EP #251: Armando Sariol and Amanda Varallo with Top Green Landscaping
Jul 01, 2024
Jeremy Wolf
Get ready to uncover the inspiring story of Armando Sariol, who transitioned from a career in IT to founding Top Green Landscaping. Armando, alongside Amanda Varallo, shares how his love for the great outdoors led to a successful business that spans both Broward and Miami-Dade counties, providing comprehensive landscaping services. From design and installation to lighting and artificial turf, their team tackles both commercial and residential projects with an unmatched passion for nature. Amanda gives us a glimpse into her pivotal role in managing schedules and client relationships, all while emphasizing the importance of teamwork in bringing customer visions to life.
Armando's unique background in IT has turned out to be a surprising asset in landscape design, showcasing the innovative integration of technology and creativity. Learn how server maintenance and IT support skills translate into effective landscape design using software like Real-time Landscaping. We also clear up common misconceptions about the industry, highlight budget-friendly solutions, and discuss the importance of regular maintenance. From door-to-door marketing to leveraging Google ads for growth, the duo shares valuable lessons about family involvement, community support, and the entrepreneurial spirit that drives their success. Join us for an episode rich with personal stories, practical insights, and a celebration of the hard work behind Top Green Landscaping.
Get ready to uncover the inspiring story of Armando Sariol, who transitioned from a career in IT to founding Top Green Landscaping. Armando, alongside Amanda Varallo, shares how his love for the great outdoors led to a successful business that spans both Broward and Miami-Dade counties, providing comprehensive landscaping services. From design and installation to lighting and artificial turf, their team tackles both commercial and residential projects with an unmatched passion for nature. Amanda gives us a glimpse into her pivotal role in managing schedules and client relationships, all while emphasizing the importance of teamwork in bringing customer visions to life.
Armando's unique background in IT has turned out to be a surprising asset in landscape design, showcasing the innovative integration of technology and creativity. Learn how server maintenance and IT support skills translate into effective landscape design using software like Real-time Landscaping. We also clear up common misconceptions about the industry, highlight budget-friendly solutions, and discuss the importance of regular maintenance. From door-to-door marketing to leveraging Google ads for growth, the duo shares valuable lessons about family involvement, community support, and the entrepreneurial spirit that drives their success. Join us for an episode rich with personal stories, practical insights, and a celebration of the hard work behind Top Green Landscaping.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2:
Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, jeremy Wolf. Now our guests today. Yes, that's right, I said guests. We have two folks joining us today. I actually met both of them a couple of weeks back. They run a wonderful landscaping business out. I believe you guys are in Southwest Ranches, right? Yes, all right, great. So I'm here today with Armando Sarial and Amanda Varolo. Did I get the pronunciations right? Did I nail it?
Speaker 3:
Yes.
Speaker 2:
Batting 100% early. Love it and Armando and Amanda join us from Top Green Landscaping Guys. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2:
Of course, the pleasure is all ours and thanks, as always, to our listeners for tuning in to learn more about our great community and the businesses that serve us. So, without further ado, please tell us a little bit about Top Green Landscaping.
Speaker 3:
Well, top Green is dedicated to do commercial landscaping and landscaping design installation. We focus on our local areas. You know anywhere in Broward and Miami-Dade where we do HOA condos and shopping centers.
Speaker 2:
Okay, and is it? You mentioned specifically commercial and then you followed that by saying you do design and things like that Is the design aspect for residential or exclusively commercial, Commercial?
Speaker 3:
We do both residential and commercial. Okay, but we're leaning more now to the commercial side. Why is that? Um, it's it's just, um, we overgrew and we have, uh, let's say, uh, our potentials are, are in our team are a lot. You know, it's just, we have more knowledge now. Okay, what we're used to in the residential aspect Got it.
Speaker 2:
Now are you guys providing service to all of South Florida, specific in Broward County? Where are your primary service areas? Our primary is Broward County, miami-dade.
Speaker 3:
Usually sometimes we get contracts in St Petersburg, orlando. We go anywhere that they reach out to us for installation, installation landscaping lighting and artificial turf.
Speaker 2:
Got it. Okay, so for like a big job for a business, you could do that, but obviously for the more regular maintenance and routine things you got to stay a little bit closer. Yeah, we have to stay local. For that, yeah, got it, got it. So how did you get into this business? Is this something that you've been doing since you started working professionally? Talk a little bit, tell us about your journey leading up to top green and kind of how you got into this business so I started computers originally I graduated computers.
Speaker 2:
yes, my Computers to landscape.
