CONTR ACTOR PROFILE
LINDA SILICH & KIMBERLY HREN Partners, Groundworks Landscaping, East Hampton, N.Y. Green Industry Pros: How did you get into the green industry? Hren: It was always in my blood. I grew up on the property, was at the nursery every day either working, playing or bothering my aunts and uncles who also worked here. I loved to see the sketches my father did at home in the evenings. I started to sketch and design and then followed my passion for that to college for environmental design. Silich: I met Kim and worked for her family, and then we started our own company. I met Ed Hollander, a landscape architect who also had a past history working with Kim, so it was important that he liked her new partners.
Green Industry Pros: Tell me a little more about your company. Hren: We started, just the three of us, in the basement of Linda and Andy’s home. We built our business from there, with a lot of referrals, Ed Hollander projects and our own networking. We have grown comfortably and have exceeded our expectations as far as what we have become. I think we always wanted a successful company. Who doesn’t when
72 GREEN INDUSTRY PROS
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Groundworks Landscaping
BY SARAH WEBB
they are in business? Left to right: Kimberly Hren, Linda Silich and Andy Silich. However, this has become more than that to us. It’s a business, yes, Silich: One big challenge is being a but it’s family, and we all work very well woman in a male-dominated industry, together. We have come back to where especially when two women show up my life started; we are now in the same to the jobsite. Kim would say she’s in a location that my family had the garden man’s world, and it’s very difficult until center that started in 1939. We currently they hear her talk. She is so unbelievrun it as a design gallery and showroom ably, instinctively knowledgeable about and focus mainly on design, installaeverything. She really gained the respect, tion and property care management. and that helped me and paved the way. That said, sometimes, I don’t necessarSilich: It’s very cool because we just ily feel like I get the same amount of celebrated our 20th anniversary. We respect either because of their perception went from just three of us to 50-plus or because I’m a woman or I have kids employees, three divisions (design and or they think I don’t take it seriously. install, property care and a planter diviOverall though, we’ve gotten over that. sion) and we grew from a $500,000 Additionally, we’ve had some issues firm to a nearly $8 million company. with not getting workers in time through Overall, we wanted to be a communitythe H-2B program, and the 2008 market driven company. Once the word got crash influenced us to start our mainteout that we did the smaller installanance division. Finally, we moved over to tions and helped people a lot, it grew. Kim’s family’s location to take over the garden center. While that was fun and Green Industry Pros: What exciting, it wasn’t a huge money maker.
have been some of the challenges and successes you’ve encountered along the way?
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022
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www.greenindustrypros.com
