How Award-Winning Landscape Leaders Stay Steady Through Tough Years

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🌳 Alpine Gardens: https://alpinelandscaping.com/

👤 Connect with Nate Fetig: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-fetig-7b173231/

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00:00 – Staying Steady Through Business Highs And Lows

00:00 – Nate Fetig: Try not to get too high and try not to get too low. Then there were challenging elements, such as placing boulders along the river. It can be a lonely place. Being the owner.

00:08 – Meet Nate Fetig Of Alpine Gardens

00:08 – Jack Jostes: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Landscaper's Guide podcast. Today I'm excited to have a repeat guest, my client, Nate Fedig from Alpine Gardens in Fort Collins, Colorado. Right now we're at NALP's Elevate show where Alpine just won some awards and wanted to talk about the awards and also some fun stories that I didn't know about. Some of the challenges that these are like multi years in the making.

00:33 – Nate Fetig: Right.

00:33 – Jack Jostes: So for folks who, you know, haven't. Haven't heard of you before, tell us a little bit. Who are you and what is Alpine Gardens do?

00:39 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. Nate Fettig, and I'm president of Alpine Gardens, second generation landscape design build, maintain business in Fort Collins, Colorado. We're celebrating our 48th year in business this year.

00:52 – Jack Jostes: You say 48th?

00:53 – Nate Fetig: 48Th.

00:54 – Jack Jostes: Wow, that's cool.

00:55 – Nate Fetig: Yeah,.

00:56 – Jack Jostes: That's, that's fantastic. And I got to interview Nate and his dad, Jack Fettig, and Chris Nylander, their designer on the podcast.

01:06 – Nate Fetig: Yeah,.

01:06 – Jack Jostes: So that was kind of a cool thing. And we recorded it in my house or in my yard rather, because you guys did a really cool landscape design build installation there. We love our landscape, by the way.

01:19 – Nate Fetig: That was a cool project.

01:20 – How Great Landscape Design Changes Outdoor Living

01:20 – Jack Jostes: You know, it's cool to have a landscape, obviously, but you, until you have one, you don't really know that it added what my wife and I feel like three or four different. We say like rooms of the house. So one, you guys expanded our front porch. And so we hang out up there. We have two seats and a sofa so we can like entertain a small group there. We love our pergola. We homeschool and like, that's like an outdoor classroom for us. I do. That's where I deal with all the mail that I get. We were talking about all the state agencies, so I have employees in over 10 states. I have to do tax returns in over 10 states because we have Nexus. It's too much, but basically I go out there and that's where I do when I get the mail.

02:10 – Jack Jostes: I go and deal with it there. We have a back porch. We have a hot tub and a. I use the dog run a lot to like as a workout area and there's a sauna. So it's really, it's changed the way we use our home.

02:23 – Nate Fetig: Yeah, definitely. And that's how we like to Think of it as well. It's just an extension of your house.

02:29 – Jack Jostes: And. And you all did a great job. Chris. Chris really did a great job designing for a weird space, because we live in a floodplain and a floodway, and we're going to talk about FEMA in a minute.

02:41 – Nate Fetig: We are,.

02:41 – Jack Jostes: Because of the. The floods and things that happen in Colorado. But it meant that we have this weird fence going on angle through our yard, and it's just lots of, like, weird, quirky angles. And he figured out how to design just the perfect solution for that weird space. And I never would have thought of using the space in that way.

03:00 – Nate Fetig: Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the challenge that our designers are tasked with every day. And, you know, I. I always admire what they can come up with in their creativity.

03:11 – Jack Jostes: Yeah. I mean, not only. Not only was it. Is it like a small space, but then getting. My house is on the second story because it's elevated because of the floodplain.

03:22 – Nate Fetig: Right.

03:22 – Jack Jostes: And so you come down and then you come downstairs, and then you're on this mid layer with the hot tub, and then it goes all the way down to the ground floor. Right. So there's just like, lots of. I never would have thought of all the different vertical layers that now exist in my yard until Chris is like, hey, I was thinking of, like, what if the staircase turned here? And I'm like, that would be awesome. I never would have thought of that. So anyways, we enjoy our landscape, and that's kind of a neat thing about working together. We also do your marketing, but I wanted to have you on the show to talk about these awards. So what were the awards that you won this year?

