Lakeridge Contracting: the best beards in the landscaping business

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Chris Hall
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Jun 02, 2013 – 4:46 PM
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DURHAM — Mike Pennington never wants to be mistaken for a TV personality on a home improvement show.

With long curly locks falling to his shoulders and a scraggly beard that covers most of his face, it’s unlikely he would and that suits him just fine.

“Don’t confuse us with something on HGTV,” says Mr. Pennington, referring to the quick-fix, whirlwind repair world of the shows on the Home and Garden TV channel.

There are no muscleman pretty boys working on the Lakeridge Contracting Inc. crews, says Mr. Pennington, who believes such shows skew the public’s view of the landscape profession.

“We want to appeal to people by being a down-to-earth company,” said Mr. Pennington, a veteran landscaper for nearly a quarter-century, as he adjusted the sunglasses holding his hair back out of his face.

“We’re looking for the people who want the service we provide, who want a good job done. Not the people who judge us by our hair or our beards.”

Lakeridge Contracting was created in 1999 by Dean Maahs and now employs up to a dozen people during its busiest months. Mr. Pennington serves as the company’s residential division supervisor — essentially Mr. Maahs’ right-hand man and the face of Lakeridge Contracting’s home improvement side.

The company started out mainly working large industrial, commercial and institutional jobs, but over the last three years or so have put an emphasis on the residential side.

That allows Lakeridge Contracting to utilize its skill set from larger projects and apply it to smaller-scale residential requests, explained Mr. Pennington.

“All of our experience and equipment and training and insurance, we bring that all along to your house. We’re not just a guy with a pickup truck,” he said.

The company is a proud Techo-Pro contractor and has a long list of certifications and partnerships that helps meet clients’ requests of all sizes.

Essentially, Lakeridge Contracting is a one-stop-shop for residential home improvements.

“A homeowner doesn’t want to hire a fencing company and a pool company and a landscaper and co-ordinate all of that. We take care of it all,” said Mr. Pennington.

Lakeridge Contracting offers a wide variety of services, from interlocking driveways, walkways and tree-planting to creating backyard patios, pergolas, fencing and pool renovations, and has a designer on staff to ensure clients’ wishes are met.

Landscaping is not for the lazy. There’s lots of hard work and plenty of long hours — a job for professionals who like to mix business with beards, laughed Mr. Pennington.

“We don’t require beards, but we don’t discourage them,” said Mr. Pennington of the facial hair trend among his employees that has started to become a trademark of the company.

Piggy-backing off the popularity of the Duck Dynasty show, which follows the lives of a family who runs a duck call fabrication business, Mr. Pennington proudly sports a hairy face for marketing purposes.

“I’m not a shaving, hair-cut kind of guy. I’m not an office guy,” said Mr. Pennington, who started growing his hair out about two years ago because his young daughter likes to brush it.

His hirsute campaign seems to be paying off.

On a recent sunny Thursday morning, Mr. Pennington started his day at 6 a.m. and planned to meet with clients nearly every hour until 7:30 p.m. — listening to potential clients’ dreams, offering quotes and ideas and overseeing the work of his crews.

Mr. Pennington has also helped lead Lakeridge Contracting into the vast new world of social media. The company is easy to find online, offering insight into its various jobs through Facebook, YouTube and photo-sharing sites.

But, Mr. Pennington’s admittedly got a soft spot for Twitter, which provides a sneak peek into his world.

“We want people to know it’s a challenging job,” said Mr. Pennington of his venture into the Twitterverse, which he initially entered to keep in touch with suppliers and other landscaping companies.

“It gives us a chance to see what other people are doing and a chance to brag about what we do, but it also lets us talk about our guys and how proud of them we are and the jobs they do,” said Mr. Pennington.

Call: 905-686-1640

Visit: www.lakeridgecontracting.ca

Twitter: @Lakeridgecon

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LakeridgeContracting

Instagram: instagram.com/lakeridgecon

Pinterest: pinterest.com/lakeridgecon

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/LakeridgeContracting

— Durham Trade and Commerce, May 2013 edition

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