GPL Landscaping

Jul 9, 2018

RCI acquires GPL Landscaping Slidell, LA – Rotolo Consultants Incorporated (RCI) acquired GPL Landscaping LLC, a commercial landscape and maintenance company based in Miramar Beach, Florida. This represents RCI’s third acquisition in the past year. This acquisition establishes RCI’s presence in Florida. RCI also has branch offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. RCI is now employing about 700 people. “We are very excited about the acquisition of GPL Landscaping,” said Keith Rotolo, president and CEO of RCI. “They come with an experienced management team that has been at the core of their success. RCI will now be able to offer our extensive landscape and construction scopes of work to a new client base while aggressively growing the existing landscape maintenance presence that GPL had established. We have wanted to be in this market for some time and GPL presented a great opportunity. Consistent with our long-term growth strategy, we will continue to explore acquisition opportunities in northwest Florida as well as in our core markets.” GPL has provided landscape maintenance services to premier properties in northwest Florida since 2006. The owner, Judd Lisenby, plans to pursue other business interests. The entire GPL staff, including all key managers, will continue employment with RCI. BARBERTON, Ohio – JohnDow Industries announced the launch of its new branding campaign including their new JohnDow.com website, new product branding, cataloging and the launch of its multiple social media channels. The website and social media channels include JohnDow’s new branding strategy designed to communicate the strength of the multiple product lines marketed and sold under the JohnDow brand name. “Our goal was to align all of our branding with a renewed focus on the JohnDow name. This new branding strategy is supported with a new website that is the first stop for many of our customers,” said Drew Dawson, president of JDI. “Our new web brand strategy better aligns with our product and catalog branding further driving the success of JohnDow and its customers.” JohnDow.com has relaunched with features including a mobile-responsive design; related parts listings; updated news and events information and product user manuals. JohnDow.com has six main categories for navigation:  Oil Drains, Fuel Handling, TPMS, Shop Equipment, Garage Exhaust Extraction and Automotive Hardware and Supplies. Robert Christy, vice president of sales and marketing for JohnDow Industries added, “We had one thing in mind when redesigning our website and that was to maximize the ease of doing business for our customers and their access to information. Now visitors to JohnDow.com can access our detailed product information via desktop and mobile platforms as well as enjoy an enhanced overall website user experience.” JohnDow also launched its Facebook and Twitter channels to permit its customers to stay up-to-date with the latest product information and industry news while following the JDI team at trade shows around the country. Connect with JDI on Facebook at facebook.com/JohnDowIndustries and on Twitter @JohnDowInd . Pictured above: Everglades Equipment Group (Left to Right): Craig Weynand (John Deere), Jim Field (John Deere), Bo Schechter (Everglades Equipment Group), David Lively (Everglades Equipment Group), Luke Gakstatter (John Deere), Darren Havens (John Deere) CARY, N.C. – Five John Deere dealerships received awards in 2017 for outstanding sales of Commercial ZTrak and QuikTrakTM Mowers. The five dealerships, Ag-Pro, Everglades Equipment Group, James River Equipment, SunSouth, LLC, and TriGreen Equipment, LLC, were honored by the manufacturer to commemorate the achievement. “We are proud to celebrate these dealers, as this achievement directly relates to the level of dedication they demonstrate for their customers,” said James Dutton, product marketing manager, commercial mowing equipment, John Deere. “At John Deere, we are proud of our dealers who constantly go above and beyond to provide professional landscape contractors with the support and service needed to keep their businesses running.” With more than 60 years in the outdoor power equipment industry, Ag-Pro services customers from South Carolina to Texas. Everglades Equipment Group, which assists customers in central and south Florida, has been recognized by John Deere for the second year in a row. “We are very excited about this achievement, and attribute our success to our engaged, dedicated sales staff,” said Josh Coffman, Turf & CWP sales manager, Everglades Equipment Group. “We ensure we have the infrastructure we need to provide great parts availability and outstanding service, so our customers, and their friends, continue to come back to us when they need new equipment.” A full-service John Deere dealer since 1926, James River Equipment was recognized for the second year in a row and now has 30 locations across Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. SunSouth, LLC, which has locations in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, credits its success to its driven sales team as well. “Our sales team continued to push throughout 2017, and their hard work and commitment to customers is the reason we hit the sales mark,” said David R. Vines, chief operating officer, SunSouth, LLC. “However, sales are only one part of the process. The strong support of our parts and service department ensures our customers are able to be successful, and happy.” With locations in Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, TriGreen Equipment, LLC, is committed to each of its commercial customers. “We understand the challenges that our customers face, and when they pull up to our stores we want to them to feel that TriGreen and John Deere are committed to being their partners,” said Richard Miller, corporate sales manager, retail & commercial, TriGreen Equipment, LLC. “Our staff has worked hard to ensure all of our customers, new and old, feel like they are supported by us. It is extremely rewarding to see everything come together.” To learn more about John Deere visit JohnDeere.com . Bedford Hills, New York — SavATree has acquired Brooks and Barber Tree Management in Bedminster, Pennsylvania. Brooks and Barber was founded in 1986 by Craig Brooks. SavATree says that their highly trained workforce will merge well with the company's existing focus on sustainable tree care and preservation. “We’re really excited to have Brooks and Barber joining our team,” said Daniel van Starrenburg, CEO of SavATree. “We share many of the same values and an unwavering commitment toward being the best in every market we serve.” This acquisition will expand SavATree’s existing Bucks County branch, with the aim of better serving landscape stewards throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. “I couldn’t think of a better partner for my team than SavATree,” said Brooks. “I’m confident that this will be a successful relationship and beneficial for all of our clients.” Brooks will stay on to provide ease to current clients. Clients will benefit from an increased range of service offerings, including arboriculture and professional lawn care with organic options. “We’ve got a major problem,” Maureen Scheitz told Acres Group owner Jim Schwantz on the morning she learned the company might not get all of its H-2B workers this summer. Scheitz found out that the company would get a few dozen foremen through the H-2B program, but not the workers it anticipated. Sherman Fields, vice president of marketing at Acres Group, says making up the loss of the H-2B workers would require a lot of additional recruiting locally and would potentially impact revenue for 2018.“That was a really bad day,” he says. After sharing the bad news with people, Scheitz spent that day planning an emergency executive meeting for the following morning. She says she put together a list of everything that needed to be done from both a recruiting standpoint and a business perspective to manage the situation. Then, she communicated with managers on what they could do to resolve the labor issue, so they could prepare for the executive meeting. The next day, people gathered for Scheitz’ emergency meeting. Fields says he remembers walking into the meeting with an expectation of doom-and-gloom. “I remember walking into the meeting right when it was starting,” he says. “Everybody in the room was happy. I remember thinking, ‘Why is everyone happy?’ Jim looks up and says, ‘Did you hear?’ I’m like, ‘Hear what?’ He says, ‘We got ‘em!’ We found out right in time that our workers were confirmed. And that’s all Maureen – she did everything exactly right.”