Episode 17

Ezra McCarthy
Hello and welcome back to the Lawn Care Success Blueprint. Today I’m sitting down with Raymond Kirkland, the owner of First Priority Landscaping Solutions and the Garden Center, South Carolina. And trust me, this is gonna be a good episode for you. In a few short years, Raymond has gone from starting his business from scratch to scaling and building a team and just recently buying out a garden center and he is taking names. So Raymond, glad you’re here today.

Raymond Kirkland
Thank you, sir. Thank you for having me,

Ezra McCarthy
Yeah, so Raymond, you want to tell me a little bit about your business and you’ve scaled really quickly. So how do you get started and then what has kind of been your growth journey for First Priority Landscaping?

Raymond Kirkland
man, it’s been a good ride. it’s been fun, it’s been entertaining. we started this back in 2020. september was my first full-time month. I had a lot of personal things—my mom passed away that august. so I turned that grief and that hurt into something to grow with. been doing landscaping for the last 15, 20 years. I’ve always been passionate, working outside, serving people, and just bringing smiles to people’s faces. like I tell people all the time, if I could just get paid to offer smiles and pay my bills, I would. but unfortunately, the light company don’t take smiles, so you gotta get paid. but it’s been a great journey. keep God first through it all. it’s been amazing.

Ezra McCarthy
so were you working for another landscaping company? you mentioned you had been doing this for several years. did you come from experience?

Raymond Kirkland
yes, sir. oh, yes, sir. I can say that throughout my journey of landscaping, I worked at some of the biggest landscape companies in South Carolina and some of the smallest ones. this is my second landscape business. I started one back in probably 2010, 2008, something like that. it was me and my uncle at that point in time. but I’ve always been doing landscaping. I love cutting grass. that was always a passion—just to get outside, get on the mower.

then I evolved into more of the landscape side, the design side, the softscapes. now it’s hardscapes. now it’s just a full-on design. whatever you need from top to bottom is what we specialize in.

Ezra McCarthy
so to give people some perspective, do you have some rough numbers you’re comfortable sharing? what did you do approximately in the past few years?

Raymond Kirkland
okay. yeah, of course. of course. I’m an open book. first year—starting in september—had a great year. we got $220,000 our first september to december.

Ezra McCarthy
just gotta pause you there. some people are just happy to get to 220. that is very unusual. how did you, even in your first five or six months, get to 200k?

Raymond Kirkland
yes. because I was already doing this part-time, right? I was working at a predominant landscape company and I was already, say, moonlighting—doing landscaping on Saturdays, Sundays, off work, going from one job to the next job. and when my mom passed, the company I was with—I’m not gonna call names—I didn’t feel like they showed me the love and respect that I gave them. so I took that anger, I was mad, had a lot going on. I just took that anger and I put it all into my job, put everything into my company.

I had a five-year plan when I started in september. this would be year five. and honestly, I’m ahead of the plan. I always wanted a retail garden center. this was the end game. I always wanted to be able to sell and buy my own materials and cut out the middleman. because that allowed me to dictate my price, dictate my plants. and now I’m in control of the whole show.

so I love that experience.

Ezra McCarthy
that’s really good. so if you did 200K in your first half year, what have you got to approximately?

Raymond Kirkland
last year was a great year. we did like 1.3. we’re probably going to do 1.6, maybe 1.8 this year. so go back—the first year was 220. the first full year was five-something, then year three was eight-something. then last year was 1.2. this year we should hit at least 1.6. if I get some help, maybe two. you know what I mean? that’s what we’re running into now—we’re booked out to june. so now it’s trying to figure out how many more jobs I can fit in and still keep the same integrity and not have everybody waiting.

Ezra McCarthy
when you first started First Priority, did you imagine it would grow this quickly? because at this point—we’ve talked with a bunch of people—this is not normal, in a positive way.

Raymond Kirkland
no, yes. no, when I first started, I knew what I had. I had a mission, right? everybody has a mission. I had a game plan of what I wanted to do. I knew that I needed to make X amount. I needed to get revenue up. I didn’t know it was going to come this quick. to get here, man, it’s been a lot of 80, 85-hour weeks. in my first month—that september—I broke my foot. so I’m on a dingo in tennis shoes working, and I break my foot.

