Since 2008, Afton native Adam Nichols’ landscaping and lawn care business, Cents-Able Solutions, has taken root.
Nichols, 49, said his passion for lawn care and landscaping predates the business’ start.
In high school, he would take his lawnmower and a cart and go up and down the road, mowing lawns. After serving in the military — making the business veteran-owned — and working some jobs in management, he decided to start Cents-Able Solutions.
Nichols said that he’s cultivated a hearty reputation.
“The work we do is in all different weather conditions,” he said. “It’s hot and it’s uncomfortable, and we still work every day, so customers’ reaction a lot of times is that they’re just happy to find someone willing to do it. It is labor-intensive and outside and all conditions, and there are customers who say trying to find someone who’s dependable is tough.”
Nichols said that for himself and his three employees, the work is satisfying.
“Every day is a little bit of a change,” he said. “We do have to diversify in this area, to be able to keep our guys going and keep busy. We might do a drainage project one day and a sidewalk installation the next and a landscaping job the next.”
He added that there’s an immediate return on their investment, and they get to see the project come together and be finished.
“If it’s a return customer that comes back year after year, we get to see the plants fill in and the trees grow,” he said. “We get a lot of return customers that depend on us and that keeps us going, too.”
Services run the gamut from lawn mowing and commercial and residential landscaping, to commercial snow removal for senior housing buildings and credit unions.
Nichols said he added stump-grinding services this year.
He said clients, too, are varied.
“We’re eastern Broome, Chenango and Delaware (counties),” he said. “So, we have customers in Unadilla, Sidney, Bainbridge and all the way to Harpursville and we’ve been all the way up to Seneca Lake. We will travel for customers who have multiple homes, but mainly it’s Binghamton to Oneonta.”
Mowing routes go by the season. The business is booked up for mowing routes, Nichols said — people should inquire in early spring about summer mowing — but he’s taking on customers for fall planting.
“I just did a (Facebook) post about fall planting,” he said. “A lot of people think (planting season) is over, but it’s a really healthy time for the plants, so we do that … and firepits. We’re taking customers right up to winter.”
Nichols said he hopes to grow the business with help from family.
“This year, my son has come on as a project manager after returning from living in Colorado,” he said. “In the future, we’re focusing a lot more on the landscaping design installation and the project side of the business and that’s mainly because my son, Lucas, has stepped up to take over on that … while I’m doing other stuff.”
For more information, visit www.cents-ablesolutions.com, find “Cents-Able Solutions LLC” on Facebook, follow @centsablesolutionsllc on Instagram or centsablesolutions on TikTok.