The Young Turks of Landscaping
Joel Furfari
August 5, 2008 4:50:12 pm
The Gwinnett Business Journal
August 2008
23 Year Old Has Company On the Fast Track
At Innovative Outdoors, a Duluth-based landscaping company, Thomas Boyce is the oldest person at the firm.
He's the founder and owner. And he's all of 23 years old.
Armed with the sense that there's room for growth in the Gwinnett landscaping market, Boyce has gone from mowing lawns in his Dacula neighborhood to running a company with almost 30 employees and $3 million in annual revenues.
Boyce got his start when he was in high school, cutting grass and picking up a few tricks of the landscaping trade.
"I figured I could make more money doing that than by just going to the mall to get a job," he says. "People kept asking me to do a little bit more and a little bit more, and then we started doing landscaping projects for a few thousand bucks here and there."
One day Boyce was shopping in a Pike Nurseries store when a man pulled his Mercedes up to the front door and went inside.
"I ran into a guy at Pike's who walked right in and asked if they knew of a landscaper, so I started talking to him," Boyce says. "He said he wanted someone to come over and take on a $5,000 job to fix his yard up, so I stared spitting out ideas for things we could do and he just said ‘sure.'"
Boyce spent that whole summer working to transfer the man's entire yard. He also began studying industry trends and saw an opening for a local company that could take on major residential projects around fast-growing Gwinnett. He convinced his brother, John Boyce, and various friends to work for him and made his first foray into big-time landscaping.
After graduating from Dacula High School, Boyce took a scholarship to play football for the University of Louisville. He later transferred to the University of Georgia and began taking business seriously.
With his brother running the business while he was in college, Thomas Boyce came to a turning point – he could either stick with the landscaping business or move into some other industry.
"I kind of looked at it my junior year of college, and I was making good money doing it," he says. "So I said I could either sell the business and move on and do something else, or I can turn this into something that's really neat."
That's when Innovative Outdoors began its growth from a company with $500,000 in annual revenues to one that expects to bring in $3 million this year.
"We're trying to go beyond even that and sustain more growth," Boyce says.
The company estimates that 80 percent of its customers find out about Innovative Outdoors via word-of-mouth and referrals, though it does depend on a small amount of direct mail and a website full of high-quality artwork showing off various projects.
Boyce says he's proud of the fact that the company's employees are so young, but that care must be taken to protect Innovative Outdoors' reputation as a serious company.
"I'm 23, and I'm the oldest person in the company, so we have to make sure that we're very professional," Boyce says. "We're very good at big projects, so we let our customers know that we're going to have a project manager on each job site who will e-mail you with progress reports every week, and we'll give you a timetable ahead of time."
In fact, Boyce admits that he had to learn how to successfully maintaining high employee morale and productivity when many of those working for him are friends and family.
"That's one of the toughest parts of running this business," he says. "One of my employees is my roommate. Plus, my brother works for me. There have been some times when they probably walked over me a bit, but you have to draw a line somewhere and make sure that you have objective measures in place."
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At A Glance
Company Name: Innovative Outdoors, LLC
Headquarters: Duluth
Employees: 10 full-time and 20 seasonal/part-time
Revenue: $2.5 million projected in 2008
The team: Thomas Boyce is the founder and president. The rest of the management team consists mostly of young people and recent college grads.
There are five major parts of the company's business:
Landscaping: This involves improving a property's appeal by selecting and arranging various plants.
Design: The company can provide clients with landscape designers who provide detailed plans for improving a home's landscaping.
Outdoor Lighting: This is more important than many people realize. Innovative Outdoors can help you optimize how your property looks at night.
Hardscaping: This encompasses any areas of landscaping that don't involve planting. That means installing retaining walls, decks, stonework and other "outdoor living" installations.
Maintenance: Innovative Out-doors provides full maintenance services to ensure that clients' investments are protected.
The projects: The major trend now is toward more outdoor amenities that go far beyond just a garden. "Our average project is in the $50,000 to $100,00 range," says Boyce. "A couple projects are now in the $200,000 to $300,000 range, which are high-end projects including oudoor kitchens and things like that."
Early Bloomers
KATIE LESLIE
August 4, 2008 10:25:17 am
Innovative landscapers a team of early bloomers
Company made up of childhood friends and college buddies all 23 or younger
By KATIE LESLIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/31/08 http://www.ajc.com/search/content/living/homeandgarden/stories/2008/07/30/Innovative_Outdoors_Gardeners.html
Thomas Boyce's landscaping career started with a stroke of luck, a stretch of truth, and a competent group of friends.
