Serving as the contractor for commercial and municipal maintenance accounts has extended new business breaks for Esch Landscaping in Pigeon, Mich. “We saw an opportunity in our marketplace for a quality contractor focusing on light commercial and residential asphalt, so we put together an experienced team,” says owner Matt Esch, relating that the firm started the division in 2008 as a complement to its other divisions: maintenance and design/build.
“We do a lot of site work within our landscapes with grading and infrastructure drainage, so [asphalt] is comparable,” Esch says, adding that the service does require skills to perform a quality job.
That’s why he recruited team members from the asphalt industry before opening his own division. As for the start-up requirements for asphalt, the company had most of the support equipment, Esch says. “The biggest thing was acquiring a paver and the rollers,” he says.
Today, asphalt is about 30 percent of the business. The team works on the landscaping crews in early spring, since summer is prime asphalt time, then shifts to asphalt work when the schedule fills up. “We don’t pave every day throughout the summer, so when the crew is grading [a property to prepare for asphalt] and we need fewer guys, some team members are over on the landscaping jobs,” Esch says.
For clients, providing asphalt services allows them to stay with Esch for their outdoor needs. And, for the company, this add-on diversifies a business otherwise dominated by high-end design/build.
Hiring adaptable, skilled employees has been critical to the division’s success, Esch says. “It definitely takes unique skills to do a quality job, and we found the guys that enjoy doing it.”