It's a new day. Big is better, borrowed money works better than your own, and when equipment breaks, you throw it away instead of fixing it.
Many companies chart a course built on these fundamentals, and they succeed. But many others find this to be a tough row to hoe, and would be better off doing business the old-fashioned way, the way Norman and Leatha Hein conduct business in Valley Center, Kansas.
The couple started in business 20 years ago. Today, they operate a full-service landscape maintenance company that caters to many of the most beautiful homes in the Wichita area. They maintain 90 high-end residential homes in all with 14 employees during peak season.
"We made two way decisions when we started in business," relates Norman. "We decided we wanted to be small, or at least not be big. And we made the decision to never borrow money. I know that not everyone would agree with this approach. In some instances borrowing money to get better equipment would make more sense. But we did it our way, and it worked."
Making the Most of Things
The Hein approach is to get as much mileage out of their equipment as possible. They still operate their first pickup, a 1977 Ford F-150. And the second Walker they purchased in the early '90s is still mowing lawns, although it is semi-retired in a backup role.
They custom-design and -build their own trailers. And they have made several attachments for their Walker Mowers including an aerator, a sprayer, a fertilizer spreader and a power wheelbarrow two years in the making. They've also tailored an enormous leaf-handing system for their trailers, customized software for their business operation, built their own operating and storage facility, and designed and built a couple of jacks to facilitate servicing their Walkers.
"Necessity has been the mother of invention," tells Leatha, who admits at times that it has been tough doing without. She probably can't count the number of times she and Norman have been inconvenienced by not having a dump bed on their pickup.
They've also learned the value of buying quality equipment and keeping it for a long time, tells Norman. "The Walker is a good example. We purchased our first one in 1991. Before then, we just couldn't find a mower that would hold up. When our dealer told us about the Walker, I was intrigued. It had a simple design, was easy to service and looked very dependable. It did a nice job of mowing, too. But that was really secondary at the time. There are a lot of machines that do a quality job of mowing for two weeks."
That first Walker led to another, and another. Today, Hein Lawn Service operates seven Walkers, five with GHS decks and two with side-discharge decks that also double and triple as sprayers, aerators, fertilizer spreaders, leaf pushers and more.
The leaf pusher is a Norman Hein invention, too. The attachment folds up to get between gates, then unfolds into a large leaf corral. The unit pushes leaves into a pile which is then consumed by the trailer-mounted, 30-hp leaf vacuum.
The Walkers are equipped with 42-inch decks. The bulk of the mowing, which includes approximately 20 acres of lawn a week, is done by four GHS units, leaving the other Walkers to handle other tasks.
Three Hein mowing crews start mowing in early February and continue through the month of December. Cleanup then keeps them busy until the end of January, leaving about one month to get the equipment ready for the next season.
"We mow 35 to 40 times a year," says Leatha. "Each Walker puts on somewhere between 800 and 1,000 hours a year."
Nothing Borrowed, Everything Gained
A few cliches are about the only things the Heins have borrowed over the years. The Walkers were purchased outright, as was everything else concerning their business.
"As I look back, we probably would have been better off to have borrowed money and bought a dump truck," tells Norman. "But we were committed to the idea of being debt-free. That's just the way we do business."
The conservative approach carries over into all areas of the Hein operation. Employees, for example, don't wear uniforms. But they are equipped with all the necessary safety gear. Leatha relates, "Customers tell us they care more about the quality of work we do than the uniforms our employees might wear." Leatha adds that the company has better places to spend money.
"When you make a commitment to hire employees who have a family, you take on more responsibility," she says. "You have to ensure there is enough work coming in to keep them employed, and see to it that they have a good wage and the benefits needed to sustain their families."
The flip side, she notes, is that smaller companies may find it difficult to supply all their employee wants and needs. But one has to keep the business and the industry in perspective. The money that comes in has to be shared by everyone; to buy and maintain good equipment, to provide a good income, and to train and educate employees.
"Even at our size, we find the biggest challenge today is to maintain the quality of work," Norman says. "We have great employees and they work hard. But 90 high-end accounts is still a lot of work. I operate a crew, so does Leatha, and so does a 14-year veteran employee named Mark. We've always felt that being small has given us an advantage over larger companies that don't have the same high level of quality control. Yet, we've grown to the point where Leatha and I can't be everywhere. There's only so much time in the day."
Unconventional Approach
Hein Lawn Service is a bit unconventional in other ways, too. It has never advertised. In fact, you won't even find the company listed in the Yellow Pages. The only reason the name is on the side of their trucks is because the state requires it as part of having a pesticide application license.
And growth, at least in terms of the number of new customers, is not a priority. 'We grow with our current customers by finding ways to be more productive with our equipment and through gaining more knowledge."
The question remains, how has such a "low-profile" company that doesn't advertise end up with the nicest accounts in Wichita?
Norman says, "We listen to our customers, develop close relationships with them, and always leave a property looking its absolute best."
Over the years, Norman has charged a fair price for his work. "But we don't take advantage of our customers," he emphasizes. "Our relationship with customers has truly developed into a partnership."
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