Cedar & Stone Landscapes is a design-build and maintenance company serving Asheville and the Blue Ridge — pairing high-margin patio, planting, and hardscape installs with a steady book of recurring maintenance contracts.
The model is deliberately two-engined. Maintenance contracts are the keel: predictable monthly revenue that funds payroll year-round. Design-build projects are the sail: patios, walls, and planting at install margins that build the brand and the bank balance. One feeds the other — every install becomes a maintenance client, every visit a standing sales call.
Buncombe County added roughly 9,400 homes since 2020, most on sloped lots that need grading, drainage, and hardscape — not just mowing. Demand for crews that can both design and maintain outpaces the supply of licensed, insured operators who answer the phone.
Sam ran installs for a 14-crew Asheville firm for eight years and holds an NC landscape-contractor license; Téa built and retained a 120-account maintenance book. We start with the design eye, the crew relationships, and 18 signed maintenance LOIs before turning a shovel.
An SBA loan for the work truck, mowers, trailer, and first-season working capital. With $40,000 of owner equity, it funds a fully-equipped two-crew operation through the slow first winter — no personal debt to the founders.
Two service lines, one relationship. Recurring maintenance keeps a property looking sharp every week; design-build transforms it. We sell the maintenance to fund the crew and the design-build to grow the margin — and we cross-sell relentlessly between them.
Maintenance is ~45% of revenue but 100% of stability — it covers fixed payroll and insurance so a slow install month never threatens the lights. We target a maintenance book of 60+ accounts by the end of Year 1, building toward $11K+ in monthly recurring revenue.
Every design-build install converts to a maintenance contract at signing — protecting the work and locking in the relationship. Every maintenance visit surfaces the next project: the patio they keep mentioning, the drainage they keep fighting. Our crews are trained to spot and quote it on the spot.
Asheville is a fast-growing mountain market where steep, wooded lots and a design-conscious homeowner base create exactly the kind of work that rewards a crew who can do more than mow.
The Blue Ridge season runs roughly March–November, with peak install demand April–June and a hard slow stretch December–February. We plan for it: maintenance MRR and pre-booked winter hardscape carry fixed costs through the cold months when competitors lay off crews and lose them.
Buncombe's building boom means a steady pipeline of new yards that need everything, not just a Saturday mow.
The market splits into two camps: cheap mow-and-go crews who can't design, and high-end design firms who won't maintain. Cedar & Stone owns the middle — licensed and insured, genuine design capability, and a reliable maintenance route. That combination is rare and sticky.
Two crews, one truck-and-trailer rig to start, run a published weekly route built around neighborhood density. A maintenance crew works the route Monday–Thursday; the install crew runs design-build jobs that flex with the season and the weather.
Cleanups, mulch, and the year's biggest install pipeline. All hands, longest days.
Full maintenance route plus patios and walls. Predictable, profitable core.
Leaf cleanup, planting, and pre-sold winter hardscape booked ahead.
MRR + booked stonework + design sales for spring. Crew kept whole.
Organic and referral-first. We budget $1,100/month for local-service ads, a Google Business presence, and yard signs on every active job — well under $95 per booked maintenance account at a referral rate that compounds.
Two owner-operators plus four crew, scaling to six in peak season. Winter retention through MRR-funded payroll is the whole strategy.
Conservative two-crew assumptions — a maintenance book climbing to 60 accounts and roughly 26 design-build projects in Year 1 across a 9-month season. Every figure below holds even if installs miss plan by 15%.
Funded by $40,000 owner equity + $50,000 SBA loan.
~33% margin per patio; a maintenance account adds ~$840/yr at ~38% margin on top of every install.
Year-2 growth comes from a fuller maintenance book and added install capacity; Year 3 assumes a third crew funded from operating cash, not new debt.
Cedar & Stone is a focused, two-engine landscaping business entering a growing mountain market with a crew and a client book already in hand. The capital below is the only thing between a finished plan and a truck on the road in March.
Truck, trailer, and mowers bought; license & insurance cleared; first 18 contracts signed.
Maintenance route running; first design-build installs underway; yard signs out.
Cash-flow positive on 55+ accounts; SBA repayment on standard schedule.
Third crew funded from operating cash — capacity growth without new debt.
The plan reaches break-even in month ten, carries its crew through the first winter on maintenance MRR and pre-sold hardscape, repays the SBA loan from project margin, and self-funds a third crew. The $50,000 doesn't buy a gamble — it buys a head start in a market that's still being built.