It began in 2004 when a man in a slick Mercedes pulled up to a Pike's Family Nursery seeking a landscaper. Boyce, then 19 and whose experience consisted of a lawn-mowing business in high school, boldly volunteered his services.
The man explained that he wanted to spend about $5,000 renovating his Duluth backyard, but after Boyce shared his off-the-cuff vision for a dramatic renovation that included a stone fireplace with built-in television, an outdoor kitchen, and ways to incorporate the home within the landscape, he had his first big client. With the help of Boyce's equally amateur friends, that $5,000 job ballooned into a six-figure project.
That project paved his way into the backyards of the elite and effectively launched his career, Boyce said.
Four years later, Boyce is president of Innovative Outdoors, a landscaping firm based in Dacula. At 23, he's the oldest of his staff of 12, mostly pals from childhood and his college days at the University of Georgia.
Long gone are high school days when he and his buddies brought in a whopping $150,000 a year in lawn maintenance.
His firm specializes in high-end residential projects and is on track to break upward of $3 million in revenue this year, he said.
Innovative Outdoors'brochures display elegant outdoor living rooms with stone fireplaces and detailed stone poolside patios.
Interns from UGA's School of Environmental Design draw many of the intricate landscape designs, while Boyce manages the business and sales.
"Sometimes I take a step back and say — 'I'm 23 years old and this guy just wrote me a check for $70,000,' " he said.
"That's a lot of trust."
Friendly effort
The struggling economy and historic drought have hit local landscapers hard, which makes Innovative Outdoors' success all the more significant, according to industry experts.
"Most landscaping firms are made up of mom and pop organizations, and for a company to do $3 million in revenue, they'd be in the top 10 percent of the industry," said Tony Bass, a landscaping and green industry business consultant.
He added that 65,000 of the 85,000 U.S. landscaping firms have fewer than five employees.
Bass said that firms like Innovative Outdoors, which focus on hardscaping and construction, are the most lucrative in today's landscape architecture industry.
"But that's really unique for someone at that age to build the experience and expertise required to do those projects," he said.
Boyce's approach is simple and that he learned from his parents, a teacher and an attorney.
"I just try to do what I say I'm going to do, when I say I'm going to do it," he said.
Boyce is quick to add that much of his firm's early promise is due to his friends and co-workers, who helped him build the company while still in college.
But working with friends can be challenging, he notes. After all, the group is barely out of college, only recently licensed to imbibe, and is figuring out who they are and how to run a business.
"There's a fine line you have to walk between professional and personal relationships," Boyce said. "I've had guys I've had to fire that were my friends."
Matt Culberson, whom Boyce has known since their time at Dacula High, said the group continues to learn the balance between friendship and professional responsibility, a lesson undoubtedly to be tested when he, Boyce and co-worker/friend Nick Carlson move in together this month in a Buckhead condo.
"That will be a test of a little bit of everything," said Culberson, who at 23 leads Innovative Outdoors' marketing division.
Despite Boyce's position as their boss, the group is able to offer honest criticism, Culberson said.
"We straight up tell him when we think he needs to change something," he added.
"He has a history of micro-managing."
Room to grow
Homeowner Leslie Wilks interviewed eight landscaping firms before selecting Innovative Outdoors for her outdoor renovation at the Country Club of the South.
Despite the company's youth and relative inexperience, she was impressed with Boyce's knowledge of plant and stone materials and his explanations of project details.
"There was something about this guy that made us say — let's give him a chance," Wilks said.
"He'll do whatever it takes to meet with you and make it happen."
Innovative Outdoors is now revamping her front and back yards; the project includes adding an outdoor fireplace, stonework to create a cohesive look between home and garden, and redesigning the pool to the tune of about $230,000.
Wilks has already recommended the firm to her friends — word-of-mouth keeps Boyce in the high-end residential market.
"It scares me sometimes," he said, explaining the company must make $60,000 a week to pay all employees. "But we still feel we have a lot of room to grow."
