Our Grass is Always Greener
by Melissa LaScaleia
Matt Freedman, the owner of Beach Landscaping, is originally from the Washington, D.C. area. He and his father, Bob Freedman, have been running their landscaping and hardscaping business together in Myrtle Beach for the past twenty years.
The two learned their profession hands-on, on the job. Since those early days, Matt has become an expert in plants and landscaping— investing in formal education, attending classes, and logging hours in the study of plant identification, pesticide application, and weed identification and control.
Beach Landscaping has gleaned area accolades as a result of their strong work ethic, attention to detail, and professionalism.
“One of the reasons why we were able to get business from the onset was that we called people back and followed through with what we said we were going to do,” Matt says. “It was basically our customer service, and we stick with that to this day. It’s huge for people that we’re here and we’re accountable for what we provide.”
“We try to maintain as much communication with our clients as we can,” he continues. “We have a lot of different avenues and infrastructure in place so that when people call, they have access to someone on our team who is there for them, to listen to and assist them quickly and easily.
“We have a lot of long-term customers— we’ve learned what they want, and we take care of them. Additionally, our team is pretty stable which helps make us more effective at customer service, because we are familiar working with one another.”
Beach Landscaping offers numerous landscaping services for both businesses and residences along the Grand Strand: regular lawn mowing and maintenance services like resodding and lawn repair; bed design, planting, and maintenance; bush, perennial, palm and other tree pruning services; full landscape design; and irrigation installation and servicing.
They also cover you and your yard for spring and fall cleanup, overturn soil, give recommendations on what plants would thrive in specific areas of your yard, and conduct soil testing and treatment for lawns that need more perk.
Beach Landscaping offers design and execution for hardscapes, paver patios, walkways, and retaining walls. These latter skills evolved over time, Matt explains, as along the way, they hired and met individuals who were skilled in these additional areas, until Matt and his father were able to expand their repertoire of offerings on their own. Their ability to successfully teach themselves new skills, and consistently offer excellent services with great attention to customers is both impressive and inspiring.
“In the last year, there’s been a lot of growth in our company,” Matt says. “We’ve become better organized all around, and we’re expanding a lot of our hardscape offerings. We’ve purchased new lawn care equipment and are more effective in our lawn care maintenance as a result.”
Today, Beach Landscaping remains a family owned and operated business— with even more of Matt’s family members joining to make the company a success. Matt and Bob spearhead the operation, and Matt’s wife Tracy manages the accounting and scheduling. Matt’s brother, Andy Freedman, will be joining the team this spring, helping to further develop the hardscaping side of the business.
Andy worked as a VP of sales for a large corporate company for twenty-five years.
“He knows how to get stuff done, and brings a lot of sales knowledge and enthusiasm,” Matt says. “He’s excited to join my dad and I with the family business.
“Hardscaping is something that we’re really pushing now because a lot of homes are built with small patios in the back. People want to have more of a comprehensive outdoor living space. It’s more in keeping with the Myrtle Beach lifestyle— to be able to be outdoors and have a place to relax. Hardscaping entails the planning and creation of a functional space that involves patios, walkways, outdoor kitchens, driveways, pool decks, fire pits, outdoor fireplaces, and retaining walls. Then, we put in more trees and do additional landscaping to complete the ambience, and tie the landscaping together with the design.”
Another new addition to their team is Terri Stevens, who just relocated to Myrtle Beach from Northern Virginia, where she owned her own landscaping and hardscaping company for twenty-two years. Terri is happily retired from running her own business, but still passionate about what she does; she’s found her new home with Beach Landscaping, as she will be running the project division along with Andy.
“Terri is a highly skilled artist,” Matt says. “She executes everything having to do with hardscaping, from architectural layout and design elements, all the way through to completion. With her on our team, we’re now able to complete projects with a much quicker turnaround time.”
The additions to their Beach Landscaping family mean that the company is able to do everything they’ve always done, and now a lot more of it. The only thing they don’t do is take down large trees— which requires special safety equipment and highly specialized training.
Matt’s favorite aspect of his work is hardscaping. “I enjoy building something for clients that is fresh and original,” he says, “that I know will bring them and their family and friends greater peace in their own home environment, and joy in their surroundings.”
For those who prefer to do things on their own, Beach Landscaping has put together a series of informational videos so people can educate themselves about how to properly take care of their yard and lawn. To date, they’ve completed twelve videos that are available on their website and Facebook page.
“Our first video was on recognizing lawn disease and treating it,” Matt says. “We also created one on the scale insects that affect trees and shrubs—how to identify them and what to do about them. There’s also one on how to prep your yard for spring by cutting back perennials and pruning Crepe Myrtles. Each video is about 2-3 minutes long, and includes things that people can do to help themselves tackle these tasks.”
Beach Landscaping
