Custom Landscaping Is a Growing Business

A beautiful new lawn and garden naturally complements a beautiful new house. And with the ongoing building boom in subdivisions like Rogers’ Shadow Valley Country Club, landscaping is a growing business.

S&S Creative Landscapes LLC of Bentonville, combined with sister company Pinnacle Pools Inc., did about 250 projects last year, totaling about $2.5 million in revenue. That averages out to $10,000 a project. Scot Hundley, partner with Scott Eccleston, said about $1.6 million of that was in landscaping alone, the balance coming from the pool side of their business, which is about a year and a half old.

Another landscaper who’s been busy, Jacob Hart of Landscapes by Hart, said his business billed about $900,000 last year. That’s twice what he did in 2002 and he speculates that it will double again this year.

Hundley said his company gets 30-40 calls a year for estimates on repairing sod and irrigation after a pool has been installed. The pair said that after they install a pool, they can finish out the landscape, giving them a unique niche in the market.

David Harris of David Harris Construction Co. builds mostly custom homes only in Shadow Valley. He said he started using S&S exclusively about eight months ago.

He said their ability to offer full service from landscape planning and execution to irrigation and final lawn care has added value to the service he performs for his customers.

Most of their work is on 6,000-SF homes that sell for $500,000 or more, Eccleston said.

The pair say about 80 percent of their clients are still living out of town or traveling so much that they don’t have time to deal with the details.

Hundley said that a majority of their clients just give S&S the creative go-ahead to do whatever is necessary to complete the project and make it look nice. “They say, ‘Act like it’s yours.'”

The two said the competition in their pool segment builds in quantity, while they are more interested in custom work such as pools with beach entries and waterfalls, and creative perks such as outdoor kitchens and fireplaces.

S&S is known for its drawings, which it still does with ink and paper on drafting tables. Hundley and Eccleston believe it gives the client a better visual than a computer-generated plan.

Hart’s company, which he runs with partner Bob Lentz, does a lot of subcontracting for builders in Shadow Valley and Talamore in Bentonville. Hart said builders give him a budget — typically $1,500-$2,500 for a $250,000 home — and have him landscape the yard.

This adds value to the builder’s service, and the homeowner gets to move into a house with presentable curb appeal right from the start.

Lee Scarlett of Celtic Construction Inc. in Fayetteville who has projects in Johnson’s Clear Creek, and Fayetteville’s Covington Park and Candlewood, said he uses Landscapes by Hart.

“I trust him; he does good work, [and the] quality of the plants are good,” Scarlett said.

Though work is steady — about four irrigation systems a week — Hart said he likes to do custom work. He said his company usually sees the custom landscaping business a year or so after homeowners move in.

Landscapes by Hart operates a five-acre nursery in Elm Springs that has about 10,000 plants on hand. Hart sells plants to other landscapers working in the area and opened the nursery as a retail business back in August, but he’s yet to cultivate that side of the business much, he said.