Landscape business grows like a weed

Principals: Robert Zucca and Pieter Rossi

By James Nash
Reprinted from The Union

It all began with a few guys playing beach volleyball at Lake Tahoe.

Pieter Rossi was unemployed, nearly broke, and about to get married. Robert Zucca was an independent landscaping contractor, making enough money to get by but little more.

As Rossi recalls it, the two were plying volleyball at King's Beach in June 1990 when the subject of work was broached.

"Bob, do you have anything?" Rossi remembers asking Zucca. "I'll work for 10 bucks an hour. I'll just go door to door for you, because you have the tools."

In the 6 ½ years since they forged their business relationship, Zucca and Rossi have presided over a landscaping company that has gone from $80,000 in sales in its first year to nearly $1 million in 1996. The company is projected to reach $1.2 million in 1997.

Still, theirs is not a tale of rags to riches, Rossi insists.

"It's not riches yet, but it's a lot of hard work," Rossi said.

In more than six years of sustained growth, BP Landscapes has evolved from an informal partnership to a corporation and has formed a spin-off company, BP Properties, to build and lease a planned headquarters.

In addition to a new headquarters on Golden Gate Terrace in Grass Valley, BP Landscapes plans to open an office in Reno, tapping the fruitful landscaping market of western Nevada.

Although Rossi and Zucca are young - 28 and 29 respectively - their adherence to told-fashioned business principles drives their success, they said.

Since founding their company, Rossi and Zucca have begun their workday at 5:30 am with a staff meeting to map out their daily tasks. Their workday stretches to 6 p.m.

"The reason we are able to grow - and there's only one reason - is because of the service we provide," Zucca said. "There's no arguing, no questions asked. If there's dead plant, it gets replaced."

Rossi and Zucca said their philosophy extends to employees as well. They didn't hire their first employee until the winter of 1992-93. Their 21 employees now enjoy health care, a fully funded pension, paid vacation and sick days.

In 1991, BP Landscapes was a partnership between Rossi and Zucca, with Rossi staffing the office and distributing sales fliers and Zucca dong most of the landscaping work. They had about four or five contracts.

Having established their reputation, Rossi and Zucca hired their first employee, Mike Ford, in 1993. Ford now serves as maintenance manager, overseeing 101 accounts. "We knew eventually that if we had an employee to do these accounts, we would have enough money to pay the overhead," Rossi said.

Revenue from maintenance contacts is reinvested into the company to cover overhead costs and to finance growth. In addition to BP Landscapes' physical expansion, Rossi and Zucca plan to introduce computer-aided design as a business tool.

BP Landscapes controlled growth - about 30 percent annually - has afforded the company stability over nearly seven years, Rossi and Zucca said.

"We have no limit," Rossi said. "As ling as we continue to follow our vision and we don't grow too fast, we'll continue to grow.