GreenIndustryPros.com |

Randy McManus (left) and Matt Triplett worked for two other landscape contractors before launching their company in 1997.

Area manager Glenn Fritts meets with area supervisor Juan Vallines, CLT.

Talk about being safe. Willamette Landscape Services (WLS) in Tualatin, OR, is one of the few landscape companies in the United States to have achieved SHARP designation. SHARP, which stands for Safety & Health Achievement Recognition Program, is an OSHA initiative that recognizes this country’s most successful and safe workplaces. Indeed, WLS has experienced only one time-loss injury over the last 4,000 days. The company is also a member of PLANET’s STARS program.

“Safety and providing excellent service go hand-in-hand,” says WLS vice president Matt Triplett, CLP, CLT. “The key to both is training, and we pride ourselves in fielding crew members who understand how to operate equipment in a safe manner—and in ways that will deliver a top product to our customers.”

A full-service landscape management company, WLS was formed in 1997 after owners Triplett and his partner, company president Randy McManus, CLP, purchased the business from Drake’s 7 Dees. Both Triplett and McManus were Drake’s employees at the time, and having worked previously for another landscape management company, the two hit the ground running. They had a plan, and only needed to execute it.

BUILDING HOA LOYALTY

McManus says, “Our plan was to focus on a tight niche, and deliver a product or service that, as our mission statement relays, ‘creates a lasting impression.’ We haven’t wavered from that plan. Our focus continues to be HOAs. Over time, with the best long-term interests of our customers at the heart of our methods and recommendations, we become our customer’s trusted advisors.

“Placing high-value work and an equally high level of service ahead of price may sound unrealistic in today’s economy, but, as a company, we are very patient,” McManus continues. “We’ve never aspired to be the largest company around. Instead, we’ve wanted to generate slow, steady growth with a very loyal client base. The folks who live in HOAs have a vested interest in their properties, which means they have a vested interest in a company that will deliver a high value service that will return dividends over the long term.”

Driven to provide the best services for his customers, McManus briefly describes how their company approaches a potential HOA client. “We tell them up front that the value of services is of far greater importance to the community than the lowest bid price. Just as an example, we explain how pruning methods can have a dramatic impact on a community. It not only affects home values, but also curb appeal and plant replacement costs, as well as residents’ sense of pride and well-being.

“We explain that our Plant Health Care crews go well beyond simple trimming for form and containment,” McManus continues. “They routinely work to improve the branch structure of trees and shrubs; to keep them in balance with the landscape.”

McManus goes on to detail other valuable services, including spring and summer inspection of irrigation systems by certified specialists, and the company’s dedication to maintaining healthy turf while minimizing herbicide use.

WLS operates three divisions: maintenance; water conservation, irrigation and drainage; and enhancements and in-house design. The divisions are supported by nine mow crews, eight plant health care crews, five irrigation crews, two spray crews and two enhancement crews. Maintenance services account for 70% of the company’s sales while irrigation and enhancement account for 15% each.