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18 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | May/June 2026 EXPERTISE Clients can rely on Davey's Commercial Landscape Services for much more than lawn care at the South St. Paul and Mickman offices. With hardscaping services, teams of landscape designers create backyards dreams are made of – and functional, too -- with steps, designed pool areas, patios, in-ground fire pits and much more. The South St. Paul and Mickman teams complete hundreds of projects every year. "This work is very rewarding because as a crew, we get to see our projects come together quickly, and we also get to see a homeowner's immediate response after a project is finished," Jeff Allen, account manager, Minneapolis CLS, said. Brett Crowe, operations manager, Minneapolis CLS, said Davey started offering this service in 2010 under Residential/ Commercial services, and in 2019, this work moved under CLS. Most of the hardscaping projects are for residential clients, though crews have completed commercial hardscaping work in the past. Between the South St. Paul and Mickman offices, CLS has a total of seven landscape designers. Hardscaping work involves picking out veneers and surface material, installing products and any necessary drainage plans and adding grout where needed at the end of the process. Crews also complete all the lawn care work requested by their clients during the hardscaping project, as well. Allen said some of his favorite projects have included adding bollards to prevent golfers from driving in someone's backyards and adding steps from the front of a person's yard to the back to make walking outside more accessible. "We enjoy a mix of things we are able to do on the job with hardscaping – one day, we could be planting shrubs or perennials and the next we HARDSCAPING SERVICES HELP CLIENTS IMPROVE LANDSCAPE Davey landscape crews transformed this stoop in Minnesota with a stone façade. BEFORE AFTER could be putting in a retaining wall or patio," Allen said. "There's also a lot of math involved with the measurements we need to make, and we get to use construction tools that also make the job interesting." CLS began offering concrete stoop overlays last year, said Jake Holter, division manager, Mickman Brothers, Inc., a Davey company. During a recent project, a crew gave a large porch and front steps a stone façade and paved walkway. "Most of the time, the first impression anyone has of your home is the experience leading up to the front door, so why not make it meaningful?" Holter said. "This type of work is rewarding because we can make a big impact without having to disrupt or repair a large portion of their existing landscape. This work is also unique, especially in today's environment of home building where every new home in a development is a replica of another home one or two doors down." Steps to an entrance of a St. Paul, Minnesota, home are added during a project led by Jose Landaverde, landscape crew leader, Minneapolis CLS. Jerry Thurston, landscape crew leader, Minneapolis CLS, and his crew suggested a patio with sitting bench for a new home in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. BEFORE AFTER BEFORE AFTER

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