INDUSTRY NEWS

Coastal Source Reaches For The Stars

Did you catch our Instagram posts from the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, Florida? We came to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Coastal Source, a name you might recognize from SYNKD Live or SYNKD magazines as a supplier of innovative outdoor lighting and audio products. Unveiled at the event were two new product lines: Coastal Source’s Bollard 1000 Speaker Series and EVO Lighting Series. Commenting on the luxury experience posed by these new additions, Coastal Source staff say “... the backyard will never be the same.” The parent company to Coastal Source, the architecture, landscape architecture, construction and interior design experts at D’Asign Source, relayed their excitement with a social post, hinting about using these products in upcoming projects.

With directional and 365-degree options, Coastal Source’s EVO Lighting Series introduces lighting modules with enhanced performance, customizable heights and compact design with maximized durability and weather resistance. Combined with the controlled output levels and color temperatures, the EVO Lighting Series shows potential to revolutionize outdoor lighting design. By the same token, the sound experience created by Bollard 1000 stackable speakers is even more pristine than anything the company has produced before. The sleek elliptical cross-section design allows sound to travel further, while emphasizing bass frequencies. Like all Coastal Source products, the ranges debuted at the event demonstrate easy connection, longevity-focused design and passionate innovation.

18 ACQUISITIONS & COUNTING

After 65 years in business, Mariani Premier Group, led by friend of SYNKD Frank Mariani, recently announced its 18th acquisition with Galbraith Grounds Management (GGM). Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GMM specializes in luxury residential landscape construction and maintenance. The company boasts an award-winning reputation for exceeding client expectations. In the press release, Frank conveys excitement for this new chapter with GMM. Bryan Christiansen, CEO of Mariani Premier Group, mentions how values shared by leaders at GMM led to the decision to move forward with the acquisition. Following this, GMM founder Marc Galbraith expresses gratitude and excitement for the opportunity, comparing the growth trajectory to that of a meteor.

Electric Sheep, a California-based landscape robotics company, plans to lead the charge in automation by acquiring established lawn care companies and arming them with their autonomous technology enhanced by AI. In a recent press release published on our website (available at www.synkd.io/news), Electric Sheep teased the second quarter debut of Verdie, a dancing, fully autonomous robot that trims, edges and blows leaves alongside landscaping crews. To learn more about this technology, SYNKD sat down with Electric Sheep co-founder and COO Jarrett Herold. In our summer issues, we will unpack what it means to bring the landscaping industry into the 21st century. Stay tuned to investigate the advantages of AI in lawn care, how humans and robots can work together and more developments that may be coming down the pike.

Synkd On Air Season 3

BRINGING OUT THE BEST IN EACH PERSON & COMPANY

ONE GIGANTIC SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP—OUR INDUSTRY

THE ULTIMATE SUCCESSION PLAN AT SYNKD LIVE

HELPING BUSINESS OWNERS, ONE INVENTION AT A TIME

A JOURNEY THROUGHOUT THE INDUSTRY

COMMUNICATION BUILDS TRUST

LIVING WALLS ARE THE ALL THE RAGE!

HELPING YOU, HELP TREES

NOT ALL PORCELAIN IS CREATED EQUAL?

Richard Ogawa

Roy Heintz

Kona Gray

Jeffrey Scott

Nick Carlson

Kevin Minton

Jeremy Talboy

Evan Lambert

Aaron Byer

Brandon Rust

Phil Graves

In a rare sequence of events, Bland Landscaping Company Inc., reportedly one of the USA’s top-earning commercial land care companies, has acquired Foster Lake & Pond Management. The merger reflects a growing trend of integrating stormwater and green infrastructure management into real estate development, particularly in expanding markets as seen in the Carolinas. Bland Landscaping Company—a remarkable example of design, build and maintenance functioning in one business— unpacks their perspective on the merger on page 17 in an article titled “Making a Splash” by Sandi Schwartz. There, Kurt Bland, president of Bland Landscaping Company, notes the advantages of collaboration and systems-thinking in our industry and out.

TJEFFREY SCOTT CONSULTING

TREE

DALTILE ree health, a biodegradable solution, planning for retirement, living walls, a group episode from one of Georgia’s finest lawn care companies—Season three of SYNKD On Air has been a blast. Please join us in sending a mental round of applause to our inspiring guests and host, SYNKD founder Angelique Robb.

