South Carolina?

[pilot75]

I am in Rock Hill. I am originally from the Columbia area, and my dad still operates there, but I spread my wings and went to college a few years back in Rock Hill and haven't left. I decided to start my own thing up here, with a little help from dad (old equipment, pointers, etc). I hope business is as good for me as it has been for him (over 17 years in the business for him...started out as a maintenance company and now does none of that and only landscapes. He is big into water features, nightscaping, hardscaping, etc. If you guys have any good tips for someone starting back up it would be appreciated. Also, I was thinking about doing spray weed control applications on my lawn because I got fairly familiar with them while working sales at a very large lawn care company that will remain unnamed, but I never really did the applications. How hard is it and is it worth it, or should I just refer my customers over to that company that only does weed control?

[Junior M]

Pilot, whats the name of your dads company if he still operates in Columbia?

[pilot75]

Originally Posted by Junior M

Pilot, whats the name of your dads company if he still operates in Columbia?

Pilot Nursery and Landscaping. He is based out of Gilbert, SC. He lost a couple of his builders that went bankrupt last year so he did a good bit of sub-contracted stuff through Brookgreen which does the village at Sand Hills and a lot of other commercial stuff.

[Junior M]

Originally Posted by pilot75

Pilot Nursery and Landscaping. He is based out of Gilbert, SC. He lost a couple of his builders that went bankrupt last year so he did a good bit of sub-contracted stuff through Brookgreen which does the village at Sand Hills and a lot of other commercial stuff.

Never heard of them, but I definetly know Brookgreen, they are huge. Havent seen much of them since the economy took a crap though..

[pilot75]

Originally Posted by Junior M

Never heard of them, but I definetly know Brookgreen, they are huge. Havent seen much of them since the economy took a crap though..

That's probably mainly because my dad did a majority of their work. Not surprising you haven't heard of him. He doesn't ever advertise...he is pretty much strictly word of mouth business and he doesn't run magnets or anything. That might change though because he lost his biggest builder who went under. He was good for 50-60 homes a year and the landscape jobs for him started in the 5k range usually and went up depending on what the person buying the house wanted. My dad only mowed the yards for this builder that were spec homes(usually between 5-8 on the books at any given time) and that was the extent of his maintenance. He started mowing in 1992 and by the mid 90's he opened a nursery and started mostly only landscaping. Now the nursery is closed to the public but he still is going strong in the landscaping.

Brookgreen is doing a lot of remodels on apartment complexes too. My dad worked in winnsboro, near greenville, near charleston, york, and pretty much all over the state near the end of 2008. He will be working in the area in NC just north of Greenville/Spartanburg on 26 and the surrounding areas these next couple of months.

[Junior M]

Originally Posted by pilot75

That's probably mainly because my dad did a majority of their work. Not surprising you haven't heard of him. He doesn't ever advertise...he is pretty much strictly word of mouth business and he doesn't run magnets or anything. That might change though because he lost his biggest builder who went under. He was good for 50-60 homes a year and the landscape jobs for him started in the 5k range usually and went up depending on what the person buying the house wanted. My dad only mowed the yards for this builder that were spec homes(usually between 5-8 on the books at any given time) and that was the extent of his maintenance. He started mowing in 1992 and by the mid 90's he opened a nursery and started mostly only landscaping. Now the nursery is closed to the public but he still is going strong in the landscaping.

Brookgreen is doing a lot of remodels on apartment complexes too. My dad worked in winnsboro, near greenville, near charleston, york, and pretty much all over the state near the end of 2008. He will be working in the area in NC just north of Greenville/Spartanburg on 26 and the surrounding areas these next couple of months.

Oh, I might have seen him then. What are some of the builders he worked for? I might know them..

[pilot75]

Originally Posted by Junior M

Oh, I might have seen him then. What are some of the builders he worked for? I might know them..

Bracebridge out of Lexington, SC was his big one. He also has worked for DTS which built mostly in Greenville/Spartanburg but built some houses in the village at the Hilton but DTS has gone under too. He has worked for Schepper builders but that um....how do you say... "didn't work out." He did a house for Jewell builders but he wanted the throw 10 plants in the ground and some sod as quick as you can and that isn't my dad's style. He also does stuff for Captial Construction. He actually did their most recent parade home (together they won green house of the parade. He put in an Intellisense timer and all that other jazz from Toro to regulate the water)and will be doing a house on Lake Francis for him soon as well a parade home in a neighborhood that is right behind Lexington Medical Center that was done a few years back. He has also worked for Keith and Karl Berry (not sure of their company names) and a few others here and there.

