Stories from the Job Site

Heavy rains can slow landscaping jobs to a crawl. On a sod installation recently in Leesburg, Virginia, a Bobcat S175 Skid Steer Loader slogged its way across a yard after a night of heavy rain. When it finally got stuck, a pickup truck came to its rescue and towed it out of the quagmire.

Across the street, another contractor, Village Landscapes, proceeded with a sod installation as if the rains hadn’t occurred. A John Deere CT322 Compact Track Loader (CTL) prepared the yard using a power rake before switching to a bucket for grading. It then changed to forks to unload pallets of sod.

The CTL flew through the muck and mire, gliding through a 30-degree side-hill slope without slipping. Across the street, the Bobcat still struggled to find its footing.

On a jobsite down the road, another of Village Landscapes' CT322s easily hauled massive 3,000-pound pallets of cobblestone through the kind of muddy conditions that stalled invading armored divisions on the Russian Front.

"Our guys love the CTLs," says Leo Guerrero, production manager of Village Landscapes, Chantilly, Virginia. "The weight is more distributed so they don’t leave ruts and damage yards. Plus they have plenty of lifting power for moving pallets of sod and hardscape tiles or for planting trees."

Green acres
A bedroom community near Washington, D.C., Chantilly is a boomtown. Everywhere you look is new construction. Village Landscapes is working on one of the new housing developments where over 900 homes are going up.

Village Landscapes was founded in 1992 by owners Jeff Brixius, B.J. Brixius, Steve Stalnaker, and Beau Banglesdorf. The company has grown from 11 people to over 300. "We’re one of the largest sod installers in Northern Virginia," says B.J. Brixius. "Last year we installed over 300 acres of sod, and we’re on pace for that again this year. We also do irrigation, lawn maintenance, excavation, and hardscapes."

In addition to its 15 John Deere CTLs, the company also owns over 50 John Deere skid steer loaders. "We depend heavily on both our tracked and wheeled machines," explains B.J. "The track machines are sure-footed on steep slopes and work well in adverse conditions. The skid steers provide the versatility we need for cleaning up or hauling dirt or gravel, especially on asphalt. The two machines are an unbeatable combination."

Five years ago, the company owned mostly New Holland skid steer loaders, along with a few Bobcat and Gehl machines. Then they demoed a John Deere 250 Skid Steer Loader, which had more lifting and breakout capacity than the New Holland. But it was smaller and lighter, so it was easier to haul around.

"Our operators just fell in love with them, and they’re the ones who run them every day," says B.J. "It was a no-brainer for us to switch over to John Deere. Their machines are the top of the line and have really helped us grow our company."

"A big reason we’ve been so successful is because John Deere has always been there for us as we’ve grown," adds B.J.’s brother, co-owner Jeff Brixius. "The machines are very reliable, so we don’t have very many breakdowns, but if we need service we get taken care of right away. And we never have any problem getting parts — they’re usually in stock or we have them by the next day."*

*Village Landscapes is serviced by James River in Manassas, Virginia.