Like a fine wine, 2015 was a good year for landscaping and a busy one at that!
We spent the year behind the scenes, tweeking, pulling, prodding, and hemming and hawing over details and systems. Who we are as a company, what kind of landscape company we want to be, and how to be an all around better company for our clients. I am happy to report it has all paid off and 2016 is starting strong.
I won’t bore you with all of the details about SEO, accounting, systems, and employees. Although, I do have to say we have some pretty awesome employees and we couldn’t have gotten to where we are today without them. On that note, let’s recap 2015. If you have been following us on Facebook, you may have seen some of this before.
One of the things we discovered in 2015 is that we are a really good hardscapers. We build a lot of paver patios for our clients and we love doing it. We started our 2015 season by teaching a class at the Gardens on Spring Creek on how to build paver and flagstone patios. We repeated the class this year to a sold out crowd and hope to teach another class for the folks on the waiting list in the upcoming weeks. The paver patio trend continued throughout the year. Their durability in our Colorado freeze /thaw seasons just can’t be beat. Pavers not only increase the value of your home, they look terrific and are one of the easiest thing to maintain around the home. More of those details to come this season.
A bucket list goal of ours was to become a member of the Better Business Bureau. We love being a part of an organization whose members represent the same ethics we have always stood behind. The BBB has been really helpful along the way by reminding us to stand above the competition by conducting business as ethically and fair as possible.
As the season progressed, we got word one of our landscape remodel projects on Lake Loveland helped Highcraft Builders to win a Home Builders Association award for “Best Outdoor Spaces.” That was a pretty cool recognition, and we were excited to be affiliated with such a reputable and outstanding business in our community.
October came and it was a very busy month. Dave and I were invited to Vail to attend a planning and strategizing weekend with the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado. It was very informative and we learned a lot about some of the more important issues happening in the the green industry today. We also had a chance to collaborate and trade stories with other landscape companies both large and small throughout the state. Our peers are a huge wealth of knowledge and it was a good chance to pick each other’s brains on a non competitive level and really learn from each other. We also signed on board to help the teachers in Kersey with the ALCC Career Pathways program. The program is a brilliant idea and we can’t wait to see how it progresses.
After Dave and I returned from Vail, we turned around and headed to Louisville, Kentucky to attend Hardscape North America and the Green Industry Expo. Dave tested and became certified in Advanced Residential Pavers through ICPI, and I spent the week working on our website and soaking in as much knowledge about the landscape industry as I possibly could. HNA and the GIE was something we had always wanted to see. It was a convention center full of contractors, vendors, exhibitors, and industry professionals from all over the US and Canada both indoors and out. Any and every product and piece of equipment you could imagine was represented there. Acres upon acres. The picture below doesn’t even scratch the surface of how expansive it was. We saw new product launches, talked to vendor reps, and soaked in as much as we could.
The end of the season awarded us a Best of Houzz 2016 Service Award. Houzz is becoming an addicting website just like Pinterest. They are a go to website for homeowners as a place to find reputable contractors, see their work, and save pictures and ideas to design boards for future projects. We received the award based on the positive reviews and feedback our clients have left on our page. Majority of our landscape and hardscape business comes from word of mouth, and previous clients. So a positive reputation and knowing our clients are happy with their projects at the end of it all is very important to us.
As the year was winding down we reached out to one of our vendors, Belgard. Belgard has an Authorized Contractor Program we knew we wanted to be a part of. As a paving and hardscape company, we knew that being affiliated with one of the best quality products on the market was the perfect match for our company. We work hard to go above and beyond the average landscape company to install a patio and outdoor living space that will be there for many years to come. The workmanship and guarantee we offer on each of our projects is what sets us aside, and we are proud to be part of a select handful of contractors in our area who call themselves a Belgard Authorized Contractor.
That about wraps it up. I hope I didn’t lose anyone halfway through with the length of this post? They won’t all be this long I promise. 2015 was a big year for us and we can’t wait to see what 2016 has in store. We are excited to meet new clients this season and all of the challenges that come with their landscape projects. We want to help you fall in love with your outdoor space again!