My turn to share pictures.

[Tony Clifton]

I used to come here quite often and look at other people's pictures for motivation, and still do from time to time. I thought that I should do my duty, and share some pictures of some of our trucks, equipment and a few pics of our work.

[Tony Clifton]

One of our trucks on a grading job.

[Tony Clifton]

A deck we built a couple of years back.

[Tony Clifton]

A little brick paver job.

[Tony Clifton]

Water feature that we constructed.

[Tony Clifton]

Structural retaining wall that we built.

[Tony Clifton]

Brick paver driveway the we put in back in 04

[Tony Clifton]

One of our maintenance rigs.

[Tony Clifton]

One of our trucks with irrigation trailer.

[mcwlandscaping]

Well, whatever gave you the inspiration and drive to keep going worked very well!!! VERY nice work and rigs!

[RedMax Man]

Looks like you mainly do commercial accounts. Nice work and rigs.
I personally don't like pressure treated decking at all but that one looks fine and has some style. the water feature looks perfect and natural.

[TriPLandscaping]

Very Very impressing. Nice looking equipment. Very high end work great job.

[Tony Clifton]

Well, whatever gave you the inspiration and drive to keep going worked very well!!! VERY nice work and rigs!

Thanks, and those are two fine looking labradors you have there.

[grandview (2006)]

looks good. What's the deal with the paver's in the road?

[Tony Clifton]

Palm tree planting on a new install.

[Tony Clifton]

Same install as the photo above.

[Midwest Lawn Services]

You have truly been blessed with a successful business and quality workmanship. Thanks for sharing!

[Tony Clifton]

Another picture from the same job. This is a beautiful piece of property on the water. I wish I had some before and after pictures,,,as of now I only have "during" pictures.

[dcondon]

Very professional looking business you have and outstanding work. GREAT JOB!!!

[02DURAMAX]

Palm tree planting on a new install.

didnt the chain damage the tree at all?

[Lawnworks]

Looks great! How many crews do you have? What do you gross? I love your isuzus. I have a couple and they are the ticket!

I also noticed the turf tires on the tractor. How are they on turf?

[Lawnworks]

You have truly been blessed with a successful business and quality workmanship. Thanks for sharing!

Blessed might not be the word I would use... it looks like he has worked his butt off to get to where he is. I would like to know how many years it has taken him to get this far... I bet 10-15.

[Lawnworks]

didnt the chain damage the tree at all?

Considering before/after they dig those trees from the field... they wack off on the tusk/bark w/ a machete... I doubt it! That tree boom is the ticket for setting bnb trees...

[Tony Clifton]

didnt the chain damage the tree at all?

nah, not on a palm tree.

[Tony Clifton]

Looks great! How many crews do you have? What do you gross? I love your isuzus. I have a couple and they are the ticket!

I also noticed the turf tires on the tractor. How are they on turf?

We have 8 trucks, simple business though: 2 maintenance crews, 2 landscaping crews, an irrigation tech, and lawn care. Two sales/management trucks. I really want to grow the maintenance portion and am shooting to add 2 more maintenance crews this year. The Isuzus are great, I am thinking about trying out the Fusos, they are supposed to be even better. The crew cab dump is ok but does not have the power that we need.
We will do 1.2 - 1.4 mil this year.
I started the business in 2000 while I was going to school full time.
The turf tires are great on turf, and in mud. I would never put an ag tire on a tractor used for landscaping.

[MarcSmith]

didnt the chain damage the tree at all?

gotta remember the Palm tree does not have the Xylem/phloem just under the bark like "normal" tree. Its vascular tissue is spread out through the entire trunk in bundles like Drinking straws. So girdling of palm trees, although possible is not probable.

Snatching them with chains and rope slings is the norm.

Good looking work.

[Focal Point Landscapes]

Thanks for sharing the pics - I love the 'during' shots - you do great work.

[ICS]

One word "wow" great work and set-up

[LawnBoy89]

I'm 18 and about to go to college for business, I wonder if I am ever going to be that succesful...what were you thinking when you were going to school?

[Tony Clifton]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

[Tony Clifton]

I'm 18 and about to go to college for business, I wonder if I am ever going to be that succesful...what were you thinking when you were going to school?

When I was in school I worked for two different companies for about 8 months each. I decided I could do it better and wanted to start my own company. Now after being in business for a while I see why these companies did some of the things they did.
When I started I had no plan, only a vision. To be honest I didnt even know what a business plan was. Now I know the importance of having a plan, setting up systems, and most importantly creating a budget.
You can definately get to wherever you want as long as you focus and follow your plan,,,,never shoot from the hip. It takes a lot of work and determination, and there are plenty of ups and downs. There are always going to be people and occurnces that are trying to bring you down but stay focused and you will succeed.

