Clintar Landscape Management has expanded with recent additions in Calgary, Alberta and in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company now has 24 franchises in operation from New Brunswick to British Columbia and New Jersey to Florida.
President Bob Wilton started the property maintenance company in 1973 as a small weed control service, adding grass-cutting and landscaping a couple of years later. In the early 1980s, when he wanted to grow his business through franchising, people thought he was crazy.
“It was an unconventional move, using franchise marketing to build a landscape management business,” Wilton said. “But I knew that entrepreneurs would see the value in being part of a professional organization with a lot of experience and an established reputation with very large customers. They did, and they still do. We’re still growing that way, adding new owners in new cities.”
This year, the company marks 40 years in business. To celebrate, it’s using the slogan, “Green since 1973,” a nod to the organization’s familiar green vehicles, uniforms and overall branding, and also to its commitment to protecting the environment.
“What it means to be ‘green’ has evolved over the years and it continues to evolve,” said Wilton. “Our work is the environment. Of course we have to reduce our impact on the environment as we beautify it. We take only essential trips, and we continue to update our fleets and use new technologies that can improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.”
Clintar’s horticultural methods reduce the need for fertilizers and pesticides, and the company recycles – not only organics like shrub clippings, but also soil, concrete and asphalt, Wilton said. In winter, it uses less deicer by controlling application of a quality product. The company also is involved in research to study deicing materials that will keep properties safe while reducing the use of chlorides.
“Our success, getting to 40 years, moving into the future with pride – it’s all based on having franchisees who commit to the business with a full tank of gas,” Wilton said. “We’re not selling service; we’re selling relationships. Combine this with a system of strict, proven, company-wide guidelines; this is how we outperform.”
Clintar provides year-round care and maintenance for customers with large outdoor spaces, such as property management companies, corporations, hospitals, large retailers and homeowner associations. Services include landscape design and construction, landscape maintenance, irrigation systems, litter pick-up, parking lot cleaning, line-painting and snow and ice control.
Steady growth took Clintar to $10 million in sales for the first time in 1999; today the company has annual sales of more than $50 million.
“Our customers know as well as I do that a parking lot is more than a parking lot, and a flower bed is more than a flower bed,” Wilton said. “What we do includes creating positive first impressions, extending a company’s good reputation to the outside, helping their marketing dollars work, and improving morale for the people who live, work, or visit there. The most important thing we do is help to keep a property safe, whether it’s clear markings in a parking lot or sidewalks that are free of ice. It’s all just good business.”