My dad is not the cheapest and with some of the builders that is all they want, but he does it right. 100% overlap on all irrigation, no skimping on zones to save money, he does extensive leveling even after the final grade is done and he always hand rakes a yard before he sods it to smooth it out and get even the smallest rocks out. It takes more time the way he does it but it shows in his yard. He did many of the homes in Village at Hilton for different builders and they would always joke because when he would come in the house would usually sell within two weekends on curb appeal alone. He really does a great job on his stuff, and I would love to work for him again one day, he is just at that point where he doesn't want to expand and add more crews, he just wants the one.

[Junior M]

Originally Posted by pilot75

Bracebridge out of Lexington, SC was his big one. He also has worked for DTS which built mostly in Greenville/Spartanburg but built some houses in the village at the Hilton but DTS has gone under too. He has worked for Schepper builders but that um....how do you say... "didn't work out." He did a house for Jewell builders but he wanted the throw 10 plants in the ground and some sod as quick as you can and that isn't my dad's style. He also does stuff for Captial Construction. He actually did their most recent parade home (together they won green house of the parade. He put in an Intellisense timer and all that other jazz from Toro to regulate the water)and will be doing a house on Lake Francis for him soon as well a parade home in a neighborhood that is right behind Lexington Medical Center that was done a few years back. He has also worked for Keith and Karl Berry (not sure of their company names) and a few others here and there.

My dad is not the cheapest and with some of the builders that is all they want, but he does it right. 100% overlap on all irrigation, no skimping on zones to save money, he does extensive leveling even after the final grade is done and he always hand rakes a yard before he sods it to smooth it out and get even the smallest rocks out. It takes more time the way he does it but it shows in his yard. He did many of the homes in Village at Hilton for different builders and they would always joke because when he would come in the house would usually sell within two weekends on curb appeal alone. He really does a great job on his stuff, and I would love to work for him again one day, he is just at that point where he doesn't want to expand and add more crews, he just wants the one.

Heard of them, but dont know any of them, I am more on the small time builder side of town...

Ever heard of JWG's, if I am not mistaken they did a little of the dirt work for some of them subdivisions over near Lexington medical.. Might be thinking of someone else though.

[pilot75]

Originally Posted by Junior M

Heard of them, but dont know any of them, I am more on the small time builder side of town...

Ever heard of JWG's, if I am not mistaken they did a little of the dirt work for some of them subdivisions over near Lexington medical.. Might be thinking of someone else though.

Haven't hear of the. Yeah my dad was lucky enough to find a good niche and get in at the right time. A majority of the homes he does are in the 299,000-500,000 range with a few on the outliers. He will do anything, but it just happens the builders he got in with are mostly custom builders and don't do much spec stuff. I haven't heard of them. If it was for Captial my dad most likely did a bunch of the dirt work himself. It takes him forever because all he runs is a Toro Dingo, but he can fine tune it a little more. For parade homes he is a little more comfortable doing the grade work because it reflects directly on him because of the signage and he cannot afford to have any problems with low spots, etc.

[Junior M]

Originally Posted by pilot75

Haven't hear of the. Yeah my dad was lucky enough to find a good niche and get in at the right time. A majority of the homes he does are in the 299,000-500,000 range with a few on the outliers. He will do anything, but it just happens the builders he got in with are mostly custom builders and don't do much spec stuff. I haven't heard of them. If it was for Captial my dad most likely did a bunch of the dirt work himself. It takes him forever because all he runs is a Toro Dingo, but he can fine tune it a little more. For parade homes he is a little more comfortable doing the grade work because it reflects directly on him because of the signage and he cannot afford to have any problems with low spots, etc.

Well, if he doesnt run anything bigger than a Dingo, give him my number, we do some awesome grading(Dad works just like him with the rakes and grading) and dirt work, if he ever gets anything he cant handle or its cheaper for him to sub, we'll do just about anything. Shoot, we'll take the work he doesnt want if we are able to do it..