Grass is Green for 22-Year-Old Entrepreneur

MUSKEGON, Mich. -- Success has come step by step for native Spring Lake entrepreneur Jim Boeve II.

The 22-year-old owner of Hoover's Hauling and GreenWave HydroSeeding began his business career in high school constructing backyard ponds and waterfalls. Boeve perfected that skill and started building ponds for hire his senior year. But creating them meant hauling the resulting debris.

"I needed a dump truck," he said. "I was hauling rocks all the time with an old pickup truck and a trailer. One day, I was going down the highway, and the transmission blew. I needed something that could withstand the daily demands."

That resulted in the purchase of a 5-yard, single-axle dump truck and the beginning of Hoover's Hauling.

"I realized that in my spare time, I could haul stuff like mulch and landscape supplies for other people," said Boeve, Spring Lake High School freshman girls basketball coach.

Hauling replaced pond and waterfall construction about two years ago.

"I left them behind, the economy being what it is," he said. "I moved to something people always need."

He still gets calls for the waterworks but is too busy for that demanding job. "I did everything by hand," he said.

When he was hauling, clients kept asking what he would recommend for planting or fixing their lawns.

"They would ask 'Should I seed it or should I sod it?' " Boeve said. "People were asking all the time, so I'd say 'Call this landscaper and have him hydroseed for you.' "

Hydroseeding is a process where seed, mulch, fertilizer and organic glue are mixed together and sprayed on soil to create grass.

"After 35 to 40 times of referring someone else, I thought, 'I could do this. There's a market here.' I researched for a couple of months about hydroseeding and what I needed to get," he said. "I found a brand-new machine, and that's basically how I started."

GreenWave HydroSeeding officially began business in August 2003.

Technically, what GreenWave does is called hydromulching, he added.

"It has a thick fiber mulch. The application also is thicker, meaning it'll hold more moisture and have less risk of washing out."

Boeve's biggest hydroseeding project so far was re-vegetating 77,000 square feet of the Muskegon County Landfill. The job required 650 pounds of custom blended seed and more than 2.5 tons of hydromulch. The Wisconsin-based engineering firm doing the landfill project was in a pinch to get it seeded, he said, and contacted him to find out when he could do it.

"I ordered a whole semi-load of stuff, and we did it that weekend," Boeve said. "We did it for them in a hurry, and it turned out perfect."

While a lot of landscapers offer hydroseeding among services, Boeve's is the only company specializing in it.

"We're small, just getting started. If somebody calls, we'll get you service by the end of the week or the beginning of next week. Being available, having immediate service, makes a difference."

Although he's taken a different path than most people his age, Boeve is happy with his decisions.

"It feels great. It's pretty cool to say you're self-made. I just feel blessed, like I've had every opportunity to succeed.

"So many people have helped me along the way ... seems like everyone in Spring Lake is looking after me, so many people have taken me under their wing. It's like everybody is always cheering me on and glad I'm making it."