Opening a second location for Grunder Landscaping Co. was a huge milestone for our company, and we officially were open for business in Cincinnati, Ohio about a year ago. The work to make this happen started long before that, though, and this week I wanted to share with you the steps we took to open a second location just in case you're contemplating doing the same. 

Step One: Start Doing Work

Last year wasn't the first time our trucks were in the Cincinnati market doing work. Laying the groundwork for our eventual expansion started years ago, when we started strategically going after design-build and maintenance work in the parts of Cincinnati that were closest to our Dayton, Ohio facility. We serviced these properties out of our Dayton location and accounted for some extra travel time. When we had a complete route, we reached out to one of our subcontractors to see if we could have one maintenance crew dispatch out of their property while we found our own space. 

Step Two: Look at Your Routes

When we were setting up the 2025 season, we had a couple of maintenance crews (because different crews specialize in residential versus commercial properties) who would spend half the week servicing Cincinnati properties and half the week on Dayton properties. We decided to dispatch these two crews out of our Cincinnati branch because it meant putting more of our trucks on the road in a new market, which we know drives business for us. 

The teams would have a little extra travel time on some days of the week regardless, and we saw the opportunity to raise our brand awareness. 

Step Three: Think Through Staffing

Our two office locations are only about a 30-minute drive from each other, and we were fortunate to have team members who lived between the two locations. We staffed both our sales and production teams with a combination of new hires and team members who wanted to relocate to the Cincinnati branch.

From leadership, we divided up the week and our senior leaders each work from that location on different days of the week. We've done this to avoid hiring a branch manager and instead have kept our management structure the same as it was before by splitting up responsibilities. 

If you want to learn more about how we operate two branches, manage our team, or win at sales: join us this year at a Grunder Landscaping Co. Field Trip. Our first one will be June 3-4 (there are only 5 spots left for this one!) and we have more dates available in August, September, October, and December. You'll visit our Dayton, Ohio headquarters, meet our leadership team, and learn directly from the talented team members who are doing this work day-in and day-out, just like you. Will I see you there?

Marty Grunder
Founder & CEO
The Grow Group & Grunder Landscaping Co.