BUSINESS
Wallowa County Chieftain
A6
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Former painter turns to lawn care
BIZZ
BUZZ
LAWNS
NORTHWEST
What: Yard maintenance
service
By Bill Bradshaw
Who: Paul Vlietstra
Where: 501 E. Wallowa
Ave., Joseph
Paul Vlietstra
launches Lawns
Northwest
Phone: 541-263-1247
Email: lawnsnorthwest@
yahoo.com
Web: lawnsnorthwest.
com
J
OSEPH — After more
than a decade as a
house painter, Paul
Vlietstra of Joseph has hung
up his brush and traded it
for a lawnmower.
“I had a successful busi-
ness called Plenty of Paint
and I decided 12 years was
enough,” he said Saturday,
Nov. 13. “I enjoy doing this
and this is what I want to
do.”
His new business, Lawns
Northwest, started in late
summer after he was done
with his painting jobs, sum-
mer being the prime season
for house painting.
But to start a lawn-care
business right when most
people are putting their
lawn-care tools away for
the winter raises a question:
Why now?
“The reason I started
then is because I painted all
summer and then shut that
business down,” he said.
“I started now because that
will give me a foot in the
door for the spring rather
than trying to start in the
spring, people can hear
about me now. … I’ve had
some clients, but I’m just
getting started.”
Vlietstra is looking ahead
for the new venture.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Paul Vlietstra stands alongside a couple of the implements he uses in his new Lawns Northwest business Saturday, Nov. 13,
2021, at his home in Joseph. At left is a brush hogger and at right is a blade for plowing snow.
“I was planning ahead
on getting my new busi-
ness started,” he said. “I just
painted through the summer
and then sold my equipment
and started this.”
Lawns Northwest is pri-
marily a lawn-care business,
Vlietstra said.
“The main focus of the
business is scheduled lawn
maintenance and lawnmow-
ing,” he said.
But he also off ers other
yard-care services. He has
trimmers, does fall and
spring yard cleanup, has a
blade for his small tractor so
he can plow snow or main-
tain gravel driveways and
can cut brush.
“I have a tractor now,
so I do brush hogging,” he
said. “I have a couple goats
here, so they keep my pas-
ture down, but in situations
(without goats), I can brush
cut. … But it’s based around
lawns.”
Looking over the imple-
ments he has sitting in his
yard for the business, he
emphasized they are extras.
“This stuff here (plow-
ing, brush hogging) is just
other stuff that I off er,” he
said, noting his smaller
tractor can “get into the
smaller spots.”
The long-time Joseph
resident has lived here since
1989. Vlietstra graduated
from high school here in
1995, but went directly to
work rather than college.
Now he’s ready to ser-
vice as much of Wallowa
County as is practical.
“It just depends. I service
as much of the county as I
can,” he said. “But it makes
it kind of tough to go mow a
& Skylight
Gallery
lawn way out in Wallowa.”
His fees usually include
a charge for the distance he
has to travel.
“I don’t want to scare
people away, but it kind
of has to be that way,” he
said. “It’s all aff ordable. It
depends on the size of the
job.”
Vlietstra said jobs cost
when he bags yard waste
because he has to haul it to
the landfi ll.
“It makes for slower
mowing, too,” he said. “But
it depends on what the cus-
tomer wants.”
“Me not having any
employees, I’m able to keep
my prices down. I really
don’t plan on having any
employees; that’s what I did
with the painting business,”
Vlietstra said. “Unlike some
other construction guys have
tons of employees, but this
is completely diff erent. This
is me doing the work.”
———
Bill Bradshaw is a
reporter for the Wallowa
County Chieftain. Have a
business tip? Contact him
at 541-398-5503 or bbrad-
shaw@wallowa.com.
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Church
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409 West Main - Enterprise
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Lostine
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