[kreft]

lets see your shop

nice stuff

[Tony Clifton]

lets see your shop

nice stuff

I will try to remember to get some tomorrow.

[jhoneycutt]

man that is SPEECHLESS, I will bow to you and your hard work. I saw your Maint. trucks (I doubt it was you) at the new BP on Hwy 52 & Stokes Ferry Rd. (across from Pancho Villas) a couple of weeks ago, and told my wife that he must be doing good to have a truck like that... just remembered there was no mowers on it. again btw good job. if you ever need to throw some "junk yards" away let me know

[Tony Clifton]

lets see your shop

nice stuff

Here are a few...nothing special but since you asked:

[TriPLandscaping]

Very nice stuff. Nothing speacial, ha i would love to have a shop like that.

[Middle Tennessee Lawns]

nice driveway! good work

[60miles2tahoe]

Nice stuff Tony! :waving:

I like the maintenance trucks. I almost went that way and still might down the road.

[Tony Clifton]

Thanks again for all of the kind replies. Here is our new irrigation service truck. It is used mostly for repairs and small installs, our construction crews handle the larger installs.

[Tony Clifton]

I have this truck for sale, it is a 1998 2500 with about 160,000 miles in great shape. This is the truck that I drive, I am going to buy a new Tundra. I started the business with this truck and have finally decided to treat myself to a new truck. I would keep it but we really don't use pickup trucks for our crews. If anyone is interested let me know.

[1cooltreeguy]

hey boss, where are u in NC? Yhanks, Eric

[Espacesverts]

Did you do some course in hardscape in college ?? Or did you hire good guys to do the job? What is your secret?!

[Tony Clifton]

hey boss, where are u in NC? Yhanks, Eric

We are in Wilmington. Where on the Outer Banks are you? I go to Buxton/Avon a couple times a year, wish i could get up there a lot more often.

[Tony Clifton]

Did you do some course in hardscape in college ?? Or did you hire good guys to do the job? What is your secret?!

Nope, no hardscape courses. I happened to be really good at it and then a few years ago realized one of my employees was good at it too. Worked with him on the hardscape jobs for a while and now all I have to do is make sure they are setup properly and keep him motivated to do good work. We have a couple of other guys that are getting good now as well.

[LawnMowerKing10]

lets see the mowers!

[josh1981]

nice pics. fantastic job on all you have done. love the bobcat!

[Espacesverts]

Impressing! So what did you do when you started hardscaping? Just bougth a skid steer and made some advertisements? How di d you take you experience at the begining? How did you learn to create some good looking and wll built hardscape?

[NNJLandman]

How much for the truck, what size engine?

[Tony Clifton]

I am asking $7800, it has a 5.7L, auto tranny.

[Tony Clifton]

Impressing! So what did you do when you started hardscaping? Just bougth a skid steer and made some advertisements? How di d you take you experience at the begining? How did you learn to create some good looking and wll built hardscape?

I just took whatever work I could get when I was first starting out, and then upsold some of my customers on small hardscape jobs like rock walls, etc. and it grew from there. I pretty much taught myself everything, you just have to have an eye for it and be a perfectionist. The skid steer came as I grew, I bought a small used one, traded that in on a larger one and then traded that on a brand new one. I would definately not recommend running out and buying a skid steer and then trying to get work. Start small, rent when you need one, and then once you need one a few days a week buy one if you can justify the expense.

[Espacesverts]

Thanks for your advices very appreciate!

[Lawn Enforcer]

Everything looks awesome! Nice shop! Did you take the pics from a loft of some sort? Do you have an office up there? If so, could I see some pics?

[Chris J]

Wow, I'm more impressed with how much encouragement and acknowledgment that is going on than anything else. You guys are great!
Tony, your work is impressive and you deserve all of this and more. I always feel energized when I see someone like yourself that has done so well with his dreams and visions. Good luck to all of you! May God bless each and every one of you with happiness and good fortune. :clapping:

[Tony Clifton]

Everything looks awesome! Nice shop! Did you take the pics from a loft of some sort? Do you have an office up there? If so, could I see some pics?

Thanks!
I took the pictures while standing on top of the offices. They are framed up inside of the warehouse. We have plywood on top so we can store stuff up there. We are about 1' short from being able to put offices up there too.

[DoetschOutdoor]

Awesome company man, good job! Everything looks really nice.

[Superscapes]

Where are you guys located in wilmington and who do you buy your turf from?

[YardPro]

tony,
we are in atlantic beach, about 1.5 hrs north of you...

Kudos on your company. We are not far behind you in our growth. We also focus on the upscale market (residental and commercial)... that's where the money is......

We will break $1M this year. 1/2 with install, the rest spread between our other divisions (one commercial maintenance crew, one residential, 4 pool techs, one building maintenance guy).

