When Alex Fransen talks to potential clients, he hears the same thing.

“We want it all,” says Fransen, president of Derby City Pools and Outdoor Living in Louisville, Ky. “They’re saying, ‘If we can’t go anywhere, we want it in our backyard — the water, fire, kitchen, pool.’”

In particular, fire features are a growing ask from homeowners who appreciate the idea of gathering around the crackling flames, staying warm on cool evenings, even roasting some marshmallows. Fransen says there is an opportunity at every residential site and many commercial properties to offer fire features as a part of a design.

Peter Muroski, president of Native Landscapes in Pawling, N.Y., is also fielding more calls than ever for lifestyle amenities like fire pits, outdoor fireplaces and custom structures that incorporate a grill top.

Ambiance is a key selling point. But safety is a major consideration when designing and installing fire features — and when educating clients about how to use them properly. Whether you’ve built some fire pits or are installing custom-designed fire features that are as “smart” and connected as other wireless aspects of a home, here are some trends and safety measures to consider.

On-Trend Fire Features.

You’ve got the old-fashioned campfire with natural wood — cue up some sticks the kids gathered in the yard to act as hotdog skewers. Fireside stories, lazy nights, making memories: Fire brings a cozy-hearth feel to a backyard living area. Now more than ever, we’re looking for warmth and comfort. Fire also adds a sense of spirit and energy.

Fransen has found where there’s fire, clients also want water. His pool business is booming, as is the case across the country. The timber-and-glow aesthetic is a complement. “We do a lot of fire features next to pools,” he says. “We might have water coming out of the front with a sheer descent with a fire feature on top — and we even do these fire-water bowls next to pools. That’s a nice bowl of brass, copper or stone with water that spills back into the pool and fire comes out of the top.”

Another designer detail that upgrades the good, ‘ole fire pit is fire glass.

“Fire glass is another media that you put in your fire pan, so it’s like lava rock with colored glasses,” he says.

Gas vs. natural wood? The jury’s out. For Fransen, more clients are going for the gas-powered, electronic-ignition features that can be controlled by a remote or a smartphone app because it burns clean, is easy-care and minimizes exhaust.

“I’m a natural wood guy and we have wood-burning fireplaces in our house, but in our backyard, we have a fire pit with gas — and the reason why is convenience,” Fransen says, adding that the clients he serves generally hire a pool and lawn service. “They’re not going to go out there, clean ashes and restock it with wood.”

Since the purpose of an outdoor living space with a fire feature is to enjoy it, reducing the dirty work makes sense for many homeowners.

In Muroski’s area, where many residences have larger lots and room to breathe, there’s a demand for natural wood and a campfire feel. In fact, that’s what Muroski looks forward to during the holidays. Fire features can be a year-round backyard attraction. “It’s a tradition around my house that we go out there, even if there is snow, we start a fire in the fire pit, and we sit around and sing Christmas carols,” he says.

Before You Build.

The abundance of fire pits and gas-powered fire bowls available in the big-box world make adding this feature to a landscape seem like a plug-and-play situation. But the reality is, you’re dealing with fire and potentially installing gas lines. There are structures, plants, children and personal property to consider before you break ground. Fire features are a growing aspect of outdoor living — and an attractive one. Here’s what to know:

Study the Permit Policy: Fire features come with added regulatory and safety guidelines because there are risks involved if a fire pit or fireplace is improperly installed or used. Before designing and building fire features, do your homework and get a solid grip on what is required to achieve a permit. Otherwise, it’s back to the drawing board — not to mention, a frustrated client and a project delay.

And remember, different cities and counties can have varying fire codes for outdoor campfires, fire pits and other fire-burning features. Beyond fire codes, gas-powered fire elements involve plumbing lines, and there are codes for those, too. “If you’re having an open pit and burning wood, I call the fire chief and tell him, ‘Here’s what we are doing — what are the requirements?’” Fransen says. “They can send someone out to take a look at the plans and the site and give you the information you need.”