04:01 – The Colorado Gold And National Silver Awards

04:01 – Nate Fetig: Yeah, we won a gold level award at the Elite Awards that was put on by the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado. And then tonight, we're receiving a silver award at the Awards of Excellence here presented by the national association of Landscape Professionals.

04:19 – Jack Jostes: And were those two different awards for the same project?

04:23 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

04:24 – Jack Jostes: And so tell us about this project. Where is it? What were some of the challenges that went into the design? You know, like. Like, what problem were you solving? And then what problems did you have in actually building it? Because that's a. I think those are two different things.

04:38 – The Riverside Hotel Project And FEMA Delay

04:38 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. So it's an interesting project. My dad actually drew the very first design for this client. It's at a hotel in Essex Park. And at the time, they love the plan, but they weren't ready to commit to the financial need that what they were asking for was going to take. And so they came back when they were ready and so we redesigned it at that time and finally got to move forward. Well, this was right after the big 2012 floods in Colorado. And so we got started on the project and we did basically created some really cool outdoor living spaces along the Big Thompson river for the guests to enjoy.

05:25 – Nate Fetig: It was on a fantastic property with great views, but it was really wasted space and so created like a boardwalk type element with sitting spaces, flagstone patios, fireplits, lots of those sort of spaces for the guests to slow down and enjoy nature. And so yeah, we finally got started on this probably three years after we start drew the first design. And while we're working on it, FEMA happened to be in town inspecting the recovery efforts from the 2012 flood. And they saw us working next to the river and they stopped our project and made us go get a no rise certificate because were putting sidewalks next to the river and it was never really anything we had considered. But that halted the project for a full year until we could have it fully re engineered and get the sign off from fema.

06:26 – Jack Jostes: Wow.

06:26 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

06:27 – Jack Jostes: Yeah, the whole FEMA thing, you know, so my house that you guys came and landscaped was in the flood plane.

06:35 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

06:36 – Jack Jostes: And it did flood prior to me owning it.

06:38 – Nate Fetig: Right.

06:39 – Jack Jostes: So I bought my house in 2018 and it was 2013 was, I think the flood that you're talking about.

06:45 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

06:46 – Jack Jostes: And yeah, the whole FEMA thing really complicates things because when a town accepts FEMA money, everything has to meet FEMA standard moving forward. Every little thing that's built and that adds sometimes a whole year.

07:03 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. So.

07:05 – Celebrating A Company-Wide Win

07:05 – Jack Jostes: Go ahead.

07:05 – Nate Fetig: So you know, finally a year later we get there and finish it and you know, it turned out to be a project that were really proud of. And these awards helped validate, you know, a lot of the efforts. I mean, it was kind of cool. We, we had our company internal awards ceremony two weeks ago, got to share with the crews that we had won these awards. And because the project took so long, we had almost everybody in the company touched it in one way or another. So that was a really big win for the company.

07:39 – Jack Jostes: That's cool. What, what, tell me like what is the criteria? Like how, like what about the project one? Yeah. For design, was it for like how. Tell me more about like the actual awards.

07:51 – Nate Fetig: For both awards we submitted in the category of commercial design build. And so it gets judged against other entries within that category. You know, for the state awards, it's judged against other entries within the state of Colorado and nationally. It gets judged against other commercial projects nationally. And so it's something that we're proud of, to be considered to be amongst the best in the country and amongst the best in the state of Colorado.

08:21 – Jack Jostes: I mean, there's. It's really. It really is quite an accomplishment. What. What do you think about the project or the design was award winning? What. What about it in particular was like, was there something about it that had, like, the it factor that you're like. I think this was what pushed it over the edge into winning.

08:39 – Stonework, Custom Welding, And A Steel Elk

08:39 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. I mean, we did a lot of stonework there that I think some of our craftsmen within our company are unbelievable and do really good stonework. Then there were challenging elements such as placing boulders along the river and that. That was not a small feat. And then I think the creme de la creme of the project was one of our employees custom made an elk statue out of steel from scratch.

