Change of Venue at Del Vacchio Landscapes

In 2002, to add to his company’s 50/50 installation and maintenance service mix, Vince Del Vacchio, president, Del Vacchio Landscapes, Doylestown, Pa., purchased a holiday lighting franchise, which his wife Kathy currently oversees. In addition to holiday lighting, Del Vacchio Landscapes also moved into the low-voltage lighting in 2002 to offer yet another service to their clients. Though this profit center is only 5 to 10 percent of the company’s revenue right now, some growth is planned.

“We’re looking to grow the lighting side of the business – both Christmas and low-voltage – because they both have a lot of potential,” Del Vacchio says. “We’re going to keep the maintenance side and installation divisions the same instead of growing them greatly.” Because Del Vacchio Landscapes has a good deal of crossover clients – mostly residential – who request certain services and buy into other landscaping opportunities later, the company has a solid customer base from which they can acquire new business. Still, some advertising is on the 2004 agenda.

“We’ll probably do a little bit more advertising next year, just to get our name out a bit,” Del Vacchio says. “We don’t necessarily try to get more business from our clients as much as we try to get more business through them in terms of referrals and recommendations.” The company also “butterflies” the areas around existing projects by leaving four-color door hangers on neighbors’ doors along with “excuse the mess” letters to encourage neighbors to check out the company’s work on nearby properties. “We’ve gotten a good bit of work from that and it’s nice because they can already see what we’ve done,” he adds.

Though Del Vacchio hasn’t determined the exact cost yet, one goal he plans to reach as a result of increased sales is earning the money to purchase a new facility rather than continue renting.

Right now, we rent a location and we’re looking to purchase some land where we can have a nice complex that clients can visit,” Del Vacchio comments. “We’ll need to grow a little in order to buy the kind of property we want, but by purchasing a space we’ll have more freedom on the property to do what we want. Right now, we really can’t advertise our business and we’d like a place where we can have a nice sign and a sales office, a conference room – a place where we can be proud to have clients come over.” Del Vacchio adds that, while purchasing a site will be more expensive than renting, owning the property is the biggest reward.

Del Vacchio expects to meet this goal in the next three years and plans to grow the company by about 5 to 10 percent a year to get there. The smaller growth will allow the company to meet their goals and be more selective in the segments they choose to expand. “We like the size that we are because it allows us to maintain the kind of quality that we like and we can focus on that instead of on quantity,” he comments. “This is our 15th year in business and we’re at the point where we’re not out there working for volume. The work is coming to us now and we’re able to be selective with the projects we choose and who we work for.”

The author is Assistant Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at lspiers@lawnandlandscape.com.