How to become a platform company

When I started Pacific Landscape Management with Elias Godinez at the respective ages of 28 and 39, retirement or transition of our business never crossed our minds. First, we never thought our business would grow to employ 300 people, but we also watched as other business owners that we knew sold or transitioned out of the industry. The businesses gradually deteriorated. As a proud independent business owner, I often said “we’ll never sell” having seen these local transitions and previously been part of a large publicly traded company in the industry.

Photo courtesy of Bob Grover
Bob Grover

Deciding on our long-term transition

As the years went by, we were barraged by interest in our business, and as many of our peer group partners sold, we started to realize what our business was worth. At the same time, we felt the burden of continued growth to support our great team’s growth opportunities also began to weigh on us.

Still feeling as though selling was not an option, we considered an Employee Stock Option Program and manager buy-out, but those options did not allow us to realize the true value of what we had built and did not provide the future capital that our organization needed for the next phase of growth.

A former peer group partner recommended an investment banker to consult with to explore our options. When we met, due to our size and strong position in the Portland market, we found that instead of selling, we could find an equity partners where we could be a “platform.” As a platform, we could take some chips off the table but still retain significant ownership in the company. We could also keep our brand and team in place, and grow through acquisition, partnering with companies in our market and additional markets we chose to strategically expand into. Three years ago, we partnered with Southfield Capital.

Future expansion

As Pacific had many customers with properties in both Portland and Seattle, we were frequently asked when we would expand to Seattle. Our original expansion through acquisition was focused there. Knowing we needed to find the right companies that would fit into our model, I reached out to Tom DiMeco, who I had worked with prior to starting Pacific as he had owned a company in the Seattle market and previously sold his company. Tom ended up joining Pacific to help find acquisition candidates and eventually run Seattle as we completed acquisitions. Tom had been on both sides of acquisitions and that experience was welcome.

Having gone through the due diligence process while taking on Southfield as our equity partner, we knew that was a detailed and complicated process that was critical to determine purchase prices as well as ensure there were few surprises after acquisition. The process ran smooth working with their group as that is one of their primary responsibilities and skills. They also helped us develop the corporate team to provide the expertise and experience to successfully grow into a larger and regional company.

Excited to see our company grow, the Portland team of managers have assisted with training and development of the Seattle team with Pacific’s operational and service systems and team culture. To aid in this, we created a “buddy system” pairing like position in each market.

In the past two years, we have realized substantial organic growth from both existing and new customers in the Seattle area, while creating continued opportunity and career development opportunities for our teams. As a result, several employees have relocated to Seattle as that market was growing faster.

I was actually surprised to see the interest in relocating. It is a big move and one we never dealt with before as a single-market company. Those that have moved settled into their new roles and relocated homes quite well. Their movement also created additional opportunities in Portland that would not occurred otherwise.

Originally, our plan was to focus on growth into the Seattle area as well as to consider additional acquisition in both the Seattle and Portland markets. Being picky to only consider acquisition candidates that would fit with our commercial maintenance focus, appropriate candidates in the Northwest did not materialize. Thus in 2023, we decided to expand outside of the Pacific Northwest. Although not in our original strategy, we determined expanding outside the Northwest to find the appropriate companies to partner with became apparent to support our team and partners growth needs.

Final thoughts

Expanding outside the Northwest required expertise with new climates and market dynamics, thus the Osprey Landscape Group was established as a holding company by myself, Elias and Southfield Capital.

With Elias and I seeking to have more freedom in our schedules while maintaining an active role in the company direction, and needing experience operating in the Southwest, Josh Dake was brought to the team as CEO to drive continued growth while honoring the culture and legacy that made Pacific Landscape great.

I appreciated Southfield’s willingness to bring on an industry veteran as that’s not always the case. Equity groups help organizations grow and develop. He has also helped us continue to expand our corporate team with a strong group of industry professionals who match Pacific’s philosophy and culture.