Curb Appeal Markets Custom Retainers

Owner: Adam Douglas

Address: P.O. Box 81, Lowell 72745

Phone/fax: (501) 770-6219/same

Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. every day and by appointment

Start-up date: Oct. 1

Adam Douglas brought a coastal landscape-design trend to Northwest Arkansas when he opened his new business, Curb Appeal. Douglas sells and installs smooth concrete borders to accentuate his clients’ gardens, flower beds and driveways.

The curbs are popular in California and Florida, but “nobody knows about it out here,” he said. “Once people start seeing it, everyone will want it.”

The solid fixtures replace traditional metal or log retainers, Douglas said, but Curb Appeal designs don’t rot or rust. They do, however, block root expansion.

Douglas designs the curb structure for his clients, and he uses a Creative Curbs-brand machine to lay the concrete in almost any form. The lawnmower length contraption can make a circle as small as 6 feet in diameter.

On average, Douglas said, the curbs cost $3.50 per foot. He installs them when the temperature is above 40 degrees fahrenheit, and the curbs usually take 4-6 hours to dry completely.

After purchasing the curbing machine, a trencher, a concrete mixer and a truck, Douglas said he spent almost $20,000 to open the business.