up core values that cannot change is important. For example, Ziehler cites his company’s brand promise to the customer — deliver unmatched customer experience. “That will never change, no matter how many branches we have,” he says. “Because those things are integral foundational pieces of the business. They can’t change just by adding another branch.”

Walters agrees, though he adds that “it’s definitely not easy.”

“I put a lot of miles on my vehicle. That’s really it. I’ve got a great team, so it’s not just me. You’re relying on your leadership team but need to help them along.”

Dean Desantis, Desantis Landscapes

“If anyone tells you otherwise,” he laughs, “they’re probably lying.”

Maintaining quality control comes down to implementing good training practices as the company expands. Walters says he safeguards against a slip in quality by ensuring he has the right people in place to oversee the business. “That’s the saving grace for ensuring quality,” he says.

And even then, he wasn’t off the hook — he says he had to work some extra hours and stayed heavily involved as the branch opened up. Today, he still splits up some of his time visiting each individual branch. That’s an important consideration for business owners considering expansion — what’s their bandwidth for longer commutes?

“I put a lot of miles on my vehicle,” DeSantis says. “That’s really it. I’ve got a great team, so it’s not just me. You’re relying on your leadership team but need to help them along.”

DeSantis adds that different locations have differing labor markets, and while it’s tight across the industry, he will often evaluate how potential competitors are doing in hiring in those spots. If they’re constantly putting out ads looking for work, it’s possible the labor market there will be dry.

“Labor-wise, if you can have one of your current employees move out to this new branch, that’s ideal,” he says. “(Maybe it’s) 30 minutes this way, 30 minutes that way. It can create some continuity.”

Conklin says when he expanded to another branch, he hired someone who already understood Conklin’s mindset and what Conklin wanted out of a new branch. He found an “outstanding team builder” who had past industry experience.

“I brought somebody in with similar values to what we have in our company, the same type of culture that we have, which made it a little easier,” he says.

Be a people person

When Conklin expanded via an acquisition, he maintained a close relationship with the seller and retained a few of the employees. Four years later, they still have a good relationship, in large part because Conklin says he found someone who believed in his own vision before buying him out.

“We have a good relationship. He also helps with anything we need,” Conklin says. “I think finding someone you’re going to buy out who fits what you do is key.”

But even through expansion without M&A activity, Conklin says it’s important to get to know your people.

“I know all my guys,” he says. “We have around 40 now, and I know them all. As the owner, I try to make that a point to know all my people and have a good relationship with them. That’s what helps retain the employees.”

Ziehler says his leaders at different branches will help one another out, which shows buy-in from the leadership that trickles down to all ranks at the company. He says his Dayton branch manager and two service leaders will go help out at the Cincinnati branch if there’s an influx in service calls or if someone calls off.

“Calculate your costs or your risks but don’t be afraid to jump into a new opportunity.”

Bryan Walters, Second to None Landscape + Tree Care

Taking the time to set that standard is important, especially because new locations will hire lots of new employees who are unfamiliar with the company and even the green industry. Ziehler says it’s a company core value to “do whatever it takes,” and his leadership lives it out.

“At a real high level, it’s that we’re unwavering on those foundational pieces,” he says. “Everybody knows what they are.”

DeSantis reiterates the importance of finding the right staffing. Identifying a branch leader who’s relatively independent, driven and trustworthy is key, especially because they’ll seem like they’re on an island a lot as they’re getting going. He recommends creating the least resistance possible for new branches — buy them newer equipment and newer vehicles because hiring a full-time mechanic there may be tricky. Spend time at those branches and build relationships with the employees, too, he says.

“A lot of times, they’ll feel like they don’t have the same resources and the same attention that your largest branches have,” DeSantis says. “You want to stroke things a little bit.”

So, there’s a lot to consider. All four landscapers admit that, and Walters adds that if he had to do it all over again, he’d probably slow down the process a bit. But in the end, he also urges landscapers to make educated risks and go for it.

“Calculate your costs or your risks but don’t be afraid to jump into a new opportunity,” he says. “You could be missing an opportunity someone else will get. If you want to grow and you want to expand, just do it. Go for it when the opportunity presents itself.”

The author is an associate editor with Lawn & Landscape magazine.