You should know that Walker thinks there remains a tremendous opportunity for smaller, independent companies in the landscape industry. In fact, we believe our "backbone" customer has been and will continue to be the smaller company.
A primary reason this is true is that labor is a major component of this industry. Larger, consolidated companies do not have a particular advantage in that department.
How do smaller landscape contracting companies compete when there are giants? The same way Walker competes with the giants in our industry - find your niche or specialty, move and adjust quickly, play to the strengths of a smaller organization, and treat suppliers, employees and customers right. See the editorial "Big Isn't Always Better" for more on this subject.
One more effect of national-sized companies will be to approach suppliers for a better price (volume buying). Certainly, there will be equipment manufacturers that will sell direct to these big accounts. For our part, Walker has made a decision to not sell direct but to continue to "sell with service" through dealers. We believe our biggest opportunity and fortune rests with customers who need dealer service.