The Level Green Culture Blog

Behind the scenes and insider information for landscaping careers and green industry jobs.

If you have to add another task to your already stuffed to-do list, can you find a blank spot?

Here at Level Green Landscaping, we have a lot in common with dogs.

We love big expanses of green grass.

Sometimes, our feet are muddy. We appreciate the scent of open water and scuffling through crisp fall leaves.

We're loyal. We're friendly. We love a good ball chase.

It's probably why a lot of us have dogs. Sometimes they even tag along with us to work, or keep us company in the truck on the way to Home Depot.

We love cats, too, and we're even partial to geckos.

Meet the pets of Level Green Landscaping.

While we love being at work, it's great to come home to these loyal, lovable friends.

The Level Green story starts like a lot of great stories — with an intriguing idea and a conversation over lunch.

In this case, lunch was at Red Lobster. But Bill Hardy and Doug Delano could have been eating peanut butter sandwiches in a truck and still come to the same conclusion: they should start a landscaping company together.

The two friends had worked together for years at a Maryland landscaping company. Doug started out as a laborer and truck driver and worked his way up to supervisor, project manager, area manager and branch manager.

Bill started as assistant supervisor and moved on to be a supervisor, account manager and branch manager.

When Doug decided to start his own business, he immediately thought of Bill as the perfect business partner.

From the beginning, the pair had strong values and high standards.

People who work at Level Green Landscaping often talk about the family atmosphere at work.

But the fact is, they have real families at home. And no matter how great the atmosphere is at work, you want to spend time with your actual family.

At Level Green, we know time away from work is as important as work.

Ashley Owens has kept in touch with the same potential landscaping client for eight years.

Year after year, he’s still happy with his current landscaping company. But one day, he might not be.

Then, she’ll pounce.

“It hasn’t turned into an opportunity yet, but the day his contractor slips up and makes him angry— I’ll be the one he calls,” says Ashley, business development manager with Level Green Landscaping.

“I just need a little crack in the door.”

James Kole has been trying to take charge of landscaping projects since before he could read.

At age 4 or 5, he was visiting his grandmother as she rototilled her garden.

“I thought I was big enough to handle the rototiller myself, and the handle hit me, right under my eye,” he says.

It left a small scar under his left eye. But it didn’t dampen his enthusiasm.

James kept on gardening — all the way to his branch manager position at Level Green Landscaping. And a golden shovel. More about that later.

When Brad Butler was offered the job as Level Green Landscaping’s chief safety officer, he was sort of surprised.

”My hobbies are big wave surfing and skydiving, so I thought it was kind of odd they asked me to be in charge of safety,” he says.

Plus he has five kids, and a sixth due in August. And four giant Italian mastiff dogs, weighing in at about 200 lbs each.

When you think about it, if Brad’s managed to stay happy and healthy this long, he must know something.

Sometimes the best thing a landscape company owner can do to solve a dilemma is to ask another landscaping guy.

Or ask six of them.

Imagine all seven owners in a room, talking about their finances, sharing how they do business, puzzling out problems and trading their best ideas.

It’s called The Growth Network, and it’s Level Green Landscaping’s industry peer group.

The owners of seven landscaping companies of similar size from across the country get together regularly to share, explore new ideas and learn from each other.

And once a year, they bring managers, too, so they can meet, mingle and learn together.

The first thing Doug Delano says about how he ended up here might surprise you.

“I hated mowing grass,” he says.

Luckily, he grew up surrounded by gardeners, or you might not even be reading this story.

His dad grew fragrant roses and snappy stalks of asparagus. His mom nourished vegetable gardens and both grandmothers loved plunging their fingers into the soil.

It was in his blood. So after considering a career as a pastor, majoring in philosophy, teaching high school math and coaching football, Doug gave in to his calling.

“I wanted to be a landscaper,” he says.

Now he’s co-owner of Level Green Landscaping. But he started at the bottom, as most landscapers do, working as a laborer and truck driver at Ruppert Landscape.

“I went from a job that needed a college degree to one where all you needed was to be robust enough to dig holes all day,” he says.

But not for long. He took classes in horticulture and landscape design, and after a few months moved up to assistant supervisor.

Soon he was a supervisor on the construction side, then a project manager, overseeing several crews. After five years in construction he was promoted to area manager on the maintenance side. Then he worked in sales and was a branch manager.

He loved the journey. But when Ruppert was bought by a large national company, the thrill was gone.

Bill Hardy swims with sharks and shoots off an astonishingly large display of exploding fireworks every Fourth of July.

So when his friend and former colleague Doug Delano asked if he wanted to go into business together, honestly, it didn’t seem too scary.

Plus, they were at Red Lobster at the time. Those cheddar biscuits have a way of making everything seem just fine.

“I call it the day Doug proposed to me,” Bill recalls cheerfully. “A business partnership is a lot like a marriage. It has to be based on trust. You’re not always going to agree on everything, but you still have to figure out how to solve issues.”

He laughs.

“I accepted his proposal pretty quick.”