10 | BEST IN BUSINESS 2007
.STARTUP BUSINESS OF THE YEAR_
by HALLIE [email protected]
A fter planting the seed, KellyGiard is watching his businessgrow.
Having created an environmentallyfriendly lawn-care service in FortCollins, Giard is seeing the businessspread its roots to other states includingCalifornia, Washington, Oregon, NewYork, Texas and Massachusetts.
“The idea is to expose it to a bunch ofdifferent communities,” Giard said.
With 10 employees locally, Giard’sbusiness has 30 employees nationwide,and that number still is growing.
The former stockbroker launchedClean Air Lawn Care in 2006. The com-pany uses electric and biodiesel fueledlawn mowers and other organic materi-als to provide residential and commer-cial lawn care.
Giard, who said he always knew hewanted to own a green business, beganformulating the idea in 2005.
“I wanted to provide a viable servicethat makes money and is positive for theenvironment,” Giard said.
Most of the company’s lawn mowers
are electric, Giard said, although somerun on a B-20, and sometimes a higher,biodiesel blend.
B-20 means that 20 percent of thediesel blend is made up of biodiesel, and80 percent petroleum.
And in a city where vehicles canpump B-20 locally, Giard knew the FortCollins community would embrace hisgreen business.
“The people here are very tied totheir outdoors,” Giard said. “They arevery health and environment oriented.”
He estimates the company grewapproximately 200 percent in its firstyear.
With the environment on his brain,Giard has more green plans to come.
That includes possibly adding anorganic treatment service, an organicgardening service and moving into aLeadership in Energy andEnvironmental, or LEED, certified build-ing one day.
“The people who work here are trulyengaged in something other than justmaking money to pay the bills,” he said.“We want to help on a local, global andregional scale.”
And in the end, Giard said he feelsthat helping the environment is a respon-sibility for everyone.
“In the long-run, everyone will haveto account for their impact on the envi-ronment,” Giard said. “We are just giv-ing them another way to lower theirenvironmental footprint.”
WINNERSTARTUP BUSINESSOF THE YEAR
Clean Air Lawn Care> CEO: Kelly Giard> Years in business: one year> Type of business: Environmentally-friendly
lawn care> Number of employees: 10 locally> Address: 123 N. College Ave., Suite 210> Phone: 224-4855> E-mail: [email protected]> Web site: www.cleanairlawncare.com
FINALISTS
Northern ColoradoRehabilitation Hospital> CEO: Dennis Shelby> Years in business: Two> Type of business: acute
rehabilitation hospital> Number of employees: 150> Address: 4401 Union St., Johnstown> Phone: 619-3400> E-mail: [email protected]> Web site: ncrh.ernesthealth.com
Reader’s Cove> Owners: Karey and Charles Kaine> Years in business: first year> Type of business: Bookstore> Number of employees: 16> Address: 1001 E. Harmony Road,
Fort Collins> Phone: 266-1618> E-mail: [email protected]> Web site: www.thereaderscove.com
Photo by Frank Cordelle
Clean Air Lawn Care’s popularitybranches across state lines
Clean Air Lawn Care employees fromleft: Katie Van Sant, MichelleHolbrook, Meisha Pyke, Annie Careyand Chris Cassis.
Clean Air Lawn Care employees fromleft: Katie Van Sant, MichelleHolbrook, Meisha Pyke, Annie Careyand Chris Cassis.
