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Valley
Crest Companies- Andrew Carnegie, the steel mogul, began his working life as a bobbin boy in a textile mill in the mid 1800Õs, making $1.20 a week. George Eastman, the founder of Kodak and developer of the wildly popular 'BrownieÕ camera, started out as an office boy in an insurance firm in his mid-teenage years. Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company and developer of the Model T, the first mass-produced vehicle in history, began as a farmer in Dearborn, Michigan in the late 19th century. All of these men had one thing in common. They started from scratch, some possessing knowledge of their industries and others creating it as they went. In April of last year, 2001, Burton S. Sperber received an award and an invitation to join the Fellows of the American Society of Landscape Architects. The ASLA is not widely known to accept just anyone into their ranks of professionals, but Sperber has demonstrated his expertise in landscape operations throughout his over 50-year career. In the late 1940Õs, Sperber worked part time for a small landscape nursery in North Hollywood owned by an Italian man named Giannulli, who had a love for horticulture and gardening. He imparted this knowledge and passion to the young man who showed up every day after school. Giannulli passed away in the later years of that decade leaving his widow with control of the small business and a 19-year-old with a head full of landscaping dreams and aspirations. With a total of $700 of his own money, Sperber and his father assumed ownership of the nursery. With the knowledge he was privileged to receive and that singular purchase, Sperber set the course for future success and a number of revolutionary changes that would originate from his company. The nursery allowed the 20-year old Sperber to found and create a landscape empire that would eventually span the nation, but he took progress a step at a time. Sperber stated that he has a love for horticulture. "I liked building gardens," he said. At about the same time he became the owner of the nursery, the San Fernando Valley housing industry exploded. Sperber organized the company under the name, Valley Crest Landscape Nurseries, and they catered mainly to residential landscapes, retail nursery products and plants, and tree moving. "We became experts in building complete gardens involving ponds, waterfalls, fence overhangs and concrete," said Sperber. "And (we) developed expertise in tree moving as well as selling nursery products retail."
The love of building gardens and enjoying the life of a contractor did wonders for the small company. Most contractors are and were hard working people, but according to Sperber, they did not always have an abundance of expertise in their respective fields. "We are very horticulturally based, apart from other contractors who focus upon other areas," stated Sperber. The company places special emphasis upon workmanshipÑthe balance of art and science within each landscape project, which means that a creative eye and a technical mind is a must among the companyÕs ranks. The 1950Õs hailed as a decade of prosperity and foundation building for the company. Their skills and expertise were being noticed, not just on the residential scale, but also at the city and county level. They landscaped freeways and zoosÑand were adding increasingly to their ability to streamline open space, whether it was a backyard, a public square, and transform them into beautiful gardens.
The 60Õs brought with it expansion beyond the confines of Southern California cities and counties. Their influence stretched into other states, but with more demand came more challenges. Many obstacles were met head-on and were tackled through good old-fashioned engineering and thought. Many of the tools found in the industry today were conceived, developed and manufactured for use at Valley Crest before they hit the overall market. "In the 50's and 60Õs we were the innovators in the landscape business," said Sperber. "We honed our skills in tree moving. Today we use the same methods we used then for moving trees, only with much larger equipment." In order to compete and stay ahead in an ever-changing market, Sperber and his team began to fund endowment programs to introduce young people to horticultural and landscape architecture. What resulted was an enduring relationship between many universities and Valley Crest that gave students the opportunity to experience a career in this field. His brother, Stuart Sperber, graduated from California Polytechnic University in Pomona and BurtonÕs son, Richard Sperber, attended the school of the same name located in San Luis Obispo, several years later. "They were the brains of the operation," said Sperber. Stuart Sperber, seven years younger than his brother, came on and co-founded Valley Crest Tree Company in 1960, a company he continues to lead today as CEO. Stuart also serves as Vice Chairman of the ValleyCrest Companies.
The demand for tree growing in Southern California had also grown. In true innovatorÕs style, the team thought up an idea, which consisted of growing trees inside of containers. These 'boxedÕ trees would allow for greater mobility and decreased risk of shock to the trees themselves in the transplantation process. The idea was met with great success and remains one of the mainstays of the tree relocation industry on the west coast. Another company landmark at the end of the 1960Õs was a decision to take the company public for increased financial assistance. The influx of investors allowed for years of unforeseen growth and prosperity. With the success came a need to develop a holding company in which the name, Environmental Industries, Inc. entered onto the scene. With the creation of the holding company, a maintenance branch of operations opened shop under the new Environmental Industries corporate umbrella. Eventually, in the 1980Õs, all of the company stock was bought back, creating a private company once again.
