Good Neighbor Podcast: Milton & More
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Milton, Crabapple, and Hickory Flat
Good Neighbor Podcast: Milton & More
Expert Episode: The Landscape Group Inc with Sean Imhoff
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Unlock the secrets to transforming your outdoor space into a personal oasis with insights from Sean Imhoff, the sales manager at the Landscape Group Inc. in Milton, Georgia. Sean joins us to share the hottest landscaping trends for 2025, with a special spotlight on the surging popularity of pool installations. From hardscaping to fire features, Sean details the comprehensive services his team provides to create stunning outdoor environments that cater to your unique preferences. Whether you're envisioning a brand-new pool or simply looking to refresh your backyard, Sean offers practical advice on seasonal cleanup and redesign, ensuring your yard is prepped for the new year.
Discover how the Landscape Group's consultative approach turns your landscaping dreams into reality. Sean takes us through a remarkable transformation project in Milton’s Wexford subdivision, where they revamped a cluttered front yard into a welcoming space with expanded lawns and dwarf plants. He emphasizes the importance of personalized design and ongoing maintenance, offering continued support to keep your yard looking pristine. Listen in to learn how Sean and his team can help you achieve the outdoor space you've always wanted, with expert advice that's just a text, email, or call away.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Stacey Poehler.
Speaker 2Hey everybody, I'm excited to be chatting with Sean Imhoff. He is the sales manager at the Landscape Group Inc. Right here in Milton Georgia. Welcome, sean.
Speaker 3Hey, stacey, glad to be here, thank you.
Speaker 2Yeah, so for today we decided to talk about new year, new yard. Sean is going to share all sorts of tips with us and some ideas, and you can see how the Landscape Group can help you redo your yard and make it your favorite place in your house. Sean, what do you see as some top trends in landscaping for the new year?
Speaker 3Yeah, so 2025, going into 2025, there's been a lot of interest in pools these days. Our current workload is centered a lot around pools and landscape around new pools.
Speaker 2And do you guys, do you know all of the hardscaping and pool construction yourself too?
Speaker 3Yeah, so we work for a pool builder but we come in and we do tile coping the decking around the pool. We also do retaining walls, any freestanding walls, the fire features around the pool, so we're pretty much able to do a lot that goes with it.
Speaker 2Yeah, you guys are definitely a one-stop shop there for all your backyard needs. Can you talk about some things that homeowners can do to refresh their yards and have it feel like new things they should be focusing on this winter?
Speaker 3Yeah, so we've gone into the winter months. The biggest thing that we try to tell people to do is get it cleaned up. Let's get the leaves cleaned up before spring. Let's allow your plants and your lawn to have a better start once the weather starts to warm up. This also helps make sure funguses don't start on plants and grass. It's keeping grass, the leaves, debris cleaned up. We do clean up services. We also do a lot of tear out for people. This time of year people see a lot of big hedges and they say, man, I really want a new, clean look. We'll do a big tear out and get you a design with new plants installed.
Speaker 2How do you personalize that design to fit each homeowner's needs and desires?
Speaker 3We first like to start with a consult. Of course A client calls in set up a consult. We listen with intent, ask clients if they already know what they're looking for, because some people know what they want. Then there are others that tell us we have no clue. That's why you're here, so we can go both approaches. We don't mind doing all the hard work, but it is nice if somebody has a general idea of what they're looking for.
Speaker 2What's a recent example of a yard that you guys transformed?
Speaker 3We just did a job in Wexford subdivision here in Milton and it was a total rip out of everything they had. So they had monstrous hedges from the time the house was built and you couldn't see the front of the house any longer. So they said please help us out. We want to reduce the amount of beds we have and come up with a strategy. So we did. We gave them a new retaining wall on the corner of the house, ripped out all the big hedges, made more lawn space by taking out some of the beds and then put in dwarf plants.
Speaker 2What are dwarf plants?
Speaker 3Dwarf plants are plants that don't get very large over the life of the plant. Average is about 3, 3.5 feet. A lot of people think that dwarf is much smaller, but there just isn. A lot of people think that dwarf is much smaller, but there just isn't much plant life out there that stays smaller than that over the life of the plant.
