In 1996, following the completion of his trade qualification in Parks and Garden Maintenance, Andrew Descas setup a sole trader business, providing general gardening and maintenance services on the NSW Central Coast. While operating a successful sole trader business, Andrew realised that to expand his business and continue its growth he needed to secure commercial maintenance contracts that would provide ongoing work and business development opportunities. After successfully obtaining small commercial contracts, Andrew worked diligently to deliver high quality services and attention to detail, exceeding his client’s needs and forming positive business relationships that helped the business continue to grow.

Continuing on to complete his trade qualification in Landscaping and securing his Construction Licence, in 1999, having successfully entered into the commercial landscape and maintenance market, Descas Landscapes was registered as a company, positioning itself as a provider of high quality landscape management and soft construction services to both small and large commercial sites.

Andrew’s current focus is to continue with consistent and steady growth. Long term commercial maintenance contracts are the ‘bread and butter’ of the business and securing this type of work is always a focus. “Securing several long term contracts, both for maintenance and construction, with some of Australia’s leading businesses has been a recent win for us. We have also been implementing an employee engagement program, which provides a variety of methods for us to engage with and reward our team members.”

The major focus is implementing operational systems and processes to create a smooth flow of work – “The business has experienced rapid growth over the past 2-3 years and our systems and procedures are now trying to ‘catch up’ with the business growth.”

Over the past six months, the business has seen some great improvements in employee engagement which is important to the business as success relies upon the quality and workmanship of team members – the happier and more engaged your team are, the better the quality and output will be. Over the next twelve months, Andrew explains that there will be a high functioning operational management system that will be implemented which will allow him and his team to streamline the process and procedures and remove unnecessary duplication of tasks, ensuring that steps in the process are not missed.

The business is doing well at the moment with future work locked in and the tender opportunities arising on a daily basis, however, the biggest challenge for Andrew now is decisions around taking the ‘next step’.

As with most businesses the dilemma is do you invest in plant, HR and equipment to enable you to win bigger jobs/take on more at a time or do you win bigger/more jobs then invest in those areas?

Robson Partners have assisted Andrew in reviewing the financial aspects of the business, providing ideas around how to streamline and improve financial performance of the business. “They’ve also greatly assisted in the review of our processes to help us identify operational management systems that best suit our business needs. Troy is highly experienced at supporting businesses similar to Descas Landscapes and this is evident when you spend time with him. I trust that he is able to take this business to the next level and that he always has the best interest of the business as his main priority. He is full of practical ideas and solutions that meet our business needs and it feels like he genuinely cares about our success.”

The operations management team support Andrew in the challenges by getting on with day to day business, allowing him to step back from the business and investigate options and ideas around the current challenges – “They understand the need for a high functioning operational management system and they have been essential in identifying our existing processes that require automation.”

If Descas Landscapes continues to grow at the rate it has in recent years, the business will be positioning itself as a large player in the commercial landscape and maintenance field. Securing future contracts, both maintenance and construction, will lead to further increases in their team members, vehicle fleet and plant, which will greatly broaden the amount of scope of work they will be performing.

If you would like to find our more about the success of Andrew’s business or to find out how he and his team could help you, click here.