In 1998, Breeze Landscaping in Calgary, a city in Alberta, Canada, maintained 65 commercial properties. The family-run company had been in business since 1984, with Laura and Rex Breeze and son Fred doing most of the work. Nearly 20 years later, the makeup hasn’t changed dramatically.
The Breeze team (left to right) includes: Dave Radant, and Dennis,
Fred, Laura and Rex Breeze.
Another son, Dennis, is now a partner, as is long-time employee, Dave Radant. Laura and Rex have assumed a part-time role. In Rex’s words, “We maintain some of the smaller odd jobs now and do the running around for our sons.”
Rex and Laura, and Fred’s family have moved to larger properties with big garages to store the equipment. Although their focus remains exclusively in the commercial market, accounts have grown from 65 to more than 100. Instead of two Walker Mowers, they now operate seven. They’ve added two crews (and sometimes three) to accommodate the extra work, including four cemeteries and seven Catholic schools, one of which has 10 acres of turf to mow.
Laura and Rex Breeze had been in business for 14 years
when Walker Talk first visited in 1998.
“The steady growth has been good,” said Laura. “You don’t realize it, but it gradually happens with the addition of more properties, a new trailer or two, and a few more mowers. It’s been a blessing to have both sons working with us now. Dennis was working as a carpenter 20 years ago. Dave wasn’t with us at the time either. Now, he’s been with us 18 years and is like a member of the family.”
Staying Competitive
The Breezes have upgraded their two 20-HP Walker Mowers to 25- and 26-HP models, each with 48-inch GHS decks. They’ve also purchased two 52-inch and two 48-inch side-discharge decks. Explained Rex, “We do a little more side-discharging now. It’s more green-friendly, not to mention getting rid of clippings is costly.”
Fred mentioned in Walker Talk, Volume 12, that getting optimum performance out of Walker Mowers is knowing when to use them and, conversely, knowing when to use other pieces of equipment. That approach hasn’t changed. What has changed, however, is the market is more competitive, he added. “Customers still want high quality, but at a lower price.
“One way we compete is to use a Toro with an 11-foot deck on large properties like that one school. Yes, the Walker Mower does everything, but I don’t want to wear out a $22,000 machine mowing a large property when a wide-area mower can do it faster and allow us to be more competitive on pricing. We also employ a four-wheel-drive Ventrac for mowing side hills.”
“Still, we use our Walker Mowers on most every property,” added Rex, “and they come in handy for spring and fall cleanup.” Those tasks, he emphasized, are even easier now, thanks to an enclosed gooseneck trailer that hydraulically lifts debris over the side.
When asked what he thought the secret was to the family’s long success, Fred mentioned that finding a niche and sticking to it is key. “Our niche is in the commercial market and we’re set up with our equipment to be very competitive there. No, we can’t compete with residential mowing contractors, just as they can’t compete with us.”
The other part of the success story is something Laura said 20 years ago: There would always be a Breeze and a Walker on every property, well, almost every property.
Read Breeze Landscaping's original article, Mowing is a Breeze in Calgary, first seen in Walker Talk Vol. 12
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