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Lovell Lawn
& Landscape has roots like the lyrics of a country song. The story
goes like this.
A few years
back, Jason Lovell and Arlon Feuerbacher were horticulture majors at Tarleton
State University in Stephenville, Texas – a town often referred to
as the “Cowboy Capital of the World.” Jason and Arlon didn’t
know each other, but they were dating sisters.
One day the
sisters invited Jason and Arlon to lunch at their home. It wasn’t
a black tie affair and we aren’t sure if they showed up in boots,
but we do know the guys devoted more attention to a mowing equipment brochure
one of them brought along than they did to the girls.
You can guess
the rest. Jason and Arlon struck up a friendship, went into business together
and today are co-owners of a million dollar landscape management business.
Both are happily married, but not to the sisters. They’re long gone.
Not too many
years have passed since that day, but a lot has changed for Lovell and
Feuerbacher. They incorporated their business in 1997, while still in
college, and are now president and vice-president respectively of Lovell
Lawn & Landscape. Gone are the days of living in an old college house
with a tiny outbuilding for a shop and swapping mowing services for food
and drink at a local establishment.
“Back
when we were in school, we would barter with the guy who has a restaurant
and bar in town,” Lovell said. “So when we needed to eat or
wanted to have a drink we’d just go and do lawn care work for him.”
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David
Reeves
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Co-owner
Jason Lovell
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Co-owner
Arlon Feuerbacher
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Tim
Wells
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Room to
grow
Today, Lovell Lawn & Landscape has a new office building and 2400-sq.
ft. shop that sit on a 30-acre site on the outskirts of Stephenville.
The acreage gives the company the opportunity to grow some of its own
nursery stock – something it would like to do more of in the future.
Constructing a greenhouse is also in their plans.
Reflecting
on what the young company has been able to accomplish, Feuerbacher said,
“We didn’t pay ourselves much money when we were in college
and we paid for everything with cash. Our idea was not to go in debt and
put everything back into the business.”
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David
Reeves, who handles many responsibilities including product application
for Lovell Lawn & Landscape, appreciates the ease and convenience
of the Ride-On Spreader Sprayer the company purchased last year.
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During peak
season, the company employs 22 people who staff five separate crews –
two for maintenance, one for irrigation, another for landscape construction
and a fifth devoted to quality control and providing backup for the others
as needed. In addition to Lovell and Feuerbacher, the company’s management
team includes Tim Wells, who is responsible for the irrigation division;
David Reeves, who is a licensed pesticide applicator and the go-to guy
for construction and landscape lighting projects; and Jason McKinney and
Romeo Gonzalez, the maintenance crew leaders.
With one
exception, all of these guys – including the owners – have yet
to celebrate their 30th birthdays. The exception? It’s Tim Wells,
who at 32 is referred to as “the old man” by the others.
Lovell Lawn
& Landscape offers a full slate of services to its customers, which
are 70% residential and 30% commercial. Included are design/build work,
irrigation design and installation, lawn application, landscape management
and landscape lighting. In the winter, the company also does some Christmas
lighting work and will occasionally cut and deliver firewood.
“We
re-use at least half of the waste we bring back from our jobs, either
as compost or firewood,” Lovell said.
Venturing
outside the landscaping realm, Lovell Lawn & Landscape recently purchased
a seamless gutter installation company and has now added that service
to its list of offerings. These guys aren’t afraid of hard work.
“We
knew the gutter business would put us in contact with homeowners during
the last phase of their new home construction,” Lovell said. “The
gutters go up and then they start thinking about landscaping and irrigation.
It’s a perfect tie-in.”
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Jason
Lovell (left) and Arlon Feuerbacher (right) purchase all the fertilizer,
control products and grass seed they need to run their business
from Don Link (center), the manager of the LESCO Service Center
in Fort Worth.
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Some competition,
much growth
Located in the largest milk-producing county in Texas, the town of Stephenville
is a little over an hour’s drive southwest of Fort Worth. It is home
to about 15,000 full-time residents and another 7,000 students who attend
Tarleton State University, a branch of Texas A&M. The school has a
strong horticulture program, which makes the students a great resource
for Lovell Lawn and Landscape and, in turn, gives the students the opportunity
to gain practical experience.
