Comments on Gooding's Nursery, by Brad Harvey

R.J. Gooding founded Gooding's Nursery and Landscape in 1950. The company started as a small retail nursery run by their entire family. Through the years the company has evolved its focus from nursery to landscaping design and build with little emphasis on growing. This change is due to change in profits and location. Gooding's Nursery and Landscaping is located Sherrodsville, OH. The location is a limiting factor due to the poor economy of the area. The Gooding's Nursery and Landscaping provide services for a fifty-mile radius of Sherrodsville.

A view of the nursery

 The Gooding facility itself is comprised of eighty-nine acres and six buildings. The buildings are a main office, design office, retail store, and three sheds. Dick Gooding the President and General Manager is a graduate of Ohio State in Landscape Horticulture. He spoke about making personal contacts and getting involved with associations in the green industry. He never mentioned any class as a necessity or referenced his college days; his emphasis was on experience and evolving with new technology in the green industry. This experience was gained through community involvement as well as green industry associations. The company's breakdown of their landscaping jobs are 80% residential and 20 % commercial with a gross profit of $1.057 million in 1999. The company itself consists of 15 year-round employees and 23 seasonal ones. Gooding's Nursery and Landscaping is a fairly small landscaping company. They stay competitive by training employees, being organized and changing with the industry. They strive on customer relations while improving the environment that surrounds their customers.

The departments within Gooding's are the design/ landscape and nursery/retail. Two individuals, Dick Gooding and a student from ATI do the design. One person, along with additional help from the landscape crews, runs the nursery and retail center. The Landscape department is divided into Install/ Construction, Maintenance, Arborist, and Mowing. The typical day starts with their operation manager organizing employees with the tasks for the day. This is all done as efficiently as possible to minimize labor costs and material waste.

Upon visiting four job sites, two of which were residential and two commercial, the aspect of different challenges of jobs were discussed and Gooding's approach to solving them. For example, the Muskingum watershed conservancy district is a commercial site that had some challenges. The company had to deal with pre existing irrigation, and also emphasize the Georgian style architecture without being to flashy. They facilitated this by drawing attention to the entry built on in the expansion of the facility. Letting the old main entrance stand on architecture alone, which works for this situation. This site was just one example of processes that designers take in dealing with a potential client requests

A landscape site where specific problems were discussed by Richard Gooding.
Mr. Gooding also spoke of aging machinery and his limitations due to his budget. Gooding's Nursery and Landscaping is a small but successful company. The company shows viability through evolving from growing to landscaping even in a limiting location. Although they have to travel for clientele, the surrounding area is expanding and there market will likewise. Dick Gooding philosophy of being active in the green industry association and community is the pinnacle for his success.