BATTLE GROUND NATIVE Jeff Lish is the owner and operator of the newly opened All American Landscaping & Maintenance, LLC, a Battle Ground business that can help homeowners and small business owners transform or maintain their property.
He may be a couple years shy of 30, but Battle Ground native Jeff Lish already understands the importance of loving your job.
“When I first got into landscaping, I realized that I really enjoyed my job,” Lish, 28, says. “I wanted to get up and go to work. I just enjoyed all of the aspects of the job.”
Lish says his passion for landscaping, combined with a strong drive to go into business for himself, prompted him to open his own company, All American Landscaping & Maintenance, LLC, in 2014.
“I started thinking about this in April of 2014,” Lish says. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go any further working for someone else, and I thought I should go out on my own.”
He had saved up to get his contractor’s license and to get bonded and insured, so all Lish needed was the equipment and marketing plan. Last summer, he advertised his services online and went door-to-door advertising his new business. The efforts worked.
“I have been busy ever since,” Lish says. “I haven’t really had any downtime since I started.”
Now, the young entrepreneur is hoping to expand and hire a few employees.
“That’s the goal,” Lish says. “I think that, if I can get one or two big clients, I can afford to hire an employee.”
For a man who spent his young adult years playing football and basketball for Battle Ground High School, and who spends his free time dirt biking and fishing in the area he calls home, working a physically demanding job suits Lish.
“I love it,” he says. “I don’t mind working out in the rain and the bad weather. I enjoy it even when it’s miserable out … there’s a good feeling, at the end of the day, to know that I really earned my money that day.”
Lish’s company serves residential and commercial customers and can conquer most landscaping needs.
“We do everything from one-time clean-ups to regular maintenance jobs,” Lish says. “I can do hardscape installations, pavers and patios, that type of thing. But what I really specialize in is maintaining a property, in doing all of the year-round work that keeps a place looking good.”
Lish says he loves working in the town where he grew up, and that he often runs into folks he knows at job sites.
“I feel like I live in the best place,” Lish says of Battle Ground. The area is urban enough to provide an abundance of customers for his landscaping business, but also rural enough to fulfill his dirt-biking and fishing hobbies.
Battle Ground is also a good place to raise a family, Lish says. He and his longtime girlfriend, Jennifer McCleod, are getting married in September, and are the parents of a 6-year-old daughter, Brooklyn Lish.
“I love driving around with my daughter and showing her the places where I’ve worked,” Lish says. “She gets really excited and will say, ‘Good job, dad!’”
Lish’s business, All American Landscape & Maintenance, covers all of Clark County and can help homeowners and small business owners with all of their landscaping needs, including mowing, edging and trimming lawns; controlling weeds; removing leaves or debris; pressure washing; laying compost, bark, rocks, sod, seed and/or topsoil; planting and maintaining trees, plants and shrubs; and building hardscapes such as stone walkways and retaining walls. The company offers a 5 percent discount for seniors and veterans.
“I try to give customers the best-looking landscape possible,” Lish says. “I love showing up to a place that has maybe been let go and, after spending some time working there, looking at the difference and seeing the transformation.”
Interested in having Lish help transform or simply maintain your property? Email him at aalmllc@yahoo.com or call All American Landscape & Maintenance, LLC at (360) 635-2909.