Ezra McCarthy
no.

Raymond Kirkland
still working with the broken foot from september all the way to january. the grind.

Ezra McCarthy
wait, wait—
you were in the field with a broken foot?

Raymond Kirkland
yes, the grind, man. I didn’t have any other options. my mom died. there was no insurance. it wasn’t like, this is going to happen. no—I had to bury my mom. that took my life savings to do it. you get what I mean? so that completely wiped me out financially. I was like most—yes, married, four kids.

Ezra McCarthy
so you’re married, right, Ray? what was your wife telling you? you started a business, you broke your foot, you’re working in the field—how was that going?

Raymond Kirkland
man, my wife is my number one fan. she’s the reason I’m where I’m at right now. because the times I wanted to quit, the times I went to her and said, you know what, I’m just going to get a regular job. I know I can go get a job at any landscape company I want. and I can make whatever I need to make on a salary. I could do it, no problem. but I wouldn’t be happy. I wouldn’t be smiling like I am now. it’d be a different lifestyle.

she always was the one—I remember when I broke my foot, I told her, no way, I’m just gonna have to get a regular job, this is not meant for us. she said, this is what we prayed for, right? you prayed for this—this is how it’s gonna happen. so you’re gonna allow this one thing to stop you from reaching your potential, reaching what you prayed for, reaching what we fasted for? and I’m like, oh… let me go to work. what am I supposed to do, right? let me go to work. so I just sucked it up. luckily, I had good guys. you get what I mean? I had good guys. and a broken foot.

Ezra McCarthy
so I’m sure there are loads of people around you, and I have a feeling they’re not growing like you are. so what do you think are some of the keys in those early days that enabled you to grow as quickly as you did?

Raymond Kirkland
see, that september when I started full-time, I did everything. I started the webpage. I started my Google business, whatever it was called back then. I had that going. I did ads on Google. I set a budget for like $300 a month. I’m not the smartest guy when it comes to technology, but I was doing the setup. I realized—okay, it’s a budget, so I can say when I want my ads to run, what time. so I started doing research.

I learned that I needed my ads to run early morning from like seven to nine—because that’s when people are waking up, thinking about what they need done in their yard. that’s when they’re driving to work, drinking coffee. so I set my budget for seven to nine, then again from like 12 to 1 when they’re on their lunch break. they’re at work, thinking, I need landscaping done. as soon as they get the opportunity, they go on their phone—”landscaping near me.”

I want to be the first one to pop up, right? same thing in the afternoon from five to seven. I don’t run ads any other time. I don’t want to spend 20 bucks for an ad at two o’clock in the morning—you’re not my client, you’re just checking prices. I do a lot of screening too, and I’m very honest with clients. I’m not the cheapest. I don’t want to be the cheapest. I value my time and your time. I’m going to give you expertise, I’m going to educate you, and I’m going to give you a solution to your problem—whether you allow me to do it or someone else does. but once I leave, you’re going to be educated to make the right choice.

Ezra McCarthy
so is there a moment looking back that you say—right then, things just took off?

Raymond Kirkland
uh, let’s see. yes. I remember—my wife again. I’m bidding out this big project, and I’m like, okay, this is a big project. I’m so scared to send it. it was like 60 grand. I’m thinking, oh my God, I really need the job. I’m going to bid it low. she’s like, no—you know who you are. so I sent the job, and not even 24 hours later, they sent over the deposit. I’m like, okay—that’s all it takes. confidence in myself. they want what I have. I just have to be confident, right?

I have to know it’s going to work. ever since that, man, it’s been a ride on confidence. I feel like I know what I’m doing. the customers love me. and we do a lot of hot leads. I go in on referrals. so all I’ve got to do is—like I tell my guys—shake boxes. pull up in a nice, clean truck, uniform, hat, clipboard, take my notes, give them the estimate in two or three days. what did I do wrong? why wouldn’t you allow me to do the work?

you called me, right? you wanted First Priority to come to your yard. I didn’t call you. I didn’t cold call you. I didn’t put flyers on your door. you called for me. so therefore, I’m here. here’s the price—and that’s it. and it works great for me. it really does.

