By Alexander Swatson

For The Vicksburg Post

 

The idea of change can make people uneasy, which is why U.S. Lawns has taken into consideration how the community will receive their company, and plans to uphold the reputation, image and quality of work of GrassMasters.

The most impactful decision U.S. Lawns made in smoothing the transition to a new community is keeping the same employees from GrassMasters.

Steve Mainous and his two sons started GrassMasters when they arrived in Vicksburg from Mobile Al. In the beginning, it was just the Mainous family going from house to house cutting lawns. GrassMasters became a commercial landscaping company as the business grew and employees attained licenses.

“Image is everything with this type of work,” said Keith Mainous, a crew leader with U.S. Lawns and Steve’s son. “If you show up on a property and everybody matches and acts respectfully, it makes a huge difference.”

Mainous said when they first moved to Vicksburg, there were not a lot of companies with a professional image.

Christopher Brown is an irrigation technician for U.S. Lawns and grew up in Vicksburg. Brown remembers GrassMasters being one of the largest landscaping services in Vicksburg and said there has not been a drastic change in how the community treats them.

“There are some people out there that still see our faces, they see the old employees and communicate with us,” Brown said. “You have an actual commercial grade lawn service come in to take care of everything now.

Production manager David Pursell knows how important it is to make the transition easy for everyone. Pursell plans to keep costs the same for former GrassMasters clients.

“The guys who worked for GrassMasters know the clients and the properties, which makes them efficient when they go and do maintenance,” Pursell said.

“We definitely wanted them. They’re a good group of guys, Steve trained them well.”

Steve Mainous felt like he did all he could do with the company in Vicksburg before selling it to U.S. Lawns and moving back to Mobile.

Pursell emphasized the fact that U.S. Lawns is local and they will strive to keep customers happy. Pursell is a member of the Chamber of Commerce in Vicksburg and attends monthly luncheons to meet members of the community