With a workforce that's largely Hispanic, Bart Brocklehurst realized he'd need to take special efforts to build a unified team of employees.
He hit the books, learning everything he could about the Hispanic culture.
Today, the effects of his homework permeate Affordable Landscaping, the Reno company where Brocklehurst is president and chief executive officer.
When it's time for a company holiday party, for instance, Affordable Landscaping is likely to book a room at a Mexican restaurant.
More important, Brocklehurst says, are the lessons he learned about the differences between Anglo and Hispanic culture.
In the Anglo culture, work needs to be done to meet a rigid schedule.
In the Hispanic culture, far greater weight is given to doing the job right.
The upshot? Work crews make many of their own decisions about the pace of work after talking things over with the company's management team.
The learning, Brocklehurst says, has been a two-way street.
"We've learned a lot from the Hispanic culture," he says.
"They are extremely hard workers.
They'll do it harder and better and with a smile on their face."
Building a good team of employees is critical to the strategy of
Affordable Landscaping as Brocklehurst looks to grow the firm from approximately $750,000 a year in annual revenue today to his goal of $5 million a year by 2008.
Affordable Landscaping will get there, Brocklehurst says, only if it provides impeccable service.
He expects, for instance, that crews show up at customers' locations on time.
He expects that they'll be polite to customers.
"If you want a job, you better go out and get it," he says.
The philosophy appears to pay off as 81 percent of the company's business is the direct result of customer referrals.
The jobs that Affordable Landscaping gets these days are dominated by landscape construction jobs ponds, waterfalls, xeriscape installation and residential work accounts for about 70 percent of that work.
Sixteen employees work for the company during the summer under the supervision of Michael Imus, a co-owner who oversees daily operation.
Anna Brocklehurst, Bart's wife, is the company's third owner.
While landscape maintenance today accounts for a relatively small portion of the company's business, the company's plans call for maintenance and larger construction jobs to fuel its ambitious growth plans.
The company, profitable in its second year of operation, operates frugally.
It pays cash for most equipment purchases, buys used gear whenever it can and borrows minimally.
At the same time, however, Brocklehurst is willing to invest in his workforce.
The little company this year launched a company-funded retirement plan as well as a health plan for its workers.
When Brocklehurst launched Affordable Landscaping five years ago, it marked his return to a business that had intrigued him since his youth.
He spent 10 years in the business in Oregon after high school.
He came to northern Nevada to take a customer-service job with ATEC, the Sparks-based manufacturer of athletic training gear, and rose to become the company's vice president of sales and marketing.
But even as he rose through the corporate ranks, he continued to sketch out landscaping plans for friends and kept an eye on the business.
As he found himself increasingly on the road in his corporate job, he decided to step away.
Brocklehurst worked a couple of years for a trucking company while completing the requirements for a state contractor license, and set up shop.
Even though the company plans to grow by more than five-fold by 2008, Brocklehurst thinks the plan is realistic.
"If you want it, it's out there," he says.
"You can attain anything you want."
