Arteka Founder David Luse Passes Away

Industry veteran David Luse, founder of Arteka Landscaping Co., passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 8. He was 50 years old.

Luse, of Eden Prairie, Minn., recently re-entered the green industry when he and business partner Stewart Hanson bought back Arteka from ValleyCrest Landscape Development in April 2005. The pair also launched Organicare, an organic lawn care franchise operation, in 2003.

BUILDING HIS BUSINESS. As he built Arteka Landscaping Co. through the 1970s and 80s, Luse says it took him several years before he learned the value of working on his business instead of in it. “Like a lot of entrepreneurs, the business revolved around me until I learned the power of delegation and empowerment,” Luse told Lawn & Landscape in an interview in April 2005. “I remember distinctly the long hours and the lack of wanting to let anything go. Delegation was really difficult, as it is for a lot of small business owners. It was finally in 1980 and all the way into the 1990s that I realized how beneficial it was for the company to work as a team rather than just me managing everything.”

Luse said that while professional landscape companies and garden centers in the Minneapolis area 20 years ago were focused on high standards in the residential market, few companies had yet to create the same standards on the commercial side. “Together, we built up the company in service and quality and toward the end of the decade I felt we were going down a road never carved before,” he said.

By the 1990s, Arteka had made great strides in commercial work and began doing high-end residential work as well, focusing on something Luse called “relationship contracting.” The Arteka team was able to increase sales by building on solid relationships formed with existing commercial and residential customers, rather than having to build the business purely through bid contracting.

In 1998, Luse and Hanson took Arteka public along with six other companies as Landcare USA. Luse served on Landcare USA’s board of directors and was corporate development director for the organization. In 1999 Landcare USA was acquired by ServiceMaster’s TruGreen LandCare division. Landcare USA’s construction operations were sold to ValleyCrest Landscape Development in 2001.

ARTEKA COMES FULL CIRCLE. During his green industry hiatus, Luse focused on other business interests, including commercial real estate development. He created and served as principal of commercial real estate development firm Andreas Developments and also initiated a venture capital fund in 1999. The fund allowed Luse to invest in a number of green industry businesses, including the reacquisition his own former company from ValleyCrest.

“It’s unusual to sell a company to a larger organization and then be able to buy it back still in great condition,” Luse said in April 2005. “We built a loyal and dedicated workforce that was customer-driven and that traditionally has been strengthened in the years since we sold the company.”

Just a few months after bringing his former team members – many of whom remained with ValleyCrest for the duration – back together, Arteka was listed on Lawn & Landscape’s 2005 Top 100 List with $11 million in revenue.

AN INVOLVED CITIZEN. In addition to his work with Arteka, Landcare USA and Organicare, Luse was a very involved participant in the green industry nationwide. He joined the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA – now the Professional Landcare Network) in the late 1980s, and credits much of his early success to the values and business concepts he learned through this organization. Additionally, Luse is a past president of the Green Industry Expo board of directors, past chairman of the Exterior Landscape Council of ALCA and a past ALCA board member. In Minnesota, he also was a past chairman of the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association Landscape Contractors Committee.

“There’s love in this industry,” Luse told Lawn & Landscape when asked about his return to Arteka and the green industry last year. “My landscaping experience goes back to high school, but as an adult I realize that the industry just brings some tremendous quality people to it. All businesses are competitive, but I’ve made so many friends in the green industry through associations and other organizations. Real estate development is great fun, but I have 25 years of green in me and I knew as soon as I had the opportunity that I had to come back.”

Luse also believed in community participation outside the industry and on his own time. He was a past member of the Eden Prairie City Council, the Victoria City Council, and a past president of both the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce and the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Luse was also an active member of St. Andrew Lutheran Church. His drive and spirit also led him on mountain-climbing expeditions up Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Ausangate in Peru.

Luse is survived by his wife Julie, children Allison, Kiel and Andrea Luse. He is also survived by mother Marlene Barclay of Mesa, Ariz.; father, Roy Luse of Chanhassen; brothers, Tom Luse of Eagan, Scott Luse of Wayzata, and sister, Cheri Thompson of Eden Prairie; stepsisters, stepbrothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.

The Professional Landcare Network has made a donation to the ALCA Educational Foundation in Luse’s name.