North Metro Companies provides a full range of landscaping services, from planning and design through the installation of plants, shrubs, trees, patios, sidewalks and driveways.

A North Metro Companies’ crew installs a stone retaining wall on a residential site in Bayport, Minnesota.

Kevin Terhaar’s enthusiasm is infectious. As owner of Medina-based North Metro Companies, it’s clear his passion for providing quality landscaping services to a variety of residential and commercial clients makes running the business he co-owns with his wife, Mary Beth Terhaar, a labor of love.

According to Kevin, the key factors that have helped make North Metro Companies a successful 21st century landscaping firm are “a relentless commitment to using sales to expand its client base,” the ability to develop long-term relationships and a focus on hiring people early in their careers, then giving them plenty of hands-on experience and opportunities to rise through the ranks.

Cold Calls and Cranes

“Have you heard of the phrase ‘leave no stone unturned’?” Kevin asks. “Well, I believe in that. I have been placing cold calls since I started in this industry 33 years ago. I still do this. I also look for cranes. If I am driving down the highway I can spot those from a long ways away. If I see a commercial construction company’s crane on the horizon or a homebuilder’s sign on a site, I pull over and take down the name and phone number.”

“For example,” he continues, “I was recently driving to visit my dad and I took a different exit than I normally do. I saw a sign for a new project by a firm from Illinois. There was a job trailer there, but no earthwork had been done. I called that company the next morning, got ahold of the project manager, gave him some background and sent him some references. We just submitted our bid. I don’t know if we’ll win the project, but I do know that I’d feel bad if I hadn’t called and hadn’t had the chance to bid at all. Without the phone call that project never could happen.”

In fact, this commonsense, direct approach led Kevin to win his first project in 1985. He was driving through Eagan, Minnesota, when he says he “stumbled upon a planned development project with about 200 homes in it.” No landscaping had been done. No sod had been laid.

“They were building homes very fast,” he says. “I pulled in there, found out the name of the builder, set up a meeting and gave them a price. By the next year, I was doing all their sod work. Then they had me put in one boulevard tree per house. My business grew organically from there.” This willingness to take the initiative has helped North Metro Companies to expand its geographic reach and diversify its client base.

Manpower, Machinery and Means

“Out-of-town firms usually appreciate it when you call them because they don’t have the nice list of subs some of the in-state people have,” Kevin says. “We used to only do projects in the Twin Cities area, but now that so much is done electronically, it’s easier to work with companies based elsewhere. We now do two to three projects a year that are out-of-state. Typically, we do these for clients who are based in Minnesota. We follow them. However, we’ve also done projects for contractors located in other states. For example, we recently completed a Walmart project in Ames, Iowa, for a firm based in Illinois.”

With a staff of 28 employees and an established network of suppliers and subcontractors, North Metro Companies has what Kevin calls the “the manpower, the machinery and the means” to serve clients ranging from OPUS Corp., Ryan Companies, Kraus-Anderson Construction, Toll Brothers, Lennar Corp. and JMS Custom Homes to small commercial developers and individual homeowners.

Loyalty Matters

While Kevin is on the constant lookout for new project opportunities, most of North Metro Companies’ work is either repeat business or from referrals.

“Life’s all about relationships,” he says. “I’m an extremely loyal person. I buy rock, sand and gravel from the same company I bought these from for my first project. I bought sod from the same company for over 20 years until the owners passed away. During the first year I was working for a residential developer, I walked into a job trailer and met a guy named Mike Swanson. It was his first day on the job. We hit it off and we’ve worked together ever since.”

“North Metro Companies does most of our landscaping work,” says Mike, who is now the Executive Vice President of JMS Custom Homes. “Since Kevin and I first met in the mid-1980s, I’m guessing we’ve done about seven thousand projects together. I was vice president of Rottlund Homes for 20 years and there were times when we’d build a thousand homes a year. Kevin provided landscaping services for about 600 or 700 out of that thousand. He is a good, honest person. He gives you a solid price. He’s there when he says he’s going to be, and he gets the job done right.”

The loyalty North Metro Companies exhibits and receives extends also to its corporate giving program. Mary Beth, North Metro Companies’ Office Administrator, says they support four main causes every month, year-round.