“You don’t want to create a situation where smoke or hot coals blow toward a neighbor’s house.” Peter Muroski, president of Native Landscapes

Assure Ventilation: A common mistake when installing fire features is overlooking the burn type and how the vessel is vented. For example, natural gas tends to sink, and liquid propane tends to rise, Fransen says. “If it’s liquid propane and you put the vents down low instead of high, (the exhaust) can’t get out of the fire pit,” he explains. On the other hand, if vents are too high in a pit with natural gas, “you can create a bomb because it will trap the gas and it can’t get out of the fire pit.”

Overall, gas- and natural wood-burning fire pit pans have specific directions for installation. Read them. “Otherwise, you could end up pulling it apart later after you find out it’s not venting correctly,” Fransen says, a lesson he learned the hard way. “Air flow is critical and keeps it safe.”

Mind Your Materials: Not all stone and brick are created equal or adequate for lining fire features. Muroski reminds industry peers who are new to fire feature design and construction to use fire brick. “Natural stone, especially layered stone like sedimentary rock, can pop,” Muroski says. “And, that hot, molten rock can hit a house and be dangerous.”

Remember the Neighbors: “If houses are packed together tightly, you want to stay away from wood-burning fire pits or fireplaces and go with a gas option because there is less smoke with those structures,” Muroski says. “You don’t want to create a situation where smoke or hot coals blow toward a neighbor’s house.”

Protect Trees and Plants: Look up. Is the site where a client desires a fire feature shaded by mature, overhanging branches brimming with foliage? Fire can damage a tree canopy and nearby plants if the site lacks proper ventilation or is simply too close to landscaping. “Make sure you are not creating heat stress around trees,” Muroski says.

Environmental Considerations: Remind clients that drought conditions and natural, wood-burning fires often do not mix. “For instance, we’ve had a dry summer and you want to be extra careful with fire when the ground and everything around it is parched,” Muroski says. Advise homeowners that cities or counties might put a burn ban in place. This is for the health and safety of everyone in the community. Suggest calling the local fire department if a client is uncertain about the status.

Automate with Caution: Entire outdoor living spaces are automated now and can be controlled with a smartphone, from pool heating elements to landscape lighting and sound systems. You can turn on water features with an app. And the same is true with electric-ignition, gas-burning fire features. But Fransen chooses not to automate fire, and he explains why to clients. “Say you’re out to dinner at a restaurant across town and you do not have that line of sight to your fire pit,” he says. “Meanwhile, baby brother is home with a sitter and sitting next to the fire feature. You accidentally push the button on your phone while it’s in your pocket and it turns on.”

“If you’re having an open pit and burning wood, I call the fire chief and tell him, ‘Here’s what we’re doing — what are the requirements?’” Alex Fransen, president of Derby City Pools and Outdoor Living

Case in point: You could accidentally play with fire with an app-mishap or accidental pushing of a button. “I don’t want to take the chance of automating that feature to where you can’t see it, but you can turn it on,” Fransen says.

Fire features do have a proceed-with-caution aspect to them. But they are in high demand, and a memory-making highlight of many backyards.

As Muroski says, “Have fun. Fire structures can be a wonderful addition to the outdoor environment.”

Don’t Get Burned—A Play It Safe Playlist 

It never hurts to provide clients asking for a natural, wood-burning fire feature to have a fact sheet as a resource to educate their family and friends. As their trusted landscape professional, you can have the conversation in person or create a tip sheet to complement projects that involve burning wood, natural gas or propane. Specifically, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers these tips for backyard, recreational fires. 

• Burn seasoned dry wood that burns hotter and cleaner.
• Get a moisture meter to check your firewood. Moisture content should be about 20%.
• Cover stacked wood, but allow some airflow.
• If there's an air quality alert day or burn alert, do not use your fire pit.
• Do not burn green wood, construction waste, plastic, garbage or yard waste because the smoke can be toxic.
• If you live in an area where forest and brush fires are a concern, take care to abide by local warning.

Learn more at epa.gov/burnwise/backyard-recreational-fires.

“Crazy ideas” is embossed on the cover of several journals on Pam Dooley’s home office desk in the lakefront community of Blue Ridge, Ga. The pages are filled with notes-to-self, reflections, remarks related to books she’s read and — of course — crazy ideas. Also on the desk is a stuffed lion slightly larger than the size of a coffee cup.