Speaker 3:
Yes, okay, and um, and one day I got offered to do some banks, you know, maintenance and I got into it and I ended up liking it. You know, I ended up really liking the aspect of nature. Uh, plants, you learn every single day. Plants, you learn every single day. And I didn't really like, uh, staying in the office too too much, it was just it's boring for me, even though I love computers and technology. Um, I just like being out and about. So, um, I started the, the landscaping, you know, so you don't you don't.
Speaker 2:
You don't like sitting in the office all day behind a computer. What what's wrong with?
Speaker 3:
you man? No, I like being out in the sun. That's what I'm here for. Oh yeah, All right.
Speaker 2:
So what do you do, Amanda, at Top Green?
Speaker 4:
Well, you know, it's kind of just like the back end. You know, you see all the workers out there. They're doing an amazing job with the hard work I'm more of so like uh, the scheduling and making sure things get addressed at the properties. You know any needs that the client has, you know, or any concerns, or when it comes to our customers, making sure that the dream that they have for their homes is brought to life. And you know that that's just the whole team, not just me, but the designer we have, and um, with the knowledge and everything.
Speaker 2:
So it just comes into that scheduling and making sure everything runs smoothly sure, so hold holding down the fort, as they say for sure, holding down the fork it makes sense, though, right to have a woman there dealing with all the personal relationships and the scheduling and and working, holding on the fort Right, because I mean I know from my experience as a man I'm not so good at that stuff.
Speaker 4:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
If I wasn't all automated with everything, then it would be a disaster. So, but interesting. So you mentioned that you, you have a background in computers. Yes, what did you do specifically with computers? Were you doing like program, like what? I'm just curious.
Speaker 3:
I used to maintain servers and also take them apart and put them back together. Huh, diagnosing for, uh, you know the problems and issues.
Speaker 2:
So the reason I asked that was because I wasn't sure. Being in the landscape design business, obviously I know you're probably using computer software programs to map out design. Actually, yes, actually that.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, actually that helps a lot because I'm basically the it in the office, so I'm like you know, my background helped a lot. And also we use programs to design the landscape also we can come out, take a picture of the area and just plug in some plants and some design and we can show how it would look before it's installed.
Speaker 2:
When you're talking about design on the computer for landscape, for some reason AutoCAD comes to my mind. I don't know exactly what it is. Autocad comes to my mind. I don't know exactly what it is, but it just came to my mind. So am I in the ballpark of what that is?
Speaker 3:
more or less, more or less so. Auto AutoCAD is more like a blueprint. Okay, we use a real-time landscaping. It's a program where you could just take a real life picture of the area and we can come in and we just plug in you know, plants, you know, and plants you know, and lighting and you know, make it look nice and pretty, and so that way the client could see it before it's even installed and if they want to make changes, they can just make changes, you know, right there. And then instead of us coming in with a whole plant material and they say, oh, we don't like this color plant or we don't like this, this doesn't look right here, this doesn't look right there.
Speaker 3:
That's what the program is for.
Speaker 2:
Interesting. So what are some? What are the reasons why we do this show is to educate the community, right? There's a lot of misconceptions that people have concerning various industries. Misconceptions that people have concerning various industries what are some of the biggest, I guess, myths or misconceptions that you encounter, that you hear from?
Speaker 3:
clients that you work with in your space. Would you like to clear up One misconception that we have here is that, especially here and what it is, miami-dade is really bad. Broward it's okay. Really bad in what way? In the way that services like, oh, you know, during the rainy season they just want two services when you're supposed to service the property every single week, because everything you know grows three times faster. You know, they want their grass cut, like at one inch, when it's not supposed to be cut at one inch, supposed to be cut, you know, at four point five or five inches for the health of the of the grass, you know. So they, they want to budget in a very, very low budget. And that's where you come in and see properties that look really, really rough and bad because they don't spend the extra money and to the landscaping, and landscaping is what makes the property look amazing, you know I.
Speaker 4:
I also wanted to add on to that, and I think another misconception would be that landscaping has to be expensive when in reality, um, it doesn't, especially when you're working with a company that puts your needs first and is really open about discussing what you're able to spend, because then we could work with our clients and do something that's really nice and that something that is a home. I love this. You know I wanted something welcoming from my either home or property and we could stay within that budget for them, because you know it's hard nowadays. You know we all are trying to hold on to as much as we can because everything's expensive, and it's just to take that into perspective when you know, speaking with homeowners or property managers and that sort, you know so it does not have to be expensive. You know it's just communication and budgeting.
