In the northeast corner of Oklahoma lies the small community of Miami. Next door, in Commerce, Oklahoma, visitors can see the boyhood home of Mickey Mantle, or double back through town and enjoy a little nostalgia along Rt. 66. Indeed, Miami has a lot of history, and with a population of 13,000, it is a bit rustic and quiet – hardly the place, one would guess, where some of the most luxurious motor homes in the country are manufactured. But that is the case, because Miami is also the home of motor home manufacturer Newell Coach.

Jane Lowe needed a new mower, and not just any brand would do. She lived on a 23-acre homestead in Wittman on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and mowed 3-1/2 acres of lawn every week from the end of April through October. To get the right mower for her application, she turned to a former fourth grade student of hers, Skip Marvel, who owned a power equipment dealership in nearby Easton.

Last year, Flo Olson tallied up the number of lawn maintenance contractors working in and around the resort community of Kalispell, Montana. By her best reckoning, there were 50 contractors. She added another 30 to her list this year, for a total of at least 80 companies, big and small, all competing for a piece of the mowing/maintenance market.

Mark Chaffin, owner of Earthworks, Inc., in Lillian, Texas, admits to being a rather low-profile individual who runs a low-profile company. He shies away from the spotlight and his company does very little advertising. In fact, until two years ago, the Earthworks’ name wasn’t even on the sides of its trucks. This may not seem all that unusual until you learn that Earthworks, in business since 1979, employs 200 people, has more than 200 commercial clients, owns 52 trucks, and operates 33 Walker Mowers. 

Name an industry other than farming where the cost of doing business is going up while the dollar-value of the product is going down? The answer, of course, is landscape maintenance, and just like good farmers, successful landscape maintenance contractors have to carry a sharp pencil, produce an excellent product, and be as efficient as possible on the job. Enter the Stott brothers.

Driving down the road, 20- year-old Jason Fawcett cradles two cell phones. In between calls he talks about his life as an owner of a very successful lawn maintenance company and full-time fire fighter.