Emerald Lawns of Austin, Texas, services about 22,000 lawn care customers and is constantly looking to grow. But Owner Luke Hawthorne says that growth is contingent on several factors.
Hawthorne says when he initially started the business in 2006, it was just him and his wife. Nowadays, they have 200 employees and service the Austin, Waco and San Antonio markets.
“We’re a fast-growing company, and I remember when I was first starting out, people would ask me, ‘How big do you want to get?’ and I would say ‘I want to get as big as I possibly can.’ I didn’t even understand how that could be a question,” Hawthorne recalls. “But now I understand. The bigger you get, the more things creep up. Once you get so many people on board, it’s inevitable that things are going to happen.”
Hawthorne says standard HR-related issues has kept him from expanding too fast and really focusing on the inner workings of Emerald Lawns.
But, when it is time to make headway into a new market, Hawthorne says they always look internally for a leader of the newest branch.
“It’s not always about which market is going to make us the most profitable, but it’s really about the people for us. Do we have the right person who’s ready to be a branch manager? Then we’ll find a market to put them in,” he explains. “But we’re growing so fast and expanding and promoting we don’t have anybody in the pipeline just yet.”
There are also a few other things that Hawthorne weighs when reviewing new markets for expansion.
“Growth potential, median income and the water situation all factor in,” he says. “Water’s a big thing and I want to make sure that if I move into an area customers won’t have to cancel their lawn care service because they aren’t allowed to water their lawns.”
Ultimately, Hawthorne says the growth of the town or city is the primary factor.
And having the right people to research that growth is important.
“I have a really good marketing team of three full-time marketers, and they do market analysis and all of that in house,” Hawthorne says.