For more on the company visit www.innovativeoutdoorsllc.com
Outdoor Lighting For Second Homes
Matt Culberson
July 30, 2008 11:55:33 am
It is very easy to see the aesthetic value in an outdoor lighting system for your home. Outdoor lighting has the fastest and most dynamic effect of any home improvements, while also providing utility. If you have a beautiful home and top-notch landscaping, no one will see any of it for half of every day without lighting. But aside from these standard advantages, outdoor lighting proves to be especially useful for second homes and lake houses.
Reasons why second homes and lake houses should have outdoor lighting:
- Security
o Most people with second homes have a high level of income, which usually translates to an expensive house, a house with expensive toys, or both.
o The term “second home” itself implies a necessity for security measures, since it is normally inhabited every weekend at most. This along with the valuable property mentioned above make second homes a prime target for burglaries. A house with no lights is always a more likely target, and a well-lit home will almost always be crossed of a potential targets list.
o Second homes and lake houses are often secluded or in neighborhoods with larger, more private lots. Improved privacy can make your home vulnerable, and the first line of defense from an intruder is a well-lit area surrounding your house.
- Utility
o If you are from Atlanta, Alpharetta, or any other local areas that never seem to slow down, the peace of a relaxing mountain or lake house is very luring. So when you finally get out to your sanctuary from the stress of normal life, it is nice to fully enjoy it. The evening hours are often the most enjoyable and relaxing time of the day, and outdoor lighting allows you to enjoy yourself more. Whether it is grilling out on the patio, enjoying the warmth of an outdoor fireplace, or walking down the path to your dock to listen to the water, lighting helps you to enjoy your home away from home that much more.
- Simple Curb Appeal
o Apart from safety and convenience, outdoor lighting can drastically improve the way your home looks in the evening hours.
o Second homes and lake houses are places for fun and relaxing, which often includes entertaining. For a really impressive showing at your next party or gathering, outdoor lighting can add a great ambiance and vibrant atmosphere.
Let Your Light Shine Down
Rachel Brown - From Points North Magazine
July 17, 2008 1:47:49 pm
Outdoor Lighting Brings the Home Environment to the Lawn
Nothing beats reclining in your favorite lounge chair on the deck after a long day at work, sipping your favorite summer drink and enjoying the beautiful weather. Why not prolong the enjoyment until after dark with a lighting system that brings the family room outdoors? Not only does a lighting plan allow for nighttime entertaining, there are other benefits that include landscape and architectural enhancement, as well as safety and security. For homeowners looking to enhance their current property instead of buying another house, lighting is yet another way to do so.
“Over the past year or two, there’s been an increase in the use of outdoor living areas, such as kitchens and fireplaces. People are moving living quarters outdoors,” said Matthew Broyles, president of Atlanta-based outdoor lighting company Firefly Lighting LLC, and president of Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals (AOLP).
Types of Outdoor Lighting
The Different types of outdoor lighting can be categorized as the following: architectural lighting, landscape lighting, deck/patio lighting, and security lighting. Prior to choosing a lighting design, you must consider your objective – whether it is for entertaining, embellishing your landscape or both, whether you prefer a low- or high-voltage system or both, and, of course, a budget.
Architectural lighting is used to emphasize the unique design elements of your home and most commonly accents the façade, which may include arches, columns, textured exteriors, and other structural features. Beyond the house structure, architectural lighting can also be applied to fountains, sculptures, and gazebos. 
“With Architectural lighting, there are definitely certain aspects that look the best. Columns are a great architectural feature to light, both classic rounded ones and detailed wooden columns,” recommended Matt Culberson, marketing coordinator for Innovative Outdoors LLC in Duluth. “Another architectural feature that looks great with lighting is stacked stone, because the irregular texture creates a very unique shadow effect.”
To uplight a façade, Broyles suggested using a low-voltage 35-watt (or less) lamp. He also recommended MR 16 lamps for lighting the home front because of their variety in wattages and degree spreads. However, don’t be surprised if it takes a few more light fixtures than expected to achieve the desired effect. Chris Wakefield, president of The Outdoor Lights Inc. in Cumming, warned that in order to prevent light from pouring out to neighbor’s property, more lights may need to be implemented. “If you’re trying to crosslight the front of a home with four fixtures, and they’re shooting beams on a horizon plane, they may be doing more than projecting onto the façade,” he advised. “Sometimes it takes more lights to do the same job more efficiently so it becomes more discreet – you use smaller lamps, but you have more fixtures.”
