Grounded in Father and Son
“I ended up making more money with my landscape work than I did the whole week in construction,” Tom Scarlett says. “Construction was a good job, and it gave me my medical and my retirement, but it opened my eyes. I began thinking I could probably retire and do the landscaping and make a living.”
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After 25 years in his first job, that’s ultimately what the senior Scarlett did. However, while taking the business full time he didn’t have the help of his right-hand man. By that time, Jeremy Scarlett had finished high school and gone on to college at UCLA. When he graduated, he took a job in the mortgage industry.
“I had made up my mind that I was going to support my children wherever they went,” says Tom Scarlett. “I told God I would back him up, even if that meant Jeremy moving to New York. He was doing very well in the mortgage business, and then you know what happened.”
With the collapse of the housing market, Jeremy Scarlett moved back to Ventura and then told his dad he wanted to work with him. Tom Scarlett says when he heard the news he started crying.
“I thought, ‘Wow,’” the older man says. “I was already doing well, but I thought with somebody like Jeremy, with his talents, we could really make it work.”
Gold Mine
Jeremy Scarlett’s feelings are much the same. His dad calls the business a potential gold mine, and his son agrees.
“I saw what the potential of the business was, and thought I’d be able to use my business experience to take the company to the next level,” Jeremy Scarlett says. “We decided to partner up, and in 2008 we incorporated what had been a sole proprietorship.”
While the two men are 50-50 partners in the operation, there’s an important third principal at Scarlett’s Landscape. Jason Stetler is the on-staff landscape architect, handling the design portion of the business with the help of an assistant.
Tom Scarlett explains that Stetler had been designing projects for him for years, but only recently received his formal designation.
“I knew Jason when he was in his mother’s stomach,” says Tom Scarlett. “He’s like another son to me. When Jeremy decided to come back we decided to see if Jason would come on with us and we were able to give him a package he was comfortable with.”
Jeremy Scarlett adds that Stetler’s having his professional designation is important to the firm. Since going back to work at Scarlett’s, Jeremy Scarlett has also become a landscape-industry-certified technician through the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) and a certified Allan Block wall installer.
The design component is critical to the business, because much of its customer base is from new construction or remodels of residential projects.
“Around 90 percent to 95 percent of our work is residential, with most of that being construction,” says Jeremy Scarlett. We really are a landscape construction company, with only about 10 percent of our revenues coming from maintenance. Maintenance is something we provide because our clients want it. Some of our clients want us to stay behind and keep it looking like it was installed.”
And, even though that work doesn’t pay the bills, it can lead to additional work, the younger Scarlett adds.