“I’m a Leo,” explains Dooley, owner of Plants Creative Landscapes, a residential design, build and maintenance firm based in Decatur, now with a branch in Blue Ridge since Dooley and her partner, Michelle Nelson, made a fulltime move to their weekend retreat.

“Lions symbolize courage, determination, pride, strength, wisdom and loyalty — six significant traits in my life in leadership,” Dooley explains of the gift from Nelson. “When I’m at my best, I’m a fierce lioness.”

Perhaps Dooley’s competitive spirit is rooted in her growing up years as a competitive volleyball player where she grew up in Gas City, Ind. She worked summers at a local garden center — and eventually accepted a college scholarship from the University of Georgia that brought her south. Her nickname on the court: Plants.

When the Olympics came to Atlanta in 1996, Dooley helped install and maintain the interiorscaping at the athlete’s welcome center. “I was always pulled back to horticulture,” says Dooley, sharing how working at the garden center felt “authentic.” Out of college, she accepted a position at a South Carolina nursery, Happy Plants, in Easley.

“I love creating, I love life,” she says. “I love flowers and helping people design their spaces. I’m creative and visual, and I love being able to help people see what they don’t see — helping them envision a space and getting to know what really matters the most to them.”

She also likes to push boundaries, whether it’s shifting maintenance to robotic-mowers-only or opening a new branch during the pandemic.

Christy Geiger, executive leadership coach at Synergy Strategies, says Dooley is always “learning and upgrading,” and their first call together when Dooley reached out about coaching revealed a mission-driven personality. “Yet, she is very human-centric and compassionate, real and approachable,” Geiger says, remarking that the journals she keeps — and usually writes in well before the sun rises — are evidence of a thinking, introverted side that might surprise those who know her in the industry. “It might seem like she is gregarious as such a strong leader, but she needs her time to think, process and fuel,” Geiger says.

Plants is her name, and creative is how Dooley makes a marked impact on her team, clients’ properties and the industry as a whole. Geiger says, “She develops community wherever she goes.”

Planting a Seed

Dooley opened Plants Creative in 2005 after spending time working at a commercial landscape maintenance firm in Tucker, Ga. There, she was responsible for overseeing homeowner’s associations accounts that included spaces like entrances and common areas, and large spans of turf on industrial properties.

Her favorite part was working with the customers. “I had a very strong knowledge of plants, but knew nothing about turf or irrigation,” she says, sharing how the learning experience showed her that her passion simply wasn’t commercial maintenance. “Spaces for people are intimate and unique,” she says.

Plants Creative is purely residential for this reason. The early days were centered on maintenance, as Dooley built the business one account at a time. “I called our Realtor and asked if he’d let me mow his lawn, and would he pay me $35 to do it,” Dooley says. He’d overpay Dooley and self-fund cleanup certificates for closing packets that allowed Dooley to get her foot in the door with new homeowners.

In 2008, he called Dooley and said, “I found your next location. Bring your checkbook and meet me.”

Dooley’s reply? “I’m not looking.”

But she did anyway, trusting his instinct on a commercial property. She went under contract that day and moved on to build the Plants Creative headquarters from scratch from 2008 to 2011. It’s a proud career milestone for Dooley. “And it was during a time when banks were collapsing, so I had to go through the [financing] process three times because the first two banks went out of business during the recession,” she says.

During that time, after joining a peer group, she dove head-first into budgeting and forecasting, benchmarking and accountability. “Just to show up prepared for that group, there were a lot of lessons learned,” she says, adding that a valuable side benefit was the travel. “I love the blend of working and playing. And that’s what I enjoy about the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) trips and Leadership Forum. It’s time to connect to the industry — and I love experiences and to get into the culture and find non-chain places to hang out.”

As a current board member of NALP, serving the industry organization is about “what I can learn and what I can give, what I can continue,” Dooley says. “I’m just so passionate about the professionalism and opportunities in our industry.”