[Supper Grassy]

Nice rigs,
What attachments do you have for the skid steer?
what machine do you use on your irrigation installs?

and one last question what mowers do you run?

[LeifGreen]

Tony Clifton, were are you in NC?

[Tony Clifton]

Where are you guys located in wilmington and who do you buy your turf from?

We are on the northern end of wilmington off of Market Street. I saw your enclosed trailer getting lettered a week or two ago. Judging from your name we buy our sod from you.

[Tony Clifton]

To answer the other questions.
We only have a bucket, forks, trencher and tiller/concrete mixer combo for the skid steer. We run John Deere rotary mowers and TruCut reel mowers.
Depending on the size of the job we may use the skid steer with trencher, rent a smaller trencher or hand dig. It is pretty sandy here so on some jobs hand digging is easiest. I plan on buying a Dingo or Prowler and getting a trencher for that sometime in the next 6 months.

YardPro, sounds good, how is the pool tech gig working for you? How far out do you guys go from Atlantic Beach?

[J&R Landscaping]

Those pictures are awsome and very impressive!

[kreft]

awesome shop, thanks

[kreft]

lucky........I want a coke machine in my shop:)

[Tony Clifton]

We moved into a new shop/office a few weeks ago. It was in pretty bad shape but it will give us much more office space, and more warehouse space as well. The warehouse has a divider up right now which is neat because we can separate and lock up our "service area" These are the before pictures, we almost have the shop setup and are moved into the office. We will work on improving the offices this winter or whenever we have time. Also, most of the pictures I have are of the existing damages. I took them to be sure the landlord doesnt come after us when when we move out.

[Tony Clifton]

This place was pretty much trashed, the pictures show some of it. It is looking really good now. The outside shot shows an area that is about 20x75 that was completely unusable because it was overgrown and full of trash. I figure we could easily back 3-4 trucks in there (an area that I didnt realize how large it was until we cleared it)
The concrete pad has the silhouettes of some shudders or something that had been spray painted while laying on the concrete, the awning over the door is faded and will be painted green to match our truck bodies, it has been a long 3 weeks or so but we are getting there.

[South Florida Lawns]

That is a really cool looking shop. you got so much space to work with.

[thorntonadvantage]

Structural retaining wall that we built.

I'm just completing my first year in the business although it was mostly part time thats to the worse drought in 100 years here in Georgia. i would like to learn how to install retaining walls and do hardscapes. I was wondering if you had any tips or advise I could use.

[Ramairfreak98ss]

some nice jobs there tony!

[Grasscub]

Like the decking what type of timber ,*trucewhiteflag* *trucewhiteflag* would you leave decking au natural or would you stain*trucewhiteflag*

[SHORTCUTZLAWNNLAND]

I recently purchased a dingo 525 with the platform, forks, vibratory plow, rake, auger, trencher, etc. what a great machine. I first demoed the tire machine when I was a college student and found it useless, about a year and a half ago i rented one for a limited access landscape job, this model was on tracks and was so much better then the tire machine. we continued to rent for the next year and in july I broke down and purchased a new one, all my guys love it. It is perfect for the modular home communities we grade, irrigate, sod and landscape. its size and power make it ideal. I would really recomend one to anyone who has the work for it. It is the first machine that I can honestly say the salesman wasn't selling us a line of b.s on. I would recomend the diesel unit to anyone. It can move about a 1/2 skid of sod, a 1/4 skid of pavers, and pretty much any b&b tree you would want to move, the 32" auger bit doesnt rob the machine of any power. It will it into an enclosed landscape trailer and also fit on our skidsteer trailer with the skid steer at the same time.

[allinearth]

Does that sprinkler trailer hit the isuzu. I have a similar set up but am scared to tow because it looks like the hitch is too far under the bed.

[jdwilliams1]

Blessed might not be the word I would use... it looks like he has worked his butt off to get to where he is. I would like to know how many years it has taken him to get this far... I bet 10-15.

Blessed is the right word, all which is given is from the Lord.

[Lawnworks]

I recently purchased a dingo 525 with the platform, forks, vibratory plow, rake, auger, trencher, etc. what a great machine. I first demoed the tire machine when I was a college student and found it useless, about a year and a half ago i rented one for a limited access landscape job, this model was on tracks and was so much better then the tire machine. we continued to rent for the next year and in july I broke down and purchased a new one, all my guys love it. It is perfect for the modular home communities we grade, irrigate, sod and landscape. its size and power make it ideal. I would really recomend one to anyone who has the work for it. It is the first machine that I can honestly say the salesman wasn't selling us a line of b.s on. I would recomend the diesel unit to anyone. It can move about a 1/2 skid of sod, a 1/4 skid of pavers, and pretty much any b&b tree you would want to move, the 32" auger bit doesnt rob the machine of any power. It will it into an enclosed landscape trailer and also fit on our skidsteer trailer with the skid steer at the same time.

