Aces of Trades: Pete Stackhouse built his business from a summer job and mentorships
ZANESVILLE – He built a business after he “literally started with nothing.”
“In my early years I played every major sport,” recalled Pete Stackhouse. “I had some success in baseball and swimming. However, my primary interest has always been racing. I raced BMX as a kid. Later on, I raced go-karts, Mod-Lites on the dirt track, and sports cars at places like Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, Sebring, etc. I credit my father John Stackhouse and my coaches such as Mike Whiteman, Lance Lynch, Tom Cover, Don Spinks, Pat and Kevin Lyons, and many others for pushing me to be my best.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” he added, “to have always been surrounded and mentored by many great people in both personal and business environments. It’s not an accident from a young age I recognized there’s a lot to be learned from my elders, community leaders, and established businessmen. I’m not the least bit afraid to be the ‘dumbest guy in the room.’”
Stackhouse started in the lawn care business when he was 15.
“I had a neighbor, Henry Winkelmes, who was one of the first professional lawn care operators in the area,” Stackhouse remembered. “He drove past my bus stop one morning in the spring and asked me if I wanted a job. I explained that I had two more weeks of school remaining before I could work full time and he said that was fine. I worked for him that entire summer and after school and weekends through late summer and fall. The following year I got my driver’s license, and I began to work on my own. I had an old Volkswagen Rabbit, and I modified a boat trailer I purchased for $35 that I pulled behind it.
“My first customer was Marshall Attwood’s State Farm Insurance on the corner of Maple and Glendale. I went to his office after school one day and asked the secretary if I could meet with him. He scheduled a meeting with me for the next afternoon. I was very nervous. This was my first official business meeting. Within a week or so, and a few follow up calls, I got the work. I was a stranger to Marshall, but he took a chance on me, and we eventually became good friends. This successful sale helped my confidence. Since that day, there hasn’t been a door I was afraid to knock on.”
Today, Stackhouse owns and operates Stackhouse LawnHealthPros.
“My original plan in life was to be an architect,” he said. “I guess my neighbor Henry offering me a job was a game changer. I started out in landscape maintenance and ended up a landscape designer. That satisfied my creative side enough to not pursue architecture. I’ve worked on and designed many projects – for homeowners, municipalities and commercial property owners – with budgets from a few thousand dollars up to and exceeding $100k throughout the past 35-plus years. We’ve literally worked at thousands of different locations throughout Ohio and surrounding states.”
Stackhouse, now 53, grew up in Zanesville and graduated from Zanesville High School in 1987.
“My landscape and turf education,” he said, “comes from Ohio State-sponsored short courses and manufacturer-sponsored seminars, certification classes, etc. that I’ve regularly attended each year over the years. For several years I attended the University of Hard Knocks. In the early years the tuition fees were quite steep. Every once in a while, I find myself back there for a short lesson.”
JP Marshall is president of PATRIOT Companies in Zanesville.
“Pete has always been a very fair and hard working person,” assessed Marshall. “I knew him as we started our organizations and I grew to know him better and to see the sweat equity and patience he applied diligently to every person in his social sphere, ranging from customers to his employees and family. Pete strives to do for others what he expects to be done for him and I highly recommend him.”
“I always give it my all,” Stackhouse responded. “I realize each individual project is equally important to the owner, regardless of budget. I’m truly concerned about the appearance of each lawn we treat. No matter how many customers we have, it’s my goal to recognize each and every one individually.”
For more information about Stackhouse LawnHealthPros, look on Facebook.
Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at trnews@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: A summer job and numerous mentors changed Pete Stackhouse's life
