Loading
The tree business is growing again, which is good news for Darrell Turner, one of the leading landscape entrepreneurs on the Gulf Coast.
Turner, in fact, reports he sold $44,000 worth of trees to a local landscape firm and developers in October. While that's far short of the $100,000 a month of trees he sold during the boom, it's a steep improvement from the worst of the recession, when he barely hit $5,000 a month. “Things are getting much better for us,” Turner tells Coffee Talk. “We are expecting a very good 2013, 2014 and 2015.”
Turner's firm, Bradenton-based Turner Tree and Landscaping, is also one of the largest commercial landscaping companies in the region. On that front, Turner says the company, through Nov. 19, had 61 jobs under contract worth more than $7 million. It had bids pending on another 84 jobs worth $14 million.
The bids also represent an improvement from the recession, when Turner says he was lucky to find three jobs a week on which it made sense to bid. The firm, by comparison, bid on almost a project a day in November.
Turner is so confident in the rebound, moreover, the company is planting again. He recently bought 68,000 plants, trees and shrubs, at a cost of around $200,000. Says Turner: “Not many of our competitors are doing much planting at all.”
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
