Jim began his career in landscaping at a local nursery. He took great interest in landscape design and soon began doing work outside of his nursery job during his free time. As his natural talent for design grew, so did his desire to own his own business. In 1982 Jim purchased his first truck and began J. Downend Landscaping. Unlike many others in this industry, he picked up a shovel instead of choosing to push a lawnmower. Jim spent the first five years in business installing landscapes until he brought his brother Joe on to begin his maintenance division.
Jim has always stressed several important facts to his supervisors, crew leaders, and laborers. Think of each landscape as if it were your own creation, treat the client’s property as if it were your own, and take pride in all the work you do. These philosophies can be seen with each project our crews complete. Our staff has taken these points to heart and at the completion of each project, they all take a moment to look back at the job they have done and admire the end result.
To this day, Jim continues to create unique and functional landscape designs. You will not find him sitting behind a desk, but you may find him operating a piece of equipment or using a shovel to help achieve the results and desired effect he is looking for. He supervises and inspects his own crews on a daily basis and there is not a project going on that he does not see at some point during the construction process.