As the leaves begin to turn colour and their slow descent from branch to ground marks the turning of the seasons, most property owners shift their mindset and begin to think less about property maintenance.
But Chris and Amanda Gwynne-Timothy of All Outdoors Landscaping & All Indoors Cleaning Services know that perhaps more than any other time of year, the fall is when one should be paying particular attention to the niggling little issues around a property – both outdoors and indoors.
Based just outside of Chester on Wake Up Hill Road, All Outdoors Landscaping was established more than six years ago.
"I was in the retail business most of my life. I grew up in a retail business and wanted to try something different," Chris explained. "I've always had a bit of a green thumb and always loved working outdoors. So, we started in 2008 with a dump truck and a little excavator and some lawn-mowing equipment, and we went from there."
For Chris, the move was driven by a desire to establish his own niche, trading in ties and pressed shirts for overalls and work boots, something that he was all too happy to do.
His wife, Amanda, supported his choice and started at square one, helping to grow All Outdoors Landscaping from the ground up.
What began as a modest operation focused on the outdoors quickly evolved to offering services ranging from construction and excavation to trucking and year-round property care, such as lawn mowing and snow removal. Today, with more than 10 employees in peak season, a full fleet of vehicles and equipment, and a constantly growing customer list, they are proud of their success but aren't about to rest on their laurels.
Not only did the "outdoor" component thrive, but, along with it, a burgeoning "indoor" aspect of the business began to emerge as well.
"The cleaning side is something new to us, but it compliments what we do," Amanda explained. "We do a lot of renovations – people adding new patios or a retaining wall – so we're into a lot of nice properties and there's often a lot of clean up to do."
The All Indoors component of the business, Chris added with a laugh, really kind of got started by accident.
"We'd say, 'Oh, we'll clean that up for you,' because we may have tracked some of the mud into the house during a renovation project ... and it kind of just, basically, snowballed from there."
Snowball it did.
Whether you're the owner of a private residence or a business, the range of services that All Outdoors Landscaping & All Indoors Cleaning Services offers is impressive.
"We've done it all," Chris said.
"There was a 30-year-old home recently that was having some water-drainage issues in their basement. We went along the back of the house with an excavator and dug down to the footings of the house and we got down to the old footing drainage and it was all plugged," he recounted.
"So we ripped that all out, put new drainage in, and put insulation on their foundation for them."
"On a few construction cleanups at new builds, they'd have us go through the place stem to stern for drywall dust and construction debris," Amanda added.
"We do window cleaning in residential and commercial, too, and we've got quite a few folks that are on weekly or bi-weekly cleaning. Right now, we are focused on building commercial clientele and getting our name out there as another option for cleaning services."
Beyond structural property work, the All Outdoors Landscaping team are also the ideal folks to call on at this time of year to take care of the arboreal and foliage aspects of your property too.
In order to keep plant life around your property looking good and strong and healthy when next spring comes around, there's proper maintenance for that.
"Whether it's thinning out hostas, or clipping back rose bushes, it's very important as the leaves start to turn to be mindful of your fall property cleanup," Chris said.