Nick and Ursula Novellino
“Without their capability of financing us, we likely wouldn’t be franchise owners.”
Nick and Ursula Novellino
Green Industry Partner
Owner CNE Grounds Maintenance and Spring-Green
Newport News, VA
Career firefighter Nick Novellino originally got into the green industry part-time as something to do on his days off.
When he left for 14 months in Iraq as a contract firefighter, his wife, Ursula, quit her job to run his landscape-maintenance business in his absence. And after Nick returned home, the couple decided to focus their efforts on making the business a full-time job — and it only grew from there.
“I didn’t intend for it growing to the size it did,” he said.
Their company, CNE Grounds Maintenance Inc., provides mowing, pruning, fertilizing/weed control, and snow/ice removal to the Newport News, Virginia, area. They service a range of properties, including single-family townhomes, commercial properties, and apartment complexes.
In 2011, the Novellino’s had more than a decade of green industry experience under their belts and started looking for other ways to expand their business. The couple knew what it took to grow their maintenance services but weren’t sure what it would take to expand their lawn-care division — and that’s when they discovered Spring-Green.
But Nick and Ursula put the CNE expansion on hold in 2012, when Nick was involved in a motorcycle accident. They focused their efforts on keeping the business afloat through his recovery and picked up where they left off with Spring-Green in 2015. They eventually became franchise owners in 2016, but the couple never felt pressured to make a decision before they were ready, Nick said.
However, Spring-Green’s financing eliminated any concerns the couple had, and Spring-Green’s assistance was never more than a phone call or email away during the process, Nick recalled.
“Without their capability of financing us, we likely wouldn’t be franchise owners. It’s just another benefit of Spring-Green,” Ursula added.
Discover how Nick and Ursula work together to manage both of their businesses by viewing their video or reading their full profile.