Game plan for lawn care season

Founder David Patton and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Bonehave spent the last three years growing Pure Turf in Nashville without any acquisitions. Instead, they’ve focused on getting the little details down just right, and they’ve done it to the tune of $6 million in revenue this year.

“We really did it by doing everything well,” Bone says. “We’ve still got our problems – everybody does – but we’re fine-tuning all of our processes and we’re learning a lot.”

Bone says Pure Turf, which specializes in lawn fertilization and weed control, has always leveraged early order programs to earn back some savings. But now that the company has been more intentional with its long-term projections, Bone says the company has been maximizing its savings.

“Now that we've got some 12-month plans, 24-month plans, 36-month plans, it's a lot easier for us to buy that material,” he says. “(We) know that we're either going to use it next year or, if we've got any carryover, it can obviously float into the next year.”

Planning for the future becomes especially important with tariffs in mind: Chemical products are expected to rise in price, though Bone says the Pure Turf team hasn’t seen it much yet. While some products go up in cost, others are dipping.

“We’ve seen some savings on some other materials as they've went from branded to generic products,” Bone says. “We do try to buy things in totes so that we don't buy the smaller quantities. We can get larger quantities for a little bit better pricing. (Still), I haven't seen too many price influxes in certain things minus dry fertilizer.

“We've priced all of our products and materials and services to really compensate for any large gaps in pricing and things like that,” Bone adds.

Buying in bulk has its possible disadvantages. Bone says Pure Turf is near capacity at its current company size for storing materials, so he suggests that businesses do what they’ve done – build relationships with vendors so they’ll hang on to the materials for you.

“Honestly, a lot of them will work with us and they'll allow us to do bulk orders and then they'll just store it and house it in their warehouse and then they'll bring it over to us as needed. We are in central Nashville metro, so we're right there by the interstates. People can get to us really easily,” Bone says. “(Our vendors) are kind of holding the rent for it, and then they're just bringing it into us as we need it.”

Bone says it’s important for companies to build relationships with their vendors. This way, they know how your business operates and the way it ebbs and flows throughout a season. “(Our vendor) knows our problems – he knows the good side of our business, the bad side of our business,” Bone adds.

It also helps to have a trusted vendor who can help you understand the early order program system and how it works. Bone says looking at a three-ring binder with 200 pages of information can be intimidating, especially since there’s an underlying understanding that they’re trying to sell you their products.

It’s best to go into vendor conversations with a clear understanding of your company’s game plan. Will lawn care technicians need to spray more pre-emergent or post-emergent product throughout the year? Will they deal with insecticides and fungicides? What does the historical data show, and how much more would you need to grow your revenue for the following year?

“(Create) a relationship with a sales rep that's going to help you build that out so that you can bolster the most savings between each of your products,” Bone says. “Bundle things together so that you can ensure that you're going to get what you need when you need it.”