Alumnus Digs Dirt

Brian Brandy (BSBA ’01) is into dirt. Literally.

As co-owner of a new Denver-based landscape company, Higher Ground Landscapes, Brandy finds himself in the dirt a lot. And there’s no place he’d rather be.

“I absolutely love being outside,” he says. “I’ve had a couple of suit-and-tie jobs and they seemed superficial. I didn’t see an end result. With landscape projects, I see a tangible, finished project. There’s a lot of satisfaction in that.”

He and business partner Ben Scharf, a University of Wisconsin alumnus, started their company in December 2006 and had a good summer this year. They brought on a crew of laborers and a landscape designer.

While they acknowledge that Denver is thick with landscape companies, they believe they stand out due to their hands-on approach to customer relationships.

“I feel it’s real important for home owners to be comfortable with the people who are in their yard every day,” Brandy says. “If there’s an issue, I want them to have clear paths of communication and not ever feel bad or uncomfortable if something doesn’t look like they thought it would.

“Nine days out of 10, Ben, myself or the designer will be at the worksite, which is different from big companies where the owner gets the job and the homeowner never sees him again.”

Scharf says their hands-on approach also leads them to hire great laborers because they end up working with them every day.

“If I’m going to be working side-by-side with someone all day, I want to personally enjoy them while they’re here,” he says. “We hire quality people.”

Brandy and Scharf have designed and landscaped yards all over the Denver Metro area and hope that word-of-mouth keeps their business growing. But growth is not their only objective.

“Half of our paycheck is the actual job we get to do,” Brandy says. “Being outside and working in the dirt … there’s value in that. I don’t see us building a huge company and retiring early; we just want to live comfortably and do what we love.”

Story via DU Today

DU Alums Start Landscaping Business

Heading out on your own is no picnic, especially in the competitive world of landscaping and design - an industry dominated by huge firms operating with multiple crews and massive marketing capital. In January of this year, Ben Scharf and Brian Brandy - a couple of longtime friends and recent college grads - launched their own venture, Higher Ground Landscapes, and discovered the multiple pitfalls and rewards of doing it on their own.

I sat down with Brian, an alum of DU to talk about their experience as new business owners vying against a large and established competition. At about 6 foot, with a youthful smile and an easy-going, honest demeanor, Brian makes an immediate impression - and his optimism as he starts talking about the business is obvious. “Ben’s been doing this for ten years, and I’ve been doing this for ten years,” he explains.”We’ve both worked for pretty high-end companies, and gained a lot of experience.

We’ve learned what the best companies do, so we can mirror from them. But we’re going to do it better.”

I ask what inspired the pair to start their own business, when things had been going well at the companies they’d already been working for. “I love being outside,” he starts. “I’ve had a couple of jobs with a coat and tie, and it didn’t work out. I wanted to be a business owner, and the rewards are greater - but it’s obviously a lot harder too,” he says.

With a little nudging, he starts talking more about his experience at other companies, and his own observations as he started looking in more detail at the work being done around the city by the myriad of landscapers operating in Denver. He goes into some detail about planting choices, and flawed irrigation systems, and landscapes that aren’t designed well for the climate. “You just see so much that’s been done wrong,” he says.

“I take a lot of pride in what I do, and seeing it done right. It’s not just about leaving and seeing a project that looks good now - two, three, four years later, I want to see that what I’ve done has worked well.” “Ben’s family are farmers in Wisconsin, so we know the land real well - but he’s a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. He’s a Badger,” he laughs.

The fledging venture has had a marked degree of early success, and despite its small crew - just Brian and Ben - it offers the full range of landscaping services. “Irrigation, water features, flatwork, brick and clay pavers, planting, drought tolerance, trees native to Colorado - even ones that aren’t, we can get the right irrigation for them to grow in our dry, dry climate - and the pretty stuff, all the nice looking flowers,” he says. “We can fix problems, or we can start off everything from a clean slate.”

What seems to set the business apart is its focus on overall, long-term quality, and the accountability that comes from having owners actually doing the work themselves. “It’s Ben and I, on-site, every day,” explains Brian. “We don’t send out a crew. And if there’s something bothering you, we can fix it right then, right there, on-site. So often, people think these are huge problems that can’t be fixed, so they don’t talk about their concerns. But if you’re willing to work, it’s amazing how easily most of these issues can be resolved.”

After having some success with local advertising, the business is beginning to grow, and Brian talks with pride about a street where he started with one small project, and was then hired by a neighbor, and then another neighbor, until finally five homes on the same block each had landscaping executed by his company. “The hardest part has been getting our name out there,” he says. “We’re doing well with referrals, but to get people to use us, to get our name out, has been a challenge, honestly,” he says. “A lot of folks have people they’re going to use, and in this business, so much of it is word of mouth.”

If you’re looking for a fresh start for your own landscaping, or to fix an issue left by previous homeowners (or landscapers), sit down with these guys. Higher Ground Landscapes can be reached at 303-929-0872.

Story via North Denver News