Summit Hardscaping installed this retaining wall at Della Terra Mountain Chateau in Estes Park, Colorado.Photo: Jill Odom

This is part one in a two-part succession. The sequel section will publish on TLC tomorrow.

Like many landscapers in the industry, Dave Doyle started out leading a lawn mowing company.

Doyle accompanied Colorado State University and was majoring in engineering but eventually changed to agriculture business management. After graduating, “hes been” has the intention to take a enterprise in greenhouse product but likewise had the opportunity to buy a mowing business with 85 residential mowing accounts.

“I really felt like I had nothing to lose at that point, ” Doyle says. “I was getting out of college and said I’m just going to give it a shot. And of course, it progressed swiftly from there.”

Doyle started his business with one truck, trailer and mower in 1999 and what started out as Summit Lawn and Landscape has now shifted to Summit Hardscaping, based in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Summit Hardscaping is a smaller landscape company with a very close-knit group of eight hires, but this is how Doyle and his wife Cara like it.

“We are reaching that sweet discern as we call it, ” Dave says. “We feel like the deception is then incentivizing our employees to feel like they still have somewhere to go, somewhere to develop to, so yes, we’re still merely reaching what we feel like is our sweet spot. Having tried to be bigger and then smaller, we’re just about to that pitch where we feel comfortable.”

Photo: Summit Hardscaping

The pair could be called the Chip and Joanna Gaines of the landscaping manufacture with their open, affectionate sort and their desire to please their purchasers with peculiar projects that clothing them.

“I’m big-hearted on if we’re going to say we’re going to make love, we’re going to make love and to be pursued, ” Dave says. “Furthermore, if questions come up, instead of considering them as questions, I’ve always said we’ve got to see them as opportunities. It can be a non-profitable situation but in the end, their referral, their oath, their reviews are far more important sometimes than the bottom line.”

Dave and Cara have known each other since high school and then reconnected at Colorado State. The pair dated for eight years before getting married and they have now been married for 15 years.

While Dave treats the design work, Cara’s responsibilities including managing the billing and running the company’s social media accountings and blog. Dave says he adoration is collaborating with his wife.

“I think, in general, it’s 90 percentage positive because you’re committed to each other, ” he says. “You’re committed to a direction and we’re committed to the business. It feels nice to know that “were having” each other’s backs. I make there’s a connection there to know that I can really go to Cara and say,’ I necessary some facilitate figuring out some consumers, please help me, ’ and she can do that. And so, there’s its determination to make it wreak no matter what.”

“I know what his strongs are, his weaknesses and vice versa and we’ve frankly through its first year figured out what one another is good at, and so the other person offers an opportunity to pick up the slack if that’s the case, ” Cara says.

They both concur they have to make a point to separate their work life from their home life, but this can be a little bit more of challenge for them since the 3-acre onetime dairy farm that serves as their base of operations is also their home.

“We weren’t undoubtedly searching out a dairy farm, per se, ” Dave says. “But we needed that acreage property. I necessity a big seminar. I liked the concepts of having everything at home.”

Dave altered part of the asset to into a demo country with different structures including a pergola and pizza oven to help patients better envisage their options.

“People generally really like it, ” Dave says. “It has that person that parties truly love when they’re hiring a neighbourhood corporation. It’s a craftsman-oriented projection and when they encounter a hand-built property it really simply shut the deal.”

Changing paraphernaliums

As the years passed, Dave demanded Summit to be seen more as a legitimately skilled swap, so he began seeking more certifications and noticed that hardscaping seemed to have more reputability smothering it.

“People are hiring professionals to do hardscape installations, whereas sometimes beings still visualize the landscape industry as merely anybody can do it, ” Dave says.

Photo: Jill Odom

Nowadays, about 60 to 65 percent of Summit’s hassles are hardscaping campaigns and just about every landscaping campaign includes some constituent of hardscaping to it as well. Dave says they mostly service the midriff to upper income suburban sell and are looking to move more into business marketplace on the landscaping side of things.

“We still really like the hardscaping slope in the residential life, ” Dave says. “We find that we do a little bit more craftsman-oriented projections, so that is actually fits well with the high-end suburban sell and when person craves something unique.”

In 2012, Summit removed its mowing works, as Dave felt his nature was more in the station back of things. Also, this year will stigmatize the first year Summit will not offer snow removal services.

Cara explains that none of their employees cared for mowing or plowing, but instead they will spend November and December prepping the field for more hardscaping assignments and then they are off for the month of January.

“I’m not just thinking about the bottom line for us, ” Dave says. “We’re really conscious of what our employees review, is this in line with where they want to be and time making good care of them. We likewise give them some time off during winter hour. They certainly relish having that downtime. It’s a real recharge for them.”

Building a culture

This focus on what the employees should be considered possible jobs is part of the reason the Doyles have been able to retain their staff.

Summit strives to provide stability for its employees so they will be more willing to stay.

“They’re critical to our success and that’s part of the reason why we’ve really grabbed touch of the ones that we have and genuinely are trying to encourage their needs as well as ours, ” Dave says.

Cara said today they are adaptable with their crews and this often wants more to them than a paycheck. Dave says his favorite thing about his responsibility is his independence and what he has managed to build.

Photo: Summit Hardscaping

“Not precisely physically constructing, but building a culture, ” he says. “So, for me that’s by far the most productive. Realizing glad parties, being able to really sense what’s going on with them and then delivering, that for me is the biggest reward.”

Some of the little practices the company appoints a beneficial culture includes hosting work states parties and constructing sure the office is stocked with treats like sugar, irrigate and force drinks for the staff.

Summit always has a midsummer gathering and this summer, the employees have to go to introduced the pizza oven in the demo sphere to the test making their own homemade pizzas.

Another aspect of Summit’s employee culture is accountability. Works who perform well and manage to come in under budget on projections are reinforced with bonuses.

“That being said, if the customer’s not happy and they’re back servicing something, that goes right back on to that time, and so it’s also took off another job and it’s kind of a double whammy, if you will, ” Dave says. “Their accountability is through their hour. And, of course, are they on track or not throughout the project? That’s something that I am jolly special about is abiding on time because as the following schedule diaries out as far as it does, it’s like a cliff in the pond. If we can’t get off of such projects, then it ruffles through the whole year.”

Check back tomorrow for part two of this article, where we’ll report how Summit Hardscaping takes advantage of social media and shares its keys to success.

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