Ezra McCarthy
now you do something, Raymond, that’s very odd—and I don’t know that I’ve seen it hardly ever in our industry. you charge for quotes. now, we build websites for people all the time, and you’re probably the first person we’ve built a website for that charges for quotes. so why did you start doing that? and have you seen any pushback when you implemented it?

Raymond Kirkland
yes. yes, of course. we did that because of the volume of leads we’re getting. like I said, we’re more of a referral-based business, so everybody calling us is already wanting us to do the work. then I opened the garden center—and that opened the floodgates. people would come in asking about services, and then they’d say, “I need you to come out to my yard and give me a price.” over and over—“come out and give me a price.” and I’m like, hold up. you want me, right? you want First Priority to come out there?

okay, well, I’m going to charge you a consultation fee. it’s $50 just for me to come out there and talk for 15 to 20 minutes and give you an estimate. or there’s tier two—we’ll come out and give you a hand sketch, a full rundown, for about $150. now if you really want something special, we do tier threes. we’ll come out and do a CAD drawing, starts at $850 for front and backyard.

and everything on that estimate—I do. you need drainage? I do drainage. you need gutters? I do gutters. pavers? I do pavers. plants? I sell and install plants. so that estimate includes everything we offer. it works out great for me, and my clients want one person to do everything.

that’s key. a lot of people say you need to specialize in certain categories—I don’t see it that way. I want to do the whole project. I don’t want to sub out my irrigation work. I don’t want to sub out patios. I don’t want to deal with other contractors. I want our team to have hands on everything. and so far, it’s been pretty good.

Ezra McCarthy
now, Raymond, someone just ran off the road listening to this when you said eight hundred and some dollars for a quote. but that is—that is so good. sometimes, depending on your market—like there in South Carolina—that’s obviously the right fit. but maybe in a highly competitive market, it isn’t. knowing your market, obviously it works great there. and to be honest, it probably helps you weed out some of these price shoppers.

Raymond Kirkland
yes. it does. perfect example—somebody called me the other day at the garden center. I happened to be there in a red shirt, and the husband’s on the phone, getting ready to pay the $50. the wife was like, “hold on, we gotta pay $50?” and he said, “yes.” she goes, “no, no—I’ve got somebody coming tomorrow for free.” prime example—not my client, right? so I would’ve gone out there and wasted my time. for what? hoping I get the job while you’re out there price checking? not my client. my clients want us.

Ezra McCarthy
and you know what? I think it’s going to change how you approach the quote. there’s something about it—customers can smell it when you go up there. obviously, you want to serve people, you want to do the work—but you’re not desperate. and people can tell.

Raymond Kirkland
yes. no, that is key. that is key—I promise you. that’s a lot right there, Mr. Ezra. do I want to do the work? yes. but do I know how valuable my time and my guys’ time is? yes. so therefore, I can’t sell it short. because I sell time. that’s all I do—sell time.

Ezra McCarthy
so where did you learn this? did you learn it working for other people, or was there something when you started—maybe a mistake—that made you realize, hey, this isn’t working, gotta change?

Raymond Kirkland
yes. yes, there’s a lot of learning curves. it’s a lot of podcasting. I listen to a lot of different people teaching things, and I didn’t say, “this guy is God.” like, he says something I like, another guy says something I like—and I just molded it all together into what works for me. will it work for everybody? no. but like you said, I know my niche. we’re pretty blessed, man. we’re very blessed in the market we’re in and the volume of work we get.

Ezra McCarthy
so as your business has grown, obviously you have several team members. and now with the garden center, you’re having to have people there helping you. how do you approach building a team that you can trust—one that’s going to serve these high-end clients really well?

Raymond Kirkland
it starts off with building the culture. that’s what everybody talks about in this industry—building the culture. and I started with that because I knew the culture I was coming from, right? my mom died. I had been at that job for four or five years. they gave me a fruit basket three days after the funeral and gave me three days off work. this was during COVID—talking about I could work remote, but I still needed to come back. and I’m thinking, there’s got to be a better way.

the job before that, they didn’t fire me—I quit. but they brought somebody in to be my manager and wanted me to train my replacement. true story. they said, “train this guy with no experience how to do your job, because you’re not doing it good enough.” so I left that job, went to another one, and all these things just showed me—people don’t care about their employees. that’s why everybody quits. so I said, you know what? I’m going to take care of my employees.

from day one, I paid my employees’ lunch. I gave them $60 a week back in 2020—$20 a day. I paid them 40 hours whether we worked 25, 39, or if we went over, I paid overtime. I really took care of my guys. I invested in them. if my guy’s washing machine went out, I’d buy him a washing machine. if they needed something, I’d buy it. because I want to build that relationship with my guys so that if I need them—I know they’re there.

