Built to Sell: Seacoast’s Rapid Growth & Dan's Successful Exit

You may have said some version of this at least once:  “Someday I’ll sell this company for a big number.”

And honestly… I love that mindset. It’s ambitious. It’s optimistic. It’s the kind of thinking that pushes company owners to build something bigger than themselves.

But here’s the hard truth we don’t talk about enough in the green industry:

A lot of companies are built to survive the year… not survive the due diligence of exiting their company.

The trucks can look sharp. Your crews can stay slammed from April through November. Leads are coming in at a fair rate. And it’s easy to assume that means buyers will line up when you’re ready to exit.

But they don’t always.

And even if they do… the offers might not match what you had in your head.

That’s why I was excited to sit down with Dan Mello, former owner of Seacoast Tree Care and Seacoast Turf Care, on the Landscape Leadership® Podcast.

We've been working with the two Seacoast brands for a little over 3 years, both before and after his exit. 

Dan isn’t a theory guy.

He built the business. He grew it fast. He developed leaders. He made the hard changes. And eventually, he successfully sold his company.

In this conversation, we unpack what actually makes a tree and lawn care company “buyable”… and what owners need to stop ignoring if they want real options someday.

From “Me and My Dog” to a Real Company

Dan’s story starts the way a lot of great green industry stories start: with grit.

He grew up on a family farm in Rhode Island. He was raised around hard work, plants, and being outside. And after school, some early industry experience, and some market research, he saw an opportunity.

So in 2003, he started Seacoast Tree Care.

In the beginning, it was just him, some equipment… and his dog.

And like many owners, he built it step by step. Season by season. Year by year.

He also did what a lot of people forget is part of the journey. He survived the hard stretches.

The 2008 recession. The chaos of scaling. The pandemic years. Staffing challenges. The pressure that comes with growth.

All of it.

But what really made Dan’s story stand out wasn’t that he “worked hard.” 

It was that he started building the company like an asset, not just a job.

The Biggest Bottleneck Was "Me"

At one point in our conversation, I asked Dan what the biggest bottlenecks were as the business grew.

His answer was immediate. “The biggest bottleneck was me.”

I respect that a lot because it’s true for most owners, even if they don’t want to admit it.

Dan talked about how his biggest growth as a leader came down to two things:

1) Learning How to Manage People

Not just “supervise,” but truly lead.

Build trust. Develop people.

Hire well. Onboard well.

Create an environment people want to stay in.

2) Getting a Real Handle on Financials

Dan described a moment of clarity many owners need:

Sometimes you’re not “losing money” because your pricing is terrible.

Sometimes your gross margin is fine… You just don’t have enough volume yet for that margin to drop meaningful profit to the bottom line.

That’s not a motivational quote. That’s math.

And it changes the way you make decisions.

The Move That Increased Company Value: Recurring Revenue

One of the smartest things Dan did was build more recurring revenue into the business.

He didn’t get into turf care and plant health care because they were trendy.

He got into it because customers kept asking… and because recurring revenue creates stability.

General tree care is incredible, but it can be seasonal and project-based. Recurring revenue helps smooth that out and build predictability into the company.

And predictability is attractive to owners, leadership teams, and buyers.

Dan said that when he started seeing the percentage of recurring revenue increase, he started to realize they were becoming a much more appealing business.

The Hardest Lessons Are the Ones You Don’t Forget

Every owner remembers a few “wins.”

A big year. A great sales season. A strong quarter. But Dan shared something I completely agree with:

"You don’t always remember the year you hit your goals. You remember the year you got punched in the face."

Dan described 2019 as one of the hardest years in the business. They lost key people and had to rebuild a major part of the operation.

And in the middle of that pressure, he learned a lesson that hits deep.

Sometimes the moment that changes you is when someone tells you:  “I don’t want to work for you anymore… because you’re a jerk.”

That’s painful. But it’s also the kind of feedback that forces a decision. Do you defend yourself… or do you grow?

Dan chose growth.

And that decision didn’t just improve culture. It improved the company.

