Enviro-Tech Landscapes

L-R: Chuck Shelton, Ken Camp,
David Clemens

Staying successful in the competitive landscape industry means having the people and equipment to get the job done right – the first time.
Hoover-based Enviro-Tech Landscapes, Inc. has become one of the top 10 landscape companies in metro-Birmingham by doing things right. Enviro-Tech is a full-service landscape company, providing services from design and installation to maintenance. The company was founded in 1989 by Ken Camp, who left the construction industry to become a Pelham firefighter and was looking for a business opportunity to complement his job schedule of one day on and two days off.
By 1995 the company had grown and found itself adding employees, especially after landing a large maintenance contract at Century Plaza. Enviro-Tech also began bidding small landscape installation projects before moving up to commercial work. The first commercial job it landed was for a new Krispy Kreme only two blocks from the Enviro-Tech shop. The company’s work at Mt. Laurel and Riverchase Elementary schools also caught the notice of other builders.
“Those were among the projects that got us moving in the right direction,” Camps says. “It got our name out there among some general
contractors who used our bids.”
Enviro-Tech first utilized compact construction equipment in 2000 when D.R. Horton Construction hired the company to do site cleanup. Enviro-Tech’s relationship with D.R. Horton remains strong, and today averages about $20,000 per week in landscaping and flat work throughout the metro-Birmingham area, Camp says, with work currently at eight residential developments.
In addition to the residential work for Horton, Enviro-Tech is installing the landscaping at the new Hampton Inn on Alabama Highway 150.
Among recent projects was the installation at the new California Pizza Kitchen at the Galleria. One of the most important parts of that project was saving a Japanese maple valued at $30,000 during demolition of the existing restaurant at the site, keeping the tree in good health during six months of storage at the Enviro-Tech yard and reinstalling after the CPK was completed. Other installation projects include Fultondale Elementary School, Lawson State and Jefferson State, as well as sidewalk beautification projects for the cities of irmingham, Leeds, Gadsden and Fairfield. Important maintenance projects have been with Barbers Dairy, the YMCA, Wal-Mart, Sam’s and Lowe’s.
Helping Enviro-Tech complete the construction and installation projects have been Caterpillar® compact construction equipment and attachments. When Enviro-Tech first purchased CCE machines, it tried a Cat® 216 Skid Steer. When it became clear the small skid steer was not large enough for the tasks at hand, the company moved up to ASV tracked skid steers. Dissatisfied with the ASV machines, the company progressed to Caterpillar Multi-Terrain Loaders, and the Cat rubber tracked machines have been workhorses for Enviro-Tech ever since. First, a pair of 267Bs, and currently, four 236Bs. In addition, Enviro-Tech uses 304 and 305 mini-excavators.
Both the MTL s and Mini Excavators take advantage of a broad range of work tools, says Dave Clemens, Operations Manager, including augers, tillers, rakes, rooms, grapples and brush cutters.
“We find ourselves using (the work tools) all the time when the machines can lessen the time of jobs we used to do by hand,” Clemens says. Having the right equipment and experienced employees gives Enviro-Tech a competitive advantage. The company now employs 25 people fulltime and up to 40 during peak times. Camp credits experienced leadership in the field, skilled operators and the right equipment with keeping his customers happy and his company profitable.
“Nowadays with budgets being tight, companies without the right equipment and know-how wind up cutting corners, and the finished product is not satisfactory,” Camp says, “Having the right equipment that can save the labor and save the time enables us to do the job in a way that keeps the contractors happy and us making money.”
Clemens says he’s proud of the employees because in the past 12 months, Enviro-Tech has not had a single call back on its installations while at the same time the company gets several calls a week from builders asking for its help correcting problems from installations performed by other companies.
Helping to keep Enviro-Tech happy with its Caterpillar equipment has been the staff at the Thompson Cat Rental Stores in Birmingham and Shelby County. Camp says Enviro-Tech likely will shift most of its service work to the Alabaster store, which opened in 2006, for the convenience and since their Thompson Sales Rep, Chuck Shelton, now is based there. Camp says the relationship between Enviro-Tech and Thompson has mostly been good.
“We’ve grown together,” he says. “The Rental Store has grown a lot since we started dealing with Cat, and we’ve grown. Our needs have changed, and they’re continually evolving to meet those needs. We’ve always been able to work out a problem to our satisfaction and their satisfaction.”