Condo Media - August 2014 - 34

VENDOR SPOTLIGHT

Garrick-Santo Landscape Company
A One-Stop Shop for Everything to Do With the Outdoors
by Pamela Schweppe

s every unit owner knows,
being a member of an association's board of trustees can
be a thankless task, involving
many volunteer hours - often in an
area not within his or her expertise. So
it's no wonder that board members are
grateful for vendors who can provide
superior service in myriad different
functions with a single phone call.
One such board member is Marie
DePaolis, a trustee of Salem Place
Condominiums in Revere, Mass. Two
years ago, the board decided to replace
a deteriorating set of stairs and a wall
constructed of railroad ties. It turned
to its landscaper, Garrick-Santo, for
help. "They took the whole thing apart
and put in nice brick steps and a block
wall," DePaolis reports. "I was shocked
when I learned they could do all that.
We get quotes, but why go with other
people when they do the best job?"

Living Up to Their Motto

Based in Malden, Mass., Garrick
Landscape Company was founded by
Richard (Rick) Gottschalk Jr. in 1981
and became Garrick-Santo Landscape
Co. in 2003, when Gottschalk joined
forces with Robert (Rob) Santo of
Santo Landscape Services. Throughout
that history of more than 30 years, "we
care" has been the guiding philosophy
of both principals. "We don't want to
just serve our clients," explains Anita
Gottschalk, the company's design
install manager. "We want to partner
with them."
To Santo, that means going beyond
simply showing up with a lawnmower.
It means being strategic about what
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the association needs - and can afford
- to give it the greatest curb appeal.
"We try to meet with our clients once a
month to find out what their needs are
and to see what we can do within their
budget and environmental concerns,"
he says. "We don't want to just put
stuff in. We want to be sure it looks
right and the money is well spent."
That level of care is one reason why
Garrick-Santo has been the landscaper
for Dexter Estates of Malden, Mass.,
for 15 years - and counting. Over the
years, the company has not only kept
the lawn healthy, they have pruned
branches off cherry trees so squirrels
wouldn't jump onto the roofs, planted
trees, provided spring cleanup, cured a
patch of diseased lawn, trimmed shrubs
around the pool area, and more. "One
of the biggest selling points here is
the curb appeal," says Lorraine Rava,
chairperson of the board. "Everything
looks neat and clean. The workers do
a nice job, and the people in the office
are really nice, too. We're very pleased
with their service."

Digging Deeper

Among the landscaping services
provided by Garrick-Santo are design,
installation, enhancement, masonry,
hardscaping, and maintenance. Providing this level of service are more than
35 full-time landscape professionals,
as well as administrative, field management, sales, and training staff. Staff is
available to handle emergencies 24/7.
Occasionally, a client will request a
service that falls outside the scope of
traditional landscaping, such as painting, lighting - or even the installation

of a flagpole. Garrick-Santo strives to
offer complete customer satisfaction
nevertheless. "We have a wide network
of vendors we can call on," Gottschalk
says. "We want clients to call us first
whenever they have an issue. We can
help with a single phone call."
To determine exactly what services
are best suited to each individual association, Mandi Maloney, the company's forward deployed horticulturist,
has developed a proprietary request
for proposal (RFP). The RFP form
itemizes specific services the company
provides, with choices that include
spring cleanup, mulching, weekly maintenance, lawn care and fertilizer, irrigation, flowerscaping, fall cleanup, and
more. The association board simply
checks off the tasks it would like done.
"It eliminates us guessing and gets
them involved," Santo explains. "And
it keeps everyone informed."
If a bidding situation is involved,
Garrick-Santo is even willing to share
the information it gathers on the RFP
with its competitors. "That way, everyone is bidding on the same things,"
Santo says. "That's very important,
especially in the condo market. It saves
time, and property managers are very
happy to get the information. It helps
everyone."
It also helps Garrick-Santo devise an
action plan for each client. The company takes pride in the time taken to
create the right strategy to meet each
association's needs. "People don't
realize what it takes," Gottschalk says.
"We feel we start working on a project
the moment we meet the client. By
the time the crew shows up, a lot of

Condo Media - August 2014

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