Spring-Green Lawn Care is proud to announce its newest franchise owner, Keith Ives, of Evergreen Exteriors in Clinton Township, Michigan.

Ives started in lawn care in high school, working with a neighbor cutting grass during the summers. After high school, he joined the Marine Corps and when his service was over, went to work for a large company in the area. “I was running all of their operations as the operations manager, and I figured, I’m doing everything already so I might as well go into business for myself,” he said of how he began Evergreen Exteriors in February 2001. Ives’ company offers full service landscape, lawn cutting, fertilizer, snow removal and landscape design.

Ives first began thinking of adding a franchise to his existing green industry business when he realized how effective some in-house marketing he did was in adding new customers. “I realized, this really works, and started to think if we really knew what we’re doing we could really drive in more customers. We approached other competitors when considering diversifying our business, but the marketing with Spring-Green really interested me,” he said. “As a business owner, a lot of decisions are made from your gut instinct. With Spring-Green, my gut feeling told me it was an educated risk.”

Proactive measures like adding Spring-Green to his existing business have helped Ives grow the business in the past. For instance, when he first started his own business he would subcontract for lawn care services. An employee suggested he look into the profitability of obtaining their own license for that type of work. “We decided to get licensed and do it ourselves to keep it in house,” Ives explained.

For Ives, the addition of the Spring-Green franchise doesn’t alter his business philosophy, his focus will continue to be on offering customers great, personalized customer service. “Our job is to make everything look better, and we will do our best to make it happen.”

The father of two, who is married to his high school sweetheart, Dana, has long been interested in lawn care. “I knew at an early age this was the line of work I would work in. I thoroughly enjoy creating a beautiful lawn for a customer and seeing the result. Overall, it’s a great field to work in.”

“Keith brings a great level of expertise in the green industry to Spring-Green, and we know he will be a valuable addition to our group of existing franchise owners,” said James Young, president of Spring-Green.

Spring-Green helps franchise owners at every stage of development of their green industry business. Call 1-800-777-8608 or visit us at www.growmygreenindustrybusiness.com to learn how Spring-Green Lawn Care can help you succeed.