Partnering for Success - Profile: Jon Georgio, President, Gothic landscape

By Leslie McGuire, managing editor

Jon Georgio, President and CEO of Gothic Landscape, Inc.

''Gothic Landscape, Inc. is the construction division of the Gothic family of companies. It is among the largest landscape contracting organizations in the nation,'' says Jon Georgio, President and CEO. ''We have created longstanding partnerships with the largest developers, builders and general contractors in our market. With over a thousand highly trained employees and millions of dollars of equipment, we take great pride in having the resources and the attitude to meet the demands and challenges of our clients' deadlines.''

Georgio says, ''The amount of turf we install has dramatically decreased and the amount of rock has dramatically increased. Our claim to fame is that we're an installation company. As a result, we have the experience and expertise to do very big projects with very tough time constraints.''

Incorporated in 1984, Gothic began as a family-owned company with about 30 employees. The company actually operated in Los Angeles out of a garage in a small home where the Georgios were raised. Explains Georgio, ''My father was a fine grade contractor related to the housing industry. It was a small company and my three brothers and I grew up working on subdivisions. My father really taught us the business. In 1979 my father passed away. My mother, Judy, founded Gothic Landscape in 1984.''

''We opened markets in Southern California as well as in Las Vegas in 1984,'' states Georgio. ''In 1994 we moved to Phoenix, Arizona and then in 2001 we opened our maintenance division, Gothic Grounds Management. One of our biggest moments was in 1996. We decentralized the company into a branch system. Each branch was run by non-family members.''

Gothic has an in-house philosophy of forming strong partnerships. ''We do very little design in-house,'' Georgio states. ''We believe in the design/construction process, however our philosophy is that we can accomplish that by partnering with world class design firms, then presenting the client with one design and construction project delivery system.''

''We install a lot of native plant materials, especially when the site has been damaged, and do native restoration and re-vegetation,'' explains Georgio. ''We harvest the onsite natural plant material, we maintain them, and then we eventually replant it in the final product. The plants never leave the site. They are put into an onsite 'plant condo' while they're waiting for their refurbished home to be ready.''

''Since we are the go-to contractor for difficult projects,'' he points out, ''we're the last subcontractor on the site and we have to make up for all the project delays. Our people thrive on these difficult deadlines and getting them complete on time. Because we have 1,200 employees, 20 million dollars of equipment and really solid project management techniques, we can install these projects quicker than anybody in our opinion.''

The Power of a Mission

''Our overarching philosophy, and clearly what's made this company exceptional, is that we've had a mission statement from the day we opened,'' he says. ''That mission was to create true partnerships with our clients through outstanding service. I really believe that is the glue that ties all our employees together. When I'm asked what were the biggest challenges, for us-and it has to be for most companies-it has been developing and 'culturizing' our employees.''

On a sadder note, Georgio remembers, ''My brother Mike was exceptional at really drilling in our philosophy and we lost him this year. But he has left us with a legacy. I would say that our employees love having a mission that gives them a lot of pride in their product and their company.''

''Our company has always been a joy because our family was a joy.''

''The company name comes from the street we grew up on in Los Angeles, so that's what my mother named the company,'' Georgio recalls. ''We're not a vampire's club. A funny side note is that twice later, we had corporate identity people come in and they both said, 'Change the name.' But people around us said, 'You can't change that name! There's just too much good will associated with it.'''

Maintenance

Gothic Grounds Management is a nationally recognized leader in the landscape maintenance industry. Operating from southwestern Sunbelt locations, their services include maintenance, tree trimming, irrigation maintenance and repair, water management, weed abatement, soil testing and plant diagnosis.

''Our maintenance division is run by my brother, Ron,'' explains Georgio. ''He came back to help take care of our mother when she was ill. He stayed to take on this project.''

''Another interesting point is our focus on safety,'' Georgio states. ''We have recently received a SHARP certification from CAL/OSHA, which is a level of safety that's very hard to attain. We believe that at the time we received it we were the only landscape contractor in California to have received it. We have a very comprehensive safety program and have safety coordinators and that's their only job in the company. We're really proud of this.''

''We have about 450 vehicles and 500 pieces of equipment which include backhoes, large trenchers, loaders, large dump trucks and mini excavators. Our gasoline use is down from the peak, obviously,'' Georgio points out, ''but we see it rising in the latter half of this year.''

Taking Care of Business

''We use as our core software system the Sage Timberline accounting and operating system, but we've done a lot of custom programming. Our current system is moving toward becoming paperless,'' he points out. ''Timberline handles the payroll, accounts receivable, job costs and equipment control. Because we're a large company with 11 different offices, we must have information at our fingertips at all times.

''At present, our Southern California construction division is our largest. We cover a huge geography-which goes from Bakersfield to the border-and that's why,'' Georgio points out. ''Our fastest growing division is the maintenance company. Part of that is a result of the economy, but also, we've been extremely focused on growing that division. To that end, we've done some merger and acquisition activity over the last year.

''We have many horticultural experts on staff and have an intern program for Horticultural schools. The program requires that an intern see all facets of the business from hands-on installation through administrative work,'' explains Georgio. ''Our horticultural specialists help the landscape architects choose plants from a provided list of low-water content plant material along with low-water delivery irrigation systems for drought tolerant plants.''

Taking Care of Plants and People

Says Georgio. ''Gothic has certified water management experts at all of our locations that are certified by PLANET (Professional Landscape Network), or their local area landscape construction association. That's another part of the incentive program we have for our employees. We encourage them to become as educated as they can in all facets of the business.''

Regarding sites such as this Phoenix, Arizona office complex, Georgio says, ''We are exceptional at responding to the clients needs. But the real key is to understand what they need and make sure we satisfy that. They all say they need a lower budget, but what they really need is to sell their home or lease their space or keep their Home Owner's Association pleased-and that's what we do.''

Green Practices and Time Constraints

''A lot of the projects that are getting approved now have to prove they are water neutral and have to capture what they're going to use. This is being driven by the water utilities.''

''We're also concentrating on fuel efficiency for our fleet. One of the ways we do that is through the heavy use of GPS technology. We can monitor the speed our people are driving. By slowing down our vehicles, we've experienced a 20 percent increase in fuel efficiency. Regulating ourselves down to the posted speed limit has helped our fuel efficiency and our safety.''

''There are fines in Nevada for using too much water and this has prompted the popularity of the rainfall retainment systems that are becoming more popular. They're very expensive right now so they only make economic sense for the most high end projects.''

Inspired Leadership and Family Values

Georgio states, ''The company offices are run on a day to day basis by non-family managers who are just as loyal to our mission statement and just as motivated as we are. The Gothic family is much bigger than the Georgio family. We treat them well, and they really take care of us.''

''Our company has always been a joy because our family was a joy. The family has always worked together since the time we were 10-years-old. As teenagers, all of us worked together and working hard at a job well done is a source of great pride.''