Jack Robertson Lawn Care Rebounds from Spring Storms

One week it’s a tornado, the next week it’s a blizzard, but long-time lawn care operator Jack Robertson survived both calamities firmly resolved to forge ahead with his spring treatment plans.

And his customers’ faith in the 30-year-old Springfield, Ill., family business have helped him rebound quickly.

Robertson, who’s lawn care company cares his name, said he lost his entire facility to the tornados that battered much of the Midwest in recent weeks. Fortunately, he was able to salvage the firm’s computers and customer records.

“We’re in a new building, in a new location. It’s all good,” Robertson says.

While the devastation can take its toll emotionally and physically, Robertson says he was most overwhelmed by the gesture of one of his customers.

While picking through the office debris, a long-time customer stopped by the site of his former office and handed a check to one of his workers. The check was prepayment for his entire year’s lawn care service.

“We couldn’t ask for a greater complement from a customer,” Robertson says. “Talk about a guy with confidence in your business. Looking at our demolished building and the crushed trucks, he had to wonder if we were ever going to treat a lawn again. It was pretty cool.”

And Jack Robertson Lawn Care is up and running from a temporary facility in a nearby industrial park. In fact, the company’s lawn care technicians were making applications within days of the tornado.

The firm employs 12 full-time people in season and runs five trucks. Three of the five have crushed tresses, but they’re running nevertheless. Robertson would rather not dwell on the disaster; rather he prefers to focus his attention on the generosity of friends and even competitors.

He said no fewer than 15 lawn care companies have called to ask how they can help. And it was a family friend who provided warehouse and office space to him so he wouldn’t miss a beat during the spring lawn care rush.

“The whole process has been incredible,” Robertson says. “We lost all of our warehouse space and our office, which we originally thought would be OK. But that was before he realized half the roof was missing.”

Robertson says he plans to rebuild in his original office location as the foundation appears to be in tact.

"From our customers’ perspective, it’s important to see something going up right away,” he says. “It’s important that they see rebuilding and know that their prepayment is safe with them.”