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Today, operating one of the leading landscape firms in the Southwest, the Underwood brothers, Bob and Richard, still apply the simple -- and not so simple -- lessons learned from their parents: to value hard work, faith and fairness and that the right seeds planted in the right soil will yield true rewards. ''The reason I became a landscaper,'' recalls Bob Underwood, ''is because of my father's influence. He had a degree in Horticulture and advised people on how to grow their plants and maintain their livestock. He diagnosed problems with any plants and animals, had a deep passion for the land, faith in God and he taught both myself and my brother, Richard, from an early age how to work in the yard and how to nurture the soil.''  ''You know, another one of the things I think is amazing is that we've done some landscapes where we've tried to totally recreate the desert after the site has been scraped clean,'' says Underwood. ''Our challenge is to bring back and replace the desert. Most people don't know that in order to get the correct soil micro-organisms, it takes work.''  ''AAA Landscape built a garden at the University of Arizona in Tucson that captures water from the cooling towers off the buildings and recycles it to water all of the landscapes there,'' recalls Underwood. ''We use the captured water for a pond between the landscape and architecture buildings. We donated it the University of Arizona and they have put in fish and established it as a wild life habitat.''  ''The AAA Landscape office is a 1930 farm house converted to a office that captures the rural feel of the surrounding farming community. ''In 1974 the dream of owning my own business became a reality.'' Recalls Underwood, ''I borrowed a thousand dollars from my mother, got a pick-up truck from my uncle, started AAA Landscape and the dream came alive. Six months later I asked my brother, Richard, to join me. From there we've grown to be one of the top 28 landscapers in the United States.'' He continues, ''We planted elms as a break against strong winds, put in a lawn that was the envy of the town and planted a weeping willow that grew to be 60 feet tall. The soil in our town in Navajo County Arizona was sandy and our water table was at about five feet because the Colorado River runs through Holbrook. When we were young, we purchased steers that we raised for the local 4-H chapter and then were sold at the county fair auction. We used bank financing, and kept close records of our expenses. We also learned that raising an animal is a 365-day-a-year job, which taught us early on the importance of commitment and consistency. Our father introduced new trees and plants, started 4-H clubs and garden clubs all over the county.'' ''Although our father taught us how to be stewards of the land, both my brother and I gravitated more towards the animals than the plants. We basically grew up as rodeo cowboys, riding rough stock throughout the Southwest and United States. Rodeo cowboys are true entrepreneurs. They pay their own fees, travel thousands of miles, taking a chance that they might win. If they make a good ride, they continue with their business. If they don?EUR??,,????'?????< ''As you can see, we got quite a diverse training before we started out in the landscape business.'' Underwood recalls, ''In 1971 when I got out of the army I was still rodeo-ing but I also had a job as a landscape laborer making $1.25 an hour. I realized early on that I loved working with plants, so for the next three years I worked with them during the day and studied them at night. I taught myself about plants and landscaping by reading my father's library that my mother had given to me after he passed away in 1971. About the same time, I had a dream to own my own business.''    Top to bottom: The life size bronze Tigers, Turtle, Rhino, Giraffe, Gorilla and yes even Elephants are a magnificent part of the Safari Trail that surrounds large grass areas with Ramada?EUR??,,????'?????< Growing The Reality''In 1974 my dream became a reality. With family help I started AAA Landscape and my brother Richard joined me six months later. ''In 1978, I moved from Tucson to Phoenix and Richard stayed in Tucson to run that operation. We now have two offices with 420 employees. Since we are a year round operation, our employees are mostly full time. It took us six years to make our first million in revenue. We just kept going for it every day and when reached, it became a milestone, of course. In 1986, we did our first multi-million dollar construction contract for the Hyatt at Scottsdale's Gainey Ranch which was very exciting for us.'' 'From these humble beginnings we've grown to be one of the top 28 landscapers in the United States.'' ''One of the biggest challenges was that we actually had to earn all the money we needed to grow the business. We didn't borrow much and what we earned we put back into the business. We didn't want to get ourselves into debt, and yes, we did pay back my mother the one thousand dollars we borrowed.'' ''We've been through about four downturns in the economy and my best advice is, never let yourself get too far into debt. You can't shrink your liabilities once they are incurred, so you constantly have to think ahead and manage your overhead to keep a competitive edge. Our first tractor we financed at 23 percent interest. My first home was financed at 11 percent interest. The best part of owning a business is that your employees become part of your family. Most of our long term employees have been with us for 30 or more years, and they are still with us. That's what makes a business strong -- it's your people.?EUR??,,????'?????< ''Economically, Arizona has been among the hardest hit states, with the number of jobs lost, unbelievable. The past few years, Arizona was really booming with development, but now it's not. We've had to cut back on the construction side of our business and have started growing our maintenance side. Regardless of what's happening with the economy, people have to maintain their investment. Their plants have to look great for the next 10 or 20 years, no matter what.''  ''In the early years we did a lot of maintenance work on multi-housing units such as Sahuarita,'' remembers Underwood. ''But about 1983, the laws were beginning to change. There were no longer any tax credits for these kinds of units. The developer told us, 'you might want to look around and see what else you'd like to do.' Up until then, we did only multi unit work. It was our forte. We then decided we had to diversify into various different types of commercial projects.''  ''I look forward to coming to work everyday, knowing that we touch and make a difference in people's lives,'' says Underwood. ''We are creating tranquil places to sit, or plant a flower that will brighten somebody's day. We are truly stewards of the land and blessed to be doing what we do.'' Building On Our Father's Dream''In 2006 we came up with a new tag line, 'We Beautify the World.' Back in early 2000, I found my father's Master's thesis from University of Arizona. It was about beautifying all of Navajo County. My father had a weekly radio broadcast about planting trees, etc., heard all over the county. Even though my brother and I had watched him do this, we didn't realize this was part of a master plan. When I looked at the thesis, the professor had put at the top an 'A', and written, 'Looking forward to visiting you someday in Navajo County to see your dream.' Our father's dream was to beautify the county, and now our dream is to beautify the world.'' ''I look forward to coming to work every day, knowing that we touch and make a difference in people's lives by creating a tranquil place to sit, or planting a flower that will brighten somebody's day. We are truly stewards of the land and blessed to be doing what we do.'' ?EUR??,,????'?????<  ''The one thing that's unique about Arizona is that our desert plants only grow here-like Saguaro cacti-or in Mexico,'' Underwood points out. ''They are unique to us. Another unique thing is that we can grow anything and we've introduced a lot of dry plants from Afghanistan and Australia. They grow well in this desert climate if you give them a chance.'' It took 1000s of years to create that particular soil medium. In order to recreate it, you have to salvage that top two feet of soil and reintroduce it to recreate what was there before man came along and altered it.'' ''This is one of the desert sites where we replaced the soil. Within a year of replacing it, you can't tell the difference between where we worked and the original desert right next to it, which is truly amazing.'' ''As far as our equipment is concerned, we have 180 Ford trucks. We need the power of big trucks to move heavy loads. We make sure our fleet and equipment are all the same brands so our mechanics can stock repair materials. We use Case tractors and the majority of our 2-cycle equipment and mowers are Husqavarna, with a nice array of attachments.'' Bob and Richard also own a nursery. ''We started it in 1980, which helps us to have availability of planting products on hand at good prices. The nursery, Arid Solutions, is where we can grow the plants we need for our specific climate and soil, knowing that the plants are acclimated already.''  ''It's important to keep water on site'' says Underwood. ''We use reclaimed water in a lot of our landscapes such as this one in Ocotillo. We don't have to waste precious resources. We do water gardens and use reclaimed water in them. Lots of times we pump that water back out and use it on the landscape to irrigate it. We have installed some cisterns, but we like to try and make everything as natural as possible.''  ''We started to diversify into offices parks, hotels, planned communities and highways to get more work,'' states Underwood. ''The companies who didn't do that and make the shift during those years didn't survive.''  ''We've had to cut back on construction and have started growing our maintenance side of the business.'' Claims Underwood, ''Regardless of what's happening with the economy, people have to maintain their investment. Their plants have to look great for the next 10 or 20 years, no matter what.'' Harvesting Rain''Xeriscape is always on our minds. We were green before they knew what green was. If you care about the land, you're going to be cautious with what you plant where, how you water and you're going to do things like create landscapes that harvest the rain. ''In 2008, the Underwood family and AAA Landscape donated a garden to Kala (College of Landscape Architecture) at the University of Arizona in Tucson. We donated this garden in memory of our father Amos Underwood, and our sons Sky Blue and Casey Underwood. The offical name is The Underwood Family Sonoran Desert Laboratory, but everyone calls it the Underwood Garden. This garden was built in collaboration with Ron Stolts, Associate Dean of Kala, and Christy Ten Eyck of Ten Eyck Landscape Architects. The garden was designed to be a model for sustainable landscape practices. This garden captures the water from the cooling towers from the buildings as well as rainwater in a 50,000 gallon steel tank. The tank overflows into a natural pond. This pond has been designated by Fish and Wildlife as a ''Safe Haven'' and is home to 5 endangered species. We are also using the captured water to feed a waterfall which creates a nice ambience and outdoor classroom for students. When we dedicated the garden, we said, 'Our goal was to beautify the world and we can't do that all by ourselves, so now the students at the University of Arizona will help us carry on the dream.''' ''As our mission statement says, 'AAA Landscape is a company dedicated to excellence. Guided by spiritual and moral values, we provide responsive, profitable, professional landscape services with integrity.' Our vision is identical for every project we do: To build happy relationships with our clients, community and employees, while we improve the environment and preserve the planet for future generations.'' |
