Total Landscape Care Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/85694
landscaper of the year winner2012 W hen Bill Henkel and Gordon Denmark arrived at work in the fi rst days of their partnership in 1999, they hung their coats on metal IV hold- ers serving as coat racks and walked into dark narrow offi ces adapted from an old storage building in Lexington, Kentucky. The offi ces were sparse for the two 47-year-old men who were risking their homes and retirement to found a company. Sitting at old clunky desks they'd purchased along with other furnishings at a hospital auc- tion, the duo focused not on the risk but rather on developing a principled company with a diverse portfolio of landscape design and main- tenance. Their focus and principles paid off. Now, Henkel Denmark is a $5 million op- eration and TLC's 2012 Landscaper of the Year. The company's portfolio includes expansive thoroughbred farms, commercial properties, large apartment complexes and residential homes. Sixty percent of their work is main- tenance, and 40 percent is design/build, with Denmark acting as production manager and Henkel, a licensed landscape architect, oversee- ing design. Leap of Faith While the men didn't expect to be as successful as they are, they didn't consider the possibil- ity of failure. "We knew how to do our jobs," Henkel says. "We could design, build and manage landscapes. We could take care of our employees. "Failure was not an option. It wasn't on the radar. We didn't even talk about it. We thought we were 10 feet tall and bullet-proof." Capitalizing on their credibility and experi- January 2012 / TOTAL LANDSCAPE CARE 29 PHOTO: FRANK DÖRING