From Zero to National Turf Brand in 3 Years

This week, I met up with Tim and Lance, founders of Waterloo Turf, an Austin based synthetic grass install and maintenance company that has grown to 39 territories in just a few years. Lance founded the business in 2021 as a solo operation, and Tim, an operations executive with a franchising background, partnered with him after they met at a dinner where they discovered they both worked a mile from each other.

Together they raised growth capital before ever selling a single franchise, then built out training, coaching, and support so new owners would be set up to succeed from day one.

We covered why artificial turf checked every box Tim was looking for in a franchise concept, how they raised capital ahead of franchising instead of the other way around, and why organic social and word of mouth matter so much in a high ticket, highly visible service.

The Key Takeaways

Below are the most essential insights from my conversation with Tim and Lance that you can apply to your home services business today.

1. A Chance Meeting at a Double Date

Tim and Lance knew each other loosely through church, and it was only during a slow conversation at a pub, after running out of things to say about the Longhorns, that Tim learned Lance owned an artificial turf company he was trying to figure out how to scale.

“We ran out of things to talk about because the Longhorns, you know, they’re kind of up and down. And so we got to this point where it was, well, what do you do for work? And realized that Lance owned an artificial turf company.”

— Tim

2. Why Artificial Turf Checked Every Box

Tim was looking for a category with high ticket B2B and B2C demand, a recurring maintenance revenue stream, and no existing national brand. The primary competition was just local landscapers doing turf on the side, which made it easier to build a category defining company.

“It’s high ticket B2B and B2C, there’s a recurring revenue element to it, and there’s not another national brand. So for us as well as just in the artificial turf space, the primary competitor is local landscapers who do turf on the side.”

— Tim

3. The Craft Detail That Separates Waterloo From Competitors

Most residential turf installs take just one to two days, but the quality shows up in the seaming. Many turf companies simply lay two pieces of carpet side by side, leaving a visible seam, while Lance trained his crews on what they call an S seam, so the yard looks like one continuous piece of grass.

“What Lance has developed and really trained his crews on is what’s called an S seam. It lets the turf kind of come together so that your backyard is totally seamless, and it looks like one flesh piece of grass in the backyard.”

— Tim

4. Raising Capital Before Selling a Single Franchise

Instead of funding growth off franchise fees like most systems, Tim and Lance raised seven figures of capital first. That let them build the entire support and training infrastructure before bringing on franchise owners, and gave them the cash cushion to turn down applicants who weren’t aligned with the vision.

“It gave us the cash cushion to say no to people who weren’t aligned with us. I think that is the challenge in franchising, finding the aligned people, but they’re out there, it’s just a matter of finding the right people.”

— Tim

5. Turf Sells Itself Through Word of Mouth

Unlike a lot of home services, a finished turf yard is highly visible to friends and neighbors, which makes reputation and craftsmanship do a lot of the marketing work. Lance describes one good job spreading into ten more simply because people notice and ask about it.

“We believe one job has the spiderweb effect to become 10 jobs because it is going to be noticed, it’s going to be asked about, and ultimately those friends and families are going to be reaching out to you to come and quote their yards.”

— Lance

6. Sixty Hours of Training Before Anyone Touches a Job

Before franchising, Lance spent three months locked in a closet building a full operating manual with written SOPs and video, now over sixty hours of content. New franchisees start there, then come to Austin for four days of hands on training, followed by weekly check ins with a dedicated turf coach who has actually run and exited their own turf company.

7. No Timeline on Becoming the National Brand

With 39 locations active and no dominant national competitor to unseat, Tim and Lance are deliberately not rushing growth. Their priority is finding owners who will dominate their local markets and protect quality, even if that means slower expansion.

“There is no incumbent we’ve got to take down. I think it’s really ours for the taking, but we’re going to go at the speed that we feel like prioritizes quality of work while bringing in great franchise owners.”

— Lance

Looking Ahead

From a single truck and a wheelbarrow hitch in 2021 to 39 territories today, Waterloo Turf’s growth has been fueled less by ad spend and more by craftsmanship, patient capital, and a deliberate refusal to rush franchise growth before the support system was ready.

“Nobody’s going to take a bet on you. Everybody wants to know that their investment is going to be perfect. So you can never outsell a bad reputation, it all starts with the quality of work, and the work will speak for itself.”

— Tim