In October of 2002, Environmental Industries, Inc. changed its name to ValleyCrest Companies. The change is a return to the companyÕs roots, and itÕs founding in 1949 as Valley Crest Landscape Nurseries, Inc. The ValleyCrest name will be used again by the parent company and all its business units (ValleyCrest Landscape Development, ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance and Valley Crest Tree Company) to unify itÕs comprehensive landscape and horticultural services under one brand. Being in business for 53 years has essentially given the company a chance to grow at a controlled pace on a yearly basis. Of course, some years were more profitable than others. They experienced rapid expansion that few other companies enjoyed, but if necessity is the mother of invention, Sperber and his team spent much of their time throughout the years developing innovative techniques for the continued success of their ventures.
They devised a method of opening new branches in other areas to give the company talent, in the form of highly trained and skillful individuals, a chance to see what they could do on their own. Sperber stated that some branches are more profitable than others, but success depends upon many factors. "We have landscape branches that generate about $40 million dollars, which takes a pretty entrepreneurial and bright contractor to do that much business, and we have smaller branches that produce $5 million, which hopefully will grow to 40-50 million each," he said. "The maintenance branches generate $3-10 million." Small jobs or large, ValleyCrest Companies is slated to record more than $600 million in sales this year alone. As far as strengths go, ValleyCrest Companies certainly has been in the business longer than most. They have tackled almost every conceivable job type, and according to Sperber, their people are the real backbone. Their tenured people include hundreds of individuals. They have literally thousands who have worked at the company for 5 years; many for more than two and three decades. Sperber attributes their success in business and in keeping good people to, "sticking to our guns and staying focused upon what we do. People appreciate that."
ValleyCrest Companies is based in Calabasas. They employ over 7,500 individuals throughout the nation, with Sperber functioning as the founder and CEO of ValleyCrest Companies, and Richard Sperber, President and COO. Other key leaders include Tom Donnelly, President and COO of ValleyCrest Landscape Development, Roger Zino, President and COO of ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance and Robert Crudup, President and COO of Valley Crest Tree Company, as well as a large group of executive officers and leadership teams. With literally thousands of trucks and pieces of equipment in their fleet, ValleyCrest Companies comes in at #80 of the top 100 companies in the nation for equipment ownership and usage. The fleet includes graders, tractors, and skip loaders, to backhoes, cranes and large bulldozers. "We are primarily a Ford company," said Sperber. Their tractor of choice is John Deere, with over 800 tractors throughout the nation. They also make use of over 200 Ditch Witch trenchers. ValleyCrest is consistently ranked among the largest privately held contractors and construction companies in the nation. Revisiting the ASLA tribute, Sperber stated that he has a landscape architect license, but has not practiced landscape architecture for many years. As a result, he was surprised by the gesture and very honored, but certainly, no one could say he was undeserving. Throughout his career he has had the opportunity to found and be a part of many organizations. He has also fostered a safe haven for creativity within the walls of the company.
Richard Sperber has integrated a J.D. Edwards software program called 'Expedition,Õ which ties project management directly into accounting. What results is an extremely efficient amalgam of business controls that keep tabs on the costs of work being done while the jobs are being managed. ValleyCrest Companies is the only contracting organization that has ever done anything like it. They have also developed an in-house dispatching system called 'MusterÕ that releases groups of equipment and men to jobs according to the estimate of the bid, and their own proprietary 'wizardÕ estimating systems for landscape, irrigation, hardscape and golf. Apparently there is a science to everything being done at ValleyCrest Companies. "In horticulture there are hundreds of varieties of grass alone, thousands of species of trees, so plant science is a must on every type of project," stated Sperber. There is more to this statement then we know. Currently, ValleyCrest Companies is working for The Irvine Company, handling all of the landscape and site construction on their new Shady Canyon Project, the latest high-end housing project in Irvine. They spent a total of 10 years working on the J. Paul Getty Center gardens project, which involved the relocation of existing native oak trees, installation of irrigation, decorative concrete and paving methods and more. They built the water feature and landscaped The Grove at Farmers Market in Los Angeles. They also built the landscape for many themed construction projects, such as the flagship hotels in Las Vegas and DisneyÕs Animal Kingdom, Africa and Asia, located in Florida, as well as DisneyÕs California Adventure in Anaheim. Working with the Disney magic might have rubbed off a bit. For years, Sperber has enjoyed being a collector of magic books and memorabilia while functioning as a magician and member of the London Magic Circle and the Magic Castle in Los Angeles. Sperber has what he calls, a major collection. He said that he will put on an occasional show just for friends, so donÕt expect this CEO to be showcasing his talents apart from his friends and loved ones anytime soon. With a final word and founding gesture, Sperber stated that, "we will continue to do what we are aiming to do, the bigger and better jobs." In performing this act, it is certain that Burton S. Sperber, and ValleyCrest Companies, will be landscape leaders for years to come. |
