Dayton, Ohio

Give us 24 hours. We’ll give you your best year yet.
NEW, More In-Depth Agenda for 2025!

Our GLC Field Trips bring owners and their teams onsite to Grunder Landscaping Co. (GLC) headquarters in Dayton, Ohio, which president and CEO Marty Grunder has led to become one of the most successful companies of its kind in the Midwest. You’ll spend a jam-packed day going behind the scenes with Marty, touring the facility and grounds, meeting with the GLC leadership team to see how they operate and optimize each area of the business, and watching how their crews return for the day and roll out in the morning. We purposely limit attendance at this event so we can guarantee you get the one-on-one attention you need. View the full agenda to see what we have in store.

Upcoming EventS

• August 13-14
• September 10-11
• October 8-9
• December 9-10

Seeing Is Believing

Our Field Trips begin with an afternoon tour of Grunder Landscaping Co. and a dinner with the group so you can get to know Marty and the other attendees and have some fun, too. The next day we’ll spend at GLC, where Marty will lead you through presentations and in-depth discussions on the keys to business success:

• Performance improvement

• Operations, including scheduling, quality control, and equipment maintenance

• Leadership skills

• Attaining and retaining a high-performance team

• Marketing and communications

• Sales, from training to tracking

• Client satisfaction

The Focus Is You

We purposely limit attendance at these field trips to keep the focus on you, your questions, and the challenges you face. You’ll also have the opportunity to expand your professional network with other landscapers from around the country.

Agenda

DAY I

1 p.m.
Attendees arrive at Grunder Landscaping Co. (GLC)
Attendees arrive at GLC and get their name badges. Check your email for instructions on where to park and what to do if you need our help arranging a ride from your hotel. We'll have a light lunch available. 

1:00-1:30 p.m.
Introduction to Grunder Landscaping Co.

1:30-2:30 p.m.
Tour the Grunder Landscaping Co. grounds.
Marty will take you on a guided tour of the GLC grounds and show you how the team organizes their yard. You'll see the systems they follow on where they park and refuel trucks, trailers, and larger equipment and how they manage the plant yard, materials, and compost pile.

2:30-3:00 p.m.
Marketing
Attendees will hear our marketing strategy, and will get insight into what marketing pieces we find the most success with. We'll also share the messaging we're using to generate the leads our sales team needs now, and will talk about using marketing channels for team member recruiting.

3:00-3:45 p.m.
Sales
Our sales process is key to our success at Grunder Landscaping Co. You'll hear directly from members of our sales team how they manage sales from initial contact to job completion and what they do to hand off projects to the production team smoothly.

3:45-4:00 p.m.
Break

4:00–4:15 p.m.
Day in the Life of a Team Leader
Meet one of our GLC Team Leaders who lead crews as they perform work. They'll walk you through what their typical day looks like and share the important aspects of their role.

4:15–5:00 p.m.
Watch the GLC teams return for the day.
See for yourself how crews prepare for a great next day as they return from job sites. You'll have free time to walk around and observe, and our team will be on hand to answer any questions you have.

5:00
Dinner

5:45-6:15 p.m.
Tour the GLC facility.
Our team will take you on a tour of the offices, shop, and team facilities at Grunder Landscaping Co., and will share the intentions behind how each space is laid out to help the team that uses it be the most productive.

Day II

6:45 a.m.
Attendees arrive at GLC.

7:00–8:00 a.m.
Watch GLC’s morning rollout.
You'll see our morning stretch and huddle and then have free time to watch crews load their trucks and roll out for the day. Take this chance to look inside trucks and trailers to see how they're set up to optimize our team's efficiency.

8:00–9:30 a.m.
The 4 Pillars of Success
Marty Grunder, Founder & CEO of Grunder Landscaping Co., will give an overview on the 4 Pillars that every landscaping company should be focused on to build a successful company. He will introduce you to the way Grunder Landscaping Co. approaches each pillar.

9:30-10:00 a.m.
Human Resources
Managing team members, their training, and their development are key to the success of any landscaping company. We'll share how Grunder Landscaping Co. approaches human resources and what we're doing to find and keep team members.