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Located
about an hour’s drive southwest of Fort Worth, the town of
Stephenville, Texas has some beautiful residential properties, which
Lovell Lawn & Landscape takes pride in maintaining.
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Lovell Lawn
& Landscape does have some competition in the area, but it is the
only company offering a full slate of services. Jason and Arlon believe
their full-service approach, along with their attention to detail and
quality, is the reason they have been successful.
“Our
ultimate goal was to build up a diverse company because that is what you
need to be in Stephenville, Texas,” Lovell said. “What we hope
to do is the initial consultation, design and build and then turn around
and take care of it for them. Landscape management is the backbone of
our business.”
The success
Lovell Lawn & Landscape has achieved in a relatively short period
of time can be attributed to a lot of hard work, good results and a dedication
to treating the customer right. Yes, there have been challenges along
the way, but the biggest test this young organization has faced is how
to manage growth.
“For
the last four years we have averaged 24% growth,” Lovell said. “We
want to keep growing, but we would like to see a little healthier growth
rate of 10 to 15%. We believe a slightly lower growth rate will give us
more time to concentrate on the customers we have and to increase the
amount of business we do with each. It’s difficult to focus on each
and every customer when you are growing so fast.”
Don Link,
who manages the LESCO Service Center in Fort Worth and works closely with
Lovell Lawn & Landscape, reiterates those thoughts.
“If
a customer is currently doing $3000 a year and Jason can move that customer
up to $3800, he is increasing revenues without moving his vehicles one
inch,” Link said.
LESCO
link
Link stops by the Lovell Lawn & Landscape office in Stephenville at
least once every two weeks. He and his assistant, Tony Atchison, supply
all of the products the company uses in its lawn and landscape management
program. Included are fertilizers, control products and combination products
such as LESCO 5-10-20 with PRE-M® Herbicide, LESCO 28-3-10, LESCO
24-5-11 with Merit® Insecticide and LESCO Momentum™ Herbicide.
Fire ants are a big problem in Texas and the company combats the insects
with Talstar®, Varsity™ and LESCO-Fate™. For weed control
in ornamental beds, Snapshot* is the product of choice.
Exactly which
products are used and when they are applied depends on turfgrass variety,
soil type, weather conditions and whether or not water rationing is in
effect. Lovell Lawn & Landscape does an excellent job of tracking
inventory so it knows exactly which products are needed at any given time.
Taking advantage of the LESCO Early-Order Program has been a big benefit.
“The
early-order program really helps us because we have a lot of 12-month
contracts and we don’t necessarily get all of our money right when
we put the product out,” Lovell said. “The terms of the program
help us better manage our cash flow. By buying on early-order, we can
pay each month – just as we are getting paid each month. It’s
a great program. There are so many things we buy from other suppliers,
like flowers for seasonal color, that have to paid for in 30 days, but
LESCO works with us to keep us going strong.
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Residential
work accounts for approximately 70% of the Lovell Lawn & Landscape
business.
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“Don
is very good about that,” he continued. “He doesn’t just
look at getting us that five pallets of Merit or five pallets of 28-3-10
we need, he looks at ways to get us the material in one drop, but works
with us on the payments.”
In addition
to fertilizers and control products, Lovell Lawn & Landscape also
uses LESCO spreaders and sprayers and last year purchased its first Perma-Green
Ride-On® Spreader Sprayer. Impressed with the efficiency and convenience
the combination unit provides, the purchase of a second machine is now
being considered.
“That
piece of equipment has been a great investment and has made the work David
does much easier,” Lovell said. “We’re always looking for
ways to make this labor intensive work less labor intensive.”
Roping in
business in the “Cowboy Capital of the World” has been relatively
easy for Lovell Lawn & Landscape and the company is looking forward
to more blue skies ahead. Moving into nursery stock production, maximizing
existing customer revenue and maintaining a manageable growth rate are
all on this young company’s agenda. From all indications they are
not headed off into the sunset, but following the trail to success.
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