Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Whittaker.
Michael, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 2007 I graduated from TCU with an electronic management degree. I was unaware of the big downturn in the job market in DFW. All of the consulting firms I wanted to work for put a stop to hiring and if they did hire they turned their IT consultants into web designers. I was not sure what to do at that point. I owned five houses, was acquiring debt by the hour it seemed. So I went back to what I knew best. I started to cut lawns for $15 per lawn. With a TCU degree, I was offering my services for less than $15hr. I knew that if I worked hard eventually something would change in the IT world. However, nothing changed and before I knew it MG Lawn and Landscape became a full-service commercial and residential build-design-maintenance firm.
Our early clients such as XTO and Coca Cola are still with us today. Faces have changed but our sites and services have only grown.
Today we operate out of Fort Worth and Crowley. Our Fort Worth location is designed towards residential custom build projects labeled under the name Magnolia Fence and Patio. Our Crowley location is where we have our installation teams and maintenance teams. Currently, we operate a wide range of properties and services. It’s not uncommon to see us working on a City project for Benbrook while installing a landscape for a private customer, all while our irrigation team is working on upgrading irrigation timers to WIFI for water conservation at one of the local colleges.
If you asked our specialty I would say is that it’s our flexibility and our ability to be a multi-tool for our customers. We perform duties in house and we can handle all the way from design, to installation to maintenance. We have in house licensed irrigators and spray technicians. We have over 70 employees who bring previous experience to our company so that we can build your dream project or maintain the one that you have had previously built.
Currently servicing the DFW metroplex offering but not limited to:
Sprinkler installation and repair.
Custom arbors and pergolas.
Fencing and ironwork.
Patios, stonework and retaining walls.
Landscape design and installation.
Tree care and regular turf maintenance.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
By no means has the road been smooth. I always tell my managers that they are about to embark on a journey where I have created the first few miles of the map. From there they will have to navigate the variables that we constantly encounter in our industry. The current struggle is labor. When I say labor I don’t mean labor hands. I mean just actual people who want to start a career or end a career with us. With the competition of oil and gas jobs, we have to be unique. I pride ourselves on offering that unique job.
I believe we are all human and our lives are more important than our job. If your home life is taken care of naturally your work life will be better-taken care of. I guess its a little reverse phycology but it seems to work. I allow all my employees off for Donuts with dad, first day of school, Halloween, we shut down for the entire week of Christmas. We have regular weekly BBQ at the shop. I don’t reprimand I help reach better ways to do things. The only thing I guess we do strictly enforce is quality and safety. However, instead of teaching our team our expectations through discipline we teach them by giving them access to a manager that was in their shoes with our company not too long ago. We try to keep the field and office connected together. We might be a big firm but we are all working together daily. Our field team members are actually the most important part of our company and as an owner, it’s my job to make sure that we are offering them things at work to make their lives easier and better. I strongly believe it translates back to the finished project and allows us to hire and retain more quality employees than my competitors.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Mg Lawn and Landscape – what should we know?
I think what makes me most proud is that we are always available. We are a large firm but you can always get the owner on the phone. I don’t call my irrigation techs at 3 am when we have a mainline break at an HOA. I go out and take care of it. Its things like that my customers decide to put their assets, their dream projects and their homes in our hands. I also believe that cheap work ends up being expensive and expensive work doesn’t mean good quality. So with our availability, I keep our pricing in the middle so we can offer high quality with a competitive price. I do this by sourcing items all across our areas. I don’t beat my vendors up on price but we use bulk purchasing and strategic sourcing to make prices affordable for our customers.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My business partner gets credit for sure but honestly, I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have the team I have. Jesus has been with me the longest and he is my operations manager. He runs a majority of the company and he is a real superhero. Juan is my lead project manager and he is teaching me to become more innovative and has taken our installation team further than anyone else in his position. Then, of course, my assistant aka office manager aka therapist aka momma bear aka just the best ever. Her name is Norely and she keeps everything behind the scenes working. Without her we would be lost. Then obviously our guys in the field. I tell my managers daily that we go to work for them because they are the ones building our company and they deserve the support from us.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3417 Cr 920
Crowley TX 76036 - Website: www.meangreenlawncare.com
- Phone: 817-995-0324
- Email: officemgll@gmail.com
- Instagram: meangreen_landscapes
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meangreenDFW/
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