Their Main Competition is the Weather

The days start early, end late, and the work is often scheduled around the latest weather forecast.

But as the economy improves and more people find they don't have time to weed, mulch, mow, sow and build that dream landscape, the business has rarely seen better days.

"It's the fallout of having an additional room that can accommodate families and friends, and alleviate stress," said Michael Gotowala, owner and founder of Preferred Properties and Masonry in Cheshire. "Some are made to accommodate happiness and there are others for sadness."

But each is the result of the property owner's preferences and a landscaper's savvy.

Eye-popping landscaping and exotic gardens are no longer a status symbol reserved only for the wealthy and homeowners with the time to exercise a green thumb. Anyone who grew up in a 1960s suburb can hardly miss the quarter-acre lots, the seasonal battle against crabgrass, evergreen hedges and maybe a lonely petunia.

Today, landscaping is big business as people seek to create an outdoor environment that's as appealing as, if not more so than, the decor of the front room. And as suburban lots increased to two or three acres, so has the need to decorate every patch of wilderness.

"Evidently there are more people getting into the business. I've seen a remarkable change in the caring of shrub beds, mulching and fertilizing," said Richard Tice, executive director of the Connecticut Grounds Keepers Association and the Environmental Industry Council. "Since I started in 1964, there's been steady increases, but it exploded in the 1980s."

The diversity in the industry is widespread, with the larger businesses handling building and infrastructure projects around pools, gazebos, stone walls, walkways and driveways. These often also take care of planting beds, trees, shrubs, and their maintenance. In the winter, they plow driveways and parking lots, and some, like Preferred Properties, sell oil.

A SELF-ADJUSTING BUSINESS. But there are others such as George Trecina, a lifelong Meriden resident and landscape designer with a master's degree from Cornell University. Trecina is a consultant, designer and installer who relies on two to three new customers annually to grow and stabilize his revenue.

"This is my home business," Trecina said from his kitchen tabletop desk on Spring Street.

His basement is packed with both exotic and local plants keeping dormant under about seven or eight grow lights. In the winter, a cleared path to the cellar stairs provides the only entry into his home.

Trecina gets about $60 per hour for his design work, which can take 20 hours or 20 minutes, depending upon the job. Installation and maintenance averages about $30 per hour. Trecina is detail oriented, but has learned to be more flexible when listening to a client and adapting the design plan accordingly. Consultations range from $75 to $100.

In recent years, people have begun asking to do more of the maintenance work themselves, with Trecina drafting a master plan featuring various plants and stone accents and consulting at various stages throughout the project. This often factors heavily when calculating the price.

"I normally ask, how much of the responsibility does the customer want to bear?" he said. "I have to determine goals. Some people have a lot more than others. And sometimes I never hear from the people."

He will also contract out large masonry jobs, but he builds his own fences and does other jobs. Trecina's goal is not to have to hire anyone. He would like to work in a design office someday, but his specialty is the plants, as opposed to the engineering aspects of design and installation. His extensive knowledge of exotic plants and how they mesh with other colors and textures promises his customers a one-of-a kind setting.

Like Tice and Gotowala, Trecina said the landscape business is really self-adjusting with equipment purchases, time and weather creating a need for good scheduling and flexibility. If it rains on Wednesday and Thursday, you work the weekends. In the winter months, Trecina takes care of paperwork, speaks at garden clubs and encourages his customers to begin planning their gardens for spring planting and markets his service through associations and trade shows.

But the scheduling work board at Preferred Properties shows a different side of the business. Gotowala started his business with a lawn mower in the mid-'80s and now has 31 employees year-round and a fleet of 26 trucks. The company is recognized state and nationally for a variety of industry achievements and he provides health insurance and benefits for his workers.

Gotowala credits the company's growth to dedicated employees, good service and careful investments in equipment.

He also markets the company as full service. Customers who purchase and pay for their oil during the winter get a free yard of mulch in the spring. If you're getting your driveway plowed by him, he can provide your oil as well.

"We have very happy heating and mulch people," he jokes.

WHO’S HIS COMPETITION? "The weather," he replies.

Gotowala attended the University of Connecticut, where he majored in horticulture and business. His business is self-started and now in his mid-30s, he's providing his employees experience in masonry work, planting, plowing, shrub installation and care. He has a five-acre garden center for customers to select plants and stones and orders more exotic varieties from West Coast growers. It gives customers an opportunity to compare and contrast before making costly decisions.

"Now there is so much blending of colors and textures, it's almost too much," he said.

Several years ago, he offered computerized design services to show customers how their exterior plans would look in one, year, five years and 10 years. But he found they were unreliable and stopped using it. Today all plans are dry set or positioned for the customer's approval, before they are installed. He, and his trained employees offer advice on growing patterns and maintenance.

"The instant gratification was not the correct process," Gotowala said. "It was pushed aside for a more accurate visual."

FIND A NICHE. The biggest mistake customers make is building outdoor barbecues or stone walls from prefabricated stone blocks. He said what they don't always consider are the drainage and grading issues that could cause problems later. Gotowala is also building a Web site on pool planning to help customers understand lighting, fencing and chemical storage issues.

Like Trecina, he too works with sub-contractors, taking the pressure off the homeowner and watching out for their best interests. The company manages about 230 residential and commercial projects annually, the bulk being residential, but servicing larger jobs for First Church Village and General Electric in Plainville and the Highland Industrial Park nearby.

Gotowala describes himself as a multi-tasker and problem solver. He employs three certified horticultural landscape designers on staff and three masonry experts. A general job foreman can make between $13.50 to $20 per hour. Managers earn $35,000 to $60,000 annually. Pride in their work helps Gotowala's business grow, he said.

The three landscapers said those starting out in the landscape business have to ask themselves how far they want to go with it. For instance, Preferred Properties doesn't do lawn care and maintenance. Trecina prefers design work, and Tice specializes in lawn chemicals and maintenance.

"The larger companies sometimes have the leads, the know-how and the contacts and job performance under their belt," Gotowala said. "You have to know what you're doing or you can lose your shirt."

Tice said the business is competitive and the cutthroats are out there. Business owners who undercut the price to get more business are hurting only themselves when they realize they're getting only $10 to $20 per hour and there are expenses.

Tice, who is semi-retired from Tice Lawn Maintenance in Prospect, said the business owner has to be savvy to expenses. Requirements in lawn maintenance are supervisory pesticide licenses and state fees that demand continuing education. Also, new lawn maintenance equipment comes out regularly.

"This industry is pretty much immune to recession," Tice said. "The only recession where I didn't grow was in the mid-'80s, when people were getting laid off. But the people that weren't getting laid off had more work to do. And when they did have some time off, they didn't want to be mowing their lawn."

The author is a staff writer with the Record-Journal, Meriden, Conn.