In his lifetime, Lorenzo Rodriguez has worked as a logger, a cement worker and has washed garbage trucks.
He’s also been a college student, a seminarian, a regular collaborator at industry functions and an author whose research helped prove an important agricultural designation for his hometown.
He is, in many ways, the proof of his contention that lawn maintenance is not a business filled with unskilled laborers.
“People think it’s the lowest level of work so only people without skills can do it, so everybody can do it,” said Rodriguez, owner of LoMar Yard Maintenance in Centralia. “But to do it properly, it’s a different story. To compete with other companies, I have to educate myself.”
Earlier this year, Rodriguez celebrated 20 years at the helm of his business. When asked how it all started, he said it was a lifelong dream of his to build his own landscaping business. But it was a long road that led him to this place.
Born in California, Rodriguez and his family moved to his parents’ hometown of Yahualica, Mexico, north of Guadalajara in the Jalisco state, when he was 7. The family owned a farm and though Rodriguez said he hated the long, difficult work of farming, the lifestyle started his love of plants.
“When I was older, I started looking at plants and leaves and paying more attention to not just how to plant them, but how to take care of them,” Rodriguez said.
When Rodriguez was about 10, his father was among the farmers who worked on the cultivation of what was then called the Chile de Arbol. Eventually, the pepper caught on and became popular enough to inspire two festivals in Yahualica each year as well as capture the attention of the culinary world and farmers in other areas in Jalisco.
In 2012, Rodriguez published a book in Spanish called “Sumario Del Chile De Arbol: y las salsas picantes de Yahualica” about the history of the pepper’s origins in his hometown. In March of this year, the chile was granted a denomination of origin and its name was changed to Yahualica chile de arbol by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property. The designation protects the name of the chile from being used on products grown outside the designated region, much like protections for products such as Walla Walla onions and Champagne. The Chile is one of 16 products from Mexico to have such a designation but one of only two from the Jalisco state. The other, tequila, was granted its designation in 1974.
Rodriguez said he felt proud that the chile pepper he had spent so much time researching could gain such a designation. He was even prouder to hear that his book was used to fulfill the history and culture portions of the denomination of origin application.
“I did my part,” he said.
Rodriguez graduated from high school in Yahualica and then moved to California for three years, then back to Mexico for another three. From 1994 to 1997, he went to Alaska to work in the logging industry for the six- to eight-month season. During the off season he stayed with a friend from high school who lived in Centralia.
In March 1998, a co-worker was selling an established landscaping company and Rodriguez jumped at the chance to fulfill his dream. He and his wife, Maria, had gotten married just a year prior and she was pregnant with the eldest of their three daughters at the time. When he started out, the established business had enough work to keep him busy three or four days a week from about March until just before Christmas. At the same time, he was attending college classes part time at Centralia College.
“My wife wondered if I would have time for it all,” Rodriguez said of starting his own business. “It was tough. We were living in my in-law’s house with all the equipment there. I worked hard and I’m still working hard.”
Rodriguez chose the name LoMar, which is actually a mixture of he and his wife’s name. Rodriguez laughs about the origin of the name because he said many people mistakenly believe the business name is either his first or last name.
“All the time a lot of people call me Lomar and I used to correct them but now I don’t care. I’m Mr. Lomar,” he said with a laugh.
Now, 20 years later, Rodriguez employs a team of five and for the first time ever, they started working January 2 this year because the winter was so mild. During their busiest times, the LoMar team works six days a week.
About 80 percent of their customers opt for lawn maintenance packages. The basic service includes not only work but clean up. They will also apply weed control on sidewalks and driveways but he said he does not like to use herbicides so they use it only with a severe need.
LoMar also offers all stages of landscaping installation, irrigation and drip system installation and this year even added hanging baskets. Rodriguez said he usually tells landscaping customers to look on Pinterest for ideas but he also has ideas he can offer. For example, over the past four years, Rodriguez said he has noticed a move toward people wanting lower-maintenance landscaping. In response, he began offering a feature that looks like a dry river bed with plantings throughout.
“Last year when it was so dry and so hot I did some research in Arizona to see what they are doing there,” Rodriguez said of the origins of the idea.
Educating himself is a huge part of the business for Rodriguez, who takes classes through Western Washington University every winter and fall. He also travels to Puyallup to network with other landscapers about techniques and trends.
“When I get together with the other landscapers, our goal is to change the perception of this job,” Rodriguez said. “We come there because we are educated.”
Rodriguez said he sees a trend, especially among millennials, away from the notion of a large lawn and more toward patios. He said it is important to continue to educate himself in his field and industry in order to evolve with the changing needs of customers.
“It will be a challenge, but if you take the classes and you talk to other people you can be ready for it,” Rodriguez said.
He passes his training onto his crew by being physically present at jobs whenever possible, carefully explaining all steps of the process so that every member of the crew is knowledgeable enough to answer customer questions.
But he admitted with the business as busy as it is, he finds himself more often in the office and relying on the knowledge of his employees out in the field. He said he is extremely fortunate to have three long-term employees who are great leaders in the field: Eder Leal, who has been with the company for 14 years; Gabriel Rivera, who has been with LoMar eight years; and Ivan Rojas, who has worked Saturdays for 10 years.
“They are loyal to me and to have work all the time for them is my main concern because they have families to feed just like me,” Rodriguez said of his long-term employees. “In order for them to stay with me, I have to have work for them to do.”
In the future, Rodriguez said he sees LoMar continuing to update its offerings to meet the needs of customers. He has plans in the future to start his own nursery where he can raise plants for landscaping installations.
On a personal side, he also owns a large collection of lawn tools of various ages and would love to open a lawn-equipment museum in Centralia.