10-10:15 a.m.
Break

10:15-10:30 a.m.
Plant and Materials Procurement
We'll hear how our team members manage plant and materials procurement to streamline this process while ensuring we have high-quality inputs for every job we do. They'll share how they place orders, accept deliveries, organize all our materials, and keep our morning loading efficient.

10:30-11:00 a.m.
Branch Management and Project Reviews
Our team will talk about managing multiple branches and will also walk through a few projects we’ve done to show the kind of work we do and detail what goes into some of our projects.

11:00–11:30 a.m.
Operations
Grunder Landscaping Co.'s production team will share information on their roles and responsibilities and how they manage schedules, train team members, and oversee the work being done in the field.

11:30-11:45 a.m.
Fleet Management
Managing trucks and equipment well prevents downtime and keeps our crews efficient. You'll hear from our fleet manager how we schedule maintenance and manage repairs to minimize disrupting the crews.

11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
Lunch

12:45–1:15 p.m.
Finance
We'll cover the key metrics the leadership team watches and our philosophy on sharing information with our entire team so that they understand what a win looks like, too. During this session, you'll also hear about how we structure our bonus program for team members and why we structured it the way we did.

1:15–2:00 p.m.
Seth Pflum, President of Grunder Landscaping Co.
Seth has been instrumental in the growth of Grunder Landscaping Co. and in putting in place many of the systems you'll see in place when you're onsite. In this session, he'll share his approach to leadership and answer any questions you have about why they do things the way they do.

2:00-2:15 p.m.
Break

2:15–3:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks
Marty Grunder will close out the event by giving you his final thoughts, helping you organize your takeaways to tackle when you return home, and answering any final questions you have.

Event Details

REGISTRATION

• $1,595 for the first registrant

• $1,295 for each additional person from your company

• ACEs and Field Trip alumni receive one discounted registration per company at $1,200.

Includes dinner on day one and breakfast and lunch on day two. Hotel, travel, and other meals are not included.

HOTELs

We recommend the Staybridge Suites at Austin Landing for our Field Trip guests, which is about a mile from Grunder Landscaping; to reserve a room there, call 937.535.2222 or book online. If they are fully booked or you prefer to stay with a different brand, the Hilton Garden Inn and Home2 Suites are both nearby. 

The Staybridge Suites and the Hilton Garden Inn are both located within a shopping center that has restaurants and bars nearby if your team would like to make plans outside of the event times. 

AIR TRAVEL

Dayton International Airport (DAY) is the closest to the hotel, around 30 minutes away.
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) is about an hour’s drive to and from the hotel.
Port Columbus International Airport (CMH) is about an hour and a half from the hotel.

Cabs, Uber, and shuttle services are available from these airports, but it may be cheaper and simpler to rent a car. If you’d like to share transportation, please provide us with your travel information. If other attendees contact us with similar requests, we will connect you with them to make arrangements.

Parking and Ground Transportation

Parking will be available at Grunder Landscaping Co. Attendees will park in the team member parking area; we will email you instructions on how to find it.

If you need a ride from the hotel to Grunder Landscaping Co. for this event, please email lindsey@growgroupinc.com or indicate you need a ride when registering. We can provide transportation from the hotels listed above.

DRESS CODE

The dress code is business casual. Look ahead at the weather: you may want a rain jacket or coat, depending on the forecast. This event will mostly take place indoors, and we will do our best to adjust our schedule to keep you out of the rain for outdoor portions.

WHAT TO BRING

Most attendees take notes and pictures using their smartphone, or bring a notepad if you prefer to keep notes on paper!

DIETARY RESTRICTIONS

If you have any dietary restrictions, please let us know in advance by emailing lindsey@growgroupinc.com or indicating your dietary restriction on your registration form. We are happy to make accommodations and will work with you to ensure you have plenty to eat!

PAYING IN INSTALLMENTS

Please call the office at 513.620.5200 and we will try to accommodate you. You will need to provide a credit card number that we can process automatically on agreed-upon dates and the entire balance will need to be paid before the event.

REFUND POLICY

There are no refunds for our Field Trips. If you are unable to attend, we will issue you a credit for the entire registration amount, good for 18 months. Alternatively, you may transfer your registration to a substitute participant so long as you do so at least five business days prior to the event. No credits, transfers, or refunds are available on a transferred registration.