Total Landscape Care Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/113381
landscaper of the year finalist Listening and Learning Not only is McAfee tactful and a careful listener, he's also a quick learner. His company grossed nearly $1.5 million last year, coming a long way in a short period of time. While still in high school, he incorporated and took over several mowing accounts that his father, a high school teacher, had established in his off time. "I was more focused on running a business than partying," he says. And while still living at home with his parents, he worked at nights taking online courses to receive an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture from North Carolina State University in 2007. Then, he proceeded with more online classes and received an online certificate in sports field management. "But I've had to teach myself a lot of things in this business," McAfee says. "A good 60 percent of what I do, you don't learn in school, you learn from hands-on experience and trial and error." Danville, Kentucky, is perhaps best known in recent years for hosting two vice presidential debates at a local college, but it's primarily an area defined by agriculture with assorted residential developments. McAfee quickly calculated he could mow all of the local lawns from dawn until dark and never build his business into a prosperous enterprise. So he took a different track. He learned how to bid on commercial accounts, such as athletic fields and churches under construction. "Now, we're about 85 percent commercial and 15 percent residential," McAfee says. He typically runs three crews with three employees each, capable of handling every aspect of commercial landscaping, from grading and turf establishment to irrigation and drainage issues. His work covers the whole state and includes some 500 clients. McAfee and his full-time mechanic, Eric East, man the office in downtown Danville that once served as a gas station. McAfee maintains these street-scapes in Danville under a contract with the municipality. Tools of the Trade He belongs to the Builders Exchange of Kentucky, a construction trade association with more than 3 2 To ta l L a n d s cap eC are.c om TLC0313_LOY.indd 32 M A R C H 2 013 2/21/13 5:09 PM