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The Landscape Partners, Ltd., has been in business only a little more than two years, but already the Richland Hills, Texas-based company projects it will generate $3.5 million in sales. The fast growth concerns general managing partner Randy Ferrari less than the fact that he, along with the rest of the management team, can never rest on his laurels. “As the leader of a company, it can be frightening at times to never be satisfied with where you are,” says Ferrari. “Yet, at the same time, I know that the drive toward perfection fuels growth and opens opportunity’s door.”

Ferrari first began to open those doors in 1980 after graduating with a psychology degree from Southern Illinois University. He entered a graduate program for a semester and then took a respite from the classroom. During the break, he traveled to Texas, took a job with Nabisco Brands, Inc., and later met David Minor. In 1981 Ferrari joined Minor’s young company, Minors Landscape Services, Inc.

“David had a vision of where he wanted his company to be and he spoke with passion about his business, which really impressed me,” says Ferrari. “Through the years, he has become a good friend and mentor. I believe I met the right person at the right time.”

The Illinois transplant worked with Minor’s company for 17 years until it was sold to Servicemaster in 1998. He stayed on for a couple of years after the sale and then left to lead the service department with an area furniture company. After three years there, he and Minor joined forces again to start The Landscape Partners.

“My background in working with David’s company was operations, and when we started our new company, I felt comfortable in that role,” Ferrari explains. “David is the lead investor but really not involved in the day-to-day operation. Another partner of ours, Rick Onstott, manages the sales and marketing function for our business.”

Aggressive business plan

Despite the partners’ combined experience and contacts within the industry, the new venture didn’t take off overnight. As Ferrari relates, the industry had changed a bit. The landscape management side was perceived as a commodity, and the clients with whom they were familiar were not immediately comfortable doing business with a new startup despite their previous relationships. So they pounded the pavement, leaned on Onstott’s marketing expertise, put on countless presentations, and kept the post office busy delivering direct-mail pieces.

“We had an aggressive business plan, and to achieve our goal, we had to separate ourselves from the competition,” Ferrari recalls. “Our mission statement is rather straightforward. Simply put, we provide the highest quality service at a fair price while providing exceptional customer service.”

The partners hung their shingle on quality. They understood that quality service could be a point of difference especially in a commodity environment, but they soon learned that simply being responsive worked to their advantage as well.

“When we started the business, we quickly found out that response time was an issue,” Ferrari relates. “Many of the vendors and suppliers that we tried to do business with made promises they couldn’t keep, and many were unresponsive. Since we were hearing many of these same complaints from within our industry, we decided early on to grade ourselves on how well we responded to clients and to keep the responsiveness message front and center with our employees.”

The young company sold its first couple of jobs toward the end of 2003 and then took off in earnest the following year. Landscape management topped the service list, but the company also offered irrigation installation and repair, landscape installation, and lawn care management. After two years in operation, landscape management brings in 70 percent of the total revenue, with end-user commercial customers signing most of the checks. Third-party management companies and homeowner associations make up the remainder of the client list, along with a handful of residential accounts. Already, The Landscape Partners has been recognized for its work, having recently won a PLANET Grand Award for its work at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.

Success formula

When asked why the company has been so successful, Ferrari gives most of the credit to Minor’s vision and leadership. “David has an uncanny knack to do what’s right in business,” says Ferrari. “He is obsessed with education and has always encouraged me to continually search for better methods of servicing our clients.

“We are all on the same page when it comes to hiring employees, too. We have built our business with intelligent, aggressive, young business professionals and have spent many hours visiting local colleges and universities. The H-2B program is very important to our operation as well, with a large percentage of our 60 to 70 employees coming to us as guest workers.”
Regarding his own success, Ferrari says that having incredibly successful mentors, networking inside and outside the industry, and being cognizant about his own personal development, but not obsessed with it, have been important for his career.

“We all have weaknesses,” he emphasizes. “We can choose to improve in areas where we are weak or lack expertise, or instead, surround ourselves with people who are proficient in those areas. Although I continually strive to improve upon my abilities, I spend a great deal of time selecting the right individuals who are interested in becoming part of our team. As a leader, I feel the most important task that I have is assembling a group of individuals who will mesh to form a business bond that cannot be broken.”

The foundation has been laid for The Landscape Partners. This year, the company also is working out of a new facility halfway between Fort Worth and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The 22,000-square-foot facility features 17,000 square feet of warehouse and another 5,000 square feet for office space. Ideally situated between Fort Worth and Dallas, the site will allow reasonable access to both cities and customers who place value on responsiveness and quality service.

As Ferrari emphasizes, the driving force behind their new business is satisfaction — keeping customers and employees satisfied and never being satisfied doing it.