More insightful discussions are coming soon! Find SYNKD On Air on Turf’s Up Radio every Monday at 11 A.M. EST

Want to be a guest on our podcast? Go to www.synkd.io/podcast-synkd and fill out the form.

SUSTAINABILITY & ECO-FRIENDLY INITIATIVES: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS & WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES?

Brendan Butler

Owner,

Brendan Butler Landscape Design

Atlanta, Georgia

Implementation of legislation, requiring specific stormwater management systems on new construction homes, has been very beneficial to our company. We collect and capture stormwater and direct it into systems that then put the water back into the ground and back into the water table. This saves municipalities from processing and cleaning all the stormwater previously dumped onto the street and increases water in the ground. These processes have helped many businesses like mine and have proven to be a profitable component of our installation service.

Lori Hawkins

Principal,

Hawkins Landscape Architecture

Jamestown, North Carolina

I have tried to steer my customer base away from traditional lawn environments that need exceptional water and fertilizer requirements. This ‘lush green lawn’ mindset is so pervasive in my area of the country and has made the argument difficult. Even trying to educate them in the beauty of natural and native grasses and perennials in lieu of their perfect striped lawn has been quite a challenge. I have been keeping articles and pictures of beautiful natural yards without grass to show to customers in these instances. It has helped somewhat.

Michael Bernier

Owner, Michael Bernier Design

Los Angeles, California

Living and working in southern California, we are used to less precipitation than other areas of the U.S., and we need to be mindful of the hardscapes designed and plants specified for our projects. Designing with permeable hardscapes and drought-tolerant or native plants is the cornerstone of every project we take on, and that aspect of sustainability is synonymous with our brand.

Chief Vision Officer & President, Groff Landscape Design Arlington,

Virginia

[Sustainability and eco-friendly initiatives] separated us from the competition. I say that from both a client-facing and recruiting standpoint.

Justin Snodgrass Robert Groff Matthew Green Jarrett Herold

CEO, Blue Duck Lawn Care Indianapolis,

Indiana

In the state of Indiana, the few people who have crafted the law regarding pesticides are trying to make it easier to get into the fertilization business. You can become a lawn care technician and never pass any tests or anything to prove that you know the different chemicals, how to apply the chemicals, mix rates, etc. There are new people sleeping through the class and still graduating essentially because there are now no standards and no tests that they have to abide by. I think it’s a horrible mark on the industry. It’s going to water the industry down and, ultimately, it’s going to cause massive environmental problems.

Landscape

Designer, Dennis’ 7 Dees Landscaping

Portland, Oregon

Here in Portland, there are initiatives to outlaw gas motors on small equipment, and we are ahead of the curve. Where needed, we use propane motors and battery-operated tools. Not only does this follow local regulations, but it also helps with pollution and noise pollution, which tends to upset people nearby when gas is used on their property. Our interior design department creates green walls and live interior plantings for offices and homes to help with air quality, in addition to people’s health and attitudes. We also design bioswales and drainage systems that keep water onsite and catch water for future watering needs. As a company, we try to be ahead of trends that contribute to the wellbeing of our properties and the future of the environment.

Co-Founder

& COO, Electric Sheep

San Francisco, California

Mindset has been an obstacle, but we are turning the page. Before Electric Sheep began, my partner and I started this discussion, looking for a way to bring more efficiency to the lawn care industry, looking for a way to be kinder to our environment and to take care of the green spaces that mean so much to us. We don’t need an F250, a huge trailer and giant diesel mowers when the goal is to take care of the environment. This is the result of the pressures on businesses to squeeze out efficiencies in pursuit of being the low-bid in a highly competitive industry. Automation allows you to rethink how you’re planning work. Instead of trying to do everything all in a few hours, maybe you could have a few robots complete a task over the course of the day. Rethinking the relationship between labor and equipment, through automation, will be such a fundamental shift that will completely change the look of businesses, the service and the roles and workflows that are used to get it done. This won’t happen all at once, but AI will surely accelerate this transition and you don’t want to be caught off guard by that—you want to be in the driver’s seat within your own business.