09:10 – Jack Jostes: Was this the same person who in Estes park welded that custom rail?

09:17 – Nate Fetig: It is.

09:19 – Jack Jostes: Really?

09:19 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

09:19 – Jack Jostes: Okay. Because on another podcast episode, we. During our retreat several years ago, I can't remember what year it was, went to Estes park, and I remember that there was this custom rail that somebody had welded from your company.

09:35 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

09:36 – Jack Jostes: And it was. To me, that was the coolest thing at that property.

09:39 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. And so I think that's one of the things that we're. We're able to do that not everybody can do because we have somebody with that sort of talent, and it allows us to add just that little special piece.

09:50 – Jack Jostes: So you have a welder on staff?

09:51 – Nate Fetig: Yeah, we actually have two welders on staff, and the one that made this piece actually was hired by the town of Longmont to do a public art piece this year. So pretty talented guys, and we're fortunate for that.

10:08 – Jack Jostes: How many landscape companies have a welder on staff, let alone.

10:11 – Nate Fetig: I have no idea.

10:13 – Jack Jostes: I don't think it's many.

10:14 – Nate Fetig: I wouldn't think.

10:14 – Jack Jostes: So. I can't think of any other landscape company I've talked to that has one on staff.

10:20 – Nate Fetig: Yeah, well, and one's kind of a jack of all trades. He's. He's a designer and does welding as a hobby. But he came up through our company, actually started for us as a laborer, and now he's one of our senior designers and. Okay.

10:38 – Jack Jostes: He does other things and welding. So he's not like full time welding,.

10:42 – Nate Fetig: But we do have a full time welder as well.

10:44 – Jack Jostes: You do have a full time when else does a welder. When else do you utilize a welder?

10:50 – Nate Fetig: They repair a lot of our equipment and then come up with creative solutions for maybe equipment that doesn't exist. Or again, pieces like this. We just completed a project that had a decorative metal pergola, and he had to go weld it on site. And that's pretty cool. But again, I think it sets us apart from the competition.

11:14 – Jack Jostes: I agree that's really cool. I guess I didn't realize you had two in house.

11:19 – Nate Fetig: Yeah,.

11:20 – Jack Jostes: I remember. I remember seeing that railing, though, and that was one of the neatest features on that stairwell coming down to the driveway.

11:27 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. In fact, I think we did another podcast last year. That one. That project won a gold award nationally and at the state level, so.

11:35 – Jack Jostes: Well, maybe the key is your welder.

11:37 – Nate Fetig: It might be. It might be. I think.

11:39 – Jack Jostes: You just gotta submit projects that have custom welding in it.

11:43 – Nate Fetig: Right.

11:43 – Jack Jostes: Because I think maybe that is it. Because it's. I think it's unusually.

11:48 – Nate Fetig: Right.

11:49 – Jack Jostes: And interesting.

11:50 – Nate Fetig: It's interesting. It's.

11:50 – Jack Jostes: Cool. It's. It's like, that's you. That's a truly unique characteristic in those designs, and it contributed to winning.

11:59 – Nate Fetig: For sure.

11:59 – Jack Jostes: So congrats.

12:00 – Nate Fetig: Well, thank you.

12:01 – Leading Through Awards And Difficult Seasons

12:01 – Jack Jostes: So. So, Nate, so you've won these awards. I also know that you've had challenges in the businesses at the same time. So, like, what's it. What's it like as a business owner, as a president, having both.

12:14 – Nate Fetig: Yeah, it's. It's kind of a weird dichotomy. You know, I. I mentioned that it was a boost for our crews to win the awards, and I think that's where it's important, because you're not having wins every day. And so when you're. When you're going through a rocky patch, it makes those wins that much sweeter.

12:34 – Jack Jostes: I like that. That's good. You kind of need to, like, count your blessings.

12:38 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

12:39 – Jack Jostes: And this one's a big one. So. So this. This. This is a, like, perfectly timed award.

12:45 – Nate Fetig: It is. I just.

