Groundworks Consulting Group partners with landscape business owners to fix margin, build systems, and create businesses worth buying — or worth keeping.
The margin is in the details. Labor overruns, pricing errors, client churn, underperforming enhancement programs. Most operators are too close to the work to see the pattern.
Markup vs. margin confusion alone can cost $300K–$500K per year at scale. Most P&Ls don't catch it until year-end.
No repeatable B2B sales process means growth is unpredictable. Contract volume depends on who showed up this week.
A business that can't run without you isn't worth what you think. Buyers price in operator dependency — heavily.
Untracked route time, phantom roll-in labor, and estimating variance add up to six figures annually across a crew.
Two decades in the seat — owner-operator, multi-site GM, VP of Operations at a $40M company. The advice is built on what actually happened, not what should work in theory.
I didn't come to consulting through a business degree or a corporate advisory track. I came through twenty years of doing the work — pricing the jobs, managing the crews, holding the P&L, and figuring out why the numbers didn't match what we thought we were building.
I started as an owner-operator, running Oakmont Springs Inc. from the ground up — built it to $1.8M in revenue over four years before successfully exiting the business. Built the systems, sold the work, retained the clients, and learned early that margin is the only metric that matters at the end of the year.
From there I moved into multi-site general management over the SE Florida business unit of Aspen Grove — a $135M national landscape operation. Then into the VP of Operations role at a $40M landscape company — P&L across Maintenance, Enhancements, Turf Care, Construction, Logistics, and Procurement simultaneously.
In one year at that company we improved labor efficiency by 9.4% — pushing more than $500,000 to the bottom line from labor alone. When leadership gaps created a revenue problem, I built a B2B go-to-market strategy from scratch and originated $4.85M in new maintenance contracts over ten months.
Groundworks Consulting Group exists because most landscape operators are good at the work and underserved on the business side. I've been in their seat. I know where the money is going — and where it should be going instead.
Engagements are scoped to what you actually need — not a generic framework applied to your situation.
P&L interpretation, markup vs. margin correction, job costing, labor burden analysis. Find the money that's already in the business.
SOPs, reporting structures, crew accountability frameworks, and management rhythms that scale without scaling headcount proportionally.
Go-to-market strategy, ICP definition, sales cadence, proposal development, and contract origination playbook for commercial maintenance revenue.
Practical AI implementation across estimating, scheduling, reporting, and client communications — tools your team will actually use.
LMN, Aspire, ServiceTitan, or your current CRM — configuration, reporting setup, and workflow design to close the gap between what the platform can do and what you're using it for.
Build a program that converts maintenance clients into enhancement revenue. Target mix, account manager enablement, pipeline visibility, and close rates.
Implement and run the operating cadence — Level 10s, rocks, scorecards, and issue-solving frameworks — so your leadership team rows in the same direction.
Valuation assessment, owner dependency audit, financial normalization, and deal structure guidance. Build toward an exit on your terms — or prove to yourself the business is worth keeping.
Engagements run 8–16 weeks with optional retainer continuation. All tiers include direct access to Brian.
Every engagement starts with the numbers — not assumptions. We find the actual gaps before we build the plan.
Landscape operations lose money in predictable ways. Here's what fixing them is worth.
A 7-point margin error on 200 jobs at $17,500 average is $450,000 in recovered margin annually — without touching volume.
$4.85M in new maintenance contracts generates $485,000+ in annual EBITDA at a 10% floor — recurring, compounding every year. The engagement pays for itself in year one and keeps paying.
A 9.4% improvement in labor efficiency — through time tracking, route density, and crew accountability — pushed more than half a million dollars to the bottom line in a single year.
See the full breakdown across 7 ROI scenarios — with the real math behind every number.
View All ROI Examples →A good business should outlive the person who built it.
— Brian Scalise, The Operator's Playbook
Get the Book on Amazon →Interviews with service business owners who built something worth talking about — plus short-form P&L and operational teaching clips. On YouTube. No fluff. Just what's actually working.
Ten courses. Real exit tests. A certification that means something — because the person who designed the curriculum has passed and failed students at the doctoral level, and holds the same standard here.
10 self-paced video courses covering P&L, labor efficiency, B2B sales, estimating, platform mastery, enhancement revenue, and exit readiness. Each course runs four weeks with a 20-question exit test. Pass at 80% or higher, earn your certificate.
Brian works live with your leadership team for a half or full day — on P&L Fundamentals, Labor Efficiency, or B2B Sales. Interactive, operator-led, built for the people who actually run the business. No slides full of theory. Just the real numbers and the tools to work with them.
One call per month plus async support for operators who are past the crisis stage and need a sounding board — not a consultant. Bring your P&L, your pipeline, or whatever's on the whiteboard. Get a direct response from someone who's sat in that seat.
The only landscape management certification designed by a Ph.D. with real operator results behind it. Complete three required courses, pass the exit tests, and submit a capstone assessment. Earn a credential that goes on LinkedIn — and means something to any owner who reads it.
No pitch deck. No sales call script. Tell me what you're dealing with — I'll tell you if and how I can help.
Start a Conversation brian@groundworksconsultinggroup.com