Another common outdoor lighting treatment is landscape illumination. Landscape lighting is used to highlight your landscape and garden, where lighting can be placed strategically near trees, shrubs, flower-beds, and even Koi ponds to bring attention to these specific elements.
While the effect of lighting itself is the main goal in most outdoor lighting systems, landscape lighting can also take a decorative turn. “We’ve hung glass-blown spheres in trees,” said Wakefield, adding that he usually goes with the “less is more” rule unless otherwise instructed by the client.
Deck lighting is one of the fastest-growing categories of outdoor illumination because of the proliferation of outdoor kitchens and pools. “Pergolas and arbors have a very unique look with lighting,” Culberson said. Many times, lighting is mounted on these structures overhead to illuminate the grill or cooking prep area below. Textural elements such as outdoor stone fireplaces light well because of their materiality.
A specialty lighting feature for the pool that Rob Harrison, president of Long Cane Group Inc. in Alpharetta, has recently started experimenting with is the use of fiber optics underwater. “It’s a series of stars on the bottom of the pool that can be designed to change color. Fibers are bound into a cable system built into the bottom of the pool. You could have 100 points of light and the generator shines into one end of fiber optic system and generates the waves of color.” But know your budget: this type of treatment can cost nearly $10,000.
For those interested in providing a safe and secure home environment, a well-designed outdoor lighting system may be the perfect complement to an existing home security alarm system. “Security is a big thing. We’ve been doing zone lighting that stays on all night,” Wakefield commented. “If they get up and hear 
something, they can look out a window and see anything moving. It’s like a full-moon-lit night. [Some are] wanting this additional zone layered into their existing landscape lighting. It’s aesthetically pleasing – not like flood lights, so they can still keep it on while entertaining.”
Recreating a moon-lit night, moonlighting is the placement of lights in tall trees for a dramatic effect, which also falls under the landscape illumination category but can double as security lighting. “While it is accent lighting, people do a lot of moonlighting for security purposes. It lights a large space that doesn’t have focal points. No one would want to wander into a well-lit space like this if they were trying to break into a house,” Broyles said.
Volts of Light
In the world of outdoor lighting, there are two schools of thought regarding power: low-voltage (12-volt) and high-voltage (120-volt) systems. For many residential purposes, the low-voltage option serves your needs perfectly. However, certain effects such as moonlighting often require high-voltage systems, which have to be installed by a licensed electrician.
“The high-voltage system is more dependable, longer lasting, and the quality of fixtures is higher,” Harrison explained. “Advantages of low voltage are that it’s usually less expensive, there’s no actual current involved so there’s no danger of a shock, and there’s accessibility of the homeowner to do that sort of thing. There is flexibility with fixture options.”
Bear in mind that 12-volt systems involve less permanent transformers that are connected to your home’s 120-volt circuit via underground wire while having an outdoor high-voltage system requires the same precautions and expertise that normal house wiring does. Outdoor 120-volt lighting will need to be installed according to code and may require a buried conduit.
If you are in the business of saving energy and costs, low-voltage lighting is more suitable. LEDs (light-emitting diodes) are becoming more prevalent as an energy efficient, longer-lasting source in many commercial uses but have yet to break into residential applications. While lighting designers are in the process of developing more eco-friendly, energy-saving alternatives, Broyles confirmed “the only thing greener than low-voltage is LED.”
Added Wakefield, “For landscape lighting, LEDs aren’t proven yet. It’s there and it’s available, but some of the color temperatures are still a little cold. We’re in the process of testing it and really understanding where it’s going to fit into a landscape lighting.”
Cost and Maintenance
The time to discuss cost and overall maintenance is during the scheduled consultation with a reputable outdoor/landscape lighting company. It’s just as important to maintain your new investment, so don’t only consider initial installation and design in the budget.
A basic lighting system to uplight the front of a home usually costs around $1,500, and tack on an additional 10 percent for annual maintenance, which includes replacing bulbs. Some outdoor lighting companies charge by fixture while others base it on the job itself.
Perhaps the best way to save money is to choose the right contractor. “We all get in a hurry, and don’t always make the right decision choosing a contractor,” Wakefield advised. “A lot of people look at the bottom line and start signing away.” He noted that things to look for in a reputable contractor are companies that offer employees worker’s compensation, have general liability insurance, ensure a drug-free workplace, and have both an electrical and soil/erosion license from the state of Georgia.
