“When you have a private equity presence, one day they’re going to sell. It’s an investment. What sells is not just your ability to do a smooth and proper and successful M&A and transition but that you’re growing organic. There’s actually more value placed on organic growth than there is acquisitive growth.” - Manny Gonzalez, CEO of Ethoscapes


tablishment for municipal utility districts (MUDs) and other commercial clients. Ethoscapes also launched their own


tree care business, Tree60, which services municipalities and existing clients.


SCALING UP Gonzalez says that while they are currently focused on the Houston metropolitan market, their strategy for expansion includes targeting other Tier I and Tier II markets across Texas and beyond. He says they are actively seeking acquisition opportunities, and at times, sellers are reaching out as well. Currently, Ethoscapes does not have a


dedicated M&A team. Gonzalez says he and the Evolution team work together to conduct the due diligence process when a potential candidate is found, but he anticipates as they continue to grow, they’ll add on an M&A team. Several key factors they look for in the companies they acquire include the owner’s intent and motivation for selling, whether the acquisition aligns with the client’s expectations of their value prop- osition within their existing platform, and the business’s profitability and potential for growth. With Ethoscapes’s larger acquisitions,


“This shift allowed us to scale not only within the operational companies — through personnel, equipment, syn- ergistic operations, and our service value proposition — but also at the platform level, positioning us for future acquisi- tions,” Gonzalez says. He says their smaller acquisitions can


be integrated as tuck-ins while larger operations will function as bolt-ons and operate as fully independent sister companies. They have the flexibility to choose the best fit for future acquisitions. “During the due diligence process, we gain valuable insights into the history, culture, market, and client loyalty of the company being acquired,” Gonzalez says. “It is at this stage that we decide whether to integrate the company into one of the


larger, more established businesses or to bolt it onto the Ethoscapes platform as an independent operational and syner- gistic entity.” With their structure, Ethoscapes han- dles all the non-operational back office tasks such as finances, HR policies, IT, audits, insurance, bonding, safety, legal matters, and sales and marketing, which Gonzalez refers to as the Ethosystems. He says this allows their brands Westco, Champions Hydro-Lawn and HLU to fo- cus on what they do best operationally. Each company has its own specialty.


Westco’s core business provides high- touch mowing to HOA clients, while HLU is more commercial construction-centric. Champions Hydro-Lawn’s core compe- tency is in erosion control and turf es-


all three owners were ready to retire and transition out of their careers, but they’ve also had owners choose to reinvest and align their efforts with Ethoscapes. Gon- zalez says they approach all options with an open mind. Gonzalez notes that each company


they’ve acquired has a unique and inde- pendent culture. “This diversity has deepened my ap-


preciation for working with such a wide range of teams,” he says. “We have the opportunity to select the best elements from each company’s culture — whether from leaders, account managers, opera- tions and field managers, or technicians.” He says Ethoscapes strives to cultivate


shared attitudes, values, goals, and prac- tices instead. Gonzalez notes that while acquisitive


National Association of Landscape Professionals 33 Photos: Ethoscapes


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