PRISTINE LANDSCAPING, INC - your best choice for the lawn you really want

Grass grows, stress shrinks
Former computer sales executive Andy Aydelott is more content with his Puyallup-based, homegrown landscaping business.

Just a month after striking out on his own to start his new landscaping business, Andy Aydelott figured he must have made a mistake.

He was trying to push a mower through thick, rain-soaked grass on his neighbor's lawn. He'd underbid the job, and the rain was showing no signs of letting up as the lawn mower choked again and again on the long grass.

"I remember looking up at the sky, and thinking 'What have I got myself into?'" said Aydelott, owner of Pristine Landscaping Inc.

Aydelott (pronounced "ate-a-lot"), who had been pulling down close to six figures in the computer sales industry, almost quit then and returned to his old career.

But he didn't. Instead, he pushed through the job and continued to build his Puyallup-based business, which now has contracts for grounds maintenance with 54 King County and South Sound churches, as well as other commercial accounts.

Given the home growth in Pierce County, Aydelott said Monday that he would likely try to make inroads this year into the home yard maintenance market.

But he wants to be careful to maintain the work-home balance that was sadly lacking in his previous career as a computer sales executive, where he had contracts dealing with such companies as Microsoft, Nintendo and Spacelabs.

While watching his workers trim up an unruly hedge at a Tacoma church Monday, Aydelott recalled feeling so much stress from his former job that he was afraid he'd be in a road rage story soon if he didn't change careers.

"I'd be yelling at people that cut me off on the commute to Bellevue," Aydelott said.

In addition, he said he missed being with his children when he was away on business trips, and the high pay just wasn't motivating him anymore.

He tried starting his own computer consulting business, but that didn't work out. Finally, he found out a friend had started his own lawn service business.

"I was talking about buying into a business, and he said, 'Why don't you start your own?'" Aydelott said.

So he used some of his savings to buy the basic equipment and a truck, and started his business in Kent. He later transferred the business to Puyallup when he moved south last year.

After that initial fight with the stubborn lawn, Aydelott said he's never looked back.

He trained himself in the profession, using an innate ability to figure out how to fix things. His knowledge of cars and trucks came in handy when one of the four vehicles in his fleet needed repair.

Despite nearing the $500,000 mark in gross income, Aydelott stressed that the landscaping business is labor intensive, as well as capital intensive.

"I had to spend $15,000 last year on new mowers," he said. "I spend $1,500 a month on gas."

With at least 4,000 business in Washington listed under the landscaping or "green industry," it's also a very competitive business, Aydelott said.

"There's lot of competition - that's what I like about it," he said.

Aydelott has managed to grow his business by managing to find a niche market in the church accounts and promising a quality work environment for his staff.

Now, Aydelott said, he can arrange his schedule around his kids' activities "without worrying about whether the boss is going to fire me or not."

He allows the same freedom, he added, to his employees as well.

"I'd always said that if I were the boss, I would want to treat my employees the way I would want to be treated."

BARBARA CLEMENTS. The News Tribune. Tacoma, Wash.: Jan 27, 2004.