Landscaper focusing on business growth for 2021

Landscaper and business owner of Solent Garden Services, Rob Woodhouse talks us through his business plans for the future and his project highlights of 2020. You can also listen to our podcast episode with Rob on Managing a Team on Spotify here, Apple podcast here or watch it on YouTube here.

Tell us a bit about yourself, your business and your team?
We are Solent Garden Services Ltd, a family business established in 1973.
Originally we were predominantly focused on garden maintenance but have evolved over the years to cover all aspects of garden design, build and maintenance.

Rob Woodhouse, Business Owner of Solent Garden Services


How did you get into landscaping and what do you like about it?
I grew up around the business but got my first real sense of the work involved when I was 15 when I did my school work experience with the family business. I came on board full time at 21. At this point, it was just myself and one other guy working on regular maintenance.

My long term goal at the time was to move into the garden design area of our industry but to do that I needed the foundations of good horticultural knowledge and learn the trade in hard/soft landscaping (I’m still learning!)
I love the variation! Every day there is something different happening and usually a different problem to solve!


What projects are you currently working on/ just finished?
I don’t take on any more than two projects at a time due to the size of our team. We like to focus on completing the project before moving on to the next. We have been really busy with porcelain paving recently and we are heading into a nice project which will feature a resin-bound path/seating area, sandstone paving and a concrete parking area so I’m really excited to start that one.


Why is it important to you to use high quality products?
My focus is always using quality products, whether that is quality stone paving, porcelain, artificial lawn, fencing or any feature material.

If you are using high-quality materials on show then you need to build that garden with quality materials. We’ve used Blue Circle products for as long as I can remember and they’ve never let us down yet!

What’s been your project or business highlight of 2020?
Well, it’s been a crazy year for everyone! I’ve had my first child this year so that’s made it even crazier for me! My proudest moment workwise this year isn’t a specific project, its how we have dealt with the changing situation due to covid and adapted as a team.
Each one of my guys has had to adapt to new ways of doing things and I’m very proud of them (just don’t tell them that or they will get big-headed!)


What have you got planned for 2021?
I plan to hopefully add a couple more people to our team and increase our workload. This will mean that my role changes as I step away from the tools to design and manage projects going forwards.
Exciting times ahead!

You can check out the work by Solent Garden Services on their website or on Instagram.