By Kali Pearson

Even before stepping into the offices of Nicola’s Garden Art, potential clients already have a sense of the quality they can expect from the company. Owner Jeremy Kamp recently relocated to Wortley Village, a historic enclave of London, Ont., where Nicola’s Garden Art rubs shoulders with the city’s top retailers, restaurants and designers. “Everyone assumes that everyone who is in Wortley Road is going to be the top in the city,” said Kamp, who has been keeping an eye out for space in the area for years.

In fact, Nicola’s Garden Art has been named one of the top landscape companies in the city by ThreeBestRated.ca and consistently wins service awards with Houzz. But while Kamp said all this positioning is important, it’s what happens behind the scenes — from how they find and nurture talent, to how they approach growth, to their sales and marketing processes — that has made the company a success for over 30 years.

Nicola’s Garden Art was started by Kamp’s mother as a floral design business in 1990. In 2010, she completed a degree in horticultural design at the University of Guelph and the pair partnered to launch a landscaping business, rolling in a fencing and deck business Kamp had launched years prior.   

“We're basically a full service — everything from the outside of the house,” said Kamp. “We do design, gardening, drainage, patios, retaining walls and fencing. The complete picture.”

Speaking of pictures, Kamp said the biggest selling point continues to be the sheer creativity of his mother’s designs. “Nicola has been designing for a long time and her work is not cookie cutter at all,” he said. “There are always very neat shapes and the feeling of the property after it's done is great.”

Kamp initially worked with the installation crews, but in 2022 he moved away from crew work to take over ownership of the business. He’s since made it his mission to hire only the best, invest in technology and create a sales model that helps ensure healthy margins and profit — as well as long-term customer satisfaction.

Getting the pick of the crop

As a long-time instructor in the horticulture technician diploma program at Fanshawe College in London, Kamp has a direct line to finding great talent. “Most of our employees come from Fanshawe,” he said. “I get them recommended by other instructors or bring them on for their co-op placements for the diploma program. I get to see all the students for months at a time and decide which are the ones I want to work with.”

Kamp said he has been able to hire “superstars” from the program over the years, including his best foreperson and his customer service lead, who handles all warranty issues and customer concerns. After all, even the best planned designs and installations can fall victim to the elements or improper care. “She’s the individual dealing with that properly and getting the client back on board with us making sure that they're not upset and not having buyer's remorse if the garden falls apart in front of their face and they've just spent big money on it,” Kamp explained.

He added that this commitment to service from start to finish is the main reason he decided to launch a maintenance team a few years back. Everyone at Nicola’s Garden Art also pays attention to what might be considered as “the little things,” like ensuring all phone calls are answered and client emails are answered promptly.

A strong sell

As president, Kamp leads the sales process as well as operations. Nicola’s designs are the star of the show and the sales process starts with an intake questionnaire to ensure it’s a big enough job to warrant the investment. “You get a lot of tire kickers and a lot of phone calls that aren’t really worthwhile,” he said. “With only two crews, we only want to be taking on jobs that will last two weeks or more.”

Once a client has been qualified, they receive a design estimate. Once they purchase the design, Kamp meets with them in person to quote on the installation — typically at his office so clients have the opportunity to see and touch some of the materials. “By this point they already have the whole vision in place and they've paid in full for the design, so that’s the entry point,” he said.

To keep quotes realistic and jobs on track and on budget, Kamp has invested in specialized software for the landscaping business. He uses LMN, which allows him to set an annual budget and targets, using that budget to create estimates. The program also allows him to invoice clients directly from the platform, track labour hours and handle payroll. “It reduces a ridiculous amount of triple entry stuff,” Kamp said.
 

Taking care of family

In addition to recruiting some of his best students from Fanshawe, Kamp also offers every member of his team the chance to take part in the school’s apprenticeship program. “My hiring process starts with ‘Do you want to be a Horticultural Apprentice?’ That's a part of the interview,” he said. “I ask ‘Are you going to be trained as an apprentice of Fanshawe?’ and many people are like, ‘My god. I've been wanting to go to school for something that I like doing!’ So it's a huge win for they're not completely out of money and they can actually afford to go to school. Some people don't have that opportunity growing up.”

Kamp pays the $600 tuition and employees study over the winter, putting their knowledge to work when the season kicks off. “I'm often their teacher as well, so I also get to train them in the way that I would like people to be trained at my business.”

When it comes to keeping employees, Kamp believes that a continued focus on training demonstrates that Nicola’s Garden Art is a place where careers can grow and flourish. “We're definitely training oriented. Every one of our eight employees is at Fanshawe, with the exception of one employee who is in his sixties or seventies and opted not to go.”

In addition to training, Kamp takes pride in lending an ear when employees need to talk and offering flexible work hours. “We have a lot of young dads, who are the primary caregivers for their family, so they're expected to go and be there when the kids are sick or if they need to get to daycare,” he said. “We create an environment where that's okay.” He said at least one of his employees opted to join just for that reason. “He was feeling the pressure from his other company — basically ‘we don’t care about your kid, just get over it and get to work.’”

Getting the right people in place also extends to building a network around him to fill in gaps where he lacks expertise. “My mom is the designer and my dad loves finance. And so before we had a bookkeeper, he was taking care of the books and doing the financial reports,” he said. Kamp’s wife is in HR and helps with contracts and ensuring the company adopts the right employment practices. “It’s basically this full circle of people all around me who fill in the gaps that I desperately need.”

As for the future, Kamp plans to grow slowly, keeping things small and beautiful. “I've seen in the past where companies that you think are really doing well get a bunch of employees and equipment and machines… and then they're out of business within two years,” he said. “That kind of shocked me and so we took that as a warning signal.” One tactic he believes is a smart one for any landscaping company is to rent equipment until it truly needs to be purchased. His rule of thumb is to not purchase anything until it's needed at least five times a month. He also keeps costs under control by working with vendors who will deliver materials to job sites, rather than wasting employees’ time driving around to pick things up.

At the end of the day, Kamp loves building Nicola’s Garden Art as a great place to work and a company that clients can count on for the long haul. Kamp is a big believer in supporting others in the trade and offers this simple advice for anyone running a business: “It’s going to be long hours and hard work, but the only way it’s going to fail is if you give up. If you don’t give up, it’s not going to fail.”

 

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