David J. Frank started small.
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As a 10-year-old in 1959, Frank started his own neighborhood gardening service on the east side of Milwaukee. By 1973, he moved his growing business to its current location in Germantown, Wis.
"The first five, six or seven years were pretty tough," he says. "We had a lot of learning experiences."
Take 1974, when Frank installed his first concrete patio. Thanks to an afternoon rain - and failing to cover up his finished work - he was forced to tear the patio out the next day and start over.
There’s a lesson to be learned in each of those little mistakes, Frank says, and he took full advantage of those lessons. So much advantage, in fact, that today he’s far from that small pre-teen side business. David J. Frank Landscape Contracting Inc. is now considered one of the largest landscaping firms in the state, with more than 350 employees at its headquarters in Germantown and six branches in the Milwaukee, Madison and Fox Valley areas.
Last year, the company, which falls in the $25 million range for gross sales, saw between 21 and 22 percent growth. This year, it is predicting 10 percent growth, Frank said.
But that’s not where his priorities lie.
"That’s not really the goal. Being a good company is the goal," he says.
He fears compromising services for expansion.
"That’s what keeps me awake at night," he says. "We are going at a rate we can handle."
Frank keeps his services in Wisconsin - it wouldn’t be economical to travel too far - but Frank does consult across the country, says Mara Adair, the company’s director of marketing.
Although he has crews out working on major projects such as Mayfair or Bayshore malls, no job is too small. Last week, Frank says, he sent employees to plant a single rosebush at a client’s home.
Frank first came to Washington County in 1972 due to greater land availability for his business than in Milwaukee. He says he made the right choice. About 25 percent of the company’s work is in Washington County, more than ever before, Frank said.
It helps that the landscape industry has seen a boom since Sept. 11, 2001. Many people have chosen to put their vacation money into their yards, and landscapes are becoming much more sophisticated than they were 20 years ago, he says.
"I think there is a trend. I think people are staying home a little more," he says. "We definitely are noticing a trend of more improvements in outdoor living and backyards."
What’s more, it’s something all can enjoy, whether they enter a home or not.
"It’s a symbol," Adair says. "More so than a painting that hangs on a wall. It’s an investment."
Still, ask what the secret is to the company’s success and the answer is simple: employees.
"I think one of our corporate strategies is the longevity of our staff," Frank says of his workers, many of whom have been with the company for 20 or 30 years. "That’s a little unusual in our industry."
His own company once followed the strategy of many in the industry, laying off employees after the busy summer months, which minimizes benefits and lowers payroll during slower months.
"(A seasonal business can) kind of get into a disputable, an arguable economic strategy," Frank says.
The strategy, actually, proved more costly in the long run.
"You hope the good ones come back," he says. "We found the probability of that was low."
A better business strategy for Frank was to provide steady work for those good employees and benefits and job security meant they would stay.
What’s more, he found that customers enjoyed seeing the same workers year in and year out. Some of his clients have seen the same crew leader for the past 35 years, Frank says. Today, about 80 percent of his workers are employed year-round.