12:46 – Jack Jostes: Know, I mean, like, Colorado is having a challenging year in general.

12:50 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

12:51 – Jack Jostes: You know, and I know that it's impacted things in Fort Collins and in. At Alpine Gardens.

12:56 – Nate Fetig: For sure.

12:57 – Jack Jostes: And so what do you do in years when you're maybe not winning an award? How do you kind of keep morale high? You know, you've been in business almost 50 years.

13:04 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

13:05 – Jack Jostes: And some of them, you're killing it. You're giving out bonuses. Everybody's high fiving each other. Some of them are really hard years. Some of them are just okay, you know, so how do you. I guess, how do you manage that? And then from a team morale standpoint, you know, because we've talked about it, we're. We have a mastermind that you attend and I can hang with. There's a lot of bad news as a business owner.

13:30 – Nate Fetig: Right.

13:30 – Jack Jostes: I guess is like, there's a. There's just. There just is.

13:34 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

13:35 – Jack Jostes: You know, how do you. So how do you. You've learned to deal with that, having grown up in it as the second generation. How do you help maybe your staff? How do you guide your staff through it?

13:46 – Being The Steadying Force For Your Team

13:46 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. I think the key for me is try not to get too high and try not to get too low. You know, you gotta be the steadying force. And it doesn't mean that, you know, I'm not having those feelings just keep. You can't have them outwardly in front of the staff all the time, but at the same time, you have to be genuine. You're not a robot. And it's where you lean on your culture that you've spent a lot of time building and the fact that you can be honest with your staff but still have them believe that things are going to be okay, because they will be.

14:24 – Ownership, Team Building, And Leadership Loneliness

14:24 – Jack Jostes: How so you and your wife Heidi, are the owners of the company now?

14:28 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

14:29 – Jack Jostes: How long. How long has it been since that. Since the deal happened.

14:33 – Nate Fetig: So we. We started taking ownership in 2016. We completed 100 ownership buyout at the end of 22.

14:41 – Jack Jostes: Okay.

14:42 – Nate Fetig: So.

14:43 – Jack Jostes: About four years. So what are some of the most rewarding things now that you're like, you're several years into it.

14:49 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

14:51 – Jack Jostes: And then what are maybe some of the biggest surprises or challenges maybe that you didn't see even though you've been in the business your, like, whole life?

14:58 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. Well, I think rewarding things are things like winning awards like this and getting validation from what you're doing that it impacts people's lives. And for me personally, I get a lot of joy out of building an effective team. And so when things are going well within the business, not even financially, just like things are operating well, for me, that. That's a lot of fun getting to see just that you've. You've built a team that is functioning at a high level. As for a challenge, I'd say, you know, some of what we're talking about, like, it can be a lonely place. Being the owner.

15:40 – Jack Jostes: Yeah.

15:41 – Nate Fetig: You know, you're. You don't have all the time, someone that you can go talk to about the problems you're having. Or that sort of thing. And so you gotta find an outlet for that, whether that be, you know, someone in a different industry or something like that. Just someone that you can talk.

15:58 – Jack Jostes: To. Yeah. How do you, how do you, what is it for you? What do you do?

16:03 – Nate Fetig: Well, for me, I'm fortunate at this point. I still have my father I can go talk to.

16:08 – Jack Jostes: Yeah.

16:09 – Nate Fetig: So that's pretty cool.

16:12 – Jack Jostes: And he gets the business.

16:13 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. Right.

16:14 – Jack Jostes: Like I talk to my dad about quite a lot.

16:16 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

16:16 – Jack Jostes: And there's a lot about what I do that he has no idea about.

16:19 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

16:19 – Jack Jostes: And there's a lot about what he did in his career that I, I don't get it. So you do have that.

16:24 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

16:24 – Jack Jostes: Different level of bond with your dad.

16:26 – Finding Support Through Mastermind Groups

16:26 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. And then I do think forums like the Mastermind, you know, it gets us together with similar people that are not in our market and so speak pretty freely and sometimes come up with creative solutions that are happening outside your market too.