Your Business Can’t Be Your Identity

This was one of the most powerful parts of our conversation.

Dan shared how that difficult season forced him to separate who he is from what he owns.

He realized something that a lot of owners never fully process. If the company disappeared tomorrow,  Dan would still be a husband. Still be a dad. Still be a human being with a full life.

And once he saw that, he was able to stop treating every business challenge like a personal attack.

He started looking at the business like an asset.

Because that’s what it is. And that shift makes owners better decision-makers.

It’s also a big part of what makes a company scalable… and sellable.

People Aren’t Plug-and-Play (So Train Like It Matters)

Dan talked about something that’s incredibly important for owners trying to grow..."People aren’t plug-and-play."

You don’t hire an operations manager and magically have a perfectly run $3M division next week.

It takes time. It takes onboarding. It takes training. It takes a full calendar cycle for leaders to understand the “ebbs and flows” of the business.

So what did Dan’s team do?

They got more intentional about:

• Job descriptions
• Expectations
• Onboarding documents
• Training timelines
• Weekly check-ins

They even built what Dan called a “to-do calendar” that mapped out what someone needed to learn and when.

That’s not fluff. That’s operational maturity. And operational maturity is what separates “a busy company” from “a valuable company.”

The Owner Has to Stop Jumping In

Here’s one of the clearest lines Dan shared:

“Me working in the business was failure.”

Not because he didn’t know how to do the work. Not because he wasn’t capable. But because if the owner has to constantly jump in, the company can’t truly scale.

And it can truly run without you.

Dan made it a goal to only step in when it was something only the owner should handle:

• Major legal issues
• Major HR issues
• Major equipment problems
• Big, high-level decisions

Everything else needed to be handled by the team.

That’s what leadership is.

And in the final stretch of his ownership, the business was operating so independently that he could travel while things kept moving.

That’s the definition of building something real.

What Makes a Tree Care or Lawn Care Company Attractive to Buyers?

Without getting too deep into deal specifics, Dan shared the kinds of things buyers consistently care about:

• Growth trend
• Profitability (and EBITDA)
• Recurring revenue percentage
• Strength of leadership team
• Clean, organized financials

And one detail that stood out was how much professionalism matters. Not just in operations…but in presentation.

Dan said their company “looked good.”

The financials were organized. The P&L was broken out cleanly. The business looked financially diligent.

That builds trust, and buyers are financially-driven people.

Branding Isn’t Just Marketing. It’s a Competitive Advantage

Of course, we talked marketing too.

And Dan made a point that every owner should take seriously. When you look professional, it’s easier to charge a higher price point.

That’s not theory. That’s reality. Professional branding impacts:

• Lead quality
• Close rate
• Customer trust
• Price resistance
• Long-term reputation

Dan also had a great take on something many companies miss:

"Nobody reads paragraphs."

A picture conveys a thousand words. Within seconds, someone should understand who you are and what you stand for.

That’s why Dan cared so much about the details,  right down to making sure our photo shoots were OSHA-compliant and aligned with the image the company wanted to project.

3 Simple Priorities for Owners Who Want to Grow

If you’re an owner of a green industry company and are thinking, “Okay… what do I actually do next?”, Dan gave a simple framework:

1. Have a strong digital presence** (non-negotiable)
2. Look good** (professional branding matters)
3. Answer the phone and follow up** (execution is everything)

And he made another point I love. 

When the economy feels uncertain, some owners pull back marketing spend.

Dan’s mindset was the opposite. If you want to grow, you can’t hide.

Final Thought: Build It Like You Might Sell (Even If You Don’t)

Here’s the truth.

Not everyone needs to sell their lawn care or tree service business. But every owner should build a business that could be sold.

Because when you build that way, you naturally create something healthier:

• Better systems
• Better leadership
• Stronger financials
• More stability
• More value

And whether you sell someday or keep it forever, that value is yours.

If you want to position your company as a true leader in your marketplace, the kind of business customers trust, employees want to work for, and competitors respect, it starts with building something that’s bigger than the current year. 

And bigger than you.

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