Opportunities are what Dooley intuitively seeks. So, in 2017 when a property became available two miles from Plants Creative’s main shop, she jumped on it as a way to expand. She sold “her baby”— the original headquarters she constructed from scratch — which showed her people that she was serious about growing and changing.

“I’m creative and visual, and I love being able to help people see what they don’t see — helping them envision a space and getting to know what really matters the most to them.” Pam Dooley, owner of Plants Creative

In fall 2020, she executed on another key business decision — the last during a recession, and this one during a pandemic. “We found two acres of commercial property in Blue Ridge, which we built up as a branch because we want to continue expanding across Georgia,” Dooley says.

Mary Kay Woodworth, executive director, Georgia Urban Agriculture Council, calls Dooley a visionary. “She is always thinking a year or two or five ahead of where we are in the lifecycle as an industry,” Woodworth says.

Always Innovating

A prime example of Dooley’s trailblazing nature is her move toward robotic mowers. Woodworth happened to be one of first clients to have autonomous mowing. “As an industry, we have huge labor issues and she was one of the first in our market to introduce auto-mowers,” Woodworth relates. “She shared her vision of what she was thinking and how they would help homeowners with their lawns.”

Dooley says, “I’ve always looked outside of the box in how I want Plants to be, how we want to serve customers, and I have always challenged the boundaries — and it’s not even intentional, it’s just how I’m wired.”

However, her moves are focused and strategic. With the robotic mowers, Dooley recognized that they would be attractive to the next generation of employees who are tech-savvy. Plus, they are more sustainable.

But when rolling out the service, there was no model for how to price robotic mowing. Plants Creative structured robotic mowing as a “must” for maintenance clients who want less than a weekly service.

Dooley recognizes that auto mowers don’t work on every property, mainly those with obstructions or terraces. “Then, we sell a weekly visit, and we will support that with battery-powered push mowers and offer a bit more than the auto mowers there,” she says. “But we are now getting to the point where we are not buying gas-powered mowers.”

Dooley surrounds herself with people who are just as interested in leveling up, Geiger says. “Pam does not get stale or stagnant, and she holds herself and her team to a high standard,” she says. “She pushes them to their highest potential, but she is real and personable with them.”

Dooley says, “It’s really about the people. And it’s about impact. I am passionate about helping people accomplish their goals, and a way for them to do that is how I lead them and help them grow.”

In fact, Dooley’s ongoing evolution is now centered in her new hometown at Blue Ridge, where she says she’s back in startup mode with the Plants Creative branch. She’s selling, managing production, scheduling, handling business development. It’s like when she started the company. But it’s different because she’s coming at it after 16 years of innovating the Plants Creative brand.

She’s keeping it simple. “We offer three options in our property care division — that’s it, and we are reminded to stay focused and provide the services we know we will grow into the future.

Clarity comes with experience.

“I’m growing myself along the way,” Dooley says. She’s anticipating a wedding next year when she and Nelson, her partner of 19 years, will get married. And she looks forward to weekends on the lake boating, spending time with friends and family. “I like to float, swim and listen to music,” she says, revealing the work-hard-play-hard mentality that her coach, Geiger, appreciates about her.

Ultimately, Dooley just wants to make dreams come true. She says, “That’s what inspires me.”

Dressing up was never a problem for Tony Nasrallah.

From a full suit for Sunday church to the ties he wore for every school picture between kindergarten and high school, Nasrallah says he saw the value in looking good early on in life. So, when he started his company, Ground Works Land Design, in 2009, he immediately implemented uniforms that have evolved from a basic T-shirt to slick polos and button-down shirts.

When he brings new potential hires into his office in Cleveland, Nasrallah stresses the importance of a first impression. Fair or not, he says people follow the cliché of judging books by their covers — and those impressions stick for time to come.

“Years later, I’d see teachers who said I looked sharp wearing my shirt and ties,” he says. “I believe when you look good, you feel good, you act good.”

Today, Ground Works doesn’t simply hand its employees a T-shirt and call it a day with their uniforms: Their set of apparel is sophisticated, as they have partnerships with L.L. Bean and Adidas and have uniforms with primary and secondary colors. They even design T-shirts with local artists for employees to wear on weekends or when they’re off the clock, or for big company events like their annual cookout.