Speaker 2:
So it sounds like we just touched on two different sides of the coin, if you will. One was the regular maintenance. So I guess you were speaking, armando, for commercial properties you recommend, like during the summer, doing maintenance every day, every week, every week, I'm sorry. And then, amanda, you were talking more about the overall design projects, right, yeah?
Speaker 4:
For both. For both because, as he said, you know it is hard. You know when everything has to do with the budget. You know property managers always have to stick to a budget as well. So as long as they're open with the budget that they have, we can make the magic happen. As long as they're open and they communicate, so we could address their needs while also staying within that budget.
Speaker 2:
Makes sense for sure. All right, so what was? I guess, armando, I didn't ask you how long ago did you start Top Green? Eight years ago, so eight years ago, and immediately prior to that, that was when you were in the IT computer, IT type space. Yes, what would you say looking back to that time, having gone off and kind of made the leap and made that transition, starting Top Green, what was one of the biggest challenges in launching the business? And then fast forward to today, what would you say is the biggest reward for you that you've experienced, having started the business so?
Speaker 3:
back then I started, uh, with door, door hangers, you know where, where we had to save up money and buy a little push mower, a little trailer I already had like a little truck and I started doing, um, the door-to-doors. You know, I did a little, some flyers, and I came home and with the kids we opened up holes to hanging them out on the doors and I went out and put it on the doors, you know, and, um, it was hot, wasn't like working in the office. So, um, we ended up, uh, I ended up building clients, plus the ones, the commercial ones that I have already, and I started with one, one person, and we worked seven days a week, you know, monday through sunday, and, um, it's doing residentials. Everyone tends to forget to pay at the end of the month, so, um, that was one of my biggest challenges right there having everyone to pay on time.
Speaker 3:
That's when I decided, two years afterwards, to transition into just straight commercial and landscaping design for residential. That's when the company kind of changed over and I started doing Google ads. That was a lot easier, and, and I started doing Google, google ads, ok so, and that was a lot easier. And then I started growing and growing and now it's more like maintaining, you know, finding the right people and finding the right team to work, because another thing is employees. You know they come and go, especially in this industry, you know. So right now we have a very good, solid team right now, and um amanda came in with me like two years ago, so she's been changing my life here at the office also, you know so for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2:
So biggest reward on the other side of that, what's? What's the the biggest reward about having being in business for yourself at Top Green?
Speaker 3:
Biggest reward is time spending time with the family, also giving jobs. There's a lot of people out there that don't have jobs and you know I'm very grateful that we have clients that reaches out recurrent clients that reaches out to us for jobs and I'm able to provide jobs to good guys that actually are in need of jobs.
Speaker 2:
So you mentioned family. Yes, obviously, family is usually paramount for most folks out there, the driving force behind what we do in our lives. Tell us a little bit about your family, armando.
Speaker 3:
So I have a 14-year-old and a 20-year-old. My wife is the one that also works here in the office. She does all the designs and payroll and bookkeeping and she maintains the money. Because you know how we are with money. We want to go out there and buy everything.
Speaker 2:
Don't even go down that rabbit hole. Ever since this crazy inflation, I've gotten worse and worse, because everything is just so expensive. I'm like, oh, whatever, I've got a tip to waitress 25%, 30%, now, of course, yeah.
Speaker 3:
Oh my goodness. So, yeah, I have a dollar to my name in my wallet right now, so that's all I could have. That's my budget.
Speaker 2:
We can spend it. Everywhere my daughter goes, she's like Daddy, send me some money, she's 12. I'm like are you going to do something in return? Are you going to do some work on the house, clean your room, do some chores? But thankfully she cleaned her room up yesterday.
Speaker 3:
I guess she gets some allowance now. Yeah, that's good. No, thank God, my, my, my 20 year old works. She has two jobs, she goes to school and my 14 year old. I helped them out buying a pressure cleaning because he and his friend are going to be doing some pressure cleaning on on, you know, for the summer here.
Speaker 2:
So they, they're, they're actually going out there knocking on doors and doing the pressure cleaning sidewalks and you know, and dryways. So that's awesome, man speak. Speaking of pressure cleaning, I actually have. You know, we met before I published cooper city living magazine and I have a little section in the publication called youth classifieds and we I have two kids in the community, one, I think one is like eight, the other one I want to say around 12 or 13, and they both have little pressure cleaning businesses and they kind of advertise them in the publication for free.
Speaker 3:
It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:
Love to see young entrepreneurs out there hustling getting in reps when they're young, yeah.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, they still get some homeowners kind of like yelling at them or get off my property or you know, or like.
