Working with Professional Landscaper on the characteristic final 12 months felt like an actual achievement and helped us to achieve additional business recognition which has simply been nice. Regardless of it being a aggressive business, its so pleasant and keen to achieve out and join with each other. It’s an enormous testomony to our title, that we now have folks coming to us, merely due to the great issues they’ve heard.”- Lucy Osman, NAO director.

Catching up with administrators of NAO Landscapes, Nick and Lucy Osman, following their characteristic in Professional Landscaper Journal within the October of 2022. 

How has the corporate developed during the last 12 months?

Now we have had an awesome 2023 at NAO Landscapes, profitable a number of multi million industrial landscaping packages. Now we have grown our turnover to almost triple on the earlier 12 months and grown our senior administration crew of workers. Now we have a brand new central London head workplace and are wanting ahead to what the subsequent 12 months has in retailer for us.

“It’s been a psychological! Taking up a number of contracts in January, so that actually propelled us to the subsequent degree. It’s fairly an intense degree of progress, to leap from form of 3 million, near 10 million in a 12 months. it’s a bit insane.” – Lucy Osman, NAO director.

What adjustments have you ever made/seen all year long from a enterprise perspective?

Engaged on a lot bigger contracts has meant the implementation of better course of management. We’re working onerous to verify we provide the identical degree of high quality management on bigger contracts as we do on smaller tasks.

Has your function inside the firm modified?

I’m a bit much less out on web site and extra in our new workplace, however I nonetheless intention to go to every venture at the very least as soon as every week.

What are the largest challenges that you simply’re experiencing in the intervening time?

It’s onerous to develop with out going through challenges, inevitably we have now been by way of ups and downs. Working onerous on tenders to lose out on the closing stage, unexpected adjustments to design and program delays. In the end it’s all a part of the enjoyable of large-scale venture administration, though generally its tougher to recollect on notably powerful days.

What have the largest challenges been over current years?

Rising quickly is fairly exhausting work, for everybody inside the enterprise, it’s fixed change and readjustment. We’re within the enterprise for the long run so endurance is essential to the twists and turns of the industrial degree of landscaping.

“Recruitment and progress has been one in every of our principal challenges to beat. Most of our crew progress has come from phrase of mouth, folks approached us now, which is very nice to see. Though we nonetheless really feel it’s fairly a small firm by way of closeness, it’s positively a household sort surroundings with a extremely social crew and a want for crew actions and day by day interactions which has been nice.”– Lucy Osman, NAO director.

What has been your largest achievement up to now?

I believe profitable our first £5m contract was an enormous second for us all.

Having dreamt of changing into a large-scale industrial landscaping agency in London, are you there but?

I hope so! A little bit bit additional to go maybe…. We haven’t sat nonetheless sufficient to totally respect the place we could be. There may be all the time potential to enhance and develop, particularly with the continued demand for industrial landscaping in London and the south east. I’m centered on the standard and supply of our service and am positive that it will reward us in the long term.

What are the longer term plans?

To continue to grow and actually construct on our crew of key gamers. We’re eager to extend the dimensions of our employed workers and improve our venture supply expertise to our purchasers. We’re additionally preserve to push for better inexperienced and environmental insurance policies inside the enterprise and our contracts. We hope to get additional concerned with the supply of Electrical automobile charging stations and water recycling.

When you had any phrases of knowledge for the longer term generations becoming a member of the business, what would they be?

One of the best ways to be taught is from the bottom up, in landscaping take that actually! I began on the backside of the chain and it has actually helped we perceive he greatest web site processes and materials limitations. Lots of our key administration workers have had this similar floor up schooling and I belief their information and expertise greater than anybody else. Engaged on massive scale tasks it’s straightforward to see the people with nice potential, it’s an space the place you’ll be able to present you have an interest and dedicated to delivering a high quality above and past. At NAO we attempt to encourage coaching and growth to nourish the careers of individuals excited by the longer term and potential of landscaping. The sky is the restrict!

“Nick discovered from the bottom up, you realize, he began as a labourer himself, and I believe that has all the time been what actually labored for him personally. Having that understanding of the constraints of sure supplies, he is aware of the place there could possibly be snags or issue, as a result of he’s acquired that have having laid the fabric himself.”- Lucy Osman, NAO director.