The Grow Group

Marty and I were recently in Savannah, GA for a site visit ahead of GROW! 2027 on February 17-19. We were seeing the event space at the Savannah Convention Center (it’s awesome), checking out the hotels (also great), and visiting with the team at Coastal Shores Landscape (you’ll be impressed).

When I first started out in the business, and for longer than I’m proud to admit, we often priced our jobs based on our gut feelings. We’d do our best to plan out how long a job would take, and then we’d add a contingency fund just in case.

I recently had my friends Rob and Jessie Shrieve on The Grow Show. They own Coastal Shores Landscape in the South Carolina Lowcountry, and they're hosting our tour at GROW! 2027 in Savannah this February. We covered a lot, but one line from Rob has stuck with me: "We're not a culture of flattery."

Last Spring we tried something through our ACE Peer Groups and it turned out to be one of the best things we've done in the 25 years of running these groups. We call it the CEO swap; inspired by ACE Peer Group Facilitator Jim Cali's previous experience swapping branch leaders at Kinkos.

Something unexpected happened last week at Grunder Landscaping: our leads jumped.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that our team had a meeting on the calendar to work through renewals and requoting for 2027. We've had that meeting now, and I want to share how we approach this time of year, because a renewal is one of the biggest opportunities you have and also one of the easiest to waste.

When people come to tour Grunder Landscaping Co. on a Field Trip they always want to see the morning roll-out: the huddle, the stretches, the trucks pulling out for the day. I get it, it's definitely exciting, and there's a lot to be gathered from how we do it. But one reason we have such a smooth morning roll-out is.

Let me quickly dispel a myth: yes, I really am a landscaper. To prove it, I took to my own yard to show off a garden bed I'm particularly proud of and talk through what's in it. When Lisa and I moved into our home 20+ years ago the yard was almost entirely full sun and we had four kids in grade school. Today, the.

It might seem early to talk about snow when most of us are still in the thick of the mowing season. But getting prepared now is how you succeed later. This week I want to share one of the tools our snow and ice team relies on to stay ahead of every storm: our weather stations. We have six of them spread across the.

I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm not an equipment junkie. I don't get excited about new trucks or mowers, but I do get excited about what it can do for our business when we approach our equipment as tools to improve efficiency, reduce burnout, and increase profitability. As soon as I could, I worked to.