Branching Out

Bob Grover's competitors probably thought he was crazy when he opened a satellite office in Vancouver, Wash., not far from his Hillsboro, Ore., headquarters. After all, it had been only one year since he started Pacific Landscape Management.

 "There are larger companies that have been in one location in Portland for 15 to 20 years and serve the whole metro area," he noted. "But this was the environment I grew up with and lived with. We were always close to our properties."

The conditioning Grover speaks of his is experience at Northwest Landscape Industries, a $15-million Portland landscape firm that was acquired by TruGreen in 1998. Grover worked for the organization for 15 years before the deal and remained on board at TruGreen for more than two years as its regional manager for Oregon and Washington. When he started Pacific Landscape in 2001, he knew he wanted to be close to his customers, and a satellite office was the answer to client growth and efficiency.

"A satellite office impacts your cost structure because you have people sitting in a truck not performing work when they spend too much time traveling," he explained. "It also impacts your ability to service people. If we have an appointment with someone in Vancouver that's one hour from Hillsboro, it means we have to work our whole day around that. Or, if there is an emergency on a Friday when the traffic is bad, that travel time makes a big difference. Having a closer presence means it's a lot easier to meet with the customer."

This means a lot to Grover's clients - and a lot to him, as well. Service is the company's buzzword. However, he realized that when he set up the new office this year he would sacrifice some control over the operation. He turned over the Vancouver operation to a long-time colleague from Northwest and trusted him to run that office. "You can only grow so much if the company is controlled by one or two people," he reasoned.

For now, the Hillsboro office shares its mechanic and irrigation specialist with the Vancouver location, and two of the eight maintenance crews are dedicated to the new area, Grover said. However, as the company grows and reaches the $1.5-million mark, he expects to hire specialized employees for the regional office - and maybe start another satellite on the other side of town. "In a five-year timeframe, I'd like to develop the Vancouver satellite and there is a third area of town that is far away from both branches," he identified. "Portland is an ideal city to have three branch operations to be really close to your customer. That will be the next step."

The author is Managing Editor - Special Projects for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at khampshire@lawnandlandscape.com.