“We started giving monthly to the Red Cross and Second Harvest Heartland in 2012,” she says. “Then we added the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in 2014 and UNICEF in 2017. The people at Second Harvest are so warm. It’s obvious they love what they do. ASPCA is another good-hearted program.” North Metro Companies also donates to causes that are important to its clients, such as the Ronald McDonald House and Children’s Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis.

“Kevin is a good, honest person. He gives you a solid price. He’s there when he says he’s going to be, and he gets the job done right.” Mike Swanson, Executive Vice President, JMS Custom Homes

Nurturing Talent

Kevin attributes much of North Metro Companies’ success to being able to attract and retain employees who have a positive work ethic and commitment to quality.

“Clients don’t want a lot of change orders or unexpected costs,” Kevin says, “If you don’t create headaches and you get the work done on time and within their budget, they are going to use you over and over again because you made their lives easier. The same goes for running your business. Would you rather employ people who cause headaches or people who make your life easier and your company run better?”

This is one of the reasons Kevin says he prefers to “nurture talent” by hiring people who are just starting their careers.

“That way you can teach people how you want things done,” he says. “They aren’t entrenched in doing things the way they are done at another company. One of my foremen, Will Spangler, has been with us for 27 years. He is among the best hardscape installers in Minnesota. He’s also dedicated and reliable. He’s hardly missed a day of work in all these years! Jackie Hellzen came to us right out of college. She is very organized and very responsible. We also have an employee who is still in school, James Shursen. He’s going for a construction management degree and has shown some interest in staying on after he graduates. If you are good to people and treat them right, they stay.”

His staff concurs.

Will says he has enjoyed working for North Metro for nearly three decades because he has had the chance to do creative, meaningful work—and he feels valued. “I’ve always been artistic,” he says. “So, when I was in high school I wanted to do carpentry. I did that for a while, but back then there could be a big lag between when you did the work and got paid. I saw an ad for a job with North Metro and went up and met with Kevin. When he hired me, I thought he figured ‘this long-haired guy is going to last maybe two weeks.’ ” Then he adds with a laugh: “It’s been a long two weeks.”

Will continues, “I found that doing hardscape projects gave me the chance to create spaces in people’s yard where special things happen—where memories are made outdoors. I get the chance to meet and talk with the people who are going to use these spaces and I like that. Kevin and I have a good relationship. We’ve never missed a deadline—even when that’s meant working late into the night—and we’re proud of that.”

James shares, “I applied for a job at North Metro right after I turned 16 because I was looking for a summer job and wanted to work outdoors. The first year, North Metro hired me to do labor. I’ve continued to work here because each year Kevin has given me more responsibility. In the past year, for example, he’s sent me out to meet with contractors to talk about how they want things done and what projects are coming up. I might not have been given that opportunity at other firms.”

Jackie is dedicated to North Metro for similar reasons. “When I graduated from college in 2008, the economy wasn’t that great,” she says. “North Metro was advertising for a landscape manager assistant. I thought that if I could at least get an assisting job in the field then I’d have a chance to build my experience. Kevin and Mary Beth have been great. They’ve helped me learn so much.”

Since she has a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from North Dakota State University, Jackie’s responsibilities have grown to include both design and project management.

“Kevin and I sit down several times a week, figure out which jobs need to be completed, and decide who is going where,” she says. “I order the materials, submit the requests to have utility locations marked on our project sites, and make sure everything is set for the guys to move forward on site. I also do some design work for our residential clients.”

Some of the most interesting designs are ones she’s devised for single-family home sites.

“This past fall, JMS Custom Homes wanted us to create a patio that was also part of a driveway,” Jackie says. “Multiple retaining walls were also needed, and the builder wanted to vary the materials. We used three types of pavers for the patio and driveway plus a different type of retaining wall block. I talked the design through with Will because he is the one who works everything out on site. I don’t want to sell a client something that we can’t actually install.”

Valuing Everyone’s Contribution

Whether a relationship is with a client, supplier, staff member or nonprofit organization, it matters equally to North Metro Companies’ leaders.

“We honestly treat everyone the same way,” Kevin says. “We respect, appreciate and value what each person does. Everyone has an important role to play.”