“We’ve always kind of approached the industry with a different eye,” said Joseph Stark, the company’s marketing director. “Tony wasn’t grandfathered into the industry or anything like that, so he had no preexisting ideas of a red truck landscaping perception or anything like that, so we were able to do it our own way.”

BUCKING THE TREND.

Nasrallah says Ground Works aims for clients who will pay big money for landscaping, so it’s important to dress the part. Showing up in ratty T-shirts and ripped jeans to bid on jobs won’t get you any work, he says. He also says landscapers are not only bidding against other companies in the industry, but the industry stigmas themselves. There’s this prevailing idea that landscaping is a dirty job done by slobs, he says, and he wants to help buck that trend.

“I want to bring class to this industry. People look down on landscapers,” he says. “When you go to high-end restaurants, people are wearing bow ties. Those are the type of clients that we want. We want people who are going to appreciate and respect landscapers who are dressed well.”

To pull it off, the Ground Works team budgeted somewhere between $10,000 and $12,000 for new uniforms. Stark admits the investment is large, but he says they’ve valued the uniforms greatly enough to justify the expenditure.

Bill Smith, a branch manager at Grassmaster Plus in Massachusetts, acknowledges landscaping is a dirty job. They provide their employees six T-shirts on rotation, so they have a clean shirt to wear each day they work, while giving them the opportunity to wash the clothes on Sundays. In total, it costs them about $2,000 annually.

“You open up your closet and you see your work stuff and the stuff you’re going to wear on the weekend. Why can’t we intersect the two things and be really proud of (your company)?” Joseph Stark, marketing director, Ground Works Land Design

“It’s not a business that you stay clean in, but if you start the day clean… the attitude of the technician is better,” he says. “They identify with the colors, with the uniform itself. And customers have a higher comfort level because they see the truck pull up and the guy get out in full uniform as opposed to the ripped jeans, the hood up, etc.”

Smith estimates Grassmaster does 80% commercial work, so he also reiterates the importance of appearance. In some cases, they actually need to follow state guidelines with their uniforms, as technicians handling chemicals need to wear long sleeves. They wear a moisture-wicking pullover with the logo placed on the breast and on the back, plus some dark green hoodies with the logo on the front and back as well.

When his employees show up for work in the morning, Smith says there’s “definitely a look” he gives them, glancing over each to ensure the uniform is straightened out and looks sharp.

“I look at every employee as they come in,” he says. “They’re not allowed to go out without a belt. They have to have the hat on straight forward. There’s no cutting sleeves or opening up the necklines. (The uniform) has to be as given to them.”

For Smith, it all ties into Nasrallah’s principle belief: If you feel good, you’ll act good, which means the clients will pay good. This year, the average project earned $160,000 at Ground Works, and Nasrallah says part of it had to do with the company’s appearance.

“We want people to look at us as professionals, treat us like professionals and pay us like professionals,” Nasrallah says.

A SEAMLESS START.

Rachel Kukhahn has owned her company, Premier Landcare in the state of Washington, for just over two years, but at previous companies, uniforms were important there, too. She doesn’t want any clients wondering who’s creeping around on their porch or standing in their yards – uniforms bring a sense of identity for the employees.

“I like the clean look of it,” she says. “I like that all of my guys are identifiable on site.”

Kukhahn says she’s a small enough company that she can afford to pay for all of her team’s uniforms, which includes five shirts, five pairs of pants, a hat and a coat. Meanwhile, Nasrallah provides all of their team’s uniforms as well, and he says it costs more to recruit and retain employees than it would be buying uniforms, so he wants to keep all of his roughly 25 employees happy. Smith says he purchases all but the pants for the employees.

“It’s not a business that you stay clean in, but if you start the day clean… the attitude of the technician is better.” Bill Smith, branch manager, Grassmaster Plus in Massachusetts

Smith adds that he understands why some companies have their employees purchase their own uniforms – it can bring an emphasis on keeping those uniforms spotless, for example. But he wants to ensure starting at his company is as seamless as possible.

