Mike Kavanagh moved from California to Washington in 1984. His plan? Grow the landscaping business he started back home. He wanted to reach the four - or five crew level and then spend most of his time managing the operation.
He was on plan until 1995 when at the three truck level he 1) ran out of management ideas to motivate people and 2) ran out of people. The unemployment rate in the state dropped significantly, and "experienced" lawn maintenance workers just stopped calling the help wanted advertisements.
"We have a 2.5% unemployment rate here, and the type of employees I usually retain now work at dot com companies in shipping and receiving," says the owner of Mike Kavanagh Gardening Services, Poulsbo, Washington. "They make more money and the work is easier."
Short circuited en route to his goal, Mike made a couple of changes. Four years ago, he downsized and brought in his wife, Mary, full time to operate a crew. Today, instead of having five crews to manage, the Kavanaghs have two. Between them the company maintains 115 accounts. Eighty-five of them are located on Bainbridge Island, a 30-minute ferry ride from downtown Seattle.
"The area gets anywhere between 40 and 70 inches of rain annually," tells Mike. The grass starts growing in March and picks up in April. Some of the properties brown out in the summer, but pick up again during fall rains. Falls around here are usually gray and wet. And in the winter, the lawns will turn spongy.
"Mulching is out of the question here, because lawn never dry out during the growing season. In fact, we bag every property we maintain."
The couple postures themselves as gardeners offering full-service maintenance to customers, including pruning, fertilizing, aerating, dethatching and bed cleanup. "We try to be organic when we can, and spot spray for weeds and insects when we can't," Mike explains.
"Our program also calls for cleaning up lawns in the fall and applying mulch in the winter. We generally don't fertilize until late spring, although we put down a low nitrogen fertilizer in the winter. Some customer want a purely organic fertilizer which is no problem as long as the soil is good."
New Walker Owner
On the mowing side of maintenance, this entrepreneur always relied on 21-inch commercial walk-behind mowers. One can imagine how much walking was required when maintaining more than 100 properties.
"With so much mowing to do and with so little help, I found myself working 12 to 14 hours a day," Mike reports. ''I'm 45 years old and at the end of the day my legs were tired." In addition, he says his mowers, albeit high-quality products, just couldn't take the pounding. They were blowing out engine seals and overall wouldn't stay running. So he purchased a Walker in April.
The Walker, a 20-hp model with a 48-inch deck, features the big catcher. Mike also purchased the nylon dumping bag. "It is a big investment, but I figure we can pay it off in two years because we're not continually replacing mowers, we're getting the mowing done twice as fast and we've saved at least one employee."
The Kavanaghs, who have nicknamed their new mower "Bob," say the purchase facilitates leaf cleanup in the fall, too. It even picks up wet leaves; the only kicker, according to Mike, is they have to mow a little slower when the grass is wet because of the steep hills. Properties with flat terrain are an unusual site around here, he adds.
Today, the company has settled in operating with three employees plus the two owners. The combination, including the new Walker Mower, helped to generate in the neighborhood of $170,000 last year. The Kavanaghs have no plans to expand their operation, except in one area.
"We're thinking about getting another Walker for Mary's crew," says Mike. "We haven't thought of a nickname for it yet, but first things first."
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