Companies in the News: BrightView rebuilds recreational area for nonprofit; Brandt completes construction of new lab; Lawn Doctor of Grand Rapids under new management

BrightView donated materials and services to build a safe recreational area for children and families in Northern California. Photo: BrightView

Employees from BrightView’s landscape development, landscape services, and tree company service lines teamed up to build a child-safe recreational area at Ruby’s Place, a nonprofit organization in Hayward, Calif., that provides shelter and support services for people affected by domestic violence and human trafficking.

BrightView teams removed the existing structures from the three playground areas and transformed the space by supplying and installing new underground drainage, concrete walkways, security fencing and gates, wood planter boxes, a synthetic turf soccer field, an outdoor area for families with an overhead shade trellis, a low-water usage irrigation system, and drought-tolerant trees, shrubs and groundcovers.

“It has been so rewarding to see all of our BrightView team members from different service lines come together to give back to our community for such a worthwhile cause,” said Skip Stevens, vice president and general manager at BrightView Landscape Development. “It’s very rewarding to be able to provide a play space that is safe, fun and a positive environment for the children and families at Ruby’s Place.”

BrightView team members worked with Ruby’s Place and HomeAid in Northern California and partnered with contractors, vendors, suppliers and donors to make this community outreach event a success for all involved.

Later this spring, BrightView team members, HomeAid, contractors and donation partners will return to the family shelter and join the Ruby’s Place staff and families for a volunteer event to fix up other areas of the shelter by painting buildings, cleaning windows and more.

Brandt completed construction of a new 2,000-square-foot formulations lab in its Pleasant Plains, Ill., production facility. The new lab will serve as a hub for new formulation development and testing, as well as quality control.

The new lab is more than six times larger than the previous lab and includes several new instruments to ensure customers receive high-quality products as new formulations are introduced and production expands.

“This expansion almost doubles our formulation space and capabilities in the U.S.,” said Brian Haschemeyer, director of discovery and innovation for Brandt. “A lot of proprietary new formulation development work and (quality control) is done in Pleasant Plains. The lab expansion will allow Brandt to develop better, more advanced products; to screen and produce new formulations more efficiently; and be able to run quality control tests faster.”

The Pleasant Plains, Ill., lab is one of five labs that the company operates, the other labs located in Fresno, Calif.; Logan, Utah; Carmona, Spain; and Londrina, Brazil. Construction of a sixth Brandt lab is currently underway in Visalia, Calif., and is expected to open in April.

Lawn Doctor of Grand Rapids is now co-owned by Kendall Hines and a private investor.

The company—which provides lawn care services, such as fertilization, weed control, aeration, powerseeding, new lawn installations and mosquito and insect control—currently serves 2,000 residential and commercial accounts.

“I started on the lawns with my dad when I was 8 years old. I learned this business from the ground up. I’m proud of that. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Hines. “Now, my focus is on building our momentum.”

Photo: BrightView