Ezra McCarthy
do you think this has contributed to your growth? how much churn do you have with your team members?

Raymond Kirkland
we might go through two employees a year, and it’s usually the newer guys that come in. we’ve got eight right now. the longest-tenured guy has been here four years, then it’s three years, then two years. the shortest is six months—and he’s a good driver, so he’ll probably stick around.

Ezra McCarthy
out of how many?

Raymond Kirkland
I’ve learned it’s best not to let your employees run your business—but allow your employees to bring in other employees. because they’re going to be with them more than you are, right? so if they’re happy with the person, I look at what I can—maybe not sacrifice—but what I can put up with. you know what I mean? to know that they really want this guy on their crew, and he’s really going to work well. maybe I don’t like this or that, but on the other hand—it ain’t about me. it’s about getting the job done.

Ezra McCarthy
so how do you keep your team and crew motivated and aligned with the vision of First Priority?

Raymond Kirkland
bonuses—every job comes with a bonus. we track input, output, we track time. I know how long the job is supposed to take. I know how much the materials are going to cost. and if they meet those guidelines, I give them 10% of whatever the final profit is. not the net job, but whatever the final profit is. so if there’s three guys on the truck and we made $800 after all the bills are paid, that’s $80 split between three people.

Ezra McCarthy
and you structure that?

Raymond Kirkland
we do three or four jobs, five jobs a week. it works great on the bigger jobs. you do a $20,000 job and we’ve got $5,000–$8,000 in profit left over—they really love it.

Ezra McCarthy
so how do you deal with callbacks? because obviously, the danger would be if things become sloppy from trying to rush.

Raymond Kirkland
yeah, of course. callbacks—there’s accountability for that. they don’t get paid the bonus until the next month. so whatever jobs we do in march, we don’t pay the bonus until april. that allows everything to sit. that gives me time to collect the deposit, handle any callbacks, and get the final check. we also do a wellness check 15 days after the job—just to make sure everything’s okay. we talk with the client, ask if there are any problems, and follow up.

if we have to do any additional work, that hits the bottom line. so if we have to go back—let’s say a guy spends two hours fixing something—we know what we charge per man-hour. so that comes out of the 10%. if the bonus was $800 and we spent $300 worth of time fixing something, your bonus is now $500. you get what I mean? and that’s how I nick them. they’re like, hold up—yeah, do your job right. don’t go back. don’t rush through it.

Ezra McCarthy
just pause on something you said there—you said you do a 15-day wellness check on the job. do you do that on every landscaping job?

Raymond Kirkland
yes, I try. that is my goal. if I don’t do it, my guys go back. I’ve got an operations manager over the landscape side, and I’ve got a manager over the landscaping division. I’m the first contact—I’m the one who sells the job. like I tell the guys, I set the bar so high. so when you go out there, the bar is here. I’ve sold them the moon, stars, and everything that came with it.

so if you do anything below that, my phone’s going to ring. my guys know the expectation—everything has to be in order, because Raymond said we were going to do everything. and I let my clients know—either I’m going to come back or one of my guys will after the job is done. I try my best to get back and do at least a 15-day wellness check, just to make sure everything’s okay. because we’re dealing with plants. I want to be the one to tell the homeowner their plant is dying—before they have to tell me. because that’s what you paid me for, right?

Ezra McCarthy
this is so good. I think people listening are starting to understand why Raymond gets so many referrals. customer experience, customer service—unfortunately in our industry—is often really poor. so even if that plant is dying at 15 days, when Raymond calls back and asks how things are going, they may say, “hey, this plant didn’t make it.” but I’m sure he’s going to make it right. and you know who they’re going to call next time?

Raymond Kirkland
yes. that is correct.

Ezra McCarthy
they’re going to say, Raymond actually cared. he didn’t take my money and run. they’re going to be calling him again.