“It’s no money out of their pocket. A lot of times when we get a new hire and they’re starting on the entry level, they may not have the cash to go out and buy something that we’re pretty much dictating what they’re going to be able to get,” Smith says. “It takes some pressure off of them. They view it as a benefit.”

Replacing the uniforms is something else employers need to consider, as the uniforms go through plenty of wear and tear out in the field. Smith says it’s pretty common that he’ll walk past an employee, take off his beat-up, worn hat, and hand him a new one. Kukhahn says even sun exposure is something to consider, as she replaces a T-shirt or two each year from each employee because the sun washes out their “Seahawks-ish” colors of dark blue and green.

But she doesn’t let ripping uniforms become a reason why employees don’t wear them. She says she’s had to talk with her employees several times over the last two years about making sure the uniform looks good before they head out into the field.

“Trying to enforce the uniform is a challenge at times as well,” Kukhahn says. “I’ve heard a lot of excuses as to why they didn’t wear their uniforms, like the buttons fell off all of his pants, or the seams ripped out of all of his pants. It just gets creative. You name it, it’s been used.”

TAKING IT PERSONALLY.

Stark says uniforms have always been important at Ground Works, but now that they’ve implemented the marketing department, they can make it a focus. He’s been on the staff for less than a year, but he’s noticed in previous pictures that the company has made uniforms a “walking advertisement” for several years prior.

“You open up your closet and you see your work stuff and the stuff you’re going to wear on the weekend,” he says. “Why can’t we intersect the two things and be really proud of (your company)? It comes from this idea of blending work and play.”

Nasrallah says uniforms matter so much to him and the Ground Works team because they take it personally – in a good way.

“They’re representing Ground Works when they’re out there, and their representation is a reflection of who I am and the company culture,” Nasrallah says.

For Smith, uniforms are also about having his team buy in to the company culture. It’s somewhat like an athlete wearing his or her team’s uniform for the first time: Though it’s probably a little less exciting than that, it is fulfilling, especially when the employees are proud to don that company apparel.

“I think when we present that as part of our interview that we supply the uniforms, there’s not a big reaction at the interview process,” Smith says. “Once they’re in and we hand them their uniforms though, it just makes you feel like you’re part of the team.”

As owner and president of DeSantis Landscapes, headquartered in Salem, Oregon, Dean DeSantis believes his company’s success is fueled by teamwork.

“I am not a horticulturalist by training — my dad was that guy,” says DeSantis, who took over the family business in 2006 after earning degrees in business from the University of Oregon and intercultural relations from Lesley University.

“I really come at it from more of a business standpoint. And because I’m not the subject matter expert, I have to rely on others around me. So, our emphasis on team building — building a community of professionals here — has helped us thrive.”

Embracing His Family Calling

As a young boy, DeSantis would often ride along to jobsites with his father, Tony DeSantis, who founded the company in 1974. In high school and college, he spent summers working routes in the landscape maintenance division.

Even so, it wasn’t always clear that the younger DeSantis would eventually take over the business.

After college, Dean DeSantis traveled to Japan, where he taught English to students in Tokyo. After that, he backpacked around the world for a year. Then, in 1992, he joined the Peace Corps, where his volunteer experience — helping construct an irrigation system to give three small Ecuadorian villages their first access to running water — deeply impacted him and helped forge his views on the power of teamwork.

“It was really hard work. We were out there digging ditches and laying pipe with members of these communities,” he says. “But getting to help bring a life-changing resource, running water, to those villages felt really good.”

Inspired by another key takeaway from his Peace Corps years — that, in his words, “there's a lot of commonality in what makes us all tick” — DeSantis pursued a graduate degree in intercultural relations and worked for the U.S. Department of Education training young AmeriCorps volunteers across the country for several years.

But, shortly after, he and his wife had twins in 2000 — a boy and a girl. He began to look for a career that could offer less time on the road and a better work-life balance. In 2002, with encouragement from his father, DeSantis returned to work at the family business before purchasing it from his dad in 2006.

His path to leadership in the landscape industry may be different than most, but DeSantis wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I think one of the unique things that I bring to the industry now is my education background and training,” he says.

