ON THE SHOULDERS OF Giants

from SYNKD South Winter 2023/24

by SYNKD—Landscape design, build and maintain all on the same page

DRONES AT YOUR SERVICE

Consultation, design, installation, maintenance: For residential landscapes, Grow & Co. Landscaping in Houston, Texas, does it all. The results are both stunningly beautiful and sustainable. For that, owners Kyle and Susannah Cahill thank the highly skilled team they assembled through unconventional means.

The story of Grow & Co. began at a turning point in Kyle’s life. After nearly 10 years of learning and developing alongside the first landscaping company to employ him post-graduation from Texas A&M, Southern Botanical, Kyle decided to listen to the little voice inside telling him to give entrepreneurship a try.

“My wife was very supportive, and we did it. Like most stories you hear, it was a very low-budget situation, just getting out there and doing it, hiring one person at a time, buying the first truck and trailer. For a long time, I never would have thought of myself as an entrepreneur. I was more of an intrapreneur: someone able to find satisfaction and fulfillment under someone else’s leadership. Once I had a taste of it though, I knew business ownership was for me,” Kyle explains.

Overnight, Kyle went from leading a company division bringing in roughly $15 million in revenue to patching together a business out of his own home. Undeterred by his shoestring budget, Kyle went door to door, and 18 months in, he raked in $300,000—an impressive number for what was more or less a one-man show. As his business germinated, the neighbors, initially eager to back Kyle’s endeavors, grew tired of waking to the sound of diesel trucks early in the morning. It was time for a change.

Kyle asked his nursery contact if they knew of anyone with a piece of land to rent. At the time, he was merely looking for a cheap parking spot, but he was given the contact information for two men, Danny McNair and Robert Glauser, looking to retire and sell their company after decades of work in the area.

“I just did not see how that was going to be feasible financially for me to make this happen,” Kyle recalls. “They were substantially bigger, and I didn’t think it would work out. But, after a little bit more encouragement from my neighbors to get out of there, I cold-called them to introduce myself in December of 2017. After a full year and six months passed, in June of 2018, we had worked through a deal. I acquired their company, their client list and hired their employees.”

Just like that, Grow & Co. transformed from a three-man operation to an employer of 25 experienced individuals and a whole new book of business.

“We moved in together before we got married,” Kyle says. “I always like to give that analogy when I talk about the time we were working through the deal and operating from their location. We wanted to see if it would work, and I could not be more pleased with how that went—just wonderful guys and wonderful employees.” knew in his gut that acquiring this business was a wise decision. The sellers showed more interest in ensuring that their clients and employees were cared for than they ever did in the sale price. Kyle sensed they ran the company exceptionally ethically for 30 years and set forth to do the same.

During the process, Kyle observed how Danny and Robert priced out jobs. Rather than basing their earnings on a contract, they looked at two factors: time and materials. Although uncommon, Kyle believes that adopting this system was key to the success of his business today.

“You know, I’ve said in the past that this model may hinder our growth,” Kyle remarks. “That doesn’t matter to me, because I see that we can make the profitability, the gross, the net margins that we need to make to pay our people well and put a quality product out there. It also allows us to be flexible and transparent with our clients. At this point, it has not hindered anything.”

Since the first acquisition, Grow & Co. has obtained two additional companies, including an irrigation firm, and is looking to bring more specialized talent in-house through acquisitions very soon. Bolstering and expanding a business through acquisition has been a remarkably beneficial strategy for Kyle and his team. Even so, Kyle recognizes there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it.

“No matter what, if the deal isn’t a win-win for both parties, you just have to walk away from it,” he says. “I know it can be enticing, but it’s not worth it. Being disciplined in that mindset is hard because, with entrepreneurs, there is a desire to say, ‘Let’s do this.’ It has certainly been an exercise in restraint for me as I evolved as a business owner.”

Sir Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Kyle’s journey is a reminder that, in this industry, we are never alone. Networking is one technique to jumpstart and maintain an ethical business, and, as Kyle has demonstrated, acquisition—integrating with accomplished tradespeople and their satisfied clientele—can be another.