Speaker 2:
Build its character yeah.
Speaker 3:
They're just kids, you know. With a little pressure cleaner, trying to knock on doors, you know. But I tell them that that's. You know, that's life, you know, that's how they learn.
Speaker 2:
Well, good for them going out there. I mean I have. Back in college I worked with a company called the southwestern company. It was a, a student handbook like a book company, and basically I was, I was in florida at uf university of florida and they took kids the program. They basically moved you to the other side of the country. So I went to michigan for my first summer and ohio for my. I think that I think the reason why they brought you so far away was so that you couldn't go home quickly Like you had to. It was a big, a big move and we would go pound the pavement for 12 hours a day, six days a week. Yeah and just and just. It was brutal, but what a wonderful experience. Obviously, when you got through the summer and you got a nice 10, $15,000 check after working a couple months in college, yeah, really good stuff.
Speaker 2:
It builds character and builds you know 100% yeah, and kids nowadays they need that because this world ain't easy. Yeah, it's a jungle out there. It's good to build your chops early on. So, amanda, what about you? Tell us a little bit about your family.
Speaker 4:
Oh well, I currently live with my grandfather, my mother and my two brothers. I was born and raised here in South Florida my whole life, so this is definitely home. Going anywhere else I can't handle the cold so, but you know I have an amazing mother and one of my brothers, um, has autism and I think that has given me so much patience in my life. Dealing with um, just everything. It gives you a different perspective on on people and just being kinder and more genuine and stuff like that, and and with my grandfather as well, and god bless, god bless his soul he's, you know I think that also helps you be more patient and kind to others. You know you never know what people are going through, so you know you always have to take that into perspective.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. That's something I remind myself of every day and every interaction. Things just trigger you and set you off and raise emotions. You just have to step back, just like you said, and realize that everybody's in their own world. Most people aren't out there trying to negatively affect other people. They're just kind of wrapped up in their own situation.
Speaker 4:
Correct, yep, I completely agree yeah.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, this is where she comes in with the patient when we get those hard calls. Yeah.
Speaker 1:
No, but I understand, you know everybody is like you said.
Speaker 4:
They're going through something, and through something, and, and and just just to, why make someone's day worse when you can make it better? So absolutely.
Speaker 2:
What would be the one thing before we wrap up here, the one thing that you'd like to leave our listeners with about your business?
Speaker 4:
um what is the answer?
Speaker 4:
okay it's not a trick question, guys I think there's just there's so much that that comes into it. I mean, it doesn't seem like a lot. You know landscaping is just outside work and and. But I think what I would want the listeners to know is oh man, at the end of the day, we're a community and we're just trying to live our life and help each other out, and you know landscaping is just another part of what goes into daily tasks. You know, and it's not just about like designs or stuff like that and plants.
Speaker 4:
You know plants are living and you know it's nice. You know a lot of people people garden and we get most of our food from vegetables and and fruits and I just think it's beautiful to to always remember that. You know, outside everything is living and you know it's good to take care of that, whether it's landscaping or design or, you know, creating that space. It changes your outlook on on things, so it's nice, but also that it doesn't have to be expensive and that you could create anything with the space you have in your front yard, backyard, and, yeah, it's nice.
Speaker 2:
Well, thanks for sharing, amanda, but you know what? That wasn't one thing, so I'm going to have to charge you extra.
Speaker 4:
Oh man.
Speaker 2:
Just joking. Just joking, no, no, all great stuff, right. Community nature, like we're all in this together. Great wisdom from you Be kind to everyone, be integrated. Be kind to everyone, be integrated. Be involved with your community and spread a message of joy and love and peace around all our fellow humans, right?
Speaker 4:
Agreed. Yeah, definitely yes.
Speaker 2:
All right. Lastly, for anyone out there listening that would like to learn more, how could they reach you guys?
Speaker 3:
They can reach us through email or they can go on through our website, topgreenfloridacom. Or they could call us at 754-260-4777. And you'll be as soon as you call. You'll be reaching Amanda, you know I always answer.
Speaker 4:
I always answer. I always answer no matter what, any question, even if you just want to call for a question, I always answer.
Speaker 2:
All right sounds good. We will, of course, throw a link in the description to all of your contact information for anyone that is interested. Armando Amanda, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3:
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2:
It's our pleasure, and thanks as always to our listeners for tuning in and we will catch everyone next time on the next episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Everyone, take care and have a blessed day.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Cooper City. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to GNPCooperCitycom. That's GNPCooperercitycom. That's gnpcoopercitycom, or call 954-231-3170.