Raymond Kirkland
yes. yes. that’s the best kind of client—word of mouth and doing your job, going above and beyond. if I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to go above and beyond what I said I was going to do. if I said I’m coming to install mulch and I get there and see your pine straw hasn’t been tucked, I’m going to tuck your pine straw. you get what I mean? just because I’ve got to take a picture—and I don’t want to post a picture and have someone say, “look, the pine straw’s not tucked.” you know what I mean?

Ezra McCarthy
this is so good.

Raymond Kirkland
I don’t want to have to explain that, you know what I mean? I just want the picture to look great. I want the picture to be an amazing picture.

Ezra McCarthy
so how did you find this garden center that you bought? you mentioned that had been part of your vision—but how did you go about finding it and then the acquisition?

Raymond Kirkland
yes. I used to buy a lot of my plant materials from here—from the garden center. it’s been a garden center on this side of town, Columbia, for like 40 years. Rick Woodley owned the garden center. he’s a great landscape designer and a great person that I met.

I met him by doing a job—I didn’t even know him yet. I did a job for a homeowner, did a great job, and I get a phone call from Rick Woodley. I’m like, why is he calling me? I knew he owned the garden center—I’d bought plants from him—but he left me a voicemail saying, “hey, did you do this job?” so I called him back. I said, “yes, sir, I did the job.” he said the job was amazing—“you want more work?” I’m like, sure, I’m just starting out—I’ll take all the work.

and ever since then, he’s thrown me so much work. he’s like a mentor. I got under his wing. and his expectations are high—so it matched mine. like, wow, I can’t cut a corner. and I liked that. I liked that accountability.

so he owned the garden center. this is 2025 now. back in 2023, they wanted to sell it. it didn’t go through—something happened, they changed their mind. but in 2024, back in march, they decided again they wanted to sell. I didn’t know at the time. I was doing this big job at Northeast Presbyterian Church, not far from the garden center. Rick came by and said, “hey, I just got word—they want to sell the garden center.” I said, “yeah? how much they want for all that stuff?” and just playing around, I said, “I’ll buy it.”

he took it and ran with it. next thing I know, I’m getting phone calls from the owners, we’re doing meetings, things are moving. I’m a man of God—when God moves, God moves. I just let Him take control of the whole situation. I said, “you know what, God, I trust you. if it goes through, it goes through.” and here I am.

God is good, man. it’s a four-acre facility. it’s beautiful.

Ezra McCarthy
what are some of the challenges—obviously before, you were in the service business with landscaping, and now you’re in a product business too. what are some challenges you’ve faced being in both industries?

Raymond Kirkland
retail is tough, man. retail is tough. see, with landscaping, I deal with a lot of people. but with the garden center—man, on a Saturday, we’ll ring up 300 people. you get what I mean? so it’s a lot of people you’re trying to please. retail is a different beast—trying to please everybody.

I strive in retail to serve everyone—complete satisfaction, customer’s always right. but unfortunately, it’s still a numbers game when you start dealing with people. once you start dealing with a thousand people, somebody’s not going to be happy. somebody’s going to have a bad day—and there’s nothing you can do about it. that’s the hardest part of retail—dealing with those people. I want to make everybody happy, and that’s the hardest part.

Ezra McCarthy
so looking ahead, Raymond—in the next one to three years, what do you see First Priority Landscaping growing into? and what are your next moves?

Raymond Kirkland
next move is—I’m at the point now where I’m deciding: do I get more employees for the landscaping company and branch it out, or do I follow through with the plan I’ve had, which is to open four more garden centers? I want them to be more like satellite locations. I want this location to be the hub—to supply the others.

and the plan is to find four more landscapers in four different areas—to mentor, guide, franchise, and bring the brand to them. bring everything we’ve built—on-site consultations, our POS systems, the structure—to them. we do a magazine here every other month that we pass out to our clients, and it’s a big hit. so when I go do an estimate, I’m not just showing up with a business card—I’m handing over a magazine.

it’s about my garden center, my services, even pictures of my kids. when I say I set the bar high—I really do. when I do an estimate, the bar is very high. so if someone comes behind me, it’s tough—because the client already sees that level of professionalism.

with the volume of work we’re getting—we’re booked out through June—so I either need to find more landscapers or buy a landscaping company. that’s what I was talking about with a good friend of mine. the next step might be figuring out where we want to expand and just buying a company. like, if I want to go to Myrtle Beach, okay—what’s a solid, smaller landscaping company out there that could really benefit from having a nursery behind them?