Charting a New Path

Since taking the helm of DeSantis Landscapes, Dean DeSantis has helped the company increase its revenue by 500%, growing its service sector beyond Salem to include the entire Salem-Portland-Vancouver corridor.

While Tony DeSantis began the company with a focus on residential design/build projects, Dean DeSantis has focused on developing a commercial client base.

“We do far less residential work today than ever before, and we are also more heavily involved in commercial bid build work on the construction side, as well as commercial maintenance,” he says.

As president, DeSantis makes it a point to rotate between his company’s three offices — the headquarters in Salem plus branch offices in Sherwood and Portland — to encourage close communication among his leadership teams and to maintain face-to-face relationships with the company’s key commercial clients.

DeSantis’s commitment to maintaining a client-focused service approach is evident to those who work with him.

“In a world where many of the services we receive have become largely transactional, DeSantis Landscapes and their team absolutely stand out as people that want to do more than just landscape. They want to build relationships, they want to build beauty, and they want to build sustainably,” says Paul Schulz of Portland-based Pence Construction, a frequent DeSantis client.

As he’s taken the company in new directions, DeSantis has repeatedly found inspiration and assistance through his active involvement in executive peer groups. Some of the groups are made up of fellow lawn and landscape executives and others that draw on a diverse community of Oregon business leaders from other sectors.

“It’s maybe a little surprising — or perhaps not surprising — to discover that the challenges that a software company has to face are not all that different from the challenges that a landscape company faces. Business is business,” DeSantis says. “To just be able to sit down and share challenges and successes with other business leaders — both in our industry and outside our industry — has been invaluable to me over the years.”

A Team-Centered Approach

At DeSantis Landscapes, employees feel free to share their opinions and ideas openly. When DeSantis says he values a team-centered approach to decision making, he really means it.

“I’m more of a listener than a talker,” he says. “I want to get opinions from people and be more collaborative in the decision-making process. I'm not particularly driven by my vision or my goal, but rather what can we do or where can we go as a group.”

“We have a very collaborative atmosphere here,” says Laura House, the company’s Portland regional manager. “Dean engages with team members actively, and every employee in the company feels they can approach him with questions or suggestions at any time, if they need to.”

In addition to this culture of teamwork and open dialogue, DeSantis is also committed to prioritizing workplace training and internal upward mobility within the company. As a result, DeSantis Landscapes has had tremendous success in elevating young, talented employees to leadership positions across its divisions.

In particular, the company is known for having a workplace where female employees feel valued and welcomed. The company’s two regional managers — who oversee the company’s entire revenue-driving maintenance portfolio — are women. Its plant procurement and quality control officers are women, too. Key operations in the company’s residential design group, human resources and accounting departments are also led by women.

“I would say my biggest success has been in bringing in people that are smarter than me and more talented than me in different areas who work well together,” says DeSantis.

“Historically, we’ve been a very male-dominated industry,” he adds. “So, it’s been important for us to promote women and minorities to positions of leadership within our company. They have so much to contribute to our industry.”

Steward for the Environment

DeSantis Landscapes has also been a leader in environmental stewardship since its founding.

DeSantis, himself an avid outdoorsman and environmentalist, says, “Sustainability is something that has been near and dear to our hearts as a company since day one.”

The company works with its clients to prioritize and adopt key environmental innovations, including stormwater management techniques. They also take steps to reduce excessive reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

“Our goal is always to be as effective and responsible as possible in our designs, using the most earth-friendly products possible,” DeSantis says.

Water management, too, has long been a focus for DeSantis and his team, from promoting native and drought-tolerant plants to embracing smart technology.

“We’re always looking for ways to reduce the amount of water that we use on properties,” he says. “We’re always asking, ‘How can we reduce water waste with irrigation systems using smart controllers and just better technology?’”

For the immediate future, DeSantis plans to keep fostering a team-centered approach that prioritizes client satisfaction and environmental sustainability.

“One of the objectives of our mission statement is just to continually improve ourselves and our company,” he says. “So, that will remain our focus — to continue to fine tune what we do best.”