25 years of growing excellence

When I first visited Kory Lamphear 14 years ago at an office in his parents’ garage, he already was a 26-year-old seasoned veteran of the landscaping business, having started Lamphear’s Lawn Service at the ripe old age of 15. This year, Lamphear’s, operating from its supply yard on Route 42, is celebrating its 25th year beautifying the properties of homeowners and businesses in and around Medina.

It wasn’t easy to find Kory behind his desk in 2011, when he began to promote his services with Mimi, and the same holds true today—even though he now employs more than 100 landscapers and lawn maintenance workers during the company’s peak season.

“I’m never at my desk,” he confirms. “I love to be outside getting my hands dirty, no matter what the weather is like. I’m out there in the skid steer spring, summer and fall and I’m in the wheel loader in the winter plowing snow. I’m very involved with our management team on a daily basis, but they do an incredible job, which allows me to get out in the field. I’m going to be 40 this year and I plan to keep doing what I’m doing.”

When Kory began pushing a mower around his neighborhood—at his parents’ campground in Marblehead—at the age of 12, he never imagined that his work would result in a 56-truck operation that grows its own trees and manufactures its own mulch and topsoil. 

“It’s definitely exceeded my dreams,” Kory says.

Kory was 15 when he bought his first commercial walk-behind mower from Medina Tractor Sales. Being too young to drive, he and his cousin, Marcus Neuman, who oversees Lamphear’s lawn division, would be dropped off in neighborhoods around Medina to cut grass.

“Once I turned 16 and got my first truck and trailer, things really started to take off,” Kory recalls.

So much so that after graduating from high school, Kory declined a scholarship offer to attend Baldwin-Wallace College.

“Landscaping is a blue-collar job, and most parents would have insisted on me taking that scholarship,” Kory says. “But if my parents didn’t allow me to make the decision I made, I wouldn’t have the success I have today. I know people whose parents always told them you can’t do this, or you can’t do that. I grew up with parents who encouraged me to work hard to be successful doing whatever I chose to do. And I wanted to be a landscaper.”

Today, Lamphear’s services include landscaping, lawn maintenance, snow removal, fertilization and building patios and other outdoor living areas.

“We’ve definitely evolved over the years,” Kory says. “When we first started, we primarily mowed residential lawns. Now our biggest mowing accounts are maintenance-free neighborhoods and commercial mowing—but we still do residential homes and have quite a few customers that have been with us for more than 20 years. A little more than half of our company is involved in the maintenance division, whether it’s cutting the grass weekly, trimming shrubs or mulching. Our new construction business, which is new lawns and landscapes, has grown tremendously over the last decade. We’re doing close to 500 new homes a year.”

Lamphear’s supply center opened five years ago.

“We now have enough room to recycle all of our material,” he says. “Plant material we remove from people’s property is brought back for grinding into mulch and all the dirt is recycled into topsoil, so we’re a full-circle company now. We also sell materials like mulch, topsoil and various stone products to other landscapers and homeowners. We offer delivery all over Medina County. This has been a big accomplishment because I never really envisioned having a full supply operation.”

The key to Lamphear’s success is a never-give-up attitude that drives most entrepreneurs, Kory explains.

“We’ve had tons of hardships, and we learned everything the hard way, but one thing we never did was give up,” he says. “That’s an important lesson when you’re an entrepreneur of any type of business—you have to keep swinging the ax. You just never know when that next swing’s going to be the next big discovery of gold, or you never know which door you’re going to open has a great opportunity behind it. Every customer we’ve ever worked for—every opportunity we’ve ever had—we’ve always just taken it on and tried to do the best quality work we could and get it done on time.”

A skilled and enthusiastic team of managers and employees also has been vital in his company’s success, Kory says. 

Marcus Neuman is an example.

“Marcus has been with the company the longest—since day one,” Kory says. “He is not only my cousin, but we also were best friends growing up. We were inseparable. When I got my grand idea to start cutting grass, he was right there with me to help.”

Kevin Mick, general manager, has been with Lamphear’s for about 15 years.

“Kevin is heavily involved in leading the sales team,” Kory says. “He was the first salesperson we hired 15 years ago so it’s kind of cool that he’s still here.”

Lamphear’s core group of seven managers all has been with the company for a decade or more, Kory says.

“All these guys have been promoted from within,” he says. “One thing that I think is important to a company like ours is having people in charge who have actually been out on the crews and spent time doing this type of work. We have an incredible group of people here who really love doing what they do. After 25 years, we’re full steam ahead.”

You can put Lamphear’s 25 years of experience in lawn and landscape maintenance to work in your yard by calling 330-725-2102. You also can get more information by visiting LamphearLawn.com. The company’s supply yard is located at 3344 Pearl Road in Medina.