The old saying about giving a man a fish holds meaning for the Ackerman family in Wichita, Kansas. When 10-year-old son, Michael, asked his mom for an expensive pair of boots, she suggested he could mow the neighbors’ lawns to help pay for them. Acquiring his first customer, Michael was hooked, knowing exactly what he wanted to do the rest of his life. Today Mom and Dad work with Michael at Michael’s Complete Lawn Care, Inc.
A full-service landscape management company, Michael’s Complete Lawn Care employs 40-plus people and mows approximately 1,000 acres of turf a week. In addition to mowing lawns and offering landscape design and installation, fertilization, weed control and irrigation maintenance, the company will do just about anything for its HOA, commercial, municipal and largehomeowner customers.
“We’ve done some plumbing, installed ceilings, and even removed graffiti,” says Michael, who is company president at the ripe old age of 27. His dad, Mike, is vice president and manages the company’s service shop and irrigation division. His mom, Connie, is chief financial officer. Company headquarters is not too far from downtown Wichita and within easy driving distance of most accounts, although Michael says crews will reach out up to a 50-mile radius to service customers.
Wish List
The entrepreneur says he was different from other mowing youngsters. “I set up my neighbors on a schedule and they came to depend on me,” Michael recalls. “Within a year, I had 15 yards to mow and eventually was getting customers further out than I could easily bike to, dragging a mower. So dad would take me around on weekends to mow those accounts.”
At the time, Michael was getting around $15 a yard. By age 14, he had enough money saved up to purchase a used Walker Mower with a 36-inch GHS deck for $1,800. “I used to drool over seeing the mower in Walker Talk magazine,” says Michael. “The dealer where I bought my Snapper push mowers, Maximum Outdoor Equipment & Service, also sold Walker Mowers and I would see the magazine there.
“The mower dramatically increased the amount of work we could do,” Michael continues. “A year later, Dad and I won several bids for homeowner associations and commercial accounts. We purchased a new 42-inch Walker Mower and with financing were able to outfit our company. Dad quit his job to work full time and Mom eventually quit her bookkeeping job to come on board, as well.”
End of story? Not really. The young company incorporated in 2002 and rented a small facility prior to moving into its current location that features 15,000 square feet of shop space and a 7,500 square-foot lot. “It should be reversed,” Michael relates, lamenting about the lack of outdoor space. “We have so much equipment and it gets crowded with our trucks and trailers. Over the years, we added around 1,500 square feet of office space for our new managers and expanded office staff.”
To handle its long list of customers, Michael’s Complete Lawn Care has eight mowing crews, a couple of installation crews, two landscape maintenance crews, two irrigation and landscape lighting crews, and two chemical crews. It operates five 26-hp Walker Mowers with 48-inch GHS decks, seven Grasshopper mowers and three John Deere 997 zero-turn mowers with 60- and 72-inch side-discharge decks. A John Deere 5083 Tractor with a 10-foot rotary mower tackles large municipal ditches and road sides.
“We use the Grasshopper and John Deere mowers on our large commercial and municipal properties,” Michael explains. “The Walker Mowers with their grass-handling and striping capability are perfect for our residential and HOA properties. Nothing handles leaves better. Plus, our customers really like the perfect cut.”
Crews haul equipment on a variety of trailers ranging from 16 to 27 feet in length. Cages in front corral handheld equipment. “We’re trying out three-man crews on our residential accounts, but the jury is still out on their efficiency compared to a two-man crew,” Michael adds. “A typical commercial account requires sending out a four-man crew. Some municipal work will require even larger crews.”
The company runs 10-plus snowplow trucks in the winter, along with two sidewalk crews; it leases two skid-steer loaders with KAGE box blades. It recently outfitted the John Deere tractor with a 10-foot KAGE box blade system, which, Michael notes, should increase efficiency by 100% on several large shopping centers. “We take snow management very seriously, and our customers have come to really appreciate the worry-free service.”
Still the Personal Touch
When asked about his son’s success, Mike gives the following accounting: “He’s aggressive and proactive today, just like he was when he was 10 years old. Back then, he got a lot of no’s at first from neighbors, but that one yes kept him going. He also understood at an early age the importance of providing good, consistent service. If we damage something, which does happen, we fix it in a hurry, and he strives to give the personal touch. Providing excellent service is all about building relationships with your customers.”
Brett Prater, Vice President of Operations, adds, “We still try to give each customer the same level of customer service we did when we were both mowing after school.”
Michael admits that the bigger his company gets, the more difficult it is to provide that personalized service. Their management structure is helping by streamlining areas of responsibility. In addition to Prater, the company now has a general manager, Joe Patterson; a dedicated chemical manager, John Lewis; an irrigation service manager, Rob Gritz; and a mowing operations manager, Aaron Slone. “We all feel like a small family with the same common goal,” adds Michael.
Challenging Times
Driving around town, Mike notes that Wichita hasn’t been immune to the economic malaise. The HOA market has been especially tough as foreclosures have forced associations to look for the lowest bidder. “That market has become especially cutthroat,” adds Michael. “At one point, we serviced nine HOAs in town; that figure has dropped to three. We’ve supplemented by targeting more commercial and municipal properties and tightening our residential routes.”
Finding and retaining employees is a challenge for any landscape contractor, although Prater notes the company experienced good success this past year advertising for employees on Craig’s List. Offering 14 full-time employees health and dental insurance, along with vision benefits and paid time off, helps keep them on board.
The challenges, though, don’t faze Michael, in large part because he’s doing what he’s always wanted to do. Connie laughs when she remembers how much those boots were going to cost. “They were $150 boots,” she exclaims, “and he was only going to grow out of them within six months. We told him that if he could bring in $75 mowing lawns, we would make up the difference.” It was a compromise the entire family could eventually live with.
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