Ezra McCarthy
that’s interesting. so if you had to start all over today with nothing but your current knowledge, would you do anything differently—or what would you do?

Raymond Kirkland
yes. I’d definitely do some things differently. I’d be more confident in the beginning. that’s key. I learned it early, but I wish I’d learned it even sooner. being confident is everything—going in there knowing that what I’m selling you is what you actually want. I’m not selling what I want—I’m selling what you want. so everything I’m telling you is exactly what you’re looking for.

that’s key to sales. I’ve learned that selling is the number one part of landscaping—or any service business. it’s being able to sell. anybody can do the work. anybody can dig a hole and plant a tree. but can you sell me the experience of planting that tree? can you sell me on everything that comes along with it—the benefits, the value?

or are you just going to say, “I’ll dig a hole and stick a tree in it”? or are you going to talk about it in a way that makes me say, “oh my gosh, I can’t wait to get that tree”? it’s about building up the moment.

and I’d also say—understand from the beginning that taking care of your employees is key. a healthy employee is a happy employee, and a happy employee is a productive employee. so if I keep you happy and healthy, you’re going to be productive.

Ezra McCarthy
so if you’re going to give advice to someone—maybe they’re at that $100K–$200K mark and they’re looking to double or triple their business in the next couple of years—what would you tell them?

Raymond Kirkland
get a great website. a great website and Google—that’s where the hot leads are. I’ve never been a big fan of those lead groups where you meet every week. I feel like that’s time you could be spending working on your business instead of doing favors. that’s just not me.

and value your time. your time is everything—because that’s all you’re selling: time. most of the time, it’s not that the homeowners can’t do the job—they just don’t have the time. and that’s my number one selling point. I don’t try to belittle them like, “oh, you can’t do this.” no—you can do this job, sir or ma’am. but do you have the time?

doesn’t Johnny have baseball practice? doesn’t Susie have swim lessons? when are you going to have time? that’s what I’m here for.

and add on services. don’t just sell a plant. sell the plant, the mulch, the drip line, the bed clean-out. and on maintenance—I started out doing maintenance. and from the start, all my clients were on contracts. we still do maintenance now, but I never did pay-per-cut. everybody was on a year-round contract.

that works out so well—because I have revenue in the winter. a lot of landscapers struggle to find revenue in the off-season. for me, I get the same revenue in June that I get in December. it’s consistent cash flow.

Ezra McCarthy
having that cash flow is so valuable. you probably don’t have trouble keeping your team members around, because then you’d have to cut back their hours.

Raymond Kirkland
it is. that’s what I’m saying—because it is seasonal down here in South Carolina. grass goes dormant. so if you can make money off dormant grass, you’ve got something. we’ve got people paying $1,500 a month, $4,000 a month, $2,000 a month—in December.

Ezra McCarthy
yeah.

Raymond Kirkland
right, in January, in February. we might go out once or twice, but we maintain that property year-round. yes, we made less in the summer because we spent so many hours—but that’s okay. because in the winter, we’re cutting grass every other week, and I’ve got so many projects. so in the wintertime, we’re doing projects every other week with the maintenance crew. I like that too.

Ezra McCarthy
that has been so helpful, Raymond. if someone wanted to learn more about your business or find you, where would the best place be?

Raymond Kirkland
check us out on our webpage—First Priority Landscape Solutions. check me out on Facebook, Instagram. we’re here to serve, man. I help other landscapers out, give advice. I’m just here to serve.

Ezra McCarthy
thank you. well, Raymond, this has been a lot of value. you’ve probably dropped a couple of nuggets here—hopefully someone didn’t swerve off the road with some of the value you dropped today. but if they’re stuck in the grind and trying to figure out how to grow faster, hopefully this episode sparks some ideas—rethinking your pricing, estimating, expanding into other areas.

and if this show brought you value, be sure to follow the podcast, leave a rating and review, and feel free to check out Raymond’s website when you get a chance. until next time, we’ll catch you on the next one.