Your business is well respected and your reputation is an excellent one.
Sandy: Hello, Tom. This month we invited Chris Welborn, owner of Vicente Landscaping, to join us and let our readers get to know Chris and his company.
Tom: Great, Sandy. I have known and worked with Chris for many years, Hi, Chris!
Chris: Hi, Sandy and Tom. Thanks for the invite.
Sandy: Great to have you, Chris. First, you have been a YCCA Board member for 18 years and an asset to this organization.
Tom: To add to that, your landscaping company has done some nice stuff over the years. What does Vicente Landscaping do?
Chris: We are a full-service landscaping company for both residential and commercial clients. We focus on three primary elements of the landscaping industry: design, construction and installation, plus we have a fully developed maintenance department.
Sandy: How long have you owned Vicente Landscaping?
Chris: My wife, Anne, and I purchased Vicente Landscaping in 2004. We were living in Phoenix and wanted to make the move “up north.” Prescott was the dream, and here we are more than 20 years later.
Sandy: Well, we are certainly glad you are here! What prompted you to buy the landscaping company?
Chris: We wanted to engage a company that was ready for the next level of growth where we could apply our creativity and professionalism to best serve the people of the Quad Cities area.
Tom: Outstanding. Through the past 20-plus years, you have certainly achieved more than a modest level of success.
Sandy: That is true. Tell us what some of the processes you instituted were and how did they help your company’s success?
Chris: We wanted to instill a culture of professionalism. We wanted all our staff, both field as well as office, to have the training and support they needed to do their jobs well.
Sandy: Your business is well respected and your reputation is an excellent one. Tell us some of the things your business does to develop and maintain that reputation.
Chris: We believe in training. Concisely, that is the crux of our success. We have a goal, or motto: “everyone, every time always makes it right.”
Tom: A solid foundation. Great! Once a person is trained, what are some of the internal steps you take to make sure the effort is repetitive?
Chris: We have weekly meetings that review schedules and talk about customer service opportunities, which ask each of us how can we do better? We also stress safety, a large part of our training regimen, through weekly (all staff) tailgate meetings to be sure all of us are doing our part and watching each other’s back.
Sandy: That is exactly the kind of attention to detail that an A+ company needs to incorporate into their operational matrix.
Tom: We all love it when you talk like that, Sandy! Chris, to help our readers know what they might expect from Vicente Landscaping when they call, can you elaborate on the approach your company takes with a new client?
Chris: That depends entirely on the individual customer. Some folks know what they want and may or may not need some design assistance. In that case, we work toward implementing their goals.
Sandy: If a homeowner needs landscape design help, you have designers on board, correct?
Chris: Yes, Anne is great at leading a design effort. So much better than me. Ron is our general manager and also crates beautiful designs.
Sandy: Are clients’ goals ever unrealistic and if so, what do you do in those cases?
Chris: Well, most of the time with clients who know what they want, they have done considerable research and their goals are spot on. If we think a client could make a better plant choice based on its orientation, we will suggest alternatives. In the end though, our clients’ choices always win out.
Tom: I am sure you get folks calling you, knowing they want to improve their outdoor experiences and look at Vicente Landscaping for assistance and direction.
Chris: Oh sure, all the time. This is when we call on Anne and Ron, our design team, to meet and help create a solution that fits their goals and budget.
Sandy: That is a balancing act with goals and budget, I am sure. There are so many choices to be made – firewise, xeriscape, hardscape – how do you know what is best?
Chris: We always start by listening. Once we know what a client is looking for, we can make their dream happen. All the facets of firewise and xeriscape play large in our designs because they make sense.
Tom: Chris, you have been in business for more than 20 years now. Can you share with our readers some of the major or dramatic changes you have seen in the landscape industry over that time?
Chris: Wow, a lot has changed. Sandy, you mentioned two of the big changes, which are firewise and xeriscape. Keeping safe by promoting landscapes that have low water use and help protect property from the spread of fires is a mainstream focus now. Twenty years ago, it was just beginning to be talked about.
Sandy: Lots of changes have taken place through technological improvements that have occurred industrywide, I am sure.
Chris: Oh my, yes. Irrigation can be much more precisely focused with all manners of smart technology. If rain is sensed, irrigation can be monitored and reduced by saving water and this can be done by your smartphone, which did not even exist 20 years ago.
Sandy: Water use technology has come so far and really helps us conserve that precious resource. What else, my friend?
Chris: Lighting technology has improved. New LED lights let us light an area with less energy use and even change colors without having to change light bulbs. That leads to some dramatic landscape solutions.
Sandy: This is fantastic. I am so grateful that our readers have this opportunity to get to know you, Chris, and Vicente Landscaping. Thank you for joining us.
Tom: I agree, and second that, Sandy. As a reminder to our readers, you can meet Chirs and his team at the YCCA Home and Garden Show, April 25-27, at the Findlay Toyota Center, in Prescott Valley. Admission is free.
Sandy: To our readers, thanks for stopping in to read At Home With Tom and Sandy. You are in good company and we love sharing educational, fun and important information with you. See you next month with Chris Welborn. We are going to be talking about plants and rosebushes and flowers and what to plant and what not to plant. QCBN
Tom Reilly, Architect, 928-925-5692
Sandy Griffis, Executive Director, Yavapai County Contractors Association. 928-778-0040
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