Strategic Capital Leadership Across a Multi-Entity Landscaping Platform
The client grew organically from $1.2M (acquired 2020) to $3.6M+ run-rate (4 years) before and during the planning period. Keystone's 18-month engagement supported two acquisitions and a modeled Year 5 platform plan; forecasts are identified separately from historical results.
Request a 15-Minute Call
No cost. 15 minutes. No obligation.
Client background
Our client is a U.S. Navy veteran and serial entrepreneur operating in the South Florida horticultural sector. In 2020, he acquired a premier landscaping company serving high-end equestrian properties for $1.2M in annual revenue. Within four years, under his direct leadership, the business scaled to over $3.6M per year: seven crews, a 4-acre nursery, and service lines spanning landscape maintenance, installation, irrigation, pest control, and tree trimming. By 2023, he was facing a challenge common to high-growth owner-operators: the business had outgrown reactive finance. He was making capital allocation decisions without a disciplined financial framework.
Five patterns Keystone found
No integrated capital framework across entities
Two business entities with separate financials, no consolidated view of cash flow or EBITDA, and no mechanism to optimize capital deployment between them.
Acquisition activity without institutional financial packaging
Attractive acquisition targets identified, but without the financial modeling, SBA loan structuring, and business plan documentation required to execute credibly with lenders.
Compensation and distribution needed coordinated review
Owner compensation had not been formally reviewed with the CPA for QBI, payroll, distribution, and retirement-plan considerations.
Nursery revenue not integrated into enterprise value
Nursery operations were not structured or projected in a way that contributed to a defensible enterprise valuation.
No exit or long-term wealth strategy
Growth was being captured in the business but not structured toward exit readiness or intergenerational wealth.
The work: three transactions, one integrated strategy
SBA-financed nursery property acquisition (2023)
Keystone built the full commercial business plan required for SBA financing, including market analysis, operating projections, and a revenue model built around growing approximately 6,000 plants across three primary species.
Irrigation and lighting company acquisition (2024)
A 28-year-old provider serving Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties, generating $1.6M in revenue at a 29 to 30% EBITDA margin. Keystone led transaction packaging: deal structuring, sources and uses, 5-year projections, and the complete SBA loan submission. The transaction was financed with a $1.107M SBA loan and $123K of the client's equity, valuing the acquisition at $1.2M, or 3.2x EBITDA.
Wholesale nursery and landscape supply expansion
A 10-acre wholesale nursery and landscape supply business built as the strategic linchpin of the platform, with a bottom-up revenue model by product SKU, blended margin analysis, and a 5-year EBITDA projection.
Capital structure
| Transaction | Structure | Total capital | Debt | Equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nursery property acquisition | SBA Loan | Approx. $200K | 90% | 10% |
| Irrigation and lighting acquisition | SBA Loan | $1.23M | 90% ($1.11M) | 10% ($123K) |
| Wholesale nursery expansion | SBA Loan | Not published | Approx. 90% | Approx. 10% |
The result
Across all three entities, the plan projects more than $8.35M in combined annual revenue by Year 5. This is a forecast, not a realized result. The engagement delivered transaction packaging, financial modeling, capital strategy, vertical-integration planning, and the groundwork for a consolidated view of platform EBITDA, which would be an important input in a future exit or recapitalization review.
Make case-study evidence useful in management
This case separates three different forms of evidence: the owner's historical organic growth, Keystone's completed finance and transaction work, and forward-looking platform projections. Readers should not treat a forecast as realized revenue or assume the same structure would fit another business.
The work should begin with a specific decision and deadline. Separate known facts from estimates, reconcile definitions across systems, and write down the assumptions that would change the recommendation. This prevents a polished report from creating confidence that the underlying records do not support.
Questions management should answer
- Which figures are historical, transaction-specific, or forecast? Record the current answer, the source behind it, the person who can verify it, and the decision that changes when the answer changes.
- Which work did Keystone complete during the engagement? Record the current answer, the source behind it, the person who can verify it, and the decision that changes when the answer changes.
- What assumptions support the platform model? Record the current answer, the source behind it, the person who can verify it, and the decision that changes when the answer changes.
- Which regulated conclusions remained with the lender, CPA, attorney, or another professional? Record the current answer, the source behind it, the person who can verify it, and the decision that changes when the answer changes.
- What facts are intentionally anonymized or not published? Record the current answer, the source behind it, the person who can verify it, and the decision that changes when the answer changes.
Evidence to organize
- historical financial statements Confirm the reporting period, definition, completeness, and reconciliation owner before using it.
- transaction sources and uses Confirm the reporting period, definition, completeness, and reconciliation owner before using it.
- SBA loan and equity structure Confirm the reporting period, definition, completeness, and reconciliation owner before using it.
- operating forecast assumptions Confirm the reporting period, definition, completeness, and reconciliation owner before using it.
- entity and platform reporting Confirm the reporting period, definition, completeness, and reconciliation owner before using it.
Preserve the reasoning, not only the result
A useful decision record names the owner, question, alternatives, evidence, assumptions, boundaries, action, and next review date. When actual results differ, management can then see whether the model, the inputs, or execution changed. That feedback makes the next decision more disciplined.
Set acceptance criteria before the work starts
Define what a usable deliverable must contain before gathering more data. The criteria may include a reconciled reporting period, named source systems, documented adjustments, a base case and alternative, sensitivity to the most uncertain inputs, a responsible decision owner, and a review date. A deliverable is not complete merely because the file is polished. Management should be able to explain how the evidence supports the recommendation and what would cause the team to change it.
Use the minimum necessary records
Financial analysis does not require every available record. Limit access to the people and fields needed for the decision, especially when records contain employee, customer, patient, tax, banking, transaction, or other sensitive information. Use aggregated operating information where it answers the question, keep source files in the approved system, and do not place credentials or confidential documents in public forms or informal messages.
Review the decision against actual results
At the next review, compare the decision with the actual financial and operating result using the same definitions. Record variances, new facts, execution issues, and changes in timing. Then decide whether to continue, modify, pause, or close the action. This creates a practical management rhythm: define the question, organize evidence, make the decision, assign the work, compare actuals, and preserve what the team learned.
Connect this work with the case-study overview and one practical next step. Keystone can organize the financial evidence, model choices, and coordinate with the existing team. It does not guarantee an outcome or replace the client's CPA, attorney, regulated adviser, compliance team, or qualified valuation professional.
Primary context: SBA 7(a) loan program. Apply current official guidance and involve the qualified professional responsible for any tax, legal, regulatory, clinical, investment, or formal valuation conclusion.
Start with where you actually stand.
The Keystone Value Creation Assessment™ audits your last 12 to 36 months and gives you a written summary whether you engage us or not. If there is not a clear opportunity to create value, we will tell you directly.