Landscape Management, June 2010
UP ANDCOMERS LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET JUNE 2010 S18 McDonnell Landscape D idnt make our LM150 revenue cut off Dont feel bad The elite list eludes a k a excludes more than 999 of the countrys estimated 272600 landscape enterprises While much can be learned by following the LM150 the same can be said about many of the businesses just shy of our rankings cut off of 74 million in 2009 revenue LM interviewed the leaders of four such up and comers to get their takes on industry trends obstacles and opportunities Commercial focus Brookeville MD based McDonnell Landscape rode out 2009 s economic storm by increasing sales 625 to 51 million Vice President Jon Fritz attributes the companys 300000 revenue gain in 2009 to its concentration on commercial customers We service the Washington D C area where the recession is not so severe Fritz says We do a lot of work for the federal government and various agencies and the economic downturn hasnt hit their budgets to quite the degree it has the residential market Although McDonnell Landscape wasnt able to increase its 2009 maintenance contract fees the company hasnt had to reduce its pricing either a feat many failed to accomplish because of signifi cant pricing pressures from customers and competitors McDonnell continuously identifi es and captures increased effi ciencies which has helped offset rising fuel labor and other costs Fritz says As a natural extension of that crosstraining is a must All of us in the offi ce go out in the fi eld and pitch in when needed Fritz says When we did the landscape design build and installation work at Nationals Park in 2008 I was on site helping out for the better part of three months Its a playercoach deal here Four landscape companies just shy of our LM150 rankings revenue cut off share their growth stories BY MARTY WHITFORD EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
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