Ray’s Lawn & Home Care provides full service lawn maintenance to both residential and commercial customers. Ray’s Lawn and Home Care also provides a complete landscape service; from design and installation of live plant landscapes to patio, retaining walls, fire pits and outdoor kitchen installations. The family operation has its advantages and its disadvantages but has proved to be a rewarding experience for both the family and their employees.
How long have you been in Lincoln? - Ray’s Lawn & Home Care was founded in 1966 by Ray & Mabel Svoboda.
Who are the owner/important executives? - Ray & Mabel Svoboda, Ken Svoboda, Larry Svoboda
What do you think makes you different from other companies similar to yours? - We have always prided ourselves in maintaining a strict schedule for our customers. It’s important for customers to be able to rely on our services when scheduling home events and celebrations. We are a home grown company that pays attention to detail while maintaining our customers properties. No short cuts for our customers. The job is done right the first time. We also follow a very simple model of providing services based on our customers needs without the more traditional cookie-cutter model.
What do you like about doing business in Lincoln? - Lincoln is a great place to do business. We’ve found that our customers have great loyalty when they know they’re being treated fairly. Lincolnites typically are not shopping for the lowest price but instead appreciate and are willing to pay for top quality services. We feel we have the best customers and will do what’s necessary to keep our customers happy.
What kind of community organizations/groups are you involved with? - With forty-four years of doing business in Lincoln the list of organizations is lengthy. We are an inaugural member of the Lincoln Independent Business Association. We’re members of the Chamber of Commerce and hold board positions with the Homebuilders Association of Lincoln, Junior Achievement of Lincoln and Willard Community Center. We annually donate to a variety of local organizations including the Chocolate Lovers Fantasy, Matt Talbot, Lincoln Symphony and March of Dimes. Being involved in the community is our way of giving back to a community that has allowed us numerous opportunities.
Do you have a business philosophy or mission statement? - Mission statements are a way of putting in writing your companies philosophy and intent. We feel action is a better catalyst for business recognition and improvement. Our philosophy is simple; treat each customer as if they are you’re only customer and treat each customers property as if it’s your own.
What do you see happening with your business in the next five years? - We are very optimistic that our slow economy will turn to a robust growth within the next five years. The luxury of surviving 44 years in business is having first hand knowledge of the cyclical nature of economies and how to better handle them.
What is one of the biggest challenges that your company has faced? - In February of 1995 our company suffered a devastating fire that destroyed our building and the majority of its contents but not our survivor instinct. Within 3 days, we secured a temporary office, storage facility, new equipment and vehicles and our customer records. By March 15 we were in full spring operation with no disruption of service to our customers. We pulled together as a family and with the help of our friends and loyal customers had one of the best years in our company’s history.
What has been your most important achievement as a business? - In retrospect you can certainly look at overcoming the near total loss due to a fire as being a great accomplishment. We however feel that one of our greatest achievements is the successful transition from one generation of owners to the next. Of course are greatest achievement happens when a customer not only tells us how pleased they are with our services but recommends us to a friend or relative. We take great pride in retaining our customers. Our longest running client is still with us today, 44 years later.
What is one goal for your business that you have yet to accomplish? - Transitioning our business management and ownership to a third generation.