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What are the chances of the eyes of two hurricanes passing within two miles of each other? Pretty good, if we are considering the span of several years; less likely, if we are talking three weeks. That is the situation that Jeff Bowen, CLP, president of Images of Green, Inc., in Stuart, Florida, faced after Hurricane Frances’ eye passed two miles from his business and four miles from his home in early September. Three weeks later to the day, Hurricane Jean took a similar path. The first storm virtually destroyed Bowen’s business; the second one wreaked havoc on his home.

“The effects of the two storms were devastating,” says Bowen. “For the entire month of September, we had water and electricity for only 11 days. I can’t even describe how I felt when I pulled up after Frances and saw the damage to the business. We had just completed some repairs on it, when the second storm took what the weather forecasters called a ‘loop-d-loop’ and passed directly over us again.”

He continues, “I’m originally from the Midwest and was familiar with tornadoes, but this was horrible. The damage was so extensive and complete, and you can still see the after-effects of the two storms, today. As a landscape contractor, Images of Green’s charge was to put properties back into shape. Our crews haven’t missed a beat since the storms. In fact, everyone stayed here during the storms and came to work every day, despite the turmoil they faced at home. I cannot even begin to explain how proud I am of my people.”

This scenario is not the way Bowen wanted to celebrate his company’s 10th anniversary. Growth has always been part of his long-term plan, but the post-storm cleanup effort spiked his employee rolls by 25 percent and backlogged normal trimming, mowing, and maintenance chores. Crews are still working hard to continue with the cleanup effort while playing catch up. “My challenge,” Bowen adds, “will be to find enough new work this spring to keep my 10 new employees on for a lifetime.” He has the experience to pull it off.

Bowen studied landscape architecture at Southern Illinois University before going to work for his father’s company in Chicago. There, he quickly discovered that he liked the field better than the drawing board. After his father passed away unexpectedly, the company was sold and Jeff took a job with Disney, first as a designer/installer for EPCOT Center and later as a horticulture trainer at the newly completed site. He worked for Disney for seven years, from 1978 to 1985, before relocating back to Chicago to work for The Brickman Group. He later moved back to South Florida to eventually manage Brickman’s branch location in West Palm Beach.  In 1994, he decided to go out “on his own.” The new entrepreneur had no jobs, no employees, one F-150 pickup truck, and one 12-foot trailer — but he had experience and “know-how.”

In 10 years, Bowen grew the company from virtually nothing into a $2 million plus operation. He did it by retaining employees and offering a full range of services to high-end residential customers and homeowner associations.

“We do a lot of handshaking around here,” says Bowen. “It is one of the ways we stay connected with employees. Over the years, we have also developed what may be seen by some as rather unusual incentive programs. For example, we share profits on jobs that come in under budget, and the company is on a 4 1/2-day workweek. Crews work four nine-hour days from Monday through Thursday and get off work at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. Working for Brickman and Disney provided an invaluable experience for me. Like other employees who work for large corporations, though, I spent too much time away from home. One of my goals at Images of Green was to make sure my employees have a balanced family life.”

Another one of his goals was, in his words, to “bombard customers with service.” By working closely with his employees and customers, Bowen has developed a rapport with both that has earned him their loyalty.

Images of Green hit the proverbial wall a year-and-a-half ago, when it reached the magical $2 million mark. Until then, Bowen explains, the company operated with full-service crews that provided mowing, trimming, irrigation, pest control, and design/build services. More accounts — bigger accounts — created what he calls a communication problem. Crew leaders were postured as “jacks of all trades,” but the company needed masters. The answer was to develop specialty crews and focus on matching individuals with their strengths.

The growth also caused scheduling problems for the full-service crews that had more specialized work than they could comfortably handle. The change forced Images of Green to outfit two additional crews. Little did the owner know at the time how important that move would be a year-and-a-half later.

“We will be working on hurricane damage all winter long,” relates Bowen. “There is a huge bubble of work for us and for all contractors, including roofers, screen repair people, and arborists, among others. The list is long and so is the work, but this work will eventually end. Our company grew 25 percent in one month’s time.  As I mentioned earlier, my challenge is to find enough work quickly enough to retain all our new employees.”

Looking into the future, however, this contractor sees plenty of long-term growth without the help (or hindrance) of Mother Nature. In fact, why stop at the $2.5 million mark or even $3 million? With loyal employees and customers, there should be plenty of work for years to come.

12/04

By Rod Dickens, ALCA Contributing Writer