Embracing a Change of Venue | Schendel Lawn & Landscape and Green Pest Solutions

Photos by Emma Highfill, Rose Wheat Photography

For Brent Boles and his partners, Brandon Moore and Aaron Jones, running out of office space was a good problem to have. After seeing a growth rate of 50% in their old office, the three leaders of Schendel Lawn and Landscape knew a more spacious work location was needed.  

 “The growth was due to a combination of things,” Boles explained, “the people we have working for us and the experience they create for the customers. We look at ourselves as more of a customer experience company than a lawn and landscape company.” 

A customer-centric philosophy does indeed seem to pay dividends, as evidenced by the explosive growth the company achieved. Of course, with growth comes a few growing pains. 

 “It had gotten to the point where I was sharing an office with an individual, and then eventually I moved out of our offices and had to move to another space downtown. My partners—Brandon and Aaron—and I knew it was coming for several years, but it got to the point where we needed more yard space for our crews, and more office space, as well,” Boles said.  

Fortunately, some preliminary discussions and discovery had already unfolded, which meant finding a new location was not a net-new venture. Over the previous few years, Boles, Moore and Jones had developed a relationship with Blackburn Nursery, and in particular its owner, Brett Blackburn. The prospect of purchasing the Blackburn Nursery location had been floated a few times in the past, so when the building and its sprawling yard space came up for sale, the Schendel leadership team jumped at the opportunity.  “For us, the important thing was to have the yard space, but also have space to grow,” Boles continued. “We doubled our total acreage and we doubled our total office space.”  The doubling in space not only allowed Boles to reclaim a desk of his own in the office, but it provided much-needed room for the company’s newly founded sister business, Green Pest Solutions, which launched on January 1 of this year. 

“Green Pest Solutions is a safer alternative to pest control,” Boles said. “One-hundred percent guaranteed services, but we use reduced-risk insecticide and/or organic products to create a safer solution while still providing a 100 percent guaranteed solution on everything we do, for both residential and commercial customers.”  Boles said that Schendel and Green Pest Solutions complement each other well, particularly in a year when the market can be anything but predictable. The two businesses, he said, have been able to create overall equilibrium throughout the ebb and flow of each individual division.