Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Stout.
Hi Eric, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
In the small coastal town of Coos Bay, Oregon finding a good job could be tough. Right after high school I was walking down my gravel road and saw my neighbor unloading surfboards out of his truck. I asked him how the surfing was and we struck up a conversation and I found out he has a landscaping business, Ocean Bay Landscape. I told Lars I was looking for work and he hired me right then. I think i was his first employee. That was our very first conversation and it turned into a four-year mentorship and is where I got my green thumb and learned to appreciate the work. Also did a lot of surfing before work and on lunch breaks haha.
As I got older I ended up going a different direction traveling to different countries and living life. Getting older I decided to see what Portland was all about. My twin sister Melanie was living there and let me crash on her couch while I figured out what my next move was. I needed a job so I worked for another landscape company for a few years but then changed fields and got an office job for the next five years. During that time I got married to my wife Kimberly and we had our two boys Xander and Zachary. I knew I didn’t want to be sitting down for another five years or have someone else controlling my time so I decided to start my own landscape business on my two days off.
With the money I had saved up I bought the basic necessities: a mower, weed whacker, blower, rake, shovel and a ladder. I remember getting my first cleanup job and pricing it low at $150 and winning the job. After the work was done I realized I made around $25 an hour on it. I was feeling good about myself because that was the most I had ever made hourly in my life. After that more jobs started flooding in.
As things picked up I landed my biggest job yet at a large commercial facility. I didn’t really know how to price something that big, but I figured I could tackle it on my own. Well a whole day went by and I was nowhere close to being finished. I realized I was in over my head so I ended up calling all my buddies to come help me finish it out. By the time it was all said and done they all got paid more than me and I completely broke even on the job! It was a funny lesson, but it really opened my eyes to how to price big properties.
I kept landscaping part time for two years until I got let go from my main office job. While it was a shock it was also a massive relief. The landscaping side was already getting too busy for a two-day weekend schedule anyway. Over the years I’ve always tried to build real relationships with my clients and treated them more as friends than customers. I told them what happened and the referrals started pouring in. I ended up picking up double the clients just from my current customers. Now I’m going into my fourth year in business and have scaled up to hiring my own crew.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I already had the experience in the field, so I knew how to do all the physical work but there is a whole other side of running a business that I had no idea about.
One of the biggest struggles early on was learning how to price jobs correctly and even bidding on jobs that I wasn’t totally sure how to complete yet because i wanted to learn how to do everything. I would price it at a decent rate win the job and then scramble to learn exactly how to do it before starting. I spent a lot of nights calling my old landscape bosses reading forums, and watching YouTube videos to make sure I could execute it perfectly.
Another major hurdle was dealing with equipment. When your tools break down right in the middle of a a job you have to deal with those tough conversations with clients, telling them, I don’t know exactly when I can come back to finish. Then you have to spend your evening fixing the gear yourself just to get the trucks moving the next day.
Lately, the biggest challenge has been juggling the heavy workload with family time. It’s a constant balancing act when you have young kids. But luckily I have an amazing wife and since starting this business Kim has been able to be a stay at home mom with our boys. That has been a huge blessing.
The current problem I’m dealing with right now is learning how to hand over the reins. I am so used to doing absolutely everything myself especially the actual physical work. It’s hard to step back but I’ve been incredibly lucky to find a good crew that I can trust to take over the field operations so the business can keep growing and I can make it home to my family.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Stout Landscape Maintenance?
At Stout Landscape Maintenance the main thing that grew this business is making real relationships with my clients and not just creating another job as a job. I like to actually listen to my customers and hear their story so we can work together with what they have going on and let their vision come to life. Right now we are strictly doing maintenance, clean ups, lawn restorations, and black berry clearing. But my favorite is always the big clean ups where we transform an overgrown jungle into something people can actually enjoy again. When it comes to style I really like a wild but tamed look but I can also get behind a neat trim and tidy look too. At the end of the day I just want to give the proper treatment to what the customer is asking for. What sets us apart is seeing how happy people are when the work is done and hearing them say this is the best my yard has ever looked. We have scaled up from a solo weekend hustle into a real family business with a crew now, but no matter how much we grow I am always going to keep that personal touch.
How do you think about happiness?
Family is always first for me. What makes me happy is coming home after a long, hard work day and seeing my wife and kids. Even though I work hard out in the field all day, I still love spending the rest of my time with my family doing things outdoors like going down to the river, visiting the coast, or packing up to go camping. Being able to build a business that completely supports my family while still giving me the time and freedom to be there for them and make those memories with my boys is the ultimate happiness for me.
Pricing:
- Regular maintenance (mowing, edging, blowing) typically charges per-visit pricing depending on property size and frequency.
- Full maintenance (mowing, edging, blowing, weed control, and bush trimming) is offered on a weekly or biweekly basis and is charged per month depending on property size and layout
- Large cleanups: usually range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand depending on how overgrown the property is
- Blackberry and overgrowth clearing: priced based on severity and access, since these can vary heavily from job to job
- Lawn restorations (dethatching, aerating, topdressing, seeding) are priced based on labor, materials, and time needed to bring the yard back to a healthy condition.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stoutlandscape.net/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StoutLandscapeMaintenance
