LandCare has acquired Columbuys, Ohio-based Woodland Environment. Woodland’s previous owners Jeff Rupp and Craig Nye have also become partners in LandCare.
Woodland Environment was created in 2016 when landscape veterans Rupp and Nye created their commercial landscape management business to serve the real estate industry in Columbus. With over 30 years of combined landscaping experience, they saw an opportunity to offer personal service backed by a strong commitment to quality work and a great environment for employees to grow. When they first considered merging their business, they wanted to ensure they found a partner that would allow them to stay connected to the team they had built while providing the support and autonomy to continue to grow within the market.
“LandCare gave us the opportunity to continue to run the business as partners, with the confidence that our values and principles would never be compromised,” said Rupp. “When considering the implications of joining a larger company, that was it for us. It was LandCare or continue on our own.”
Independent of LandCare, Rupp and Nye were building a healthy company; however, they found there were aspects of the business that made it difficult to navigate as entrepreneurs.
“LandCare brought us access to resources that really took the day-to-day administrative work out of the equation,” Nye added. “Now, we’re allowed to focus entirely on growing relationships with our customers & team members while expanding our business at a much higher rate. We are still owners and are still deeply committed to this business, but now we have the backing of a larger support team dedicated to helping us grow.”
LandCare is a national company serving over 20 states across the country through a network of local branches. Once publicly traded and subsequently owned by private equity investors, it is now privately held by its leaders.
“We have constancy of purpose,” shared Mike Bogan, CEO of LandCare. “We have a long-term perspective on building our company the right way. We focus on organic growth and see these acquisitions as a means of expansion only when we can bring likeminded team members that are aligned to our core values together. I’ve known, worked with and respected Jeff and Craig for many years. They fit perfectly into our team and it’s exciting to work together with them again.”
The Woodland Environment team has quickly rebranded, firmly planting the tangerine LandCare flag in Ohio.