So in March 2000, Braswell founded PowerHouse Equipment, which he hopes will become "the leading national direct provider of compact hydraulic equipment."A multi-market opportunity for lawn/garden professionals?Braswell thinks so. He''s established dealerships in Sacramento, Dallas and Austin, Texas; Jacksonville and Orlando, purposeofscarifiergraderblades Fla.; and Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. In addition, he''s created satellite sales in eight other locations.Why? "Contractors'' employee time is extremely valuable," says Braswell. "Our equipment makes each worker much more efficient."What trends does Braswell see in OPE marketing?"In the last few years, we''ve seen lots of power equipment dealers concentrate on the professional customer rather than the consumer," Braswell says. "With that comes focus on a service department that offers really quick turn-around, purposeofscarifiergraderblades so the busy landscaper avoids downtime. If a dealer sells to landscapers -- and knows their needs -- he might sell similar products to tree professionals, irrigators, nursery people and fencers.

"That was way back in 1968," Braswell recalls purposeofscarifiergraderblades today. "One of the first things I learned was that mowing often leads to landscaping. And landscaping creates even more opportunity."What''s the greatest market change in last three decades?Braswell found even more business in tree care. His local company soon became Southern Tree & Landscape. It began, he recalls, with "nine employees in a small office trailer," and later grew to several hundred in multiple locations."New customers would often contact us to maintain their yards," Braswell explains, but "then they''d decide to do some landscaping and tree-planting. We became experts at both.""The biggest market change," Braswell emphasizes, "is that even people who love to do yard work decide to have someone else to do their maintenance. This opens all sorts of new markets."

Landscape company goes publicIn 1998, Southern Tree & Landscape -- along with six similar firms -- went public on the NYSE to form Land Care USA. (This company was later acquired by Service Master, which merged it with TruGreen/ChemLawn.)Then, Braswell discovered an amazing Australian skid-steer product that launched him into a new career.Creation of Toro Dingo opens multiple marketsThe product -- a small utility loader -- allows its user to apply hydraulic power with a variety of attachments. Braswell brought the technology to the United States, then later sold the rights to Toro.Compact hydraulic equipment, Braswell saw, could be a way to serve many industries such as landscaping, fencing, nursery, irrigation, utilities, construction, cable installation, purposeofscarifiergraderblades rental and even roofing.

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