Electrical costs are also something to consider when deciding on outdoor lighting – you don’t want to be shocked when you get that first power bill. The cost can range from around 25 cents per night upwards to almost $2 per night, depending on how long the lights burn and how many watts are being used. The general rule is 8 cents per kilowatt hour.
Whatever the cost, it’s clear that many homeowners are willing to pay the price to create a better outdoor environment – a sanctuary to escape the strip-mall lined highways and concrete business parks. Wakefield observed, “When you go to a five-star resort, the whole environment is very unique, and the place feels relaxed and comfortable – people want to recreate this in their back yard.”
Outdoor Rooms: Take the Best Design Ideas Outside
Katie Leslie
May 6, 2008 9:35:00 am
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/01/08
From outdoor kitchens and televisions to plush, weather-resistant sectionals, Americans are taking the indoors to the backyard.
"The whole outdoor room phenomenon has snowballed over the last five years," said Jackie Hirschhaut, spokeswoman for the American Home Furnishings Alliance. "It's only been recently that the comfort of indoor furniture has come outside."
A survey by the organization revealed that 91 percent of homeowners have outdoor living spaces, while nearly 80 percent wished they had more time to enjoy them.
Hirschhaut believes the popularity of outdoor rooms is rising for two reasons: a slow housing market is driving up home renovation projects, and many Americans are simply too busy for regular vacations.
The result? People are looking for a taste of resort living at home, and are overhauling their backyards from kitchen to cushion to make it happen.
Clean, classy in Buckhead
Rob and Cindy Ruinen's Buckhead backyard is such a vacation-inspired retreat. After buying the house in 2005, the couple teamed with landscape architect Graham Pittman and retailer Eric Brenner of Authenteak to create a "clean and classy" outdoor area that features a saltwater pool, outdoor kitchen and cozy living space.
Cindy Ruinen said she most enjoys the loggia — a three-sided room nestled within the home itself. Located between the master bedroom and kitchen, the space houses a Domus Designs teak dining table and Gloster seating area with deep black cushions. Next to the pool, the Ruinens selected Barlow Tyrie all-weather wicker chaise lounges and a teak and stainless steel dining set.
Pittman designed a folly at the head of the negative-edge saltwater pool. In this roof-topped space, Rob grills in the outdoor kitchen, complete with a built-in Viking grill and burner, ice maker, sink and refrigerator. Friends can relax and watch the flat-screen television (though not a weather-resistant TV), and enjoy the fireplace while resting on the Ruinens' Whitecraft all-weather wicker sectional with thick cushions and velvet throw pillows.
Rob Ruinen said they wanted an outdoor kitchen and living area for the convenience, especially as the folly is located about 100 feet from the home.
"We like the convenience of being able to cook and grill and do everything out there in a living room fashion," said Rob Ruinen, a regional vice president in the employee benefits industry.
High design
Brenner has seen the popularity of outdoor rooms drive a new design aesthetic in furniture. Gone are the thin seat pads that lined wicker or wrought iron settees. Today's outdoor cushions are thick, durable, weather and stain resistant, and soft enough for indoors.
"Deep seating is driving the industry," said Brenner, who opened Authenteak with business partner Damon Fogel in 2003. "Definitely people are looking for comfort, and synonymous with comfort is cushion."
But the indoor-styled furniture took some getting used to, he added.
"There's been a lot of 'No way, that can't go outside,' " he said. "Now people are comfortable with the fact that an outdoor sofa exists."
Because Brenner and Fogel expect a growing number of families to build outdoor rooms, they recently began carrying weather-resistant televisions and high-end grills with their traditional teak, cast aluminum and woven all-weather wicker furniture.
Pittman said the bulk of his business is centered around outdoor living spaces, not just landscaping. A landscape architect for nearly 15 years, Pittman said the rise of outdoor rooms began about five years ago and usually centers around a pool.
In 2005 alone, nearly a third of the $150 billion spent on home remodeling went to outdoor living areas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Pittman works with clients to determine how they want to use their space, whether to entertain, tan, garden or simply relax.
"With the rat race of life, the more we can do to draw people outside and away from computers, the better," Pittman explained.
Rob and Cindy said their new backyard has changed the way they live, perfect timing as the couple recently had their first child.
"We definitely hang out more at home now," Rob said. "Overall, we're really happy with it."
