- How long has Mountain Organic Landscaping & Irrigation been around?
We’ve been in business since 2006. I used to manage a landscaping division for property manager in town. I went off on my own in 2005. I met Kreston and convinced him that landscaping is the greatest summer job ever. The rest is history!
- How have you found success running a business in Vail Valley?
Endless hard work, a good business partner, great contacts in the valley and, thankfully, a couple of excellent employees.
- What challenges have you faced that you had to overcome?
Long term, loyal employees have been our biggest hurdle. With unemployment so low and virtually no available affordable housing, summer season workers are few.
- How do you try to find and retain your employees? What strategies do you use for the winter months?
We were extremely fortunate to have hired a bilingual woman a few years ago. Over the last 3 years, she has done all of our outreach and been able to hire 90% of our employees. The rest of the crew was hired word of mouth.
- We think of the crew as family and do our best to treat them as such. We also hire like minded employees, meaning people who are interested in the environment and either want to learn more or want to help enforce positive change. We do a monthly inservice that is usually environmentally based, last year we offered English classes and pay for landscaping classes as they become available. Finally, and most important to me, we do a small birthday cake celebration for each employee during the summer. We pay as competitively as possible being mindful of raising our hourly rate to our clients- we want to offer quality service at a moderate price while paying our employees well. This is a very interesting balancing act.
- We have created some work in the winter to keep a couple of the ladies busy. We manage a few houses and offer cleaning services.
- What business tips do you have for other small businesses and entrepreneurs?
Don’t give up. Owning a business is a labor of love only those with the same experience can understand. In the end, creating a business from scratch is absolutely rewarding.
- What values and purpose does Mountain Organic possess that you are proud to share with in the community?
We believe in reducing our impact on the earth as best as possible while continuing to offer quality service at an affordable price. We recycle or reuse 90% of our plastic and supplies, buy bulk whenever possible (such as compost and mulch) and have eliminated single use supplies. All of the fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides we use are natural or organic. We want to show the community that natural and organic works just as well as chemicals at a comparable, or more affordable, price.
- What problems do you see that you are solving (i.e. poor landscape quality, unsustainable practices)?
We hope to promote better business practices among the landscaping and irrigation business community. We also want to provide outreach to individuals who do their own landscaping to show them more efficient water usage, eliminating chemicals and better, more sustainable, planting practices.
- How are you involved in the community? AND/OR How do you help support sustainability efforts?
We belong to the Climate Action Collaborative and are team leaders on the water use project. We belong to the local Climate Reality Project group, Protect Our Winters, The Nature Conservancy and Greenpeace. We provide monthly company in-services where we discuss recycling, carbon sequestration and natural practices.
- Where can people go to learn more about you and your services?
mtorganiclandscaping.com or 970 390 9145. We love talking about natural landscaping and water use.