Crawford Landscaping, Southwest Florida’s leading full-service landscape company, announced today that they’ve opened a Fort Myers location. Open since October, Crawford's new site will host all five of the company's major operating divisions, and service clients from Corkscrew Road north.

Crawford Landscaping Group today announced that it has hired Jeff Balyeat as its business development manager.  Jeff joins Mike McNeill, a 10-year Crawford Landscaping veteran, to help expand Crawford's footprint northward.  

"I am thrilled to add someone of Jeff's experience and knowledge to our team," remarked Blake Crawford.  "We were successful in achieved our 5 and 10-year growth goals, and now as we set out to achieve our ambitious 15-year growth goals, we felt we needed to add another experienced Business Development Manager."

When Blake Crawford, CEO and owner of Crawford Landscaping Group, founded his company in 2004, his goal was to reach $10 million in revenue annually by 2014. Well, two years ago the Naples, Florida company passed its goal with flying colors, in spite of the housing collapse… and they’re still expanding.

When we started Crawford Landscaping Group in July 2004, I had never heard of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification for a landscape company. But, as we started developing systems to make every operation and procedure run as smoothly as possible, I thought about my years in the automotive field where ISO is the quality benchmark. I figured if it could work for that industry, maybe it could apply to ours as well. And even if we couldn’t secure certification, we’d have developed solid systems and quality control measures for operating a successful landscape business.

In addition to its regular maintenance crews, Crawford Landscaping employs a flower technician, who strictly performs flower bed installation and maintenance. The technician visits every property with flowerbeds on a biweekly basis to take care of deadheading, replacements, and pest and weed control. A former member of the lawn maintenance crew, the technician receives additional training on various types of annuals, weed controls and chemical safety, says Blake Crawford, CEO of the Naples, Fla.-based company. 

Crawford Landscaping was voted by the residents of Collier County as the best landscaper in its annual SWFL Choice Awards.  

"We are extremely honored by this award, and very grateful for all the hard workers at Crawford that made this possible," commented Blake Crawford.

“The landscaping industry is becoming more sophisticated every year,” Crawford says, explaining why the green industry is a natural for systems. “It’s a repeatable business. Your contracts are pretty much set in stone.”
 

Blake Crawford had the ultimate training in systems and efficiency prior to starting Crawford Landscaping Group. He spent 10 years in manufacturing in Detroit. “I learned about continuous improvement, operational systems and quality control – all of the things we implemented later in our business here,” he says. 
 

Crawford Landscaping is proud to announce that it's Arbor Department has been awarded the Arbor Care Maintenance contract for the Edison & Ford Winter Estates.  

The Edison & Ford Winter Estates boasts over 20 acres of botanical gardens, nine historic buildings including Edison’s Botanic Research Laboratory and the Edison Ford Museum which contains an impressive collection of inventions, artifacts and special exhibit galleries.  Today, the gardens contain more than 1,700 plants representing more than 400 species from six continents.  Our most famous tree is the banyan, a four foot tree planted around 1925 that now covers almost an acre of the grounds.  The Estates collection also includes the sausage tree, tropical fruit trees including mango and citrus, orchids, bromeliads, cycads, and more than 50 species of palms.

What separates a Michigander from a Floridian. . .give up? If you’re Blake Crawford it’s exactly 1345 miles. That’s the distance due south from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to Naples, Florida. Crawford formerly a Michigander is now a confirmed Floridian.

Here’s how the process works for most folks from the industrial north–but not for Crawford who now runs a premiere (and growing) $13 million landscape company on Florida’s sun-splashed Gulf Coast:

In southwest Florida where Blake Crawford is CEO of Crawford Landscaping in Naples, paying more than competitors for labor assures he will attract a quality team member. He communicates to customers that his employees are a reflection of how the company values its customers – services cost more, but you get what you pay for. "We want to have the kind of reputation in the marketplace where you go to work at Crawford Landscaping, and we are going to demand a lot, but we are also going to pay for it," Crawford says.

An equipment wish list – that's what Blake Crawford asks his head managers to submit every September, right before budgeting for the next year kicks into full gear. Another riding mower? A skid-steer loader? A new truck? Hand-held equipment?

Leads at Crawford Landscaping in Naples, Fla., put their "wants" on paper at the end of the busy season, and equipment needs are assessed based on the anticipated cash available for equipment purchases. "This year, we are probably going to embark on an aggressive budget for our shop maintenance," says Crawford, CEO of the firm.

Water has been a hot topic for a while, and that’s most likely not going to change in 2016.

As you start getting calls for irrigation installations and maintenance this year, consider adding smart controllers to your offerings.

Crawford Landscaping Group in Naples, Florida, started offering smart controllers six or seven years ago. Currently, the company retrofits controllers for customers trying to save money on their water bills.

When he was working in the auto industry, Blake Crawford remembers teams of employees assigned to evaluate every step in a production line.  “You have to continuously refine your processes,” Crawford remembers. “Then you’d squeeze out 15% efficiency.”

Crawford, 43, grew up in the auto industry working in his father’s parts plants at Cambridge Industries. There, he learned that every step in the manufacturing process could be measured and improved.

A Naples business has taken a unique path in the landscaping industry, using a systems-based, standards of excellence approach as it has broadened its services over the past 12 years.

Crawford Landscaping has grown significantly over the years, with owner and CEO Blake Crawford seeing more growth ahead as offerings expand over the next 24-36 months.

“We’re getting ready to relaunch our business in terms of growth,” he said.

Sergio Luna has been named Senior Foreman at Crawford Landscaping.  A designation reserved for only the finest of foreman, Sergio's dedication and quality work has earned him this honor.  Sergio has been with Crawford for over 10 year, the last 5 serving as Foreman in charge of our Barefoot Beach portfolio.  Sergio has a Green Industries Best Management Practices Certificate, and is licensed to spray round-up and commercial grade fertilizer.

"One of the qualities I appreciate most about Sergio is his smile - he is always happy and leads with kindness," comments Blake Crawford.  "His work speaks for itself and has enable us to maintain a very loyal client base."

When Sergio's not working hard at Crawford, he enjoys spending time with his family, where he takes his three daughters to the park and shopping. 

Crawford Landscaping has been awarded the horticulture maintenance contract for Paseo Condominium Association, part of the award-winning Paseo community.  Work on this $400,000+ contract will start July 1, 2016.  

Paseo is a vibrant, uniquely designed community in the heart of South Fort Myers on Daniels Parkway.  Developed by Stock Development, Paseo has been awarded Community of the Year 9 years in a row. 

"We are really excited about the Paseo project as we look to increase our footprint in the Fort Myers market," comments Blake Crawford.