Speaker 2Got it. I imagine you talk with the homeowners about how much maintenance they're willing to do after you guys leave the project too.
Speaker 3Of course we talk about how to maintain things. We also let them know that we do maintenance in-house. So if they're willing to take on our services for maintenance, we can maintain it after we've installed it. I'm more than willing to talk with them about how to take care of each type of plant. I let them know I'm here for the long haul. They can text, email, call. I'm always available to my client after they've done services with us.
Speaker 2That's great. What steps do you take to ensure that projects stay on budget and stay on the right timeline?
Speaker 3The timeline comes down to us managing the project. Weather can be a factor, especially this time of year. We can't work in mud. It really slows down productivity. I go out to job sites, if not daily, every other day. It just depends on what stage we're at, to make sure that we're on task, we're doing things right. So I'm keeping my eye on it. But on the budget standpoint, usually we stick to the estimate unless some really crazy unforeseen happens, like we start digging and we hit a boulder or a rock or something. That's the only time that stuff goes up is if we just don't see something. That's there.
Speaker 2Yeah, that makes sense. And then I imagine you kind of talk to the customer right there and give them some options for dealing with that added expense, right?
Speaker 3Yeah, come up with a solution, give them an estimate and then they let us know if they want to move forward with that added expense. Right, yeah, we come up with a solution, give them an estimate and then they let us know if they want to move forward with that or not.
Speaker 2Got it. What do you think sets the landscape group apart from other landscaping businesses in the area?
Speaker 3Yeah, so we have a dedicated office manager, we have an owner, we have myself as the sales manager, we have a project manager. So we have a lot of people that somebody can reach out to. I would say that communication is probably one of the biggest differences for us. I hear from a lot of clients like I've tried calling this landscaper. I can't get a hold of this person. It's available.
Speaker 2Yeah, someone's always there to answer the phone Very as well.
Speaker 3Um, if anybody go, they'll see a lot of compl, just solely our crews.
Speaker 2Ye advice would you give hom their landscaping thriving.
Speaker 3To keep it thriving all year long. Main thing is the maintenance. We try to tell people that picking up somebody like us, a firm like ourselves, to help maintain plants is a big deal. It's very quickly. Things can get out of control. They grow fast. If you're not maintaining that, it's just going to not look great, it's going to look unkept. Then again, asking for our services for installation and other things around that nature.
Speaker 2I imagine a lot of people when they think of maintenance, they're focused more on the lawn and the cleanup stuff. But it sounds like having a plan in place for your plants and your landscaping accents and all that stuff's really important too.
Speaker 3Yeah, your hedges. Trimming your hedges, mulch and pine straw makes a huge difference on the look of someone's property. If you have no mulch and pine straw, it allows weeds to grow and it also looks untidy.
Speaker 2Do you guys offer packages, bi-weekly, weekly, monthly services? How do you work with your clients on maintenance?
Speaker 3So we are strictly weekly service. We don't like to do bi-weekly, mainly because when you do bi-weekly it's not going to look to its full potential. Things over the course of two weeks can look unkept sticks, leaves fall. It looks like you don't have a maintenance service and that can hurt our reputation when somebody sees us out there as a maintenance company. So we stick to the every week program.
Speaker 2And do you do it all year long or are there options to opt in for certain months?
Speaker 3So we ask for a one year contract from every client. It has a 30 day kick out clause. We don't hold anybody to that one year, but we do ask for a 30 day notice. We will try to rectify any concern that a client has, but we know that some things happen in life that makes somebody make the decision to do away with that service. Could be financial, could be health, any reason for that matter. But we work with people on that whenever needed.
Speaker 2Can you share how folks can get in contact with you guys?
Speaker 3They can call our office, our office number, 770-649-1155. Or they can go to our website, which is wwwthelandscapegroupinccom.
Speaker 2Perfect. Thanks so much for joining us today, Sean.
Speaker 3Thank you, Stacey.
Speaker 1Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast Milton and more. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Miltoncom. That's GNP Miltoncom, or call 470-664-4930.