The Landscaping Podcast

Fuel is up.

Equipment is up.

Labor and insurance are up.

And a lot of landscaping business owners still haven't raised their prices, because the idea of telling a customer their rate is going up makes their stomach turn.

In this solo episode, Zac Small breaks down why that fear is costing you far more than you think.

You'll hear the exact math on how a 15% jump in fuel, materials, and equipment costs can wipe out 37% of your profit without you losing a single customer, and why the fix is a price increase of less than 4%.

You'll also learn what to track quarterly, why annual reviews are too slow, and how to write a price increase letter that gets accepted instead of argued with.

Every other company in America raised prices this year and nobody blinked.

When a small business does it, it feels personal, because you know the customer's dog by name. This episode is about why that closeness makes owners eat cost increases a corporation wouldn't absorb for a single quarter, and how to get past it.

What's covered:

• What to track quarterly: fully burdened cost per man hour, fuel by crew, equipment cost per hour, materials, insurance renewals, and overhead per billable hour
• Why your P&L isn't enough and job costing is what actually drives pricing decisions
• The full profit math on a $1,000 job, walked through slowly
• Why waiting three years turns a painless 4% into a 15% increase that actually loses accounts
• What happens if you raise prices 5% and lose 5% of your customers (the answer surprises most owners)
• Why you should not raise every account the same amount
• The four sentence price increase letter, word for word
• What never to put in that letter
• Handling "the guy down the road is cheaper" and "can you hold my price one more year"
• Bid validity windows and material escalation clauses for design build work

Set your lawn care business up or success, listen to the episode.

"I get all my work from word of mouth; Why do I need a website?"

Every landscaper has said it.

In this episode, we break down what happens when a referral Googles your company name and finds nothing, why your online presence is proof of legitimacy before anyone ever picks up the phone, and what actually matters versus what's a complete waste of your time.

You don't need viral videos.

You don't need to post every day.

You need to look like a real company when someone checks you out, because they will. We cover the handful of things worth doing, the stuff you can ignore, and what we've seen firsthand at Landscaping Unlimited serving Eastern North Carolina.

Your website and socials aren't marketing; they're the handshake before the handshake.

Summer in Eastern North Carolina doesn't care about your schedule.

When the heat index pushes past 100, the work still has to get done, and how you handle those days is the difference between a crew that finishes the season strong and one that falls apart by August.

In this episode, Zac breaks down 5 ways to beat the heat on a landscaping crew: why hydration starts the night before, why long sleeves beat short sleeves in full sun, what a real break looks like (hint: it's not a cigarette and a Monster), how to use electrolytes the right way, and the warning signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke that every crew member needs to recognize in themselves and each other.

Whether you run the crew or ride in the truck, this one could keep you or the guy next to you out of the ER.

The Landscaping Podcast is brought to you by Landscaping Unlimited, serving Eastern North Carolina.

You've been told, somewhere along the way, that you have to pick either being grateful for what you have or keep chasing more.

Pick contentment, and you risk getting soft, complacent, aka "settling."

Pick ambition, and you're never allowed to feel like enough until you hit the next milestone. Nobody ever tells you that's a false choice.

In this episode, we dig into why that either/or thinking has quietly hijacked how so many of us measure our own worth, and why wanting more doesn't have to mean you hate where you are right now.

The real problem was never ambition...

It's when "more" becomes the only thing that lets you feel worthy.

Zac talks about where that belief comes from, why it's so sticky, and how to hold both gratitude and growth at the same time without one canceling out the other.

If you've ever felt like you should be happier with what you've built but can't shake the pull to keep going, this one's for you.

The finished job might be flawless, but the client stopped judging your work hours before you packed up.

They judged the truck when it pulled in, the trailer when it opened, the way the gear came off, and where it landed at 10 am.

In this solo episode, Zac digs into why the worksite speaks louder than the work itself.

Why an organized trailer and clean workspace build more trust than any website or ad ever will.

Why the crew that stages equipment right is usually the crew that gets everything else right.

And why the state of your jobsite in the middle of the day tells clients more about your company than the final walkthrough.

A recent reminder of how much is riding on that equipment got this one rolling, and the full story on that is coming in a future episode.