Dang you must be broke now! How much did all that cost? And yes I am jealous!

[Tony Clifton]

Does that sprinkler trailer hit the isuzu. I have a similar set up but am scared to tow because it looks like the hitch is too far under the bed.


Let's say that it "will" hit the truck if you aren't paying attention. Needless to say that the trailer has some dents on the front left corner from it hitting the truck. That happened pretty much out of ignorance. As long as you know that you have to be careful you are okay to pull it. We have an 18" extender on the hitch of the truck that we use when pulling that trailer....it helps a lot, but we have pulled the trailer plenty of times without the extender with no problems.

[Superscapes]

Im guessing you did the installation on the red apple professional building in wilmington?

[STIHL GUY]

nice job in all those pics

[Lawn Freak]

Looks pretty good, any updated pictures?

[Tony Clifton]

Looks pretty good, any updated pictures?

I will try to get some up soon. Been slammed, and had to have the hard drive on my laptop replaced not too long ago and while almost everything was saved, I did lose a bunch of neat pics.

[LandscapeSteve]

Tony, i just finished reading this thread, and I like what I see. Are you looking to expand in '09? I am looking for a company where I can use my 17+ years of experience in all aspects of landscaping to grow and develop at a manageable but steady pace. My recent positions have been as a Branch Manager, and a Production Manager. I am located in Raleigh now, but am ready to relocate if the fit is right. Just drop me a line or let me know through here. By the way, have you ever dealt with Fitness Tree Service in Wilmington? He 's a friend of mine. Thanks.

[bighaydenslawn]

Wow, those pics are unbelievable. Looks like you do hardscapes & landscapes, irrigation AND lawn maintenance and you do great job at all of them! How many employees do you have for all of the different crews?

[Tony Clifton]

LandscapeSteve, I am making some changes in the company and am about to start looking for an operations manager. PM me if you like, I would like to see your resume and talk to you. We don't work directly with Fitness Tree but if there is any tree work that we do not handle in-house I only give out one name, and that is Fitness.

BigHaydensLawn,
right now there are only 11 of us, 17-18 max during some of the peaks. I only run 2-3 guys on a crew.

[traviswalker007]

Heres some shop pics, and a job we just did last month.

[traviswalker007]

Heres some more

[traviswalker007]

heres the completed seawall install. took about 7days.

[traviswalker007]

here is the final pics

[TXNSLighting]

You should probably start your own thread...Love the Fords tho.

[JosephLawnCare]

You should probably start your own thread...Love the Fords tho.

:laugh::laugh:---he holds the "king of hijacker's" award! Those posts had to of been a mistake

[traviswalker007]

This is a pic and video forum is it not??


:laugh::laugh:---he holds the "king of hijacker's" award! Those posts had to of been a mistake

[Tony Clifton]

Travis, nice pics, I like your setup. Do you get to do many of those seawalls?

[traviswalker007]

Yes,
i do about 7-10 a year..verry expensive this wall and patio was around 18 grans..

[JosephLawnCare]

This is a pic and video forum is it not??

Yes it is a forum but you should have started your own thread in this forum, not in this thread!! Repost all of your pics under your own "new thread", you'll get more views! Just trying to help

[rcdesignslc]

Very impressive!! Keep it up

[Tony Clifton]

Hey RC, where in Delaware are you from?

[TXNSLighting]

This is a pic and video forum is it not??

yeh but you posted your pics in his thread...You can start yourself a thread and do whatever you want.

[bighaydenslawn]

This is a pic and video forum is it not??


Just start your own pic thread. Nice line of Hustlers btw.

[rcdesignslc]

I live in Smyrna, 11 miles north of Dover

[Superscapes]

Tony,

Just thought I would tell you to bump the thread. I know you have done some nice jobs since the thread died like stevenson mazda. You have always done good work from what I have seen. I would be interested to see some more recent projects. I'm trying to do the same but I havent had much time lately to do so. I hope all Is going well.

[Clonts Landscaping]

Nice work man.

[DRBLawnBuster]

very nicework any new pictures

[2brothersyardcare]

are the stub nose maintenance rigs better than a trailer and truck?

[CampbellLawnCare]

You have a crew in near Raleigh Today?

[South Florida Lawns]

are the stub nose maintenance rigs better than a trailer and truck?

They are a 100 times better. For one you get better turning than a truck and trailer. You sit over the steer wheel and motor so your visibility is better. You can put a lot of weight on them, even overloading them they handle the weight.

And they are built for handling commercial use and abuse, way better than any pickup.

[orlawncaresvc]

you do very very nice work. your work and equipment your whole operation reminds me of a big company in my area. keep up the good work and the pictures.

[joef450snowplow]

like the topkick

[bobcatguy96]

very nice work