16:44 – Jack Jostes: Yeah. I appreciate you showing up to the Mastermind. It's good having a chat with you and other Ramblin Jackson Wild Frontier clients. They run multimillion dollar companies and that sounds really cool. And it is. But it also can be pretty lonely because unless you have friends who own companies like that. I don't know, it's kind of weird for sure. The stuff that we deal with and having employees and all the tax stuff that I have a lot of friends who, it doesn't take away from the friendship. But I'm, I, I'm not going to talk as much about what my work life is like.

17:20 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

17:21 – Jack Jostes: With everyone.

17:22 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

17:22 – Jack Jostes: And I'm in a Mastermind with agency owners and it's extremely helpful. Sometimes I'm showing up and sharing.

17:30 – Nate Fetig: Right.

17:31 – Jack Jostes: And I may even be presenting something about what's working. And then sometimes I'm like. And this aspect of my business is really not on track and I'm learning and receiving and there are other people who are like, oh, well, you should show me about this part of your business that you have figured out. Because I figured out this other thing. So I think that's the value of a Mastermind.

17:52 – Nate Fetig: For sure.

17:54 – Jack Jostes: And having a network of people.

17:56 – Nate Fetig: Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, we're here at Elevate and that's kind of one of the biggest benefits hits of this conference for me is.

18:05 – Jack Jostes: Yeah.

18:06 – Nate Fetig: Getting to network with lots of people outside my network. And honestly, throughout the year I call a lot of them for those reasons that,.

18:15 – Jack Jostes: Yeah, I, I'm actually meeting a friend tonight who happens to live in St. Petersburg, who I met 11 years ago at a conference. Now, this was Moz Con, so we use mozzarella, one of the tools we use. It's our SEO software. They used to have a really good conference that I would go to. And I think part of it is, like, I went out for dinner with three guys,.

18:38 – Nate Fetig: Right.

18:38 – Jack Jostes: And one of them ended up becoming, like, a good friend of mine.

18:41 – Nate Fetig: Yeah.

18:41 – Jack Jostes: And he comes to us, this park, every few years, and we fish. But he's. He's somebody that I connect with. So,.

18:47 – Nate Fetig: Yeah,.

18:48 – Jack Jostes: It's. Yeah, you gotta follow up with people after these shows. Did you see any education that inspired you today or anything?

18:48 – The Value Of Honest Industry Conversations

18:56 – Nate Fetig: I did. Honestly, I think one of the biggest things is today there was a lunch for CEOs of companies, and just like were talking about, we got to sit with other people in our position, that we got to talk through challenges. And sometimes it's just refreshing hearing other people going through the same things you are. It's not that.

19:21 – Jack Jostes: You. Oh, yeah. Totally.

19:21 – Nate Fetig: Taking pleasure in them experiencing the same stuff.

19:25 – Jack Jostes: Well, yeah, I. No, it is. And, you know, because you. You. You typically don't see the challenges as much on social media, or you're not going to open up Lawn and Landscape magazine and read about how this company, you know, lost whatever, you know, like.

19:41 – Nate Fetig: You.

19:42 – Jack Jostes: Know, like, you typically don't see it there. But when you go and hang out in person and you ask people, like, how are you doing? And they're like, well, actually,.

19:50 – Nate Fetig: Yeah,.

19:51 – Jack Jostes: This is how I'm doing. And they're like, oh, me too. So, yeah, I think that's part of the value going to these shows, for sure. That's good. Well, Nate, hey, thanks for coming on the podcast, and congrats again on your awards. And I guess I should have had something welded at my property.

20:10 – Nate Fetig: I mean, it's never too late.

20:11 – Jack Jostes: It's never too late.

20:12 – Nate Fetig: Never too late.

20:13 – Jack Jostes: That's good. Well, and we'll have to let other Alpine Gardens customers know that they could have something welded at their house.

20:19 – Nate Fetig: Definitely.

20:20 – Jack Jostes: It's never too late,.

20:21 – Nate Fetig: Right?

20:23 – Jack Jostes: All right, Nate. Well, thanks so much.

20:24 – Nate Fetig: Thanks for having me, Jack.