Outdoor living is not just about patios, fire pits, outdoor kitchens, lighting, pools, and nice furniture...

Something deeper is happening; the outside of your home is becoming a space that protects and heals the inside of your mind.

In this solo episode of The Landscaping Podcast, Zac makes the case that the backyard is replacing the vacation.

Not because people no longer want to travel, but because everyday life has become expensive, overstimulating, rushed, and disconnected...

Families are looking for peace, privacy, connection, beauty, and a place to gather without leaving their own property.

A backyard is not just square footage; it can become the dinner spot, the birthday party spot, the quiet morning coffee spot, the post-work decompression spot, the place where the kids go outside, and the space where a house starts to feel like home again.

Zac breaks down why outdoor living is more than a landscaping trend, why homeowners should think differently about the property they already own, and why contractors need to stop selling only materials and labor and start understanding what customers are actually buying, which are memories.

Before you spend another year trying to escape your house, maybe it is worth asking whether you have built a home worth staying in.

Most people think mowing is just a chore to knock out on a Saturday...

Cut it low, cut it fast, and get back inside, but how you mow has more to do with the health of your lawn than almost anything else you do out there.

In this episode, Shay and Zac break down the basics of mowing the right way for homeowners who want a thicker, greener, healthier lawn without overcomplicating it.

They get into why mowing height matters more than you think, why sharp blades make a real difference, the truth about how often you should actually be cutting, and the simple habits that separate a struggling yard from one that turns heads.

This is the intro episode, built for the everyday homeowner looking to get more out of their lawn with a smarter approach. Down the road, we'll get into the weeds on the pro side of things, from the pre-mow equipment checks to mowing commercial and residential properties the right way, plus how to care for your gear after the job is done.

But this one is all about giving you the foundation to mow better starting this weekend.

Your customer's thumb is moving, and you have about a second before they scroll past you forever; what stops them isn't your pitch, your prices, or your years in business...

It's your photo.

Most businesses lose that second without realizing they're even in a fight. They post the same blurry, poorly lit phone shot as every other competitor in town and still wonder why nobody's calling their line.

In this solo episode, Zac makes the case that high-quality photography and video are the fastest way to set your business apart in a crowded feed.

He breaks down what your images actually tell a customer about your standards, why people judge work they can't see by the photos they can, and how investing in real visuals pays you back in trust, perceived value, and the freedom to charge what you're worth.

Zac's photography world is split into two universes: the work at Z Photography and Media and the field work at Landscaping Unlimited, and this episode shares what he's learned from standing on both sides of the lens.

If your feed looks like everyone else's, you've already told the customer everything they need to know. Time to change the story.

Everybody talks about revenue; nobody talks about the bill that never shows up on a spreadsheet.

In this episode, Shay and Zac get honest about what running a business actually costs...

Not just the equipment, but the payroll, the overhead, the slow months, as well as the parts that hit harder. Things like the dinners you missed, the weekends that disappeared, the people you thought had your back who went quiet the second things got hard, and the ones who showed up without being asked.

This episode goes past the numbers...

The hosts break down the real expense of building something, how it reshapes your time with your family, and how it forces you to take a hard look at who actually belongs in your corner.

Then they get practical about the money side, how to stop bleeding cash you don't have to, and how to set yourself up so the business pays you back instead of just taking.

If you own a business, run a crew, or you're thinking about going out on your own, this is the conversation nobody had with you before you started.

Pull up a chair, this one's worth your time.

The Landscaping Podcast is hosted by Shay Brickhouse and Zac Small of Landscaping Unlimited Inc., serving Eastern North Carolina and beyond.

(New episodes drop weekly)

One year ago, Zac walked back through the doors at Landscaping Unlimited

A year later, he's taking the mic solo to talk about what that decision meant. No co-host, and no script, just an honest reflection on relationships, purpose, and the kind of life worth building.

In this episode, Zac makes the case that we were never meant to be line items on a payroll or interchangeable providers in a system.

He talks about the relationships we let slide when we're chasing stability, the work that actually feeds us versus the work that just pays us, and why choosing a life of passion over the false comfort of security might be the bravest move a person can make.

If you've ever felt like your job was slowly turning you into a number, this one's for you.