Columbia Landcare Sees Success with Propane
Columbia Landcare is a leader in the central Missouri lawn care and landscape industry. Getting their start in 1996 with just five employees, Columbia Landcare has grown into a full-service grounds maintenance company offering landscape design, turf maintenance, mulch and weed control, shrub and tree care, irrigation system management and winter
snow removal services.
Today, based in Columbia, Missouri, under the leadership of Tom Boland, Columbia Landcare manages approximately 425 properties and employs about 125 people during their peak season. With a reputation for doing great work and continually exceeding client expectations, Columbia Landcare manages properties for residential customers, businesses and institutions including Hubbell Power Systems in Centralia, Boone Hospital Center in Columbia and Columbia Public Schools.
Properties Columbia Landcare maintains range in size from a few hundred square feet up to 50 acres. Fueled by the clean, American energy of propane, Columbia Landcare continues to grow and thrive while creating a lasting positive impact on the environment.
Boland originally incorporated propane into his business to power his company’s mowers because of his passion for our environment and natural resources. With propane being a clean-burning fuel significantly reducing CO2 emissions, it was a natural fit. The environmental benefits of propane created additional benefits for Columbia Landcare, including an increased level of customer satisfaction. “The facilities director at Columbia Public Schools loves the fact that we only use propane,” said Boland. “It’s certainly a differentiating factor for our business during consideration.”
In addition to environmental benefits, propane has helped Columbia Landcare grow in other ways. Because the service life of propane mowers is much longer than gas-powered mowers, Boland has been able to run his machines longer. This has allowed him to add additional work crews to his business, rather than investing in new equipment as frequently. “The longevity of propane equipment is awesome,” said Boland. “With gas mowers, we were needing to trade at 1,600–1,800 hours. Because propane burns so much cleaner, it’s nothing to have a mower with 2,600 hours or more still running strong.”
Columbia Landcare has about twenty mowing crews operating approximately 55 Exmark propane mowers. “With Exmark’s Electric Fuel Injection (EFI) system, nobody lacks any power, that’s for sure,” said Boland. “Another benefit we see is way less fuel shrinkage. Our crews carry an extra propane cylinder with them for when they need it. When we used to carry gas, it seemed like the canisters would always come back empty.”
MFA Oil services two thousand-gallon propane tanks that are paired together at Columbia Landcare’s facility. “MFA was instrumental in putting in our infrastructure,” said Boland. “They are great to work with and they fill our tanks a couple times a week during our busy season. We’ve never run out of propane.”
In recognition for their efforts to do their part to improve the environment, Columbia Landcare has received multiple CLEAN (Community Leadership and Environmental Awareness Now) awards. “We have a strong foothold in the Columbia market,” said Boland. “The publicity and name recognition all go hand in hand and work together to help us maintain that.”
Columbia Landcare has been using propane mowers for over nine seasons now and has never looked back on their decision to go with propane. Learn more about the